Ad Hoc Reporting: Microsoft Report Builder Jim Drever, Joe Nevshemal

Agenda Goal of this session What is Report Builder? How does it work? Where do I find it? How do I use it? Then what?

Todays Goal To learn how to launch (get to) Report Builder Understand how it works with the RiteTrack database See a sample report or two to help get you started

Report Builder Ad Hoc reporting tool – ( A better Report Genie, although we arent dropping it) Microsoft includes Report Builder with every copy of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Allows users to: – Build Reports (table, matrix, chart) – Explore (query) data – Use Reporting Services features (subscribe)

How Report Builder Works Quick look at databases… really quick, I promise Your RiteTrack database is a relational database that sits on your SQL Server or ours if we host your data. It consists of over 300 tables storing data, configuration, and functionality. Lets look at the difference between relational and flat databases.

Flat Data (Think: Excel) PersonIDNameTelephone Number 1Jim(307) Even(307) Casey(307) What happens if we want to add our work numbers? Do we add another column? Do we add another row for each of us? For the purpose of taking up less hard drive space AND speeding up the process of retrieving data, we make more tables.

Relational Data IDName 1Jim 2Even 3Casey PersonIDNumberID IDNumber 1(307) (307) (307) (307) Primary Key Foreign Keys

How Does Report Builder Use This? Report Builder analyzes the primary/foreign key relationships throughout the database. It follows these relationships/paths (as well see shortly). Most standard RiteTrack tables have these paths; some custom tables do too.

Your RiteTrack Database Two fundamental tables – dtPerson – dtEvents There are numerous sub-tables that join these two tables to hundreds of others. – For example: dtEventInvolved Parties, dtPersonNumbers, dtCases and more Lookup tables hold static data: race, number types, gender, case types and more.

Next… We have seen the rough logic as to how Report Builder works. Lets go look at Report Builder!!!

How to Launch Report Builder Report Builder is a Microsoft product, so it ONLY works with Internet Explorer (although you can access Reporting Service with Firefox, etc.) Two ways to get there – One: You have your project manager put a one- click button in RiteTrack for you. – Two: Navigate using Internet Explorer.

Option Two - Navigate In your web browser put in the name of your database and reporting services. – /ReportServer/Reportbuilder /reportbuilder.applications – /Reports (if you are on the server itself, Click on Report Builder at the top.

What You Will Need Name of your SQL Server Permissions, as denoted in your network security, (non verbal) to access the SQL server Existing data model – Must have this for existing reports. – Online tutorials can show you how. – Handel can build it for you (15 min. or so). – To really use event data, you need to know your configuration or have your Handel PM build you an easy-to-use custom view (several hours perhaps).

Lets Take a Look Using Handels demo database and server name, lets go to the report server. – Notice how our IT changed it from reports to reports$SRS. – Once there, well look around and click Report Builder to launch Report Builder. NOTE: If you have ANY other databases, you can query them too. Access is read only.

Great Resource us/library/aa aspx us/library/aa aspx Google Report Builder Books

Finally Free to go via website. Free basic set-up; it is already part of the database. This is a Microsoft product; we aim to help and support, but we are limited in how much we can do. Integrate with Microsoft. You wont hurt anything.

Thanks!!! See you next time.