Performing Ad Hoc Reporting Using Report Builder

Summary

Ad hoc reporting, giving users the ability to create their own reports on the fly, has been a highly requested feature for SSRS, so much so that Microsoft decided to deliver its first incarnation in SQL Server 2005. Though it lacks the true versatility of BIDS or Visual Studio, the functionality serves its purpose as a front-end report builder. DBAs and data analysts still need to be involved to produce the report model, which contains the metadata layer separating the report designer from the complicated structure of the underlying data source. But Report Builder will continue to develop in complexity and features and will become better equipped to design more sophisticated reports. In this chapter, you learned about some of its benefits and many of its limitations, and you probably have come away with an answer to the question of whether Report Builder is something your users will want. If so, then the good news is that it is included as a standard feature.