SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a reporting tool provided by Microsoft which is employed to produce formatted reports such as graphs, tables of data, and charts.

What is SSRS?

SSRS stands for SQL Server Reporting Services. It’s a reporting tool developed by Microsoft that comes free with the SQL Server. It produces formatted reports with the tables of data, graph, and reports. Reports are hosted on a server and can be configured to run using parameters supplied by users. When we run the reports, the current data appears from the database, XML file or other data source. It provides the security features that controls who can see which reports.

What is Data visualization?

Data visualization is the virtual access to the data that we have. A well-designed data can be a graph, charts or a report, and visual representation of the data is the simplest and most powerful representation of any data. For example, I am a Business Analyst, so I am employed in working with the numbers since I have started, but if I want to show the information with respect to the business to the owner, then I need to provide the visual representation of a data which is easier to understand.

Why do we need visualization?

Nowadays, we create close to 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data every day, which is a huge set of data. We need to understand what this data means, so we need the data to get into a visual format. Data visualization is preferred as our eyes perceive better than our reading. The main purpose of data visualization is that the human mind understands the data better than reading. A human can analyze the data or information through charts and graphs better than analyzing the data using spreadsheets. Data visualization is a quick and easy way to convey concepts in a universal manner.

Data visualization is useful because of the following reasons:

It helps you to identify the areas that need more improvement or attention.
It also helps you to identify the factors that influence customer behavior.
It’s also employed to predict sales volumes.

Why SSRS?

SSRS is useful because of the following reasons:

Standard Microsoft Development environment

It’s a standard environment where whole the data is processed.

It consists of three services:

Microsoft SQL Server analytical service: It helps in analyzing the data.
Microsoft SQL Server integration service: It deals with the integration of multiple data sources.
Microsoft SQL Server reporting service: It generates a visual report for the data.

When you are using the complete product, then it ensures the overall quality of the product and standardization that other tools do not provide. For example, Tableau or Power BI employed to retrieve the data from a single data source or multiple data sources, then it performs the Quality checks, i.e., checking the inconsistency of the data. If you use the SSRS, it provides the complete standard process means that the data you are working with is already gone through other services that perform quality checks, so reporting service does not need to perform the quality checks.

Mobile Support

When you publish the report on any URL then it’s visible to everyone even if you want to see the report on mobile, then you can also view the report by opening the URL. Suppose my client is sitting in the US and wants a report from my side, then I publish the report and provide the report details to him so that he can view the report.

No Additional cost

SSDT (SQL Server Data tools) comes free with the SQL Server package on the installation of the SQL Server. Cost is the most important factor to be considered in an organization. As an organization, if you are paying for the reporting tool, then it becomes a hindrance as you are already paying for the data processing and data integration service. The major advantage of SSRS is that it does not incur any cost as it comes free with the Microsoft SQL Server. You only need to purchase the license of SQL Server then all the services are free of cost.

Advanced Analytics

You can also do advanced visualization and analytics. SSRS also allows you to filter or process the data as per your requirements before going for visualization.

SSRS Architecture

There are three types of users of reporting services:

Report User
Report users are those that work with the data. Mainly, they work on the first two tools, i.e., SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) and SSAS (SQL Server Analytic Services). If they want to make reports, then they can also use the SQL Server Reporting Services.
Report Designer
Report Designers are the professionals who design the reports from existing data.
Report Manager
Report managers are those who view the report or to whom we need to submit the report. They view the reports to check whether they meet the requirements or not.

Now let’s understand the architecture of SSRS architecture.

There can be any data source, such as Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, etc. You can link any of these data sources to the Microsoft SQL Server. Once you attached the data sources to the SQL Server, then data retrieval and rendering process happen. Rendering is the process of filtering and analyzing the data to meet the requirements. Report processing: Report processing comes after Rendering. Report processing is the process of publishing, filtering, and modifying the existing reports. XML web service interface: When you publish the report then the report is published to the website, it’s possible through the XML web service interface. Security and Scheduling and delivery come with the SQL Server.

So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘Overview of SSRS and its Architecture’ blog helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in Microsoft BI. If you wish to learn Microsoft BI and build a career in Business Intelligence domain, then check out our interactive, Microsoft SSRS Course Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period. Please find the link for course details

https://www.tecklearn.com/course/microsoft-ssrs-course-content/

Microsoft SSRS Course Training

About the Course

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a server-based report generating software system developed by Microsoft. It is used for building custom reports from a variety of data sources. In this course, you’ll understand the terminology behind SSRS and its configuration for creating reports and visualizations.

Why Should you take Microsoft SSRS Training?

The Average salary for a SSRS Report Developer is $90,842 per annum – ZipRecruiter.com
Microsoft BI is a Leader in 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence & Analytics Platforms (9th Consecutive Year).

What you will Learn in this Course?

Introduction to Data Warehousing and MSBI

Fundamental concepts of Data Warehousing
Concepts of Dimensions, Measures, Metadata, Schemas
Data Marts and Design approaches
Normalization and Denormalization and Schema types
Online Analytical Processing and Transactional Processing concepts
OLAP Cube
Types of Slowly Changing Dimensions
Explain ETL process and various tasks involved in it
Discuss Business Intelligence concepts
How BI works with data-warehouse

Introduction to SSRS

Understanding SSRS Architecture
Learning the data flow in different components
SSRS Report Building tool components

Matrix and Tablix Overview

Understanding the concepts of Matrix and Tablix
Working with Text Box, learning about formatting, row and column grouping
Understanding sorting and formatting
Concepts of Header, Footer, Totals, Subtotals and Page Breaks
Hands On

Parameters and Expression

Learning about Parameters, filter and visibility expression

SSRS Reporting

Reporting Services Architecture & Lifecycle
Report Parameters and Multi-Valued
Cascaded Parameters
Types of Reports: Parameterized, Linked, Snapshot, Cached, Ad hoc, Clickthrough, Drillthrough, Subreports
Creating Groups, Filters, Expressions Sort and Interactive Sort, Alternate Row Colors, Repeating Row Headers and Column Headers
Describe Mobile report publisher
Exporting Reports to different formats
Hands On