PowerPivot for Excel is a free download that significantly expands the data analysis capabilities of Excel. PowerPivot is made up of the Excel free add-in and the SharePoint server component.
Video tutorial by Michele Hart, Technical Writer for Microsoft SQL Server.
View all the PowerPivot videos on YouTube in the official SQL Server PowerPivot playlist.
You will need...
When installing Office, be sure to install Office Shared features.
To install PowerPivot, go to http://powerpivot.com.
To verify that the add-in installed, open Excel, and then click the PowerPivot tab on the Excel ribbon. The PowerPivot window opens over the Excel window.
Processor
500 MHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
RAM
2 to 4 GB of RAM. The add-in consumes approximately 25 MB of RAM. An additional 33 MB is consumed when the first PivotTable is added to the worksheet. Additional RAM is required for PowerPivot workbooks. The amount of RAM required will vary depending on the workbook you create.
PowerPivot supports files up to 2GB in size. The 64-bit version of PowerPivot enables you to work with up to 4GB of data in memory, and the 32-bit version enables you to work with up to 2GB of data in memory.
Disk space
100 MB disk space is required for the program files. Additional disk space is required to store data files. Although the files contain compressed data, you might require significant disk space if you create numerous workbooks that contain a very large amount of data. There is no way to know advance what your disk space requirements will be. Be sure to monitor disk space consumption as you create and save files to ensure you have sufficient space.
PowerPivot for Excel can be installed on a computer that has 32-bit or 64-bit Excel 2010. If you have installed the 32-bit version of Excel, you must install the 32-bit version of PowerPivot for Excel. Likewise, if you have installed the 64-bit version of Excel, you must install the 64-bit version of PowerPivot for Excel.