Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services provides a complete, server-based platform designed to support a wide variety of reporting needs enabling organizations to deliver relevant information where needed across the entire enterprise.
SQL Server Reporting Services supports a wide range of common data sources, such as OLE DB and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), as well as multiple output formats such as familiar Web browsers and Microsoft Office System applications.
SQL Server Reporting Services supports the full reporting life cycle, including:
- Report authoring
Report developers can create reports to be published to the Report Server using Microsoft or other design tools that use Report Definition Language (RDL), an XML-based industry standard used to define reports.
- Report management
Report definitions, folders, and resources are published and managed as a Web service. Managed reports can be executed either on demand or on a specified schedule, and are cached for consistency and performance.
- Report delivery
SQL Server Reporting Services supports both on-demand (pull) and event-based (push) delivery of reports. Users can view reports in a Web-based format or in e-mail.
- Report security
SQL Server Reporting Services implements a flexible, role-based security model to protect reports and reporting resources. The product includes extensible interfaces for integrating other security models as well.
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 individual throughout the enterprise.
Ad-hoc reporting
SQL Reporting Services includes Report Builder, 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.
Embedded reporting
Organizations can access pre-defined 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.
Web-based reporting for partners and customers
Organizations can deploy interactive Web-based reports to deliver information to customers or partners over extranets of the Internet. Reporting Services isolates report consumers from the complexity of the underlying data sources, while providing personalization and interactivity.
For more information about SQL Reporting Services, click here to visit the Microsoft site or contact us today.