SQl 2005 Reporting Services - From Crystal Reports

[JohnOB]

I currently use Crystal Reports to pull of reports from our system, which is an SQL database (currently 2000 I believe). The system is being upgraded and being given a new name and new look by our third party supplier, and this new version required SQL 2005, and reports for this new system are I believe created using SQl Reporting Services.

We have the option of purchasing an additional part of the system, created by the third party company, for creating and distributing reports, I believe this application has been designed to use Reporting Services.

I assume there is nothing stopping me from still using Crystal Reports when this comes along, however we may want to look into report distribution and having users being able to call on dynamic reports whenever they want them - Which we can setup using this additional piece of software from our suppliers.

My question is, if we are having to purchase SQL 2005 anyway, can reports be created using Reporting Services directly, and distributed in the same way. Or do we have to get an additional application, from which Reporting Services can be used, such as this additional third party app, or one we buy ourselves (Visual Studio for example - which I have never used)

Our third party supplier gave me a rough price of over £15,000 to purchase this reporting application they have created, so naturally I do not want to have to be forced down this route if I know there are other options open to me.

Any advice or links to articles etc would be appreciated, I have been trying to find these myself but having trouble.

Thanks!


"Stupid isn't not knowing the answer, it's not asking the question

 

[xlbo]

Reporting Services has a number of options for report distribution - it can render directly in a web browser or can run on a scedule and save as a number of different file types or indeed can be emailed after a scheduled run.

To CREATE Reporting Services reports, you will need to use Visual Studio.

To DISTRIBUTE Reporting Services reports, IMHO, there is no reason to use a 3rd party application

Rgds, Geoff

We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colours but they all live in the same box.

Please read FAQ222-2244 before you ask a question

 

[JohnOB]

Thanks for your reply. With regards to the creation of Crystal reports, you mention Visual Studio will be required, I believe there is an Ad Hoc report creator that comes as part of the software, would this be too simple a tool for a central report creator to use?

"Stupid isn't not knowing the answer, it's not asking the question

 

[xlbo]

I'm not sure as I did not install RS on our systems but developing an RS report certainly doesn't use all of the Visual Studio functionality.

Rgds, Geoff

We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colours but they all live in the same box.

Please read FAQ222-2244 before you ask a question

 

[BB45]

The ad hoc portion of RS (Report Builder) requires that models of the data are created. The good part is that takes the joining tables requirement away from the user. The bad part is you need Visual Studio to create the models unless your software vendor is going to supply them.

BB