Based on my reading of the first chapter of Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010: Give Your Data Meaning by Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari, the PowerPivot add-in available for 2010 MS Excel, reduces dependency on an IT department to retrieve datasets. The dependency exists particularly when the data that needs to be analyzed resides in more than one table and the report creator either doesn’t have the skills to create complex queries to retrieve the dataset or doesn’t have the permissions. PowerPivot is a big help to those dependent on IT for the following reasons. • it removes the limitation that a PivotTable can analyze only a single table • recognizes the relationships between tables • removes the need to know how to build SQL complex queries Excel PowerPivot Cons • it cannot deliver complex reports such as those required by mid-sized companies, that SQL Server Analysis Services, which provides pivoting features on complex data structures known as OLAP cubes, can. Please add your thoughts on PowerPoint’s most significant contribution to Excel reporting and BI in general. .