New BI Application for Solomon

A new business analysis application for Dynamics SL, formerly called Solomon, supplies business performance reports, or “scorecards,” tailored to specific roles, such as financial analysts. Business Information Optimization (BIO) for Dynamics SL was developed by Microsoft partner NexVue and will be available in June 2006 via certified resellers. BIO for SL scorecards are built from SQL Server Analysis Services cubes; a client application allows nontechnical business users to customize or create new scorecards and users can view scorecards using Microsoft applications such as Excel. However, the tool is a Dynamics SL-only solution; it does not work with other Dynamics products.

Based on SQL Server

Dynamics SL is one of four enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications produced by Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), and it targets project-focused businesses, such as professional services companies and construction firms. The product’s most recent release-Dynamics SL 6.5-was released in Dec. 2005. Although development of the product was outsourced to Plumbline Software in June 2004, Microsoft has said it will update and support the product through 2013 and plans to ship Dynamics SL 7.0 in the second half of 2006.