Which tool to choose for PeopleSoft Reporting

[ZoomerZ]

I am glad I found this forum as search on Peoplesoft didn't bring anything...
OK, here is the story. I am creating a Reporting System and client using PeopleSoft. No one so far could tell me which Reporting tool they want to use, so I need to suggest.

Please, help me to understand: if you were in a position I am in what would you suggest to a client?

I will need to automate Report running process and create form which will have check boxes and run command button, so they can choose Report and run it. I have a code written in VB for it. So my best bet is?

 

[jmanj]

SQR goes hand in hand with Peoplesoft. You can run it in client or server.

 

[chrish47]

nVision is really the best tool for reporting data from PeopleSoft in an end user 'usable' format. SQR's do great at extracting the information and displaying it in a printable format, but don't allow end users to manipulate/work with the data.

nVision reports can produce printable reports, but the major benefit is that the reports are delivered in Excel, something that 'most' report users should be familiar with. This allows the end users to work with their data (perform what if type analysis, historical analysis, etc), rather than simply viewing it (as they are limited to with SQR and Crystal reports) - obviously with enough technical knowledge, most reports can be 'exported' from their native format and 'imported' into Excel, but nVision reports deliver the data directly in Excel, which makes working with it so much easier - of course if you don't want the end users working with the data, than a print only report is acceptable.

Just my .02

Chris Huss
Central Washington University

 

[jmanj]

SQR does a lot of things than nVision. I have worked on both applications and SQR is more profound. It can do data manipulation like insert, update create tables etc. Output format are ...you name it. I written check programs in SQR which handles everything from graphics, images to micr and signatures (PCL). I have written in many languages such as VB, C++, cobol, RPGIV, assembler etc and SQR can be sometime far greater efficiency in dealing with databases. SQR is one of those languages which can open any type of databases in one program. I don't think nVISION has that power.

 

[chrish47]

jmanj,

I agree with you that SQR is much more versatile than nVision (SQR is basically a report writing language, as such you can do just about anything possible thru normal programming methods - including API calls to other programs which extend the 'power' of SQR), however from an end-user and maintenance perspective (the ones who will be workign with and using the reports - not the person programming them in SQR) nVision provides data in a usable format - an Excel file - something that can be done thru SQR - but generally SQR reports are read only - or exported to a file, which would then have to be opened in Excel - of course you could program this into the SQR also, but then you can program just about anything given the time, resourses, and access - however maintenance on this type of application will not be very easy).

nVision doesn't inherently have the power to open different types of databases, however the question was regarding PeopleSoft - not different databases, and nVision is one of the most powerful reporting tools (other than SQR) that is delivered with PeopleSoft, and technically you can use VBA thru Excel to do just about anything else with the data that is extracted via nVision (including extracting data from different data bases to compare it to). It's really a matter of preference, since I don't have access to SQR, I am preferential to nVision. I have re-created several SQR reports in nVision in order to be able to work with the data in Excel, and haven't had any problems so far - and the users I have talked with perfer the Excel spreadsheet over the printed SQR report.

Obviously a strong programmer (with access to SQR) will probably perfer SQR as it is an actual programming language - and everything for the report can be built in one interface. To use nVision it is necessary to understand the accounting structure, including the chart of accounts, and have access to build layouts, trees, queries, report requests, scopes, etc. Which means that to build an nVision report it may be necessary to build queries, build or update trees, and build the layout - which require three different tools - obviously not the most efficient, but you have to deal with what you have access to.