ITWire

Wardy IT implemented a proof of concept for John Paul College in a few days of consulting time. The college did not need to buy any additional software, as SQL Server 2008 R2 and Office 2010 provided the necessary capabilities. However, the BI functions have been separated from the other production systems for performance reasons.

Carpenter noted that there was little pressure to deliver immediate results. This allowed the project to develop steadily, addressing what was actually needed in a way that allowed for future flexibility rather than choosing whatever gave quick and easy results.

Donald Farmer, from Microsoft's SQL Server team, noted that Microsoft's approach means it is possible to experiment with the tools that already exist within a school. Teachers can do their own exploration, and the most successful analyses can be put into production.

Farmer noted that the alignment between features of SQL Server 2008 R2, SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 provides in 'in' to millions of potential BI users around the world. Microsoft is ready to put BI into the hands of users, he said, noting that IT departments are suffering cutbacks despite growing data volumes. If users can't do BI, it probably won't get done at all.