This is a comprehensive, expert guide to all facets of planning, deploying, managing, and utilizing the brand-new SharePoint 2010 PerformancePoint Services. Authored by business and technical experts and a key member of the Microsoft PerformancePoint Services development team, this book demonstrates exactly how to apply PerformancePoint Services to gain real-time insight into all aspects of business performance. Writing for architects, implementers, developers, and administrators, the authors combine crucial technical information with hands-on insights for success, including a case study that identifies key challenges throughout the project lifecycle. Along the way, the authors bring together realistic, proven techniques for integrating with SharePoint, Microsoft Office, and enterprise data sources. They implement KPIs and scorecards; design effective dashboards; ensure security; administer PerformancePoint Services; present best-practice solutions; and much more. Determine what you want to measure and plan the best ways to measure it Install SharePoint Server 2010 and configure PerformancePoint Services Create effective, easy-to-understand dashboards with the Dashboard Designer Integrate and use multiple data sources including SQL Server, Excel, and SharePoint Build KPIs quickly using the Scorecard Wizard Incorporate indicators and KPIs into scorecard views Utilize PerformancePoint reports including analytic charts and grids, KPI Details, and both Reporting Services and Excel Services reports Build Strategy Maps to visualize sales pipelines, processes, and layouts Secure PerformancePoint data sources, dashboards, and reports Use PerformancePoint APIs to add even more functionality Maintain PerformancePoint Services using SharePoint 2010’s tools and settings Streamline PerformancePoint administration with PowerShell and Cmdlets

SharePoint 2010 is today’s leading presentation and deployment system for Business Intelligence (BI) solutions based on Microsoft technologies. This book brings together all the information you need to successfully implement and use SharePoint 2010’s powerful BI capabilities. It reflects the unsurpassed real-world experience of five expert consultants at RDA, a Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in delivering advanced BI solutions with SharePoint. You’ll first learn how to prepare SharePoint 2010 for the deployment of BI solutions. Next, the authors walk through integrating, configuring, and using Reporting Services, PerformancePoint Services, PowerPivot, Visio Services, and other key related technologies. Building on what you’ve learned, you’ll walk step-by-step through constructing and integrating two end-to-end BI solutions. Finally, in a comprehensive troubleshooting section, the authors present today’s most common SharePoint BI issues, identify proven solutions, and teach effective problem-solving techniques. Get started fast, by using the Business Intelligence Center’s prebuilt site collection and template Build integrated, end-to-end SharePoint BI solutions Present business data to the enterprise through Excel Services Install, configure, and integrate Reporting Services and the Reporting Services Add-In for SharePoint Define document library content types and manage reports Use Report Viewer Web Parts to render reports on SharePoint web pages Build enterprise dashboards with PerformancePoint Services Secure dashboards via data source delegation, SharePoint permissions, and groups Analyze enormous datasets with PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint Publish Visio 2010 data-driven web diagrams that integrate multiple data sources Utilize the fine-grained security available through Visio Graphics Service Troubleshoot problems with Reporting Services, PerformancePoint Services, PowerPivot, and Visio Services

Microsoft® SharePoint 2010 Unleashed Michael Noel Colin Spence Using Microsoft SharePoint 2010 technologies, organizations can bring together, utilize, and collaborate with information from virtually any source. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Unleashed is the most complete, practical resource for all administrators, managers, architects, users, and power users who want to make the most of this powerful platform. Drawing on their experience implementing SharePoint solutions in hundreds of organizations, Michael Noel and Colin Spence cover all facets of succeeding with SharePoint: planning, deployment, migration, scalability, administration, security, Microsoft Office integration, workflow and dashboard development, and more. Noel and Spence illuminate the newest SharePoint innovations, from new social networking features to improved search, helping you make the most of both SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server 2010. Using easy-to-understand, step-by-step examples, the authors help you streamline administration, optimize performance, control cost, and implement high-value solutions for collaboration, document management, and business intelligence. Architect and implement SharePoint 2010, and migrate from legacy SharePoint servers Perform advanced installations that maximize scalability Monitor, back up, and restore SharePoint environments Maintain the SQL Server databases on which SharePoint 2010 relies Systematically improve edge, transport, and content security Deploy SharePoint in extranets and alternative authentication scenarios Create highly efficient virtualized SharePoint 2010 farms Customize and manage libraries and lists for your specific requirements Design and manage pages and sites for knowledge workers Effectively manage metadata and content types Integrate content using Office Web Apps and Excel, Access, and Visio Graphics Services Create both out-of-the-box and customized SharePoint workflows Develop custom solutions with SharePoint Designer 2010 and Visual Studio 2010 Create BI solutions with PerformancePoint and Business Connectivity Services Govern your SharePoint ecosystem for maximum value Michael Noel, MS-MVP, MCITP, is an internationally recognized technology expert, bestselling author, and well-known public speaker on a wide range of IT topics. He is the author of 17 books, including Exchange Server 2010 Unleashed, Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed, and Microsoft Forefront Unleashed. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Colin Spence, MCP, MCTS SharePoint, has worked with SharePoint technologies for nearly a decade, helping hundreds of clients architect, implement, and manage customized SharePoint solutions. He speaks, publishes, and blogs regularly on SharePoint technologies. Noel and Spence are partners at Convergent Computing, a leading Microsoft partner in the San Francisco Bay area, and co-authors of SharePoint 2007 Unleashed. ON THE WEB: Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672333255 Category: Microsoft Office 2010 Covers: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 User Level: Intermediate–Advanced

Sams Teach Yourself iPadTM in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results. By working through 10-minute lessons, you’ll learn everything you need to use your iPad to get online, get apps, use the Web, manage email, use maps, books, photos, music, video— anything! Each compact lesson zeroes in on essential techniques, with fast, step-by-step instructions that help you do it right the first time! Tips point out shortcuts and solutions Cautions help you avoid common pitfalls Notes provide additional information 10 minutes is all you need to learn how to... Make the Home screen an efficient control center for your iPad Get online with Wi-Fi or 3G cellular connections Get iPad and iPhone apps, including paid and free apps Surf the Web Receive and send email from as many accounts as you need Use maps, books, music, photos, video, and more!

Sams Teach Yourself iPadTM 2 in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results. By working through 10-minute lessons, you’ll learn everything you need to use your iPad 2 to get online, get apps, use the Web, manage email, use maps, books, photos, music, video–anything! Each compact lesson zeroes in on essential techniques, with fast, step-by-step instructions that help you do it right the first time! Tips point out shortcuts and solutions Cautions help you avoid common pitfalls Notes provide additional information 10 minutes is all you need to learn how to... Use FaceTime for personal video phone calls and conferences Take photos and make video clips with the front-facing and rear-facing cameras Manage settings for the iPad 2 Use iTunes to buy and synchronize multimedia—music, videos, movies, documents and more—between the computer and the iPad 2 Hook up to external devices such as a camera, a presentation screen, TV, or HDTV. Use Safari to access the Web Use email of many kinds, including Gmail, with and without a live connection Manage personal information with the Calendar, Contacts, and Notes Use the Maps app for local searches and navigation Get full-screen iPad apps, as well as iPhone-sized apps from the App Store Use iBooks and the iBooks Store Get and play music on iPad Use the iWork apps for creating presentations and working with numbers Category: iPad Covers: Apple Digital Media User Level: Beginning

Use orchestration to automate even highly-complex processes --

In Microsoft® Dynamics CRM 4 Integration Unleashed , two leading experts present proven techniques, best practices, and example code for going far beyond the out-of-the-box capabilities of Dynamics CRM 4. Using these solutions and sample applications, you will enhance all of your company’s relationships–with vendors, distributors, employees, users, affiliates, and customers. Authors Marc J. Wolenik and Rajya Vardhan Bhaiya walk you step by step through integrating Dynamics CRM with SharePoint, Office Communicator, PerformancePoint, BizTalk, Silverlight, VoIP phone systems, and both Google and MSN mapping tools. They also present a full analysis of the CRM Accelerators and advanced topics and three full chapters on integration using Scribe’s state-of-the-art adapters and templates. You’ll discover how to extend Dynamics CRM 4 with enterprise dashboards, stronger “deep-dive” data analysis, and much more. Wolenik and Bhaiya even demonstrate how to make custom Dynamics CRM applications available directly to your customers, without compromising security. Use Dynamics CRM 4 as an “xRM” platform for developing custom applications to enhance any type of business relationship Leverage new Azure cloud computing solutions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Design infrastructure to efficiently run your customized Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation Extend CRM internally, with plug-ins, source-to-source integration, IFRAME-based custom application integration, and CRM JScript Extend CRM externally, with CRM Accelerators, public Web services, direct SQL interaction, and customer-facing Web sites Implement KPIs and gain deeper business insight by integrating Dynamics CRM 4 with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Create dashboards and other visual CRM tools with Microsoft Silverlight Develop custom CRM applications with Visual Studio Integrate CRM with Team Foundation Server Use Scribe templates and adapters to streamline data integration and migration On the web: Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672330544.

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Unleashed is the newest version of the best-selling SharePoint Unleashed series by Michael Noel and Colin Spence. Once again, Noel and Spence deliver comprehensive, real-world coverage of everything you need to know to successfully design, implement, configure and use SharePoint 2013 solutions. Leveraging their experience with hundreds of companies of all sizes and from many different industries, Noel and Spence present best practices and expert implementation and configuration methodologies, and focus on the features and tools that provide the most value to busy professionals. This edition adds comprehensive coverage of SharePoint 2013's most valuable and productive new features, including: Using PowerShell automation to streamline management Building virtualized SharePoint environments Strengthening authentication and security Improving user experience via the ribbon interface; new lists, libraries, and templates; and enhanced metadata Integrating with the newest versions of Microsoft Office, Exchange, SQL Server, ForeFront, and System Center Taking full advantage of key mobile and social improvements Using the newest Business Connectivity Services capabilities Improving records management/compliance, web content management, and BI And much more Noel and Spence also offer indispensable guidance on migration, UI, and data store choices, and dependencies; and present crucial infrastructure knowledge that most SharePoint guides ignore.

Now that Microsoft has made SharePoint Designer a free download, thousands of organizations are adopting it to design state-of-the-art SharePoint sites and solutions. In SharePoint® Designer 2010 Unleashed, Microsoft MVP Kathy Hughes brings together all the information you need to make the most of this powerful tool. Using realistic examples, you are guided through all of Designer 2010’s capabilities, presenting best practices drawn from her extensive experience. First, Hughes quickly reviews the SharePoint 2010 concepts and tools that SharePoint Designer 2010 users must know to be effective. Next, she introduces SharePoint Designer 2010’s revamped interface, shows how to use its core features, and calls attention to its most powerful new improvements. You’ll walk step-by-step through styling and designing sites that offer advanced functionality and consistent branding. Next, you’ll master SharePoint Designer 2010’s toolsets for data integration and workflow development. This book will be invaluable to every user or potential user of SharePoint Designer, including: Web designers, information workers, software developers, system administrators, and IT managers. Kathy Hughes is a Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server with a Masters Degree in interaction design from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Hughes trains and consults on SharePoint, focusing on design, usability, and customization. She contributed to multiple SharePoint Server 2007 books, and authored a comprehensive five-day SharePoint Server 2007 Designer course used by Mindsharp and its partners worldwide. She speaks regularly at Microsoft events including TechEd Australia and Office DevCon Australia. Get started fast with SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Customize SharePoint sites and content with CSS, Web Parts, master pages, and themes Work with site templates Create and adapt content types, columns, lists, and libraries Quickly build new content pages and page layouts Incorporate media, including Silverlight and images Configure RSS, REST, SQL Server, and other data sources Integrate external content types and lists via Business Connectivity Services (BCS) Authenticate data sources and troubleshoot data integration problems Extend the ribbon with custom actions and leverage the dialog framework to enhance the user interface Use SharePoint Designer 2010’s built-in ASP.NET controls Extend site functionality with the XSLT List View and Data View Web Parts Modify out-of-the-box list forms, or build new ones with InfoPath 2010 Adapt Designer 2010’s workflows or build entirely new ones Category: Microsoft® SharePoint® Covers: Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 User Level: Intermediate–Advanced ON THE WEB: Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672331053

This comprehensive resource will help you automate and optimize all facets of service management with System Center 2012 Service Manager. Expert consultants offer deep "in the trenches" insights for improving problem resolution, change control, release management, asset lifecycle management, chargeback, and more. You'll learn how to implement high-value best practices from ITIL and the Microsoft Operations Framework. The authors begin with an expert overview of Service Manager, its evolution, and its new capabilities. Next, they walk through overall planning, design, implementation, and upgrades. Then, to help you focus your efforts, they present stepwise coverage of all topics in each feature area, linking technical information about Service Manager with essential knowledge about the technologies it depends on. Whatever your role in deploying or running Service Manager, this guide will help you deliver more responsive support at lower cost and drive more value from all your IT investments. * Leverage MOF and ITIL processes built into System Center 2012 Service Manager * Plan and design your Service Manager deployment * Install Service Manager or upgrade from earlier versions * Efficiently administer work and configuration items * Use connectors to integrate with Active Directory, Exchange, and System Center components * Create service maps * Enable end user access through Service Manager's self-service portal * Implement incident, problem, change, and release management * Utilize workflows to automate key support processes * Create service level agreements with calendars, metrics, and objectives * Provide quick access to a standardized catalog of services * Use notification to ensure that Service Manager items are promptly addressed * Secure Service Manager and its data warehouse/reporting platform * Perform maintenance, backup, and recovery * Manage Service Manager performance * Customize Service Manager