PerformancePoint Planning Architecture

PerformancePoint Server provides client applications, Web applications, and databases intended to help large organizations manage complex financial processes, such as year-end financial reporting or semiannual budgeting exercises.

At its center is the PerformancePoint Planning Server, a Web application that includes three main components:

The Planning Web Service supports client access to Planning Server functions and services, which use data models and business rules defined by business analysts to track budget and financial performance data.

The Planning Process Service manages and enforces the workflow of running processes—for instance, the service could track the progress of a task that requires workers to submit budget requests.

The Planning Administration Console supports administrative functions, such as configuring user permissions and auditing user activities. Administrators access the console using a Web browser, as shown in the upper right.

Shown at the top are the primary PerformancePoint planning clients. The Business Modeler (upper left) is a design tool that business analysts use to define the data models (such as how revenue and expenses are tracked), business rules, and work assignments in financial processes. The other main client is Excel 2003 or Excel 2007 supplemented with a PerformancePoint add-in (upper middle)—other workers use this client to contribute to financial processes (submitting budget requests, for instance).