William Li's Enterprise Reporting

Service Account Configuration for Reporting Service

2006-10-21T23:57:00Z

Found a good MSDN article about configuring service accounts for SQL 2005 Reporting Service, see below. One thing want to highlight is that for production, it is recommended to use domain accounts. Although the passord expiration needs to be managed, it is best practice for many organizations.

Configuring Service Accounts

The report server Windows service account is first specified during Setup when you specify options in the Service Account page. Although specifying the service account during Setup is required, you can choose a different account after Setup is finished. For more information about the permissions that each service requires, see Setting Up Windows Service Accounts.

The report server Web service account can be specified during Setup if you are installing the default configuration. In the default configuration, the Web service account always runs as the default ASP.NET account on Windows XP or Windows 2000 server, or as Network Service on Windows Server 2003. If ASP.NET is configured to use a different account, the report server Web service account must be specified manually.

To set up the service accounts manually, use the Reporting Services Configuration tool. The tool includes two pages for specifying the accounts: the Web Service Identity page and the Windows Service Identity page. You can specify the service accounts in any order. For more information, see Changing Service Accounts and Passwords.

When configuring the accounts, you can use any of the following account types:

Account	Explanation
Network Service	This is a built-in account that is well-suited for running the report server Web service on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Network Service is not available on other Windows operating systems). Choose Network Service if you want to avoid any down-time that might occur as a result of password expiration policies. Avoid Network Service if you do not want to run the report server under accounts that might also be used by other applications.
Domain accounts	You can choose a Windows domain account if the account has minimal permissions. Windows domain accounts are the default for SQL Server services. Choose domain accounts if you want to precisely configure the permissions on the service. Avoid domain accounts if do not want to change the password or account due to expiration security policies used in your organization.
Local Service	This is a built-in account that is similar to an authenticated user account. Services that run as the Local Service account access network resources as a null session with no credentials. This account is not appropriate for most intranet deployment scenarios. If domain accounts are used to create subscriptions, you cannot use Local Service for the Report Server Windows service account. If you use Local Service, the report server database must be on the same computer if the service account is used to connect to the report server database. If you want to use remote SQL Server instance, you must use SQL Server authentication and a database user login for the report server database connection. Local Service is the default service account for a report server you install through Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services. That edition has built-in restrictions that prevent access to remote servers. For more information, see Reporting Services in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services.
Local System	Avoid this account for report server installations. Local System is a highly privileged account that is not necessary for running a report server. Choose a domain account, Network Service, or Local Service instead.

Reporting Service Updates in SQL 2005 Service Pack 2

2006-10-13T20:13:22Z

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 is coming out soon. The very important piece of SP2 is support of SSRS and SharePoint 2007 Integration. There are many bug fixes and enhancements in the service pack but here I want to highlight the integration with SharePoint 2007.

The key functionalities include:

SSRS & SharePoint Integration

The existing integration between Reporting Service and SharePoint are very limited. It is primarily done through two web parts – Report Explorer for listing the reports and Report Viewer for execution of the report. Security, Management of the UI and others are not integrated. In this coming Service Pack 2, SSRS not only starts to support SharePoint 2007 which is coming out before end of this year as part of Office 2007 product release, it also enhances the degree of the integrations.

Seamless integration with SharePoint Document Library in Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Report server namespace and security is hosted in WSS content database
- SharePoint database stores Report Server reports, data sources, models, resources etc.
- Report Server database used for additional metadata (schedules, caching, subscriptions)
- Enables collaboration, workflow, versioning
Centralized user interface for Report Management through Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Upload, manage, render and deliver Reports all through Office SharePoint Server 2007 UI
- Administration using Office SharePoint Server 2007
Rich reporting experience to "light up" Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Filter web parts enhancing dashboards in Office SharePoint Server 2007

In SP2, Reporting Service also integrates with Hyperion, and Report Builder supports for Oracle Data Sources.

Use Reporting Service Itself to Monitor Customers' Reporting Activities

2006-10-03T01:56:00Z

The list of reports requested in Requirement or Functional Specification by customers is one thing, the actual list of reports used for day-to-day business after Production is another thing. While we know customers have the challenges of changing business needs, how do we understand and measure what are the reports that are actually being used by customers after Production? To some degrees, it is important to understand this fact so that future iteration of developments and/or maintenance can be placed in the right order of priorities.

I found an easy way to do that - if you are using SQL Server 2005 Reporting Service. The idea is to upload the IIS log for the Reporting Service into an IT or operation oriented database (anywhere in the internal network) and then organize the data for a few handy and useful reports through Reporting Service. To do that, there are two tools you should download:

Log Parser 2.2: Log parser is a powerful, versatile tool that provides universal query access to text-based data such as log files, XML files and CSV files, as well as key data sources on the Windows operating system such as the Event Log, the Registry, the file system, and Active Directory. You can download the Log Parser 2.2 here.

SQL 2005 Reporting Pack for Internet Information Service: a set of 12 predefined reports and a sample database to easily visualize and author managed reports such as site summary statistics, time period, page views and user statistics, based on information extracted from IIS log files.
Download it here.

Install them both on your Reporting Server. Create a database for your IT reporting, say name it ITRPT. Use the following scripts to populate the log data into the database:

C:\Program Files\Log Parser 2.2>logparser -i:IISW3C -o:SQL "SELECT * INTO ITRPT.IISLog FROM \\myreportingserver\REPORT_LOGS\*.*" -oConnString:"Driver={SQL Server};Server=Mydatabase;db=ITRPT" -database:ITRPT -createTable:ON

The above scripts will upload the IIS Log file (located in \\myreportingserver\REPORT_LOGS\*.* into a backend database ITRPT in a server Mydatabase. A new table IISLog will be created automatically.

You can now have access to a set of pre-defined reports to manage your Reporting Service site. The reports available including when users visit your Reports, where the users coming from, etc. In addition, by leveraging the IIS Log database table, you can perform some transformation to extract useful information:

SELECT replace(replace(substring(csUriQuery, 10, 300), '%2f', '/'), '+', ' ') as Report, count(*) as total
FROM iislog
WHERE csUriQuery like 'ItemPath=%' and csUriQuery not like '%ViewMode=%' and csUriQuery not like '%SelectedSubTabId=%' and csUriQuery not like '%SelectedTabId=%'
GROUP BY csUriQuery
ORDER BY Total DESC

Basically what the above scripts does, is to check the Report folders in your home pages and then perform calculations on the total visits on the reports. Once you got there, by using Report Designer, you can create some very useful reports. For example, Top 20 Most Active Reports within 30 Days, Most Active Reports by Project, etc.

“ARRA” Challenges in Today’s Enterprise Reporting

2006-09-28T09:14:00Z

For a long time, Reporting to most of organizations is known as “second tier” priority compare to “first tier” online transaction systems. This is still somewhat true in today’s business environment. However, Enterprise reporting is becoming increasingly critical in terms of the roles it plays in enterprise decision marking. It is not unusual that companies spend more time and money investing in Enterprise Reporting than online transaction systems. In some organizations, Reporting is equally or more important than online transaction systems.

Normally, A reporting system is built on top of a throughout understanding organzation's business needs, data model and daily information flows. However, to play the key roles in information decision making and maintain high level of organizational function for long period of time, there are new challenges have been emerging for Enterprise Reporting solution developers to consider, which I call it ARRA challenges,

Agile Construction – Ability to deliver enterprise reporting solution incrementally through quick cycles and iterative approaches to avoid investing one big bet upfront. In fact, most of those big bet failed miserably because of the changing nature of enterprise business information and data. Today, Reporting solutions in enterprise need more adaptability compare to online transaction system. The traditional ways of developing Reporting solutions typically have a few well-known problems - big upfront cost, long development time and stable business information flow. Agile approach will allow enterprises to enter into a healthy build-and-use, rebuild-and-reuse cycles. Partial but early production allows enterprise information workers’ feedback and adjustment be built in to the solutions.

Rapid Development and Deployment – Today’s organization can not wait for the traditional waterfall cycles of writing reporting requirement, having developers to design reports, testers to QA and operation to deploy them to production. Business just does not have time time or the “spec” that IT teams are looking. Instead, users are demanding rapid development and deployment for reports. Many ad-hoc reports are just “ideas” or “try-and-see” type of information analysis for business users. They are keen to leverage a rapid development and deployment reporting infrastructure to probe new findings of enterprise data in order to provide more adaptive data analysis and consumptions cycles.

Real-Time Reporting – Another tradition in Reporting solution is that data and information provided norally are not near-real-time. 24 Hours or even longer delay in data refresh cycles are very usual solution due to the problems of conflicting resources utilization between instantaneous online transaction system needs and complex aggregation reporting queries. However, today’s enterprise is driven by fast cycle of information decisions. Reporting architect and designers need to invest in solutions that bring enterprises information and data more quickly and timely in front of decision makers.

Availability – when mentioning high availability and 24*7, people will think immediately for online transactional system. However, in today’s increasing complex enterprise business environment, data needs to be available any time around the clock and globally. This is becoming more and more important to create and maintain enterprise wide competitiveness. You may slowly notice that your enterprise information workers are demanding the high availability of Enterprise Reporting system just like in the past of online transaction system.

It is still not easy to build an Enterprise Reporting solution to meet the above needs. However, I believe the trend is inevitable. Is your system ready for Enterprise Reporting?

Using OfficeWriter as Report Designer

2006-09-26T21:46:00Z

If you have developed a solution using Reporting Service, the Report Builder is obvious choice for end user designing ad-hoc reports. In some situations, business users want to design a report, execute it, export the results back to excel, and then using Excel to format it. If these happen a lot, you will find using another product OfficeWriter is better for your users’ needs.

OfficeWriter is a product from SoftArtisans (www.softartisans.com). It leverages Reporting Service web services and offices integration with Microsoft Excel and Word. Users can use Excel to design a SSRS report, together with the powerful formatting and calculation controls available in Excel. See a case study here:

http://members.microsoft.com/customerevidence/search/EvidenceDetails.aspx?EvidenceID=14783&LanguageID=1

If you want to know more about the product, check this out

MSDN Webcast: Design Reports from SQL Server Reporting Services Using Microsoft Office Programs (Level 200)

In one of my customer scenarios, OfficeWriter is used with Excel to design a report that allows information can be formatted exactly as what the end-user needed. Also, the information was distributed to multiple worksheet in the excel workbook. If a user subscribes to this report, it will be generated and emailed to the user’s mailbox very day in the morning.

I really like the fact that it simplifies many steps in between and offers the final formatted reports to end users. Thing about it – all these are done by end users themselves with Excel (OfficeWriter is a front end user tool, with subscription permission in your reporting solution) and no IT efforts involved!

For Enterprise Reporting, it means empowering the business end users! :-).

Install SQL Server Reporting Service SP2 with Longhorn

2006-09-23T05:31:00Z

I have been trying to run SQL Server 2005 Reporting Service on Windows Longhorn but haven’t got enough luck previously. Today I finally got it right and here are the details I’d like to share with you.

1. The Proper Environment

You need to have SQL 2005 Service Pack 2 CTP1 and Windows Longhorn Server RC1 (Build 5600) to get them work together. Please find the following path for these two products:

SQL 2005 Service Pack 2 CTP1: \\sqlbuilds\builds\RELEASED\SQLServer2005\9.00.3017.01\release\packages

· Windows Longhorn RC1 (Build 5600): \\winbuilds\release\vista_rc1\5600.16384.060829-2230\x86fre\media\Client_en-us.

If you don’t have access to these folders, too bad L. But soon I’m sure it will be available to http://productsweb and external download sites.

I don’t know if builds prior to this works together (for installing SQL Reporting Service on Vista or Longhorn) as I have been failing so many times. Do let me know if you have successful stories.

2. Installing IIS 7

The very first thing you need to do is to ensure IIS7 is installed and configured properly on the Longhorn server. By default, the IIS7 is not installed and configured.

Installed IIS 7 in Longhorn

Start -> Server Manager. Select Manage Roles in the left panel manu then go with Add Roles. Select Web Server (IIS) and install.

I have the IIS run a complete install for the roles. Alternatively, you can try Ketaanh Shah’s comment for the minimum installation of IIS:

Common HTTP Features

           Static Content
           Default Document
           HTTP Redirection
           Directory Browsing

Application Development

           ASP.Net
           ISAPI Extension
           ISAPI Filters

Security

Windows Authentication

Management Tools

IIS Metabase
IIS 6 WMI

Note: Please reboot the Longhorn server after you completed the IIS 7 installation. (I know! The Longhorn supposes to eliminate the reboots but…..maybe in next RCsJ).

3. Installing SQL Server 2005 with Reporting Service

If during the installation, Reporting Service checkbox is not enabled for you to install, check your IIS settings and installation.

4. Installing Service Pack 2 CTP1

After the installation of SQL, Reporting Service and SP2, you should use Management Studio to connect to the database as well as the Reporting Service. If you cannot connect due to error “In sufficient permission”, do the following:

Go to Start à All Programs à Microsoft SQL Server 2005 à SQL Server Management Studio. Right click your mouse and select “Run as Administrator”.

You should be able connect to the Database and Reporting Service. Add yourself and the service account to have sufficient rights for Database as well as the Reporting Service home folders.

5. Configure Reporting Service

Configure your Reporting Service using the Reporting Service Configuration Tool under here:

Go to Start à All Programs à Microsoft SQL Server 2005 à Configuration Tools à Reporting Services Configuration

You might find some errors with trying to configure the Reporting Service. Here is what I have encountered:

Report Server Database is an Invalid Version – You will get an error on Event logs for this. And the message is

The version of the report server database is either in a format that is not valid, or it cannot be read. The found version is 'C.0.8.40'. The expected version is 'C.0.8.43'. To continue, update the version of the report server database and verify access rights. (rsInvalidReportServerDatabase)

What you should do is to use the Reporting Configuration Tool, go to the Database Setup listed on the left navigation pane and then click the Upgrade button.

The reason for this error that that in SQL Server Service Pack, the report database schema is changed.

6. Browsing the Report Manager Web Folder

If you are successful, an empty folder should appear under the home page with “Home” when you try to access the Report Manager. Deploy your data sources and reports to start using Report Service!

If you see nothing in the Report Server after you deploy the reports, “run as administrator” with your IE!.

Different Types of Enterprise Reporting Needs

2006-09-21T11:07:00Z

Most of organizations might be using different type of data reporting for these business needs but there are a lot of similarities too. Here are the various types of Enterprise Reporting I have collected so far:

List Reporting – The most common usage of Enterprise Reporting is the formatted displays or presentations of organizational data lists through list, text, graphics or other rendering formats for periodic business operation. Various levels of itemized rows and aggregated summaries are typically used in List Reporting. Data rows and summaries might be assembled from one or more than one functional discipline areas within the enterprises.

Interactive Analysis – Enterprise users needs to perform analysis upon large set of data to understand or find presentation of the data. These analysis typically are interactive and allow users to directly select dimensions (location, department, time, etc) to compare measurements (sales growth, cost distributions, amount etc). The interactive analysis requires data readily available when different dimentions, measurement are chosen so typically data are pre-calculated or aggregated using specific data model like OLAP.

Ad-hoc Querying - Ability to allow advanced business users for ad-hoc data needs and play "what-if" scenarios to determine what are the best use of enterprise data. Most of time it involves Excel or other front-end easy tools for those users to analysis or querying data.

Metric Management - In many organizations, business performance is managed and measured through outcome-oriented metrics. These metrics are agreed measurement to track and compare the business performance over a period of time. Within the organization, these are mostly called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). For external organizations, they are Service Level Agreement (SLAs).

Dashboard - Another way for enterprise to consume their reporting data is publishing them into customized dashboard views, mostly hosted within enterprises’ internet portal. These dashboards might use graphic to mimic color-coded auto dashboard indicator for easy but grand overview of enterprise’s key performance.

Balance Scorecards - A method attempts to present an integrated view of success in an organization. In addition to financial performance, they also include customer, business process and learning and growth perspectives.

Data Mining - When enterprise holds large amount of data, many of them started to analysis using Data Mining technique neural networks and machine learning to study and find potential common patterns in the data. Most of the data mining takes time and dimensions into account to try to predict or forecast the learning.

SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Training Resources

2006-09-19T05:21:00Z

I have collected many free training resources here for people to learn about SQL 2005 Reporting. This list includes various levels of materials including some introduction and advanced topics. Please let me know if links don't work or you have new links for me to add on. I'll update them in future posts.

Information Web Portal

Web Portal

SQL Server Reporting Services

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/default.mspx

Web Portal

MSDN Reporting Services

http://msdn.microsoft.com/sql/bi/reporting/default.aspx

Web Portal

TechNet Reporting Services

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/technologies/rptsvcs.mspx

Web Portal

Books Online Reporting Services

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159106(SQL.90).aspx

General SQL 2005 Reporting Services

MSDN Webcast

Introducing Reporting Services for SQL Server 2005—Level 200

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032263305&EventCategory=5&culture=en-us&CountryCode=US

Tutorials

Reporting Services Tutorials

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms170246.aspx

Virtual Labs

SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4267440

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 1 (RS Overview)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032282905&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 2 (End user push reports)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283016&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 3 (Report Builder)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283022&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 4 (Advanced Reporting)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283046&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 5 (RS Extensibility)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283054&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

Intro to SSRS 6

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283061&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

eLearning

Updating your Reporting Skills to SQL Server 2005

https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/offerDetail.aspx?offerPriceId=66793

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: Overview of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032273491&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289973&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Advanced Reporting Services

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: Advanced Reporting with SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032271246&eventcategory=3&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: MSDN Events Preview: End to End Data Reporting with SQL 2005 (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032267718&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: Advanced SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 300)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289991&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Ad-Hoc Reporting - Report Model and Report Builder

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Report Builder (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289994&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Video

Developing a Model for Report Builder and End-user Report Authoring

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20050531SQLServerCC/manifest.xml

Virtual Labs

SQL Server 2005 Report Builder

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4540578

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: End-User Ad Hoc Reporting with SSRS (Level 300)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032273699&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: Advanced Report Authoring with Report Designer (Level 300)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032273595&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: SQL Master Class: Using Report Builder (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289665&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Report Viewer Controls

WebCast

MSDN Webcast: Intelligent Reporting: Using the Visual Studio 2005 Report Viewer Controls (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032284445&CountryCode=us&culture=en-us

Virtual Lab

SQL Server 2005 Report Viewer Controls

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4540581

Management and Configuration

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services: Management and Configuration (Level 300)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032273593&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us

Virtual Lab

SQL 2005 Reporting Service Upgrade from Reporting 2000

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4872476

Integration and Others

WebCast

TechNet Webcast: Design Reports in Microsoft Office and Deliver Using SQL Server Reporting Services (Level 200)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032278527&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Books and References

Book

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Reporting Services Step by Step

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9153.asp

Book

Pro SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

http://www.amazon.com/SQL-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/1590594983

Book

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 2005

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/0072262397/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-1519373-5772134?ie=UTF8

Book

Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/0764584979/ref=pd_sim_b_5/102-1519373-5772134?ie=UTF8

Book

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780672327995&itm=13

A Typical Enterprise Reporting Architecture

2006-09-19T00:39:00Z

The most typical implementation of Enterprise Reporting architecture includes the following four tiers:

Client Tier – Business front-end application and technologies. Web Browser is the most typically UI interface for today’s enterprise and it is supported richly with SQL 2005 Reporting Service. Other client tier technologies might include custom applications, Office (Excel/Assess), SharePoint web portal and even advanced BI apps like ProClarity.

Processing Tier – This is the core tier of SQL 2005 Report Server, mostly with direct installation of the Reporting Service, Report Manager, Web Services etc. All of them are standard features from SQL 2005 Product packages.

Data Tier – The central place of enterprise’s data store and warehouse. Enterprises might choose to just use data stores, marts or warehouse or build out OLAP type BI Cubes for more sophisticated multi-dimensional data consumptions.

Integration Tier – Business Integration is one of today’s most critical capabilities for enterprise. More or less the Integration involves data sending and receiving. For Enterprise Reporting, this is the area where internal or external data and/or information are come together for connected wider enterprises.

This is a conceptual high level architecture and has not yet taken into accounts other architectural capabilities. This is just to demostrate the 4-tier architectural design of Enterprise Reporting.

What's Enterprise Reporting and Why do I care?

2006-09-14T04:31:00Z

There are many definitions for Enterprise Reporting from the Internet. To focus on the topic in this blog, my definition is,

Enterprise Reporting is the capability for a corporation to enable information workers provide data and analysis to decision makers quickly and cost effectively by leveraging information available throughout and outside the enterprise.

Every organization is probably doing some sort of Enterprise Reporting today by using technology in-house or existing commerical solutions. Different solutions might provide very different functionalities or need for the enterprise. The areas could differentiate one solution from others are,

Capability: which level of capability is your solution providing? Can this capability be scalable with the information growth? Or when the company grows?
Quickly: how fast can your solution make the data and information available to decision maker?
Cost: does it require high cost to implement your enterprise reporting? Can the solution adapt to the changing business environment and still with cost effectiveness?
Enterprise Data: is your solution only providing data and information for a core product or it links cross-functional data?
Outside the Enterprise: does your solution integrate with external partners or suppliers or customers' data?
Operational: is your solution easy to deploy and maintain in the enterprise? Does it have high availability, secure and other operational attributes?

SQL Server 2005 has provided a very powerful overall solution to address many of the areas/topics listed above. That is the key reason why we choose it to implement our solution. In the coming blog, I'll discuss more details and present you a generic infrastructure framework built by SQL 2005 products and technologies. Re-using this framework for Enterprise Reporting could save $$$ and time. Hope you enjoy the reading and can share some comments or feedback.

Web Portal	SQL Server Reporting Services	http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/default.mspx
Web Portal	MSDN Reporting Services	http://msdn.microsoft.com/sql/bi/reporting/default.aspx
Web Portal	TechNet Reporting Services	http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/technologies/rptsvcs.mspx
Web Portal	Books Online Reporting Services	http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159106(SQL.90).aspx

MSDN Webcast	Introducing Reporting Services for SQL Server 2005—Level 200	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032263305&EventCategory=5&culture=en-us&CountryCode=US
Tutorials	Reporting Services Tutorials	http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms170246.aspx
Virtual Labs	SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services	http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4267440
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 1 (RS Overview)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032282905&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 2 (End user push reports)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283016&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 3 (Report Builder)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283022&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 4 (Advanced Reporting)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283046&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 5 (RS Extensibility)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283054&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	Intro to SSRS 6	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032283061&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
eLearning	Updating your Reporting Skills to SQL Server 2005	https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/offerDetail.aspx?offerPriceId=66793
WebCast	TechNet Webcast: Overview of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032273491&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	TechNet Webcast: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289973&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

WebCast	MSDN Webcast: Advanced Reporting with SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 200)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032271246&eventcategory=3&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	MSDN Webcast: MSDN Events Preview: End to End Data Reporting with SQL 2005 (Level 200)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032267718&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
WebCast	TechNet Webcast: Advanced SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (Level 300)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032289991&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

WebCast	MSDN Webcast: Intelligent Reporting: Using the Visual Studio 2005 Report Viewer Controls (Level 200)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032284445&CountryCode=us&culture=en-us
Virtual Lab	SQL Server 2005 Report Viewer Controls	http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4540581

WebCast	TechNet Webcast: SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services: Management and Configuration (Level 300)	http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/webcasteventdetails.aspx?eventid=1032273593&eventcategory=5&culture=en-us&countrycode=us
Virtual Lab	SQL 2005 Reporting Service Upgrade from Reporting 2000	http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4872476

Book	Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Reporting Services Step by Step	http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9153.asp
Book	Pro SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services	http://www.amazon.com/SQL-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/1590594983
Book	Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 2005	http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/0072262397/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-1519373-5772134?ie=UTF8
Book	Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services	http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Server-2005-Reporting-Services/dp/0764584979/ref=pd_sim_b_5/102-1519373-5772134?ie=UTF8
Book	Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services	http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780672327995&itm=13