Reporting Service in MS SQL Server

Reporting Service in MS SQL Server is easier to understand when the core ideas are paired with practical examples. The sections below explain the topic clearly, highlight useful steps, and point out details that can prevent common errors.

MS SQL Server has a service for creating very useful reports for businesses.

Purpose of reporting

Reports are often used for 2 purposes - Company Internal Operations and Company External Operations (temporarily translated as internal and external).

Reporting service

This is a service to create report types. Here are 3 requirements needed to create any kind of report.

Business Process
Layout
Query / Procedure / View

BIDS (Business Intelligence Studio until 2008 R2) and SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools since 2012) are the environment to create reports.

Here are the steps to open BIDS / SSDT.

Step 1 - Open the BIDS / SSDT depending on the version of MS SQL Server you use. The screen below will appear. In this example is SSDT.

Reporting Service in MS SQL Server example image 1 Open the SSDT environment in MS SQL Server to create a report

Step 2 - Go to File in the left corner, select New and select Project. The screen below will appear.

Reporting Service in MS SQL Server example image 2 Create a new project

Step 3 - Select the reporting service at the Business Intelligence section in the left corner as shown below.

Reporting Service in MS SQL Server example image 3 List of reporting services

Step 4 - On the screen above, select the Report Server Project Wizard (follow the steps under available WIzard) or Report Server Project (choose customized settings) according to your requirements to create the report.

Next lesson: Execution Plans - Execution plan in MS SQL Server

FAQ

What should you know about purpose of reporting?

Reports are often used for 2 purposes - Company Internal Operations and Company External Operations (temporarily translated as internal and external).