SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence Module 10: Reporting Services

Overview Reporting Services Reports

Lesson: Reporting Services Introduction Features

Introduction Reporting Services is a part of SQL Server  Introduced in SQL Server 2005 Allows seamless:  Authoring, publishing, viewing and security of Reports Integration with SharePoint started with SQL 2005 SP2  Report manager was removed in lieu of SharePoint permission management  Reporting database got new structure and RS Add-In was required to be installed on SharePoint farm  Reporting server must also have SharePoint and be a part of the farm

Features Allows rendering of your reports in the browser  Parameters are supported  All basic Reporting service features are enabled through SharePoint UI (caching, scheduling, etc) Reporting Services web part allowed in page rendering RDL files in document libraries could simply be clicked on to render/run the report Report Builder was integrated into UI

SharePoint Integration Deep integration with the Microsoft SharePoint Technologies  Enables publishing, viewing, management, and delivery of reports  Provide report web part for hosting rich reports in BI dashboards  Leverage SharePoint collaboration and workflow capabilities with rich reporting  Shared security principles across Reporting Services & SharePoint

SharePoint 2010 Features Allow installing RS Add-in before SharePoint 2010  One step integration via RS Add-in  Add-in installer is fixed! Local mode Report viewing in AJAX enabled Report Viewer  Selecting a report parameter does not cause a postback! SSRS is the reporting engine for Access Services reporting. Native support for Reporting on SharePoint Lists ULS Logging supported

Reporting Services New Features ATOM and Word 2007 Rendering 37 languages supported Removed additional hop between UI and proxy with RS Add-in

Lesson: Reports Report Lifecycle Planning Reports Creating Reports Data Sources Layouts Visualizations

Report Lifecycle Author  Excel, Visual Studio Report Designer, Report Builder, other 3 rd party tools Deliver  Runtime report rendering (HTML, PDF, TIFF, CSV, XML)  Push and Pull delivery supported Manage  Scalable web service architecture  Managed report execution (On-demand, Multi-user shared cache, Scheduled, Historical snapshots)  Role-based security model

Planning Reports – Example Steps 1. Interview business users to create specs 2. Review all expressed needs, desires, fantasies 3. Start will full list of candidates 4. Give each report a name or description 5. Rate each report based on business value and the effort to build (scale of 1 to 10) 6. Prioritize the list of candidates 7. Group related reports 8. Review priorities with small group of users 9. Identify reports & Negotiate a cutoff point 10. Handoff the lower priority reports back to the business experts

Creating Reports Three main components of a report:  Data Sources  Layouts  Visualizations It is important to understand these three components as they drive how successful a report will be Other components include:  Fields, Parameters, Aggregations (Avg, Count, Sum), Conditional Formatting, Groupings, header and footers, images, SubReports

Developer Tools Model Designer  Define, edit and publish models for use in Report Builder Report Designer  Visual Studio project template for building reports Report Builder  A.NET ClickOnce application for designing customized versions of Published reports using Report Models.

Data Sources How easy is it to connect to the data? Do you know where your data is and what it looks like?  Teradata, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, SAP, SQL Azure  OLEDB – Informix, Sybase  XML  ODBC (Text, Excel, CSV)  SharePoint Lists Performance will differ depending on where your data resides and how you gain access to it

Displaying Data Numerous ways to display data from your data sources  Tables  Charts  Lists & Matrices  Gauge  Maps  Tablix (mix between table and matrice)  SubReports

Layouts So you found your data, what should the layout of the raw data look like? What do you want executives or more importantly, what do they want to see?  Tables, Matrices or any combination of it…  Parallel Groupings  Asymmetrical columns/rows  Mix of dynamics/static rows and groups

Visualizations The basic table won’t cut it eh? Make it look fancy with Visualizations:  Charts,  Pyramids,  Pie,  Donuts,  Gauges  Maps  Sparklines,  Data bars,  Indicators

Delivering Reports Subscriptions allow reports to be distributed   File share  SharePoint libraries  Custom destinations Report Formats include:  Runtime report rendering (HTML, PDF, TIFF, CSV, XML)  Excel is 2007 based (65K rows only) You should always monitor Subscription settings  Errors (sending , copying to destination)  Inactive subscriptions and reports

Managing Report Services Reporting services components include:  Reporting Service web service  Databases (ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB) Web service security must allow access to SharePoint and Reporting services databases Databases can get very large when snapshots and history is enabled Debugging can be done via the log files:  \Microsoft SQL Server\ \Reporting Services\LogFiles \ReportServerService_.log

Managing Reports You should also think about enabling:  Cached Instances Enhances speed of processing by caching data Cached data expires  Report Snapshots Schedule automated execution of report Allows for static parameters to be used Must use stored credentials  Report History Keep copy of the report at that moment in time for historical purposes

Lab 1: Reporting Services Integrate SQL Server Reporting Services

Lab 2: Reporting Services Create a Report Explore integration features

Lab 3: Automating Reports Create and Execute Report Schedules

Review Your instructor will ask a series of questions on this module

Summary Reporting Services integrates seamlessly with SharePoint RDL files can be rendered directly from SharePoint Lists or web parts All the features of Reporting Services standalone are available via the Reporting Services add-in for SharePoint