SQL Reporting Services: A Peek at the Power & Potential

Transcription

1 SQL Reporting Services: A Peek at the Power & Potential Presented by: Ken Emert, Shelby Consultant 2013 Shelby Systems, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective holders.

2 Objective To give an overview of how SQL Reporting Services can be used to present Shelby data in a browser format and show various examples of report possibilities. What You Will Learn in This Session You will learn What SQL Reporting Services is The features available with the various SQL Reporting Services versions The differences between SQL Report Builder and SQL Reporting Services How to determine your SQL Version How your Shelby data can be presented using SQL Reporting Services examples Options for running your own SQL Reporting Services reports 9

3 What SQL Reporting Services Is SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is the part of SQL Server that provides the reporting features needed for the entire report life cycle, which covers creation, administration, and dissemination. Report Creation The primary method of report creation, especially for SQL Server Express edition, is a Reporting Services plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio. When it is used for Reporting Services, Visual Studio is also called Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS). This document will refer to Visual Studio as BIDS because we will be using it only for Reporting Services report design. There is also a simplified web-based tool for report designing called Report Builder. Report Builder is only available for those who are using a paid edition of SQL Server, such as the Standard edition. There are three versions of Report Builder, and Report Builder 3.0 is a much improved version, without many hindrances found in the earlier version. Report Builder 3.0 is only bundled with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard edition or higher. No matter how they are created, Reporting Services report designs are fundamentally text files using Report Definition Language (RDL), a specialized form of XML. Any XML editor (or text editor, for that matter) could be used to create or edit an RDL file; however, BIDS and Report Builder give a graphical environment for development. Report Management The primary tool for managing reports once they have been created is the Report Manager. This is a web-based interface that allows you to manage permissions, file folder organization, database connections, and more. For Standard edition, it allows for management of role types, subscriptions, and snapshots. For advanced developers, Reporting Services provides a web service to enable automated management or management through other interfaces. For our purposes, we will focus only on using Report Manager. Report Deployment Delivering the report to the end-user is the ultimate goal, and Reporting Services does that primarily through the Report Manager. From the Report Manager it is possible to run any report at any time, assuming the user has permission to access the report. It is possible to create Windows shortcuts to the URLs of particular reports, making it a clickto-run process from the Windows desktop. With Standard edition it is also possible to subscribe to reports, meaning that Reporting Services will deliver the report on a schedule. It can deliver the report as an attachment to an or as a document saved directly to a network folder. Express edition cannot create a subscription (due to the lack of a SQL Agent), but there is a way to use Windows to schedule a task that can deliver the report as a saved file. 1

4 Comparison of Features BY SQL Version While each of the versions of SQL beginning with 2005 (currently deployed with the Shelby software) include SQL Reporting Services, the available features vary greatly. The Express versions are available at no cost, while the Standard versions must be purchased from a Microsoft vendor. The current SQL Version on the market is SQL 2012, but, due to compatibility issues, your Shelby software has not been certified for this version. Feature SQL Server 2005 SP1 Standard Edition SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition with Advanced Services On-demand report processing Yes Yes Yes Yes Rendering in HTML Yes Yes Yes Yes Acrobat PDF Yes Yes Yes Yes Excel Yes Yes Yes Yes TIFF (Image) Yes No Yes No XML Yes No Yes No CSV Yes No Yes No Remote data sources Yes No Yes No Non-SQL Express data sources Yes No Yes No Report Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes RS Configuration Tool Yes Yes Yes Yes Command line utilities Yes Yes Yes Yes Map Windows accounts to Yes Yes Yes Yes roles Create custom roles Yes No Yes No Scheduled report processing Yes No Yes No Create semantic Models Yes No Yes No Use Report Builder 1.0 with Models Yes No Yes No Use Report Builder 2.0 or 3.0 No No Yes No Use API to extend options Yes No Yes No 1

5 Create custom report objects Yes No Yes No Interrupt report Yes Yes No processing No Scale deployment Yes No Yes No Install as Default Yes Yes No Instance No SharePoint Integrated Mode No No Yes No Sparklines and Data Yes No No Bars Yes Shared Datasets No No Yes No Report Parts No No Yes No SQL Reporting Services vs. SQL Report Builder Available in SQL Express Version Can be run from a workstation Report Builder No Yes Report Designer Yes Requires installing BIDS on the workstation Simultaneous Reports No Yes Shared Data Sources No Yes 1

6 Determining your Version of SQL Start Shelby Go to the Shelby Menu Click the About button Look at the line Database Type If you did not purchase SQL separately, you have the Express Version, previously referred to as MSDE in the SQL Server 2000 version. If you are going to work with Reporting Services, you should seriously consider upgrading to 2008 R2 (either the express (free) or standard version). Version pattern SQL Product 10.5.x.x SQL Server 2008 R x.x SQL Server x.x SQL Server x.x SQL Server

7 SQL Reporting Services vs. SQL Report Builder NOTE: SQL Reporting Services is often referred to as BIDS Report Designer. Available in SQL Express Version Can be run from a workstation Report Builder No Yes Report Designer Yes Requires installing BIDS on the workstation Simultaneous Reports No Yes Shared Data Sources No Yes 1

8 SQL Reporting Services Sample Reports Congregation Health Dashboard Multiple datasets combined into one report Charts Key Performance Indicator (KPI) gauge Custom to any information critical to your leadership 10

9 Servant Positions and Servant Profile Easy-to-use parameter above the report Multi-valued parameter Click-through to second report 11

10 Giving Matrix PivotTable-style cross-tabulations Dynamic column and row groupings based on parameter choices 12

11 Birthday List Incorporate logos or other graphic elements Click to open web links embedded in the report. Click to start a new message to a recipient (requires some HTML coding) 13

12 Class Roster Cascading parameters (the first selected parameter dictates the available options for the second parameter, etc.) 14

13 Giving Sparklines Sparkline graphs for high-level overview of trending 15

14 Group Attendance KPI KPI graphics give a simple good/so-so/bad simplification to statistics. There are a variety of KPI graphic families, such as the stoplight icons, star ratings, and similar sets of graphics. Example 1 16

15 Example 2 17

16 Members by Postal Code 18

17 Profile List Showing Names 19

18 Drill Down Reports 20

19 21

20 Options for Utilizing SQL Reporting Services Build your own o Requires a working knowledge of query writing Available training through Shelby Extreme Reporting I and II o To learn the intricacies of Reporting Services Attend Shelby s Reporting Services workshop next offered in the spring Let Shelby build your report for you 22

21 Ken Emert Shelby Consultant Ken Emert served for 21 years as Minister of Administration at Scottsdale Bible Church in Scottsdale, AZ where he used Shelby software for tracking people and finances. In 2000 Ken felt it was time for a change and became a certified Shelby Systems trainer. He currently serves churches and other faith-based organizations as a Shelby Consultant. He has helped implement Shelby in many organizations and enjoys working with staffs to aid them in promoting ministry efficiently and effectively.