May 10, 2011 at 10:38 am
In all seriousness I know there are many of us who on a daily basis have executive level folks who are Spreadsheet/Reporting users who have enough technical skill to use Excel but not capable of something at the level of Crystal or SSRS design and who just can't understand why it’s so hard to get a report that does X.
To that end do any of you here have any input/recommendations/thoughts on either a simple for dummy like interface to SSRS that allows executive level folks to do simple report designs (both financial and non-financial) or even an alternative that interfaces with a SQL Server DB??
Currently we have a number of users (mainly executive and head accountant level ) who end up spending a lot of time running very large reports so they can then cut from those what they need and paste them into Excel to create what they want. This causes problems because it results in users running reports for large amounts of data when they really need just small portions of those. We could create custom versions but it would quickly get out of control with the large number of users we have.
What I'd love to find is some kind of simple, easy-to-use Report Builder that hooks into a SQL Server DB backend and lets users build column/tabular reports without having to be developer level gurus. Is there anything like this oon the market that anyone here has some experience with? I'm open to something that uses SSRS or that just hooks straight into the SQL DB.
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 10, 2011 at 11:25 am
Have you tried connecting Excel to SQL Server? I've done that, for pivot tables, et al, and it works beautifully.
As for SSRS, Report Builder has wizards for building reports without significant technical know-how.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
May 11, 2011 at 12:17 am
This gets asked for a lot. I think the only way it could possibly happen is if you set up your own data warehouse where everything is normalised and the cruft is removed. That requires a bit of analysis about what kind of data is going to be required in the first place though.
Then that kind of data could be accessed fairly neatly with report builder or excel/powerpivot.
May 13, 2011 at 4:44 am
There is another reporting tool I had worked with in the past called Cizer .Net Reporting that sounds like it would meet your needs as well. It also has a free trial available at: http://www.cizer.com/resources-eval.htm.
May 31, 2011 at 12:45 pm
GSquared (5/10/2011)
Have you tried connecting Excel to SQL Server? I've done that, for pivot tables, et al, and it works beautifully.As for SSRS, Report Builder has wizards for building reports without significant technical know-how.
I have not but its certainly a possability. I was hoping for a Reporting tool that would resemble a Spreadsheet interface (ease of use for accounting types which I deal with) but have reporting geared features so that users could drag and drop for report building.
Thanks for replying
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 31, 2011 at 12:48 pm
kooper2009 (5/11/2011)
I've downloaded the free trail of Stonefield Query. Awesome reporting tool that so easy work with. Had reports running in under an hour.
Kooper - I don't know if you are a legitimate forum visitor or just an advertising trool but every post you've made so far is about referencing this reporting tool. If you work for that reporting tool company you need to stop using posts to sel the product. If you are a legitimate user then you shoudl know you look like your posting just to advertise for this reporting tool.
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 31, 2011 at 12:49 pm
sdvoranchik (5/13/2011)
There is another reporting tool I had worked with in the past called Cizer .Net Reporting that sounds like it would meet your needs as well. It also has a free trial available at: http://www.cizer.com/resources-eval.htm.
I'll check it out, thanks.
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!May 31, 2011 at 6:37 pm
I'll check it out, thanks.
It's just more spam. I seriously think those two product names and their URLs need to be added to a post-spam filter. Mods?
June 1, 2011 at 5:19 am
If you have Office 2010 there is a free add-in from Excel called PowerPivot. Just go to the MS site and search for the download. What it does is allows you to processes huge volumes of data (from any source, SQL is not required) into a compressed cube underneath the spreadsheet and then create slicers of the underlying data with pivot tables. I am working on a project with our CFO and Controller to do just what you are asking. Give them the power to create ad hoc reports on thier own as well as cut the data up any way they like. It's pretty easy to use, especially if you have power Excel users.
June 1, 2011 at 5:37 am
I worked for Cizer several years ago and the Quick Query tool was designed to do what the poster was asking. There's nothing in it for me, I was just trying to help.
June 1, 2011 at 11:42 am
sdvoranchik (6/1/2011)
I worked for Cizer several years ago and the Quick Query tool was designed to do what the poster was asking. There's nothing in it for me, I was just trying to help.
And it is appreciated
Its more the posts about that other software product in which the poster has so far only replued with posts (in various threads) advertising the other product that are in question.
Thanks
Kindest Regards,
Just say No to Facebook!Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply