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Tag Archives: Ad-hoc reporting

The State of Microsoft Self-Service Reporting

September 24, 2012 by Paul Turley

5

(article published on the MVP Award Program Blog)

I really enjoy this topic.  One of the reasons, I suppose, it’s such a hot topic is that a lot of people believe that there is a perfect ad hoc reporting solution out there, just barely beyond the current set of capabilities in all of the available tools.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Articles, BI Industry, Microsoft BI Platform, PerformancePoint, Power View, PowerPivot, SQL Syndication, SSRS Design, Tabular Models. Tagged Ad-hoc reporting, Self-service reporting

Self-service Reporting in SQL Server “Denali”

November 14, 2010 by Paul Turley

0

Project Crescent is a fully-interactive, browser-based data visualization surfaced using Silverlight interactive and animated controls.  It’s Reporting Services, only sexier.  A Crescent report is designed directly from SharePoint in the web browser.  Users connect to data through a BISM model and jut select the tables & fields they want to see in different types of report elements.  It supports tables, grids, panels and a variety of charts.  Data is filtered and sliced by simply clicking on regions and data points.  ike PerformancePoint dashboards, report content changes in-place and data regions are synchronized when when any one is used to filter the data.

Crescent is designed for the user, not for the IT professional, and doesn’t support expressions or parameters.  It’s super easy to use and has a lot of business value right out of the box but it doesn’t afford the same flexibility and power of professional Reporting Services.  Crescent reports are stored in RDLX format which is an extension of the RDL XML schema.  There probably won’t be a migration path from Crescent reports to RDL reports right away but this will likely come in the near future.  We’re also likely to see the Silverlight controls extended to RDL reports for no other reason than report designers will demand the same cool and dynamic behaviors.

Another part of the self-service reporting experience in Denali is a new feature, somewhat similar to report subscriptions, called Report Alerts.  Like Crescent, this is only available from a SharePoint 2010 Enterprise environment and uses the SharePoint event model rather than the SQL Agent.  The concept is that users are notified when the data feeding a report changes and meets some specific criteria.  This may be useful when a metric falls below and threshold or target.  Plans call for alerts to support both RDL and Crescent style reports.

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Posted in Microsoft BI Platform, SQL Server, SQL Syndication. Tagged Ad-hoc reporting, SQL Server Denali; Self-service reporting

Self-Service Reporting Best Practices on the Microsoft BI Platform

December 18, 2009 by Paul Turley

0

Article from the Architecture Journal  12-15-2009
by Paul Turley
Once upon a time, there was a big company whose IT department
wanted to ensure that everyone would see only good data in
their reports. To make sure of this, they ruled that all reports
would be created by IT from data that was stored on IT-controlled
databases. Business managers and users quietly circumnavigated
this?downloading data into spreadsheets and data files. Another
company?s IT group enabled the business to perform its own
reporting by using an ad-hoc tool?opening databases to everyone.
In both of these companies, when leaders had questions, everyone
had answers! The only problem was that the answers were all
different. Many organizations operate in one of these extremes.
Business users can gain important insight by using self-service
reporting tools. Armed with the right answers, leaders and workers
can take appropriate action and make informed decisions, instead
of shooting from the hip or waiting for reliable information to come
from somewhere else. Functional business-intelligence (BI) solutions
don?t evolve into existence and must be carefully planned and
managed.
These best practices adhere to some basic principles and
experience-borne lessons:
Manage the Semantic Layer
A single version of the truth might consist of data that is derived from
multiple sources. By simply giving users the keys to the database
kingdom, you aren?t doing anyone any favors. One size doesn?t fit all,
but business-reporting data should always be abstracted through a
semantic layer. This might be a set of views on a data mart, a report
model, or an online analytical processing (OLAP) cube. There are
substantial advantages in using the latter option, if your organization
is prepared for some development and maintenance overhead.
Analysis tools?such as the new generation of Report Builder in
Microsoft SQL Server 2008, and the pending release of SQL Server
2008 R2, Microsoft Office Excel, and Office PerformancePoint Services
for SharePoint?might be given to users, but the semantic layer must
be managed centrally by IT.
Separate User- and Production-Report Libraries
User reports might be used to make important decisions and might
even become mission-critical, but the reports, scorecards, and
dashboards that are ?guaranteed? to be accurate and reliable should
go through the same rigorous IT-managed design, development,
and testing criteria as any production-ready business application.
Designate a library for ad-hoc reports, separate from production
reports. Office SharePoint is an excellent medium for this purpose.
Conduct Formal Review Cycles, Validate Reports, Consolidate
Them in Production
One of the most effective methods for IT designers to understand
business-reporting requirements is to leverage user-designed reports.
For mission-critical processes, use these as proofs of concept, and
then work with the business to design consolidated, flexible ?super
reports? in a production mode.
Full presentation video here

Paul Turley is a business-intelligence architect and manager for
Hitachi Consulting, and a Microsoft MVP.

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Posted in Microsoft BI Platform, SQL Syndication, SSRS Design. Tagged Ad-hoc reporting, Microsoft Architecture Journal, Self-service reporting

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Tag Cloud

" & Workspace and Database Recovery Techniques Aaron Nelson Ad-hoc reporting Add columns Add controls Albert Ferrari Alternate row colors Analysis Services Operations Guide Apple Are There Rules for Tabular Model Design? Article Assemblies Azure Azure Reporting Azure SQL Database BARC Survey best practices BI BI Center of Excellence BI COE BI Conference Bill Gates Birds-of-a-Feather BI Roles and Team Composition BISM BI Survey 10 Blogging Breakcrumb links Browser settings Build career Business Intelligence Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 Business scorecard Can I Use Reporting Services with Tabular & PowerPivot Models? 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Drill-down Drill-through Drillthrough Dynamic column visibility Dynamics CRM Dynamics reporting Embedded formatting ENterprise SSAS Errors Estimating BI European PASS Filter by user Formula Firewall Funnel charts Garner Magic Quadrant Microsoft BI Getting Started with DAX Calculations Global Summit Live Feeds Greenbar report Grocery shopping demo Hans Rosling Happy Birthday Power BI Hide columns Hitachi Consulting How Do You Design a Tabular Model for a Large Volume of Data? How Do You Secure a Tabular Model? How to Deploy and Manage a Tabular Model SSAS Database How to Promote a Business-created PowerPivot Model to an IT-managed SSAS Tabular Model HTML text integrated mode Interview Interviews Isn’t a Tabular Model Just Another Name for a Cube? James Phillips Julie Koesmarno King of Spain KPI indicator Licensing Login prompt Manually starting subscription Map Visualization Marco RUsso Master-detail report Master Data Management MDM MDX datasets MDX queries Microsoft Architecture Journal Microsoft humour Microsoft MVP Microsoft news Mobile Reporting Mobile Reports MVP community MVP Deep Dives 2 MVPs support the community MVP Summit navigation Nested tables Null filter Olivier Matrat Olympia WA Oracle vs Microsoft in the movies Oregon SQL Saturday Parameter controls Parameterize Parameters PASS 2012 PASS BAC Blog Feed PASS community leaders PASS Conference PASS Global Summit 2012 PASS Keynotes PASS Summit PASS Summit 2017 PASS Summit 2018 PASS Summit Announcements Paul te Braak PDF image distortion dithering fonts PerformancePoint Pinal Dave Poll About Product Usage Poll Results Pop-up window; Java script Portland OR Power BI Administration Power BI Best Visuals Contest Power BI DAX Power BI Partner Showcase Power BI Premium Power BI Pro Power BI Training Power BI World Tour Power Pivot PowerPivot Power Pivot DAX Power Query Power Query Training Power View Power View multidimensional cubes Preparing Data for a Tabular Model Project Phoenix Recipes Redmond SQL Saturday Reed Jacobson Remove columns Repeating list Report controls report dependencies Report deployment Reporting Services 2016 Reporting Services Training Report navigation Report parameters Report recipe book Reports for MDX Return specific row Rob Collie DAX Book Robert Bruckner Scheduled Refresh Scripting Tabular Model Measures Self-service reporting Seth Bauer SharePoint SharePoint 2012 SharePoint integration Simplifying and Automating Tabular Model Design Tasks SolidQ SolidQ Journal Solid Quality Mentors Spatial queries; happy holidays; Merry Christmas SQLAuthority SQLCAT SQL Saturday SQL Saturday 446 SQL Saturday Portland Oregon SQL Server SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Guide SQL Server community SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 SQL Server Denali SQL Server Denali; Self-service reporting SQL Server Denali CTP3 SQL Server MVP SQL Server Optimization SQL Server Pro Magazine SQL Teach SSAS SSAS Performance Logger SSAS Tabular SSAS Tools BI Development Tools SSDT BI SSRS 2016 SSRS dynamic columns SSRS PowerShell SSRS version control standards Start subscription Steve Jobs StreamInsight Strip line style Subscription Survival Tips for Using the Tabular Model Design Environment Tabular DAX Tabular Model & " Tabular Model Common Errors and Remedies Tabular Model Design Tabular Model Design Checklist Tabular Modeling Tabular models Tabular report design TechEd TechEd 2011 Sessions TechSmith Snagit Pro themes Threshold line Top values Training clsses Unconference User-related report content User authentication User prompted to login Using DAX to Solve real-World Business Scenarios Vancouver BC Vern Rabe Visualisation Visualization Visual Report Design Volunteers Weather and Climate Web.Contents Web API What About Multidimensional – Will Tabular Replace It? What are the Naming Conventions for Tabular Model Objects? What Do You Teach Non-technical Business Users About PowerPivot and Tabular Models? What’s the Best Business User Tool for Browsing & Analyzing Business Data with Tabular Models? What’s the Best IT Tool for Reporting on Tabular Models? What’s the Difference Between Calculated Columns & Measures? What’s the Difference Between PowerPivot and Tabular Models? Why Tabular? Wrox book
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