Wiley Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 978-0-7645-8497-8 User Manual
Product codes
978-0-7645-8497-8
What Can You Do with
Reporting Services?
In 2003 and 2004, we wrote the first edition of Professional SQL Server Reporting Services. At that time,
I knew that Reporting Services was going to be a big deal, and I also knew that writing a book on
something as substantial as this product wasn’t going to be a walk in the park — so I wanted to work
with a capable, well-rounded team. Fortunately, I have had the pleasure of working with some very
smart, hard-working individuals who love technology and solving problems. Reporting Services was
a new product two years ago, so we did a lot of research and learned some lessons along the way.
Since then, we’ve learned even more by putting reporting solutions in front of many business users
and consulting customers.
I knew that Reporting Services was going to be a big deal, and I also knew that writing a book on
something as substantial as this product wasn’t going to be a walk in the park — so I wanted to work
with a capable, well-rounded team. Fortunately, I have had the pleasure of working with some very
smart, hard-working individuals who love technology and solving problems. Reporting Services was
a new product two years ago, so we did a lot of research and learned some lessons along the way.
Since then, we’ve learned even more by putting reporting solutions in front of many business users
and consulting customers.
What We’ve Learned
I’m not saying that we know absolutely everything there is about this product — we’re learning
more about it on every project, but we’ve certainly made it our mission to be as well versed as pos-
sible. Please bear with me as I toot my horn about those whom I’ve had the pleasure to work
alongside. For the first edition of this book, we worked primarily with the beta product. We have
had many conversations with members of the Reporting Services product team at Microsoft as we
put the product through its paces to learn what Reporting Services could and couldn’t do. We did
our homework, and we wrote about its wonderful capabilities. But as with most Microsoft prod-
ucts, we found that there are about 18 different ways to perform each task. Since then, we have
deployed Reporting Services in dozens of corporate environments. We’ve talked to business users
to understand their reporting needs and then designed reporting solutions for many types of orga-
nizations. We’ve integrated reports into web sites and portals, intranet sites, and desktop applica-
tions. We’ve trained hundreds of users, developers, and administrators and have presented at
conferences. We’ve designed reports for savings and investment banks, support centers, software
more about it on every project, but we’ve certainly made it our mission to be as well versed as pos-
sible. Please bear with me as I toot my horn about those whom I’ve had the pleasure to work
alongside. For the first edition of this book, we worked primarily with the beta product. We have
had many conversations with members of the Reporting Services product team at Microsoft as we
put the product through its paces to learn what Reporting Services could and couldn’t do. We did
our homework, and we wrote about its wonderful capabilities. But as with most Microsoft prod-
ucts, we found that there are about 18 different ways to perform each task. Since then, we have
deployed Reporting Services in dozens of corporate environments. We’ve talked to business users
to understand their reporting needs and then designed reporting solutions for many types of orga-
nizations. We’ve integrated reports into web sites and portals, intranet sites, and desktop applica-
tions. We’ve trained hundreds of users, developers, and administrators and have presented at
conferences. We’ve designed reports for savings and investment banks, support centers, software
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