Version 2 of PowerPivot (download) is being made available with SQL Server 2012. There are many new features, and my top 5 are:
Diagram View – Instead of looking at the defined relationships in a list format, v2 allows you to view the relationships in a diagram. This makes it much easier to view how all the data fits together
KPIs – You can now create Key Performance Indicators
Hierarchies – There is now functionality to model parent-child relationships along with a PATH function to display the path of a parent-child relationship in a delimited format
Perspectives – You can define subsets of a model to provide a simplified view for the end-user (same as in SSAS)
Sort by Other Column – Allows for sorting one column by another column within the same table. For example, the month name column can be sorted by the month number column
More info:
SQL Server 2012 PowerView and PowerPivot v2
What’s new in PowerPivot for Excel with SQL Server Code Name “Denali” CTP3
Microsoft PowerPivot Code-Named “Denali” CTP3 Release Notes
Using PerformancePoint Services (PPS) with PowerPivot SQL Server 2012 RC0
Using the Calculation Area and DAX in SQL Server 2012
