Reporting Services

Introducing Reporting Services• What is SSRS?– Component of SQL Server– Included free since SQL 2000– Design tools (BIDS, Report Builder) also free

• Users need SQL CAL to access data• Runs as web service – SOAP / XML– Separate from IIS

Who Uses Reporting Services?• Executives and Managers– Typically high-level summary and aggregate

reports• Information Workers– Low-to-mid level data consumers– Anyone requiring self-service BI

• Systems Administrators– Good at presenting system metrics

How Does SSRS Deliver BI?• SSRS Home

– Intranet application is the primary method• Report Container .NET part

– WinForms or ASPX– All methods available via .NET

• Parameterised URLs– Report parameters can be passed via ASPX parameters

• Report Builder– Self-serve BI via published data models

• Subscriptions– Scheduled reports sent via email over SMTP

Security in SSRS• Windows Authentication– Folder-based

• Users or Groups must be granted access to report folders– Role-based

• Users may browse, publish or edit

• Row-level data security is possible– @UserID can be passed to the SQL query

• The user can then be allowed to view specific Heritage or Market

Report Creation• SQL or MDX-based query• Any ODBC Data Source

• Most VBA functions work in designer• Not documented or supported• .NET can be embedded

• Report structure saved as RDL (Report Definition Language)• Proprietary XML

Report Creation• Data can be grouped and nested• Able to drill-down• Data can be “pivoted” using the Matrix• Advanced formatting and formulas available

Report Parts• Users can pick and choose report items they want• Report publishers create and deploy stand-alone

components• Tables• Charts• Maps (UK can be downloaded)• Gauges (Dundas)

• Consumers use Report Builder to create dashboards

Report Deployment• Two methods

• From within BIDS (Business Intelligence Designer Studio)• Use in Development environments

• Upload RDL files directly to SSRS folder using browser• Used in Production or off-premise environments

Dashboard Reports

Report Execution Service• Create a web service reference as a proxy class

• Uses the SSRS 2005 address in all versions (not deprecated)• Load Report• Render• Write to file

Access via URLs• Reports may be executed directly via URL• Parameters set as standard ASPX page parameters

• Use standard http encoding• Export format (XLS, PDF etc) are also specified