Both moves signal Panroama’s continued shift away from its traditionally close ties to Microsoft Corp’s SQL Server-based BI platform.

Panorama has effectively integrated its NovaView BI suite with Google Spreadsheets to allow companies to collaborate over spreadsheets over the web and outside corporate firewalls.

We recognize that the business paradigm is changing and that the business community is demanding a more accessible way to collaborate outside the firewall, said Oudi Antebi, vice president of marketing and business strategy at Toronto-based Panorama.

He said that NovaView is the first BI tool that lets users remotely access BI data held in Google spreadsheets.

Google launched its hosted web-based spreadsheet earlier this month. The Google spreadsheet has similar functionality to Writely, another online spreadsheet program that has proved so popular it now has a waiting list of users wanting access it. But Google is making its spreadsheet available to a limited number of users initially.

Antebi added that the integration is the first in a series of strategic development initiatives that Panorama is planning with Google’s technology.

The move follows Panorama’s plans to integrate with Microsoft’s Office 2007 and SharePoint applications.

Separately, Panorama also unveiled plans to enable Microsoft’s forthcoming Office 2007 to operate, via NovaView, as a primary front-end for SAP BW.

Right now Office 2007’s BI capabilities seem to be available only to SQL Server customers. Panorama hopes to open that up by providing richer BI capabilities, above and beyond the out-of-the-box capabilities in Office, to SAP customers as well.

Panorama plans include what tight integration with Microsoft’s Outlook application and the development of new personal BI dashboard where users can visually drag and drop BI data into a side pane.

What Panorama is really trying to do here is make NovaView a mid-tier BI hub for SAP BW users.

Panorama is building on the Duet (formerly called Mendocino) initiative announced recently by Microsoft and SAP as a way to allow Office users to interact directly with SAP applications data.

We’re effectively building the ‘Mendocino for BI’ making BI data from SAP available in Office applications, said Panorama CEO Eynay Azarya.

It is not surprise that Panorama, a close Microsoft partner that that developed the technology behind the Analysis Services OLAP engine now included in SQL Server, is turning its attention to SAP.

Following Microsoft’s acquisition of ProClarity Corp in April this year, Panorama risked being left out in the cold. In April it announced that it was defocusing on its traditional partner and aligning itself closer to SAP. But the company also said it would continue to hunt down Microsoft BI business as well.

There is of course no love lost between Google and Microsoft, a point that probably hasn’t gone unnoticed by Panorama. Google’s new spreadsheet initiative is part of attempt to build up a portfolio of online personal productivity tools to compete with Microsoft Office.