PowerPivot is a free add-in to the 2010 version of the spreadsheet application Microsoft Excel. In Excel 2013, PowerPivot is only available for certain versions of Office. It extends the capabilities of the PivotTable data summarisation and cross-tabulation feature with new features such as expanded data capacity, advanced calculations, ability to import data from multiple sources, and the ability to publish the workbooks as interactive web applications. As such, PowerPivot falls under Microsoft's Business Intelligence offering, complementing it with its self-service, in-memory capabilities.
Prior to the release of PowerPivot, Microsoft relied heavily on SQL Server Analysis Services as the engine for its Business Intelligence suite. PowerPivot complements the SQL Server core BI components under the vision of one Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM), which aims to integrate on-disk multidimensional analytics previously known as Unified Dimensional Model, or UDM, with a more flexible, in-memory "tabular" model.
As a self-service BI product, PowerPivot is intended to allow users with no specialised BI or analytics training to develop data models and calculations, sharing them either directly or through SharePoint document libraries.
As part of the July 8, 2013 announcement of the new "Power BI" suite of self-service tools, Microsoft renamed PowerPivot as "Power Pivot" in order to match the naming convention of other tools in the suite.
Microsoft PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology; fast manipulation of large data sets, streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft SharePoint.
How to download and install PowerPivot
Prerequisites:
- Requires Microsoft Office 2010.
- PowerPivot for Excel supports 32-bit or 64-bit machines.
- PowerPivot requires a minimum of 1 GB of RAM (2 GB or more recommended).
Note: The amount of memory you need depends on the PowerPivot solution that you design.
- Requires Windows XP with SP3, Windows Vista with SP1, or Windows 7
Important: If you are using the 32-bit version of Excel 2010, you must use the 32-bit version of PowerPivot. If you are using the 64-bit version of Excel 2010, you must use the 64-bit version of PowerPivot. The versions are not interchangeable.
Install and configure PowerPivot for Excel 2010:
- Open the folder where you downloaded PowerPivot for Excel 2010.
- Double-click the PowerPivot_for_Excel.msi file, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
- After the installation is complete, click Finish.
- Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office 2010, and then click Microsoft Excel 2010.
- When Excel 2010 starts, a message appears asking if you want to install PowerPivot. Click OK.
- After installation completes, the PowerPivot tab appears in the Office 2010 ribbon.
Let's go.
