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Suggestions for an ad hoc query tool for a typical user

  • February 16, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    #96603

    HI.. We are in the process of looking for an ad hoc end user query tool to go against sql server 2000 that a typical user(employee) could use. We have crystal and our own IT analysts feel that the typical end user would not be able to use that tool easily. Can anyone give me some suggestions? I was brought the idea of Microsoft's Reporting Services. I would like to research a few.

    Juanita

     

  • February 16, 2006 at 4:26 pm

    #621511

    Reporting services has absolutely no ability to do "AdHoc" querying.

    the only/best option is query analyzer .

    Access works well. But you still have to teach someone the schema. (Lame) Every company I have worked for thought they needed "Ad Hoc" reporting, but really when it came down to it only need a handfull of canned reports. 

  • February 16, 2006 at 8:01 pm

    #621527

    Earlier versions of Crystal Reports (8.5) allowed you to build "libraries" that simplified database schema for users doing adhoc reporting.  As the administrator, you would control what and how much they see.  Beyond that, it was a matter of teaching them how to use Crystal. 

    Now that Crystal has been purchased by Business Objects, I do not know if they still have this feature in current versions.  (I think they are somewhere around v 10 now.) 

    As a developer, I moved away from Crystal because report integration into applications left me in .dll hell.  As a stand alone tool, I found it to be very powerful.

    Cheers!

    Ian

  • February 17, 2006 at 5:27 am

    #621603

    While Reporting Services is not a tool for the end-user, Report Builder is.  Report Builder is a new feature in SSRS 2005 that allows an IT person to create a model in Visual Studio.  This model understands rules and aggregations of the data.  This translates into a simple drag and drop approach to creating reports by the end-user.  The user doesn't need to know a thing about SQL.  However, the user should be familiar enough with the data to pick items form the list of data available to make their own report.  Someone who understands how to create/manage an excel workbook would be a good candidate to utilize this tool.

  • February 17, 2006 at 8:08 am

    #621677

    Thank you so much for all your suggestions. I appreciate it very much!!   

     

     

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