Varigence, Inc.

Varigence is excited to announce that we will be a Gold Sponsor of SQLBits X.  SQLBits X consists of 3 days of amazing SQL Server content and serves as the official UK Technical Launch for SQL Server 2012.  SQLBits will be taking place at Novotel West in London from March 29^th until March 31^st.

Varigence will be exhibiting on site at SQLBits, so stop by our booth and say hello. We’ll be giving away mini-footballs and having a raffle for an IPad 2.  In addition, our CEO Scott Currie will be giving two lunch time presentations.  On Friday, Scott will discuss how to accelerate your BI projects with Varigence tools and frameworks.  On Saturday, he’ll show how you can use a free solution with Business Intelligence Markup Language (BIML) and BIDS Helper to achieve unparalleled performance and usability from SSIS.

Register for SQL Bits now at  

Vivid provides the ability to do two things with drillthrough that are not supported by SQL Server Analysis Server (SSAS) or Excel: (1) Drillthrough on a calculated measure and (2) drillthrough in the presence of multiselect filters.  In this entry you’ll learn about how Vivid successfully handles both of these.

Drillthrough on Calculated Measures

Drillthrough on calculated measures is difficult to get right for a variety of reasons (http://www.biblogs.com/2008/09/01/drillthrough-on-calculated-measures/).  For example, assume the following calculation:

Not all measures in an SSAS cube or PowerPivot cut all the hierarchies and vice-versa. This is best explained by example. Let’s use the Adventure Works sample cube and Microsoft Excel 2010.

Start with a pivot table that only has Geography in the rows. In the Adventure Works cube the “Internet” measures don’t cut Geography, so if we were to add a measure from the Internet Customers measure group, e.g., Customer Count, we’d see a peculiar result:

What is Date Intelligence?

Date Intelligence in Vivid is not a single feature, but rather a suite of related features. To get the most out of the BI data, analysts need to be able to query their cubes to obtain the dataset from specific points in time. Relevant time periods are highly variable between industries and ever-changing within companies. Our Time Functions are designed to make date ranges easier to work with.

The Time Functions

A new user’s first reaction after using Vivid for a few days is usually “I’ll never use Excel without this again!”  This raises the question – why is Vivid a Microsoft Excel add-in rather than a standalone application? Vivid provides enough unique functionality to justify its licensing as a stand-alone product. Here are some reasons why we’ve chosen to develop and market Vivid as an Excel Add-In:

1. Excel is already the dominant SSAS analysis client.  Every BI analyst keeps Excel open on their desk and already knows how to use it.  Why add a completely new tool with all new idioms and patterns?  We instead build on the Excel idioms and patterns, so that current users feel right at home. 


2. Excel has some very excellent BI capabilities.   This hasn't always been the  case, but since 2007 Microsoft has greatly increased the BI capacity of Excel.  Rather than reinventing the wheel and reimplementing all Excel's functionality, we decided to create a new and unique BI feature set on top of Excel's capabilities.  Since we don't have to implement things like drilldown, filters, or slicers, we can focus on adding the features Excel chronically lacks.


3. Vivid-enhanced Excel projects still work with non-Vivid users.  By building ourselves directly into Excel and building on Excel workbooks, users can add value with Vivid, but if they don't have Vivid, the pivot tables created still work.  An individual analyst using Vivid,  working with a team that still uses vanilla Excel, can share workbooks with no friction.  Of course, getting everyone on Vivid has great synergistic benefits – but it’s a choice, not a fixed conversion cost.


4. Vivid users retain full access to Excel charts.  Charting is an important aspect of any BI tool, and again this is an area where Excel has good support.  Since we use native Excel pivot tables, Vivid users continue to be able to use all of the capabilities associated with Excel charts. 


5. Vivid works with other Add-Ins.  The Excel add-in model allows Vivid to work side by side with other add-ins.  So if your organization has investments in other Excel add-ins to improve workflow, Vivid fits right in.  There is no concern that you lose functionality provided by an add-in when you decide to use Vivid. With Vivid, users continue to leverage all of their existing investments in Excel.

As an Excel Add-In developer we really take to heart making you more productive, and we've taken the important step of making sure you're productive in your day-to-day tool, Microsoft Excel.


Kang Su Gatlin

Vivid is an indispensable tool that brings advanced analytics capabilities directly into Microsoft Excel. The new 1.5 version of Vivid adds powerful new self-service analytics features for both teams and individual analysts.

You've made it to the Varigence blog, welcome! 

The first thing you should know is who we are.  Varigence team members live and breathe business intelligence and application development.  We were brought together by a vision that business intelligence could be made much more efficient and effective.    As a business we currently have one shipping product, Vivid, and another product, Mist, slated for release at the end of January 2011. Varigence also provides consulting and training services to help customers accelerate adoption of our products and frameworks.

The goals of this blog are: