PowerPivot Components

PowerPivot enables Excel users, called model authors, to build workbooks that embed large data sets, called models, and make them available to other users using SharePoint Server. Shown here are the major components of a PowerPivot solution.

The free PowerPivot for Excel add-in (top) enables an expert Excel 2010 model author to create an Excel file (workbook) that contains a data set (called a model). The data can come from a variety of data sources, including SQL Server, Excel, other vendors’ database products, and text files. The author designs and loads the database, and then creates PivotTables, PivotCharts, and other Excel features for analysis. The data are stored in the workbook and analyzed in memory like other Excel data, using a compression technology that enables PowerPivot to handle data sets of millions of rows. (The actual amount of data handled depends on the characteristics of the data sources and is limited to 4GB in memory and 2GB total workbook file size.)

PowerPivot for SharePoint (bottom) enables distribution of PowerPivot workbooks via SharePoint Server 2010. The author can publish a workbook to browser users via Excel Services, SharePoint Server’s Web-based spreadsheet component. PowerPivot for SharePoint users can then explore the data (for example, changing the detail level displayed in a chart from national to regional level) without Excel or PowerPivot on the PC. (Users do require a browser that is compatible with Excel Services and SharePoint Server 2010.) The model author can publish the workbook with “view-only” permissions, which prevents other users from making copies of the workbook; this can cut down on the circulation of inconsistent or out-of-date versions of a workbook.