Configure data access for PerformancePoint Services

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010, Excel Services

Important

This article is part of the Configuring a BI infrastructure: Hands-on labs series. To complete the steps in this article, you must first have completed:

PerformancePoint Services uses an unattended service account to connect to database servers. By using the unattended service account involves configuring an Active Directory account access to your data, storing the credentials for this account in Secure Store, and configuring PerformancePoint Services to use this account to access data.

The following steps are required to configure data access in PerformancePoint Services.

  • Configure a data access account

  • Configure the unattended service account

  • Verify that user permissions are configured correctly

The first step is to create an Active Directory account for use as the unattended service account.

Configure a data access account

To configure a data access account for PerformancePoint Services, we begin by creating an Active Directory account.

To create an Active Directory account for data access

  1. Log into Contoso-DC as Contoso\Administrator.

  2. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

  3. Expand the contoso.local node.

  4. Right-click Users, click New, and then click User.

  5. In the Full name and User logon name text boxes, type PPSUnattended.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Type and confirm a password for the account.

  8. Clear the User must change password at next logon check box.

  9. Select the Password never expires check box.

  10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Next, we create a SQL Server logon. This account will be used to view data that is stored in SQL Server.

To create a SQL Server logon

  1. Log in to Contoso-SQL as Contoso\SQLAdmin.

  2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

  3. On the Connect to Server dialog box, select Database Engine as the Server type, type Contoso-SQL in the Server name text box, and then click Connect.

  4. In Object Explorer, expand Security.

  5. Right click Logins, and then click New Login.

  6. In the Login name text box, type Contoso\PPSUnattended.

  7. Under Select a page, click User Mapping.

  8. Select the Map check box for the ContosoRetailDW database, and then under Database role membership for: ContosoRetailDW, select the db_datareader check box.

  9. Click OK.

Now that the data access account is configured, the next step is to configure the unattended service account for PerformancePoint Services.

Configure the unattended service account

To configure the unattended service account, we begin by specifying an unattended service account for PerformancePoint. We do this by editing PerformancePoint Services Global Settings.

To configure PerformancePoint Services Global Settings

  1. Log into Contoso-AppSrv as Contoso\FarmAdmin.

  2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, and then click SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

  3. On the Central Administration home page, under Application Management, click Manage service applications.

  4. On the Manage Service Applications page, click PerformancePoint Services.

  5. On the Manage the PerformancePoint Services page, click PerformancePoint Service Application Settings.

  6. On the PerformancePoint Service Application Settings page, in the SecureStore and Unattended Service Account section:

    1. In the User Name text box, type Contoso\PPSUnattended.

    2. In the Password text box, type the password for the Contoso\PPSUnattended account.

  7. Click OK.

Now that we have configured PerformancePoint Services, the next step is to test connectivity. We do this by creating a PerformancePoint data connection.

To test PerformancePoint Services connectivity

  1. In the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/BICenter), click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.

    The PerformancePoint site template opens.

  2. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

  3. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.

    Dashboard Designer opens.

  4. In the Workspace Browser, click Data Connections. Then, on the Create tab in the ribbon, click Data Source.

    The Select a Data Source Template dialog box opens.

  5. In the Category pane, click All, and in the Template pane, click SQL Server Table. Then click OK.

    The data connection opens for editing.

  6. In the center pane, on the Editor tab, specify the following settings:

    1. In the Connection Settings section, select Use Standard Connection.

    2. In the Server box, type Contoso-SQL.

    3. Use the Database list to select ContosoRetailDW.

    4. Use the Table list to select dbo.DimProductCategory.

  7. In the Data Source Settings section, click Test Data Source. If the connection is successful, then the unattended service account is configured correctly.

  8. In the center pane, click the Properties tab. In the Name box, type Product Categories.

  9. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the data connection, and then click Save.

    This saves the data connection that you previously created to the Data Connections list in the Business Intelligence Center.

  10. In the Business Intelligence Center (http://contoso-appsrv/sites/bicenter), click Data Connections. Notice the data source that you created is listed in the Data Connections document library.

  11. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

    Note

    By default, PerformancePoint dashboard items are saved to the following SharePoint list and libraries in the Business Intelligence Center:

    • Data connections are saved to the Data Connections list

    • Key performance indicators (KPIs), scorecards, reports, dashboard pages, and dashboard filters are saved to the PerformancePoint Content list

    • Published dashboards are saved to the Dashboards document library

    By saving items as we create them one at a time, any changes to those items are automatically saved to SharePoint Server. For example, we saved our data connection to SharePoint Server in Step 8.
    When you see the Dashboard Designer dialog box that prompts you to save changes to items, you are actually being asked whether you want to create a workspace file that you would then save to your local computer. The workspace file does not contain the actual dashboard items, but does contain definitions of those dashboard items, which is useful for dashboard content migration scenarios that are not covered in these labs.

  12. Log off the Contoso-AppSrv computer.

Now that PerformancePoint Services is enabled and configured, the next step is to verify that user permissions are assigned correctly.

Verify that user permissions are configured correctly

During the process of setting up the BI test environment, we created certain accounts and groups, and we assigned permissions for those accounts. These accounts and permissions are summarized in the following table:

User Name Group Permissions

Contoso\Jill.Frank

None.

None.

Contoso\John.Woods

BICenterRead

Read

Read permissions enable users to view information in the Business Intelligence Center.

Contoso\Susan.Burk

BICenterContribute

Contribute

Contribute permissions enable users to view and create items, such as reports, and save them to this site.

Contoso\Cindy.White

BICenterDesign

Design

Design permissions enable users to view, create, and publish items that include dashboards.

Contoso\David.Hamilton

BICenterFullControl

Full Control

Full Control permissions enable users to view, create, and publish dashboard content, and to view or edit user permissions

To verify that user permissions are configured correctly, we will log on to the Contoso-Client computer by using each user’s credentials and attempt to perform one or more tasks that are subject to user permissions restrictions. These procedures help show how permissions work with PerformancePoint Services and the Business Intelligence Center.

We begin by verifying that unauthorized users cannot access the Business Intelligence Center.

Verifying that unauthorized users cannot access the Business Intelligence Center

Contoso\Jill.Frank was not assigned permissions to access the Business Intelligence Center. To verify that unauthorized users cannot view information in the Business Intelligence Center, we attempt to open the Business Intelligence Center by using Jill’s user credentials.

To attempt to open the Business Intelligence Center by using an unauthorized account

  1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Jill.Frank user account.

  2. Open a web browser.

  3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    You receive an Error: Access Denied message.

  5. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

The error message indicates that Jill Frank does not have permissions to access the Business Intelligence Center. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Read permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Read permissions are configured correctly

John Woods was assigned Read permission, which means he should be able to view, but not edit, content in the Business Intelligence Center. Users who have Read permissions can also open Dashboard Designer. However, they cannot create PerformancePoint dashboard content.

To verify that Read permissions are configured correctly, we will attempt to create a KPI using the Contoso\John.Woods account.

To attempt to create a KPI by using Dashboard Designer

  1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\John.Woods user account.

  2. Open a web browser.

  3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    The Business Intelligence Center opens.

  5. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.

    The PerformancePoint site template opens.

  6. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

  7. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.

    Dashboard Designer opens.

    Important

    Dashboard Designer will open for all users who have at least Read access assigned on the Business Intelligence Center. However, users who have only Read permissions assigned will be unable to create any items by using Dashboard Designer.

  8. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

  9. Click the Create tab, and then click KPI.

    The Select a KPI Template dialog box opens.

  10. Select Blank KPI, and then click OK.

    You receive an error message that indicates that you do not have permissions to create a KPI.

  11. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

  12. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

The error message appeared when you tried to create a KPI indicates that John Woods does not have permissions to create items by using Dashboard Designer. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Contribute permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Contribute permissions are configured correctly

Susan Burk was assigned Contribute permissions, which means she should be able to create dashboard items, such as reports, scorecards, filters, and dashboard pages. However, Susan should be unable to publish dashboards. To verify that users who have Contribute cannot publish dashboards, we will attempt to create and publish a dashboard that contains a scorecard by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

We begin by creating a basic scorecard that uses fixed values that we will specify.

To create a basic scorecard

  1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk user account.

  2. Open a web browser.

  3. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  4. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    The Business Intelligence Center opens.

  5. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.

    The PerformancePoint site template opens.

  6. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

  7. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.

    Dashboard Designer opens.

  8. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

  9. Click the Create tab, and then click Scorecard.

    The Select a Scorecard Template dialog box opens.

  10. In the Category pane, select Standard, and in the Template pane, select Fixed Values Scorecard. Then click OK.

    The Create a Fixed Values Scorecard wizard opens.

  11. On the Select KPIs to Import page, specify the following:

    • In the KPI Name column, select the default text that says “New KPI”, and then type Unit Sales.

    • In the Actual column, type a number, such as 500.

    • In the Target column, type a number, such as 525.

    Then, click Next.

  12. On the Locations page, verify that the Create KPIs in list has PerformancePoint Content, and then click Finish.

    The scorecard opens for editing.

  13. In the center pane, click the Properties tab.

  14. In the Name box, type Sales Scorecard.

  15. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the scorecard, and then click Save.

    This saves the scorecard to the PerformancePoint Content list in the Business Intelligence Center.

The basic scorecard is completed. The next step is to create a dashboard page. (Contribute permissions enable users to create but not publish dashboard pages.)

To create a dashboard page

  1. On the Create tab, in the Dashboard Items group, click Dashboard.

    The Select a Dashboard Page Template dialog box opens.

  2. Select 1 Zone, and then click OK.

    The dashboard opens for editing.

  3. Notice that in the Workspace Browser, the text “New Dashboard” is highlighted. Type Sales Dashboard, and then press the Enter key to rename the dashboard.

  4. In the Details pane, expand Scorecards, and then expand PerformancePoint Content.

  5. Drag the Sales Scorecard to the zone in the Dashboard Content section.

  6. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Save.

    This saves the dashboard page to the PerformancePoint Content list in the Business Intelligence Center.

As expected, Susan was able to create a scorecard and a dashboard page. The next step is to attempt to publish the dashboard.

To attempt to publish a dashboard

  1. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Deploy to SharePoint.

    The Deploy To dialog box opens.

  2. Keep the default settings, and then click OK.

    You receive an error message that indicates that you cannot deploy the dashboard. The message indicates that the document library “sites/BICenter/Dashboards” is unavailable.

  3. Close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

The error message that opened when Susan tried to publish a dashboard indicates that she does not have sufficient permissions to perform that task. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Design permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Design permissions are configured correctly

Cindy White was assigned Design permissions, which means she should be able to view, create, and edit dashboard items, such as reports, scorecards, filters, and dashboard pages. In addition, Cindy should be able to publish dashboards. However, users who have Design permissions should be unable to view or edit user permissions for the Business Intelligence Center. To verify that Design permissions are configured correctly, we will first publish the dashboard that we created earlier in this article. Then, we will attempt to view and edit user permissions for the dashboard by using the Contoso\Cindy.White account.

We begin by publishing the Sales Dashboard.

To publish the Sales Dashboard

  1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\Cindy.White user account.

  2. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  3. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    The Business Intelligence Center opens.

  4. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.

    The PerformancePoint site template opens.

  5. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

  6. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.

    Dashboard Designer opens.

  7. In the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

  8. In the center pane, on the SharePoint tab, double-click Sales Dashboard to open it for editing.

  9. In the Workspace Browser, right-click the Sales Dashboard, and then click Deploy to SharePoint.

    The Deploy To dialog box opens.

  10. Keep the default settings, and then click OK.

    The dashboard is published to SharePoint Server and opens in a web browser.

    Keep this window open.

The dashboard has published successfully. The next step is to attempt to view and edit user permissions.

There are two ways to view or edit user permissions:

  • You can use the Item Permissions toolbar command in a SharePoint list or library

  • You can use the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer

We will attempt to view and edit user permissions by using both methods.

We begin by trying to view and edit permissions by using the Item Permissions toolbar command in the PerformancePoint Content list.

To attempt to view and edit item permissions in a SharePoint list

  1. In the browser window where the dashboard is displayed, in the Quick Launch, click PerformancePoint Content.

    The PerformancePoint Content SharePoint list opens and displays the dashboard items that we created earlier by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

  2. Locate an item, such as the Sales Scorecard, and select the check box to the left of the item’s name.

  3. In the ribbon, click the Items tab. Notice that in the Manage group, the Item Permissions toolbar command is not enabled.

    This indicates that Cindy White cannot view or edit user permissions for dashboard items.

Now we attempt to view and edit user permissions by using the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer.

To attempt to view and edit user permissions in Dashboard Designer

  1. In Dashboard Designer, in the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click Permissions.

    You receive an Error: Access Denied message.

    The error message indicates that you do not have permissions to view and edit user permissions for PerformancePoint dashboard content.

  3. Close the page that displays the error message, and then close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

  4. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

Cindy White can create and edit dashboard items and publish dashboards, but she cannot view or edit user permissions. This confirms that user permissions are configured correctly for this user account.

Next, we will verify that Full Control permissions are working correctly.

Verifying that Full Control permissions are configured correctly

David Hamilton was assigned Full Control permissions, which means that he can view, create, and edit dashboard items. In addition, David Hamilton can publish dashboards and view or edit user permissions for dashboard content.

We can verify this by viewing user permissions for the Sales Scorecard that was created and published earlier in this article.

We will use two methods to view and edit permissions:

  • We will use the Item Permissions toolbar command in the PerformancePoint Content list

  • We will use the Permissions toolbar command in Dashboard Designer

To view or edit item permissions in a SharePoint list

  1. Log into the Contoso-Client computer by using the Contoso\David.Hamilton user account.

  2. In the address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  3. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    The Business Intelligence Center opens.

  4. In the Quick Launch, click PerformancePoint Content.

    The PerformancePoint Content SharePoint list opens and displays the dashboard items that we created earlier by using the Contoso\Susan.Burk account.

  5. Locate an item, such as the Sales Scorecard, and select the check box to the left of the item’s name.

  6. In the ribbon, click the Items tab, and in the Manage group, click the Item Permissions toolbar command.

    A permissions page opens, where you can view or edit user permissions.

To view or edit user permissions in Dashboard Designer

  1. In the browser window, in address line, type http://contoso-appsrv.

    The main team site opens.

  2. In the Quick Launch, click Business Intelligence Center.

    The Business Intelligence Center opens.

  3. In the Business Intelligence Center, click Monitor Key Performance, and then click Start using PerformancePoint Services.

    The PerformancePoint site template opens.

  4. Click Run Dashboard Designer.

  5. In the Application Run – Security Warning dialog box, click Run.

    Dashboard Designer opens.

  6. In Dashboard Designer, in the Workspace Browser, click PerformancePoint Content.

    In the center pane, the Unit Sales KPI, Sales Scorecard, and Sales Dashboard are listed.

  7. Double-click Sales Scorecard to open it for editing.

  8. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click Permissions.

    A permissions page opens, where you can view or edit user permissions.

  9. Close the permissions page, and then close Dashboard Designer. If a Dashboard Designer dialog box opens that prompts you to save changes to dashboard items, click Don’t Save.

  10. Log off the Contoso-Client computer.

You have successfully configured PerformancePoint Services.

See Also

Concepts

Set up accounts for a BI test environment
Configure a Business Intelligence Center for a test environment