Anything out there better than SSRS

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Anything out there better than SSRS

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mark 4643

Posted Friday, August 03, 2012 2:22 PM

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Hi All

Beginning to look around for other BI tools. Don't have a vast amount of knowledge in this area, but been writing BI reports for a while and feel there has to be something better than 10-year old technology. Don't get me wrong SSRS has some neat features (esp. if you have Enterprise SQL), but it shouldn't be so hard for execs to get information they want (i.e. go through overburdened IT Dept).

We're just coming off SQL2005 (unfotunately to 2008). Haven't been overly impressed with Report Writer.

Anyone got nay experience with Visual BI tools, or is SSR as good as it gets.

Got a demo with DOMO next week. Will see how that is.

Regards

Mark

Post #1340108

Michael Valentine Jones

Posted Friday, August 03, 2012 2:40 PM

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Before you completely dismiss SSRS, you should make sure that you look at the latest version of it, SQL Server 2012.

Even if your data source is a SQL 2000, 2005, 2008, or 2008 R2, there is no reason that you can't run reports from SSRS 2012.

Post #1340113

mark 4643

Posted Friday, August 03, 2012 2:42 PM

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Do you know if you can install SSRS 2012 on same server as 2008 SQL (otherwise need to buy another license) and along side SSRS 2008 (I think MSDynamics, which is on same server requires SSRS2008)

Any earth shattering features in 2012

Post #1340115

Michael Valentine Jones

Posted Friday, August 03, 2012 3:01 PM

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mark 4643 (8/3/2012)

You would have to buy a license for SSRS 2012 anyway, unless you bought a SQL 2012 license originally, or you are on some kind of software agreement that covers upgrades.

If you just want to look at the new features, you can buy the Developer Edition for around $50 and install it on your PC.

I saw a very interesting presentation on Spatial Reporting in SSRS 2012 on the PASS Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter

You can view it on the Presentation Archive at
http://bi.sqlpass.org/PresentationArchive.aspx
"6/26/2012
Fast Track to Spatial Reporting using SSRS 2012
Speaker: Jason Thomas
SSRS has opened a new realm of reporting possibilities by including the spatial data support. Come and join this session to get familiar with the basic spatial concepts, creating map reports in SSRS from different sources, drilling down on map reports, aggregating custom data in the maps and some interesting tips and tricks revolving around them."

Post #1340121

Daniel Bowlin

Posted Tuesday, August 07, 2012 12:02 PM

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SSRS is a great tool for canned reports, and reports that need a variety of parameters. It is not a what-if tool. Most people understand Excel, so I think a great ad-hoc reporting tool is either Excel or PowerPivot which is very Excel like. It is possible to configure them to connect directly to a data model or data source.

Post #1341455

Luis Cazares

Posted Tuesday, August 07, 2012 12:41 PM

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I'm not sure if there's a conflict of interests by posting the following but...
If you're looking for a nice tool that can be easy for the execs to work with, you might try qlikview.
It's not a replacement for SSRS, but it might be a nice tool.

Luis C.
Please don't trust me, test the solutions I give you before using them.
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Post #1341478

Scott D. Jacobson

Posted Tuesday, August 07, 2012 12:51 PM

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I'm going to have to start with a couple caveats.

1) I don't really have any experience with SSRS.
2) I'm not really sure if it's better but we used this at a place I worked at about 5 years ago.

Actuate

I'm not sure I can say it's 'better' than SSRS due to my lack of experience with SSRS. I can tell you that if you're familiar with Visual Studio and/or BIDS, the report designer with be familiar to you.

Post #1341483

Bob Press-213238

Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2012 11:31 AM

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Hi
I have been working with SSRS since 2004, when it was introduced as an add on for SQL 2000. I have found it to be a terrific tool, and can usually create any report that has been required, including multi level dashboards up to seven tiers deep.

I would recommend this too highly for its report capabilities with relational queries and MDX for cube reporting, its price point, its integratio nin the MSBI stack, and its power in programming abilities.

But I would also recommend Power Pivot for rapid prototyping and adhoc/self serve reporting, and additionally, Power View for interactive report presentation layer on top of POwer Pivot or SSAS tabular data models.

SSRS is a great tool, and the better a programmer you are, the better it gets.

Sorry, don't really have anything "better" to recommend.

Bob

Post #1342060

J Livingston SQL

Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2012 11:59 AM

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Luis Cazares (8/7/2012)

Hi Luis

have you been actively involved in using qlikview?....its something I only yesterday started to research....my company reqs are exactly as you say..."easy for the execs".

...but is it hard to admin / set up so that it appears as being "easy to the execs" Smile

__________________________________________________________________
you can lead a user to data....but you cannot make them think !
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Post #1342091

mark 4643

Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2012 12:04 PM

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Daniel Bowlin (8/7/2012)

Thanks.

We do have a 2012 license but running 2008 because of 3rd party apps

Post #1342096

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