Thursday, March 29, 2012

SQL Reporting Services - Your "Free" BI Tool!

Many senior level executives and IT Professionals are not aware of an extremely powerful report writer that is already part of their database SQL Server installation and it’s free!

This report writer has come a long way from its initial SQL 2000 debut. With the newest release under SQL 2012, SQL Reporting Services or SSRS as its’ known, delivers enterprise, Web-enabled business intelligence (BI) reporting functionality so you can create reports that draw content from a variety of data sources, publish reports in various formats, and centrally manage security and subscriptions.

SQL Server Reporting Services combines a single, complete reporting platform with a scalable and extensible architecture to meet a wide variety of reporting needs, including:

o Enterprise Reporting: Enterprises can use Reporting Services for their operational reporting or business intelligence applications. Using Reporting Services, corporate IT staff can design a variety of reports and deploy them to individuals throughout the enterprise.

o Ad-hoc Reporting: SQL Reporting Services includes Report Builder 2.0, a new ad-hoc reporting tool that enables business users to create their own reports and explore corporate data. Report Builder incorporates a user-friendly business query model that enables users to build reports without deep technical understanding of the underlying data sources.

o Automated Subscriptions: Users can create reports and have the system automatically run the reports at specific times along with distribution of those reports via multiple methods such as email in different formats including CSV, PDF and Excel.

o Embedded Reporting: Organizations can access predefined or ad-hoc reports from third-party applications that use Reporting Services and use these reports as-is, customize them, or create new ones for specific business needs.

o Web-based Reporting: for Internal Users and Customers. Organizations can deploy interactive Web-based reports to deliver information to customers or partners over extranets or the Internet. SSRS isolates report consumers from the complexity of the underlying data sources, while providing personalization and interactivity.

Whether you want to outsource or do it yourself, SSRS allows you to write sophisticated reports that leverage your existing database investment! Besides, the price is right as well!