Microsoft - Altius Consulting

Microsoft BI

Centred on the SQL Server platform, Microsoft’s BI offering covers underlying data through to information presentation and analysis tools for the information worker.

Case Studies

Take a moment to review our reference materials and case studies to see how we’ve delivered successful Microsoft solutions for our clients.

Contact Us

By phone, by e-mail or in person, contact us now to find out how we can help you.

Data Warehousing

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Integration Services enable the construction and management of Data Warehouses that scale to meet the needs of even the largest and most complex of organisations.

Reporting and Analysis

Microsoft’s Reporting and Analysis components deliver information when and where it is most valuable. By providing a seamless link between structured reports and deep-dive analysis Microsoft’s tools unify structured and unstructured data to deliver insight – for example, you can easily move from monitoring a scorecard, straight into a supporting report and on to analysis of the same information.

Performance Management

Decisions made within a business are most effective when they are aligned with the company’s strategy and are seen in the context of the ‘bigger picture’ - this is the key objective of PerformancePoint Server 2007. Through a strategy-aligned cycle of monitoring, analysing and planning, PerformancePoint drives the effective execution of your strategy.

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008 is the latest version of the ever popular Microsoft database that builds on the powerful features of SQL Server 2005. Some of the key new features include enhanced performance, encryption, compression, auditing capabilities, database mirroring and the ability to hot add CPUs. Read more at the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 website.

Silverlight

Silverlight is a new web presentation technology that enables the creation of visually stunning interactive user experiences. Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. By combining vector graphics, 2D animation and streaming video and audio, Silverlight can offer an internet user experience well beyond what HTML and Dynamic HTML can offer.

SharePoint Server 2007

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) is the successor to SharePoint 2003 and builds upon many of its original features. MOSS is designed as a collaboration platform providing intuitive and simple interfaces to allow your business to store corporate knowledge. It utilises powerful workflow functionality to streamline and automate business processes and increases accessibility of information through powerful search facilities.

PerformancePoint SP1

PerformancePoint SP1 provides enhancements to features, stability and performance. For planning, performance of opening workbooks has improved significantly and workflow options are available to increase query performance. For monitoring, KPIs can be linked to reports, display formatting and filter performance has improved. PerformancePoint is now supported on Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft BI Blog

Monitor What Matters Most:

Check out this new performance management demo by Bruno Aziza at the recent Microsoft BI conference in Seattle. The demo covers aspects of real-time analytics, enhanced use of data visualization with Microsoft Virtual Earth, connecting information with people through communication and collaboration, and an integrated model for planning and budgeting, see how it all comes together.

Back by Popular Demand: BI Surface Demo:

The Microsoft BI surface demo is back, check it out here. Get a glimpse into the future with data visualization demo through the touch screen interface of Microsoft Surface. This demo was presented at the 2008 Microsoft BI conference in Seattle.

Closing the Gap Between Analytics and Collaboration:

How many business decisions do you make every day? 5, 10, 20, more? How many phone calls do you make per day? Just looking at my last phone bill this is a question I personally don’t want to even take a guess at, note to self find a better cell service plan. What I’m getting at here is knowing the answers to business questions is one thing, gaining deeper business insight through tracking metrics, analyzing numbers and asking questions of your business data is the first step but how can we begin to close the gap between knowing the answers and effectively communicating information to our teams. Typically, analysis and communication/collaboration are done separately, someone will analyze information in Excel or a scorecard and come up with some conclusions then try to figure out who in the organization they should contact next. Maybe they will send an email to someone who they think might know the answer. Then, they will wait three days for someone to come back with a name that they “think” might be the right personal responsible. Sound somewhat disjointed? Well it is. What if you could be connected with the right person who is a responsible for a metric right away, what if you could analyze a metric and immediately see who is responsible for that metric and what their current availably is? Is that person away from their desk, are they on the phone, are they available for a call? Then, at the click of a button be able to connect with them via phone, through a live meeting, or even a video conference with other members of the team to discuss findings and an action plan for course correction. This concept brings a new dimension to just simply analyzing information and allows users to wrap context around it quickly and easily through the natural process of communication. Check out this demo that shows how Microsoft BI and unified communications can come together to close the gap between analysis and communications.

http://www.microsoft.com/uc/demo.mspx