Excel PowerPivot Add-in? + Cloud based data sources.

Hello everybody,

My company use an Excel Dashboard reporting format, with one tab containing the source data for the pivots tables and charts.

The issue is that sometimes the source data in the tab is just too big for Excel to handle and impractically large to send to the clients.

My idea for a solution is the PowerPivot add in. This way the dashboard can read off of an external source: in our case an access database stored in Dropbox.

my questions are:

If I download the add-in, when i send the dashboard to the client will the add in be sent too? I.E I don't want the client to have the hassle of separately downloading it.

Is the add in any good? I.E when filtering your data, is it really as quick as it claims?

Is dropbox a good idea for cloud storage?

Thanks in advance!

K

Originally Posted by JosephP

no the add-in will not be sent. yes it is very good with large datasets. I don't know if you can use a database stored in dropbox-do you use sharepoint?

I see. No, I don't use sharepoint at present. I'm guessing I can use this as a cloud based location for my source data.

Can I connect excel directly to sharepoint without the add in?

Thanks,

Originally Posted by JosephP

if you use sharepoint you can publish the dashboards so your clients just need a browser: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-u...s&FeatureID=10
there is also a powerpivot server version for it. sharepoint is outside my sphere though so I cannot make any specific recommendations

Thanks for that. But, for now we are looking to stick with our low cost excel dashboard despite the inconveniences.

So just to be clear: there is no way to connect Excel pivots/charts to web based data-sources without the add in?

Thanks.