SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence

Module 8: Excel Services

Overview

Excel Services

Lesson: Excel Services

Excel Services Overview2010 ChangesExcel Services Trusted LocationsShared Data ConnectionsUser Defined FunctionsExcel Services Is ThreatingExcel Services Web PartsExcel Services Object Model/Web ServiceExcel Services Performance

Excel Services Overview

Enables you to load, calculate, and display Excel workbooks in a browser and BI web partsMade of several components:

Web Front End (Web Parts) Application Service Web Service

Zero foot print client Do Not Need Office! No ActiveX controls to install! JavaScript and DHTML only! Support for IE, Firefox, Safari!

Only works with Excel 2007+ documents! Excel Services is part of Enterprise SharePoint SKU

Excel Services 2010 Changes

Load any spreadsheet rather than complete refusal Unsupported features simply won’t do anything but the

spreadsheet will attempt to loadWrite back interactive mode

Users can type into the web part to change the spreadsheet (no changes are made to source file)

More Ajax-based interface Less post backs

Improvements around programmability Web services, JS Object Model and REST API

Excel 2010 Changes

Excel 2010 introduces some powerful features More features for the BI power users (edit MDX, What-if

analysis/writeback) Sparklines Search in Filters, Slicers, Conditional Formatting Enhance Show Value As Pivot Charts (similar to Pivot Tables)

Office Web Apps (real time, multi-user editing) Separate product from Excel and Excel Services Includes PowerPoint broadcast feature

Excel Services Trusted Locations

Excel Trusted Locations specify where “Safe” excel files residePrevent the sending of large Excel files and storing in Exchange/Lotus NotesBad things can happen in Excel files

Excessive data queries Processor intensive calculations Intense memory usage Network usage with large queries

Excel Services Evolution

Be careful, Excel Services can cause you to slid down a slippery slope!

It will force you to review all your business analyst Excel files for “Safeness”

You may find that reports are being run against production and that you need to build a DataMart/DataWarehouse!

In the end, you may eliminate Excel files completely for a total reporting solution like Report Services!

Excel Services Is Threating

Business Analyst don’t always design their reports and spreadsheets the optimal wayYou will have to review every spreadsheet that is destined for Excel ServicesA majority will not be able to be posted in their current stateThat means rewriting and re-designing a majority of them!Some will just disappear and give way to Reporting Services .rdl files

Shared Data Connections

Excel files can have embedded DataSource connectionsThese can be stored centrally on the SharePoint server to facilitate easy management of the connectionsAuthentication to Windows when data sources reside on multiple servers will require Kerberos!

Need to ensure that credentials are securely transmitted across the network

Unattended account allows a “None” and “SSO” type to connect using that accountAuthentication Communications:

Trusted subsystem (farm) – uses Excel Services account Delegation (single server) – uses current user to retrieve data,

requires Kerberos on different servers

User Defined Functions

Advanced .NET methods can be written and called from ExcelThese must be loaded to SharePoint in order for them to be trusted and executed in the Excel filesExcel Services does NOT support Macros!

Must wrap any functionality into a UDF

Excel Services Web Parts

Web Parts that render an Excel file Allows you to Edit in 2010, but it does not change the

source fileCan display “Named” items like ranges and chartsWeb Part Filters can be “connected” to filter data inside the Excel fileParameters can be used to “update” cells in the spreadsheets

Programming Excel Services

Excel Services offers a robust object model to manipulate spreadsheets

Update cells Refresh the data and calculations

Excel Services Web Services allow any platform to update an excel file

Can be used to Edit, utilize parameters, send charts and create snapshots of Excel Spreadsheets

REST No Coding, ATOM, Images and HTML supported, JSON Session-less

Excel Services Performance

Fully load balanced application Can balance the calculations and sessions across

multiple SharePoint serversCaching employed across multiple levels

Objects that span multiple clients with similar permission levels are cached!

Permissions are cached

Demonstration: Excel Services

Let’s look at: Trusted Locations Excel Web Parts

Lab 1: Excel Services

Complete the lab exercises: Create/Upload an Excel File Add a Trusted Location Configure Excel Web Parts

Lab 2: Excel & MDX

Complete the lab exercises: Use MDX Features of Excel 2010

Lab 3: MDX

Complete the lab exercises: Use Excel 2010 to work with MDX

queries

Lab 4: Sparklines

Complete the lab exercises: Use the new Sparklines feature of

Excel 2010

Lab 5: Filters & Excel Services

Complete the lab exercises: Use Filters with Excel Services

Lab 6: Excel REST-ful services

Complete the lab exercises: Learn to use Excel REST-ful service

interfaces

Review

Your instructor will ask a series of questions on this module

Summary

Continue the movement away from Email! Excel Services allows the centralization of your excel files and the rendering of those files as part of a business intelligence solutionPrevent “bad” excel files from being uploaded by using trusted locations