Microsoft will discontinue PerformancePoint Server as an independent product, and is exiting the market for standalone corporate performance management software.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will discontinue PerformancePoint Server as an independent product and will fold some of its capabilities into SharePoint Server, signaling a significant change in the company's business-intelligence software strategy.

As part of the change, Microsoft is easing out of the product area that the BI world refers to as "corporate performance management"; the sophisticated financial planning and forecasting tools used by CFOs and financial analysts. While PerformancePoint's dashboard, scorecard and analytics capabilities will become part of SharePoint, Microsoft said its final work on the planning/forecasting tools in PerformancePoint will be via a service pack it distributes this summer. View full storyhere