Plan Your Upgrade Strategy Carefully
Microsoft Power View and PowerPivot are technologies that now exist both on the desktop and on the server
across Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and SQL Server. As such, you need to carefully consider when, and in what
order, you will upgrade the desktop and server components. For example, you can publish an Excel 2010
workbook with a PowerPivot model to SharePoint 2013 without issue. However, if you publish an Excel 2013
workbook to SharePoint 2010, the PowerPivot and Power View functionality won’t work. This is similar to trying to restore a SQL Server backup—it’s usually possible to restore to a newer version of SQL Server without
any problems, but it’s impossible to restore to an older version.
A simple rule of thumb is to upgrade in this order:
1. Upgrade PowerPivot for SharePoint and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to SQL Server 2012 SP1.
2. Upgrade your SharePoint farm to SharePoint 2013.
3. Upgrade from Excel 2010 to Excel 2013.
By following this approach, end users will have a predictable experience as they publish and extend their
workbooks with Power View. ■
of SQL Server 2012 SP1. Now, Power View is built into Excel 2013.
And Microsoft is also planning to introduce a version of Power View
that’s compatible with devices that can’t use Silverlight (e.g., Apple
iPad). If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to get familiar
with Power View. It’s a tool both IT pros and business users can leverage for better data analysis and visualization. ■
