powerpivot in custom BI application

Question

Hi,

* will it be possible to use powerpivot as a kind of control in an own application?
* Is it possible for PowerPivot to get the data calculated in the SSAS and show only the results?

Background:
I look for a good pivot control to intergrate in a custom BI application.

As I can see it from the denali infos one gets from the internet one can use the powerpivot for excel. But it is limited as the calculation takes place completetly within excel. to excel Installing excel at the client isn't the problem here, but handling the huge amount of data clientside is not possible as the data has to be transferred to excel and then be aggregated. For using millions of rows this seem not handy or best practise.

On the other side one can use powerpivot for sharepoint, which calculated data within SSAS. But then the end-user needs this very expensive sharepoint license he cannot afford.

Are there any alternatives besides these two with their drawbacks?

Thanks, Markus Loibl, Siemens AG

Answer 1

PowerPivot cannot be used as a control in a custom application. You need Excel Services and SharePoint. The alternative is to look for a third party OLAP control that works with SSAS.