Using Excel & Excel Services with SQL Server Analysis Services 2008

With the recent announcement of SharePoint Server 2007 supporting SQL Server 2008, like you, I was excited to setup my Excel / Excel Services environment to take advantage of the great new capabilities available, and there are many. I encourage you to take a look at how the new SQL environment will benefit your SharePoint deployment, and your Business Intelligence reporting and analysis capabilities.

SharePoint Server 2007 can use SQL Server 2008 as a repository without any extra configuration requirements.  What about connecting Excel client to the new Analysis Services environment?

Excel accesses Analysis Services 2008 the same way it does 2005.  From within  Excel, select the Analysis Services drop down from the Data tab -> From Other Sources drop down, and then walk through the data connection wizard to identify location, cube, and credentials. Ensure that the necessary SQL Server 2008 client components are installed prior to making the connection as the provider for Analysis Services 2008 is MSOLAP.4 (more about this later).