Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 BUSINESS REPORTING PARADIGMS

Reports can be used in a collaborative portal environment. Whether the objective is to manage the

design and testing phases of report development or to give users access to a completed report in a

consistent interface with other shared content, an intranet, web-based portal as an excellent platform

for this type of collaboration. SharePoint server technologies have become the de facto standard for

managing collaborative content for many organizations. Reporting Services integrates effectively with

SharePoint in several different ways. Because different organizations and development groups have

different needs and objectives, here are some of the ways SSRS may be used within a SharePoint site:

➤ For development teams, reports may be deployed to document or report libraries to manage

the development cycle. Workﬂow processes may be used to manage and graduate a report

deﬁnition as it is designed, validated, tested, and deployed for production use. The report can

remain in a single library and use a workﬂow to manage the progress and sign-off through

these stages or it may be migrated from one library to another for design and development,

unit testing, user acceptance, integration, and release to production.

➤ For self-service reporting, business users can save their reports to a personal or team library

or site. By isolating user reports from IT production reports, the needs of business users and

business leaders are both met while maintaining a standard method of validation for mission-

critical data reporting.

➤ SharePoint server enables version control for reports and other content. Like other docu-

ments, reports must be checked out and then checked back into the library to maintain own-

ership and change control. With version control enabled, each check-in creates an assessable

version of the ﬁle so a report may be reverted to a prior version.

➤ Because site content is stored in a SQL Server database, all documents, ﬁles, and reports are

backed up and may be restored using a conventional disaster recovery plan.

➤ Report content and security may be fully integrated and managed through SharePoint

using the SharePoint integrated mode. This places all content, security, and deployment

management into the hands of SharePoint administrators. Reports deployed to SharePoint

site libraries may be managed with integrated workﬂow and version control.

➤ SharePoint pages and dashboards may be used to surface reports using a ReportViewer web

part. The content or report server folders may be added to pages using the ReportList web

part to create simple report menus. Report content may appear alongside Excel and Perfor-

mancePoint reports to create interactive pages and complex reporting dashboards. This type

of report integration is possible in SharePoint integrated or SSRS native mode.

ReportViewer Control

All of the functionality of Reporting Services is exposed through a web service that provides multi-

ple SOAP endpoints. This was exciting news for developers because they could have access to every

capability through a low-level programming interface and automate reports within their custom appli-

cations. However, this approach to report integration removes much of the convenience and efﬁciency