PerformancePoint Connection issues

I have been troubleshooting some PerformancePoint connection issues in setting up a new instance of PPS and, as you may or may not know, getting the configuration right can be a challenge. There's lots of good info online about setting up the Application Pool (Nick Barclay has a particularly good post), but for those not familiar with certain applications, sometimes what's NOT said can give you fits.

Case in point - when making identity changes to the App Pool, BE SURE TO RESET IIS or those changes aren't in effect. (Recycling the App Pool is not sufficient.)

For those not familiar, the easiest way to cycle IIS is to open a command prompt and enter IISRESET. It's a quick process, but as always, be sure to coordinate with anyone else that may be using web services at that time.