SQL SERVER REPORTING SERVICES

By - ANURAG RANA

Table of Contents• Data Base and DBMS

• Structured Query Language (SQL)

SQL Commands

• Business Intelligence

Tools for MSBI

Working Model

• SQL Server Integration Service (SSIS)

• SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS)

• SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS)

• Features of SSRS

• SSRS for End Users

• SSRS in the Report Development Life Cycle

Creating Reports

Managing Reports and Other Items

Accessing and Delivering Reports

• System Requirements (ss2008R2rs)

Database –A database is an organized collection of data. The data are typically organized to model aspects of reality in a way that supports processes requiring information.

Database Management Systems (DBMS) – Are specially designed software applications that interact with the user, other applications and the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-purpose DBMS is a software system designed to allow the definition, creation, querying, update and administration of databases.

Some common DBMS are - MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access, SQL Server, FileMaker, Oracle, RDBMS, dBASE, Clipper, and FoxPro

Structured Query Language (SQL)

• SQL is Structured Query Language, which is a computer language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data stored in relational database.

• SQL is the standard language for Relation Database System. All relational database management systems like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, postgreSQL and SQL Server use SQL as standard database language.

SQL Commands -SQL commands can be classified into groups based on their nature -• DDL - Data Definition Language –

CREATE - Creates a new table, a view of a table, or other object in databaseALTER - Modifies an existing database object, such as a table.DROP - Deletes an entire table, a view of a table or other object in the database• DML - Data Manipulation Language –SELECT - Retrieves certain records from one or more tablesINSERT - Creates a recordUPDATE - Modifies recordsDELETE - Deletes records• DCL - Data Control Language –GRANT - Gives a privilege to userREVOKE - Takes back privileges granted from user

Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence is techniques for transforming data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes, which helps to make quick decisions.

• MSBI Tools -Microsoft provides some tools to transform your business data into information. We can use these tools with the interface of Visual Studio.

With the release of SQL Server 2012, Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) was renamed to SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT).

Tools for MSBI -• SSIS - SQL Server Integration Services • SSAS - SQL Server Analysis Services • SSRS - SQL Server Reporting Services

Working model of a MSBI Project -

SQL Server Integration Service (SSIS)

• Integration Services is a platform for building high-performance data integration and workflow solutions, including extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) operations for data warehousing.

• We can process the data from various locations and various formats (source locations) and save the data into a centralized repository as a Data Warehouse/Data Mart (destination).

• It includes graphical tools and wizards for building and debugging packages. 

Data Warehouse and Data Mart –

• This is commonly use for reporting and business analysis purposes. This system is actually the output of integrated data from multiple sources and stored into a centralized repository. • The Data warehouse stores the current and historical data, so it is

easy to generate trend reports, predictive analysis and comparison reports. It's very helpful for the top management to take the quick decisions about the business. • A Data Mart means that it's a small part of a Data Warehouse and

indicates only a single part (for example sales or finance). It always holds more summarized information.

ETL (Extracts, Transform, Load) Tools -ETL means that its takes the data from various source locations, maybe as a different data format (for example SQL, txt, xls and so on) and store this data into a destination (Data Warehouse).

In computing, Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) refers to a process in database usage and especially in data warehousing that –

• Extracts data from homogeneous or heterogeneous data sources.

• Transforms the data for storing it in a proper format or structure for querying and analysis purpose.

• Loads it into the final target (database, more specifically, operational data store, data mart, or data warehouse).

SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS)A component for online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining.• OLAP is the process of converting two dimensional (rows and

columns/OLTP) data into multi-dimensional data model (OLTP). • Data mining helps users to discover patterns in data

Some of the advantages –• Multi-dimensional analysis• Key performance Indicator (KPI)• Score card• Slice, dice, drill down functionalities• Good performance• Security and so on.

SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS)• SSRS is Microsoft’s answer to business reporting, it provides a

unified, server-based, extensible, and scalable platform from which to deliver and present information.

• Its scope extends from traditional paper reports to web-based delivery and interactive content. SSRS can also be configured to deliver reports to people’s inboxes, file shares, and so on.

• SSRS is capable of generating reports in various formats, such as the web-oriented Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and desktop application (Microsoft Excel and CSV) formats, thus allowing users to manipulate their data in whatever format is required.

• SharePoint can be used as a front end for SSRS, allowing reports to be presented directly in corporate portals.

Features of SSRS -• Multi-dimensional analysis

• Create ad hoc reports and save them to the server

• Slice, dice, drill down functionalities

• Good performance & Security

• Retrieve data from managed providers, OLE DB, and ODBC connections

• Display data in a variety of ways, including tabular, free form, and charts

• Export to many formats, including HTML, PDF, XML, CSV, TIFF, Word reports (New in 2008), and Excel

• Aggregate and summarize data Embed graphics and images and external content

• Integrate with Share Point

• Provide subscription-based reports and on-demand reports

• Allow users to store and manage their own custom reports built with SSRS’s Report Builder 2.0 and manage subscriptions to the reports (New in 2008).

• URL-based report access

• Gauge and Chart controls to display KPI data (New in 2008)

SSRS for End Users• SSRS is unique in the Microsoft BI suite because it covers a variety of information

users. Microsoft divides users into three groups: information consumers, information explorers, and analysts.

SSRS provides three main tools from the user perspective –

• Report Viewer:- The primary mechanism for viewing reports over the Web. Report Manager is the name of the website that SSRS sets up. It provides a very clean and neatly organized user interface for end users. Developers can also embed a Report Viewer control into both ASP.NET and Windows Form applications.

• Report Builder:- The tool that provides users with a front end for ad hoc reporting against a SQL Server or Analysis Services database. Unlike most ad hoc reporting tools, users of Report Builder do not need to know Structured Query Language (SQL) or anything about joins or grouping to create reports.

• Report Designer:- The tool that takes on the job of building advanced reports. Although Report Builder does a good job as an ad hoc reporting tool, Report Designer was made to tackle really advanced reports.

SSRS in the Report Development Life Cycle

To understand all the ways SSRS can be used, you can simply walk through the report development life cycle and see what features are useful in each stage.

A typical reporting application goes through three stages authoring, managing, and delivery.

SSRS provides all the necessary tools to work with a reporting application in all three stages.

Creating Reports –• To create a report, you create a report definition file using Report

Designer or Report Builder. The authoring tool to use depends on the requirements of the report and your level of expertise in report authoring techniques.

• Report Designer is a full-featured report authoring tool that runs in Business Intelligence Development Studio.

• Report Builder features a Microsoft Office - like authoring environment and new features such as sparkline, data bar, and indicator data visualizations, the ability to save report items as report parts, a wizard for creating maps, aggregates of aggregates, and enhanced support for expressions, and runs as a separate client-side installation.

• You create reports on a client computer, separate from the report server. After your report looks the way you want, you can publish it to a report server or SharePoint site that is integrated with a report server, where it becomes available for general use, or you can save it to your local computer.

Managing Reports and Other Items –• One of the principal advantages of using Reporting Services is the ability to

manage reports and related items such as folders, data source connections, and resources, from a central location. You can define security, set properties, and schedule operations.

Report management includes the following tasks:-

• Enabling features such as My Reports, report history, and e-mail report delivery.

• Securing access to folders and reports by assigning users and groups to roles.

• Building shared schedules and shared data sources that you want to make available for general use.

• Both users and report server administrators can manage reports, but in different ways. Users can publish and manage reports in a personal workspace named My Reports. Report server administrators can manage the entire report server folder namespace. The ability to perform management tasks depends on user permissions.

Accessing and Delivering Reports –• In Reporting Services, two methods are available for accessing and

delivering reports:• On-demand access allows users to select the reports from a report

viewing tool. You can use Report Manager, a Microsoft SharePoint 2.0 Web part, a SharePoint library when Reporting Services is installed in SharePoint integrated mode, an embedded Report Viewer control, or a browser.

• Subscription-based access automatically generates and delivers reports to a destination. You can deliver reports to an e-mail inbox or a file share.

• Reporting Services supports a variety of viewing formats. Reports at first display in HTML format, but after a report is rendered you can redisplay the report in a different format such as Excel or PDF.

System RequirementsMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services (Recommended) Component  Requirement 

Internet software  Microsoft Internet Explorer  6.0 SP1 or later 

.NET Framework  ASP.NET Framework 3.5 SP1   

Hard Disk Space  304 MB (Reporting Services  and Report Manager) 

32-Bit   

Processor type  Pentium III-compatible  processor or higher 

Processor speed  Minimum: 1 GHz  Recommended: 2 GHz or higher 

Memory (RAM)  Minimum: 1 GB  Recommended: 4 GB or more  Maximum: Operating system maximum 

64-Bit   

Processor type  IA64 minimum: Itanium  processor or higher 

x64 minimum: AMD Opteron, AMD  Athlon 64, Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support, Intel Pentium IV with EM64T  support 

Processor speed  IA64 recommended: 1 GHz or  more

  x64 minimum: 1.4 GHz  x64 recommended: 2 GHz or more 

Memory (RAM)  Minimum: 1 GB  Recommended: 4 GB or more  Maximum: Operating system maximum 

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