What Is SSRS?

SSRS is Microsoft's answer to business reporting. It provides a unified, server-based, extensible, and scalable platform from which to deliver and present information. Its scope extends from traditional paper reports, to web-based delivery and interactive content. SSRS can also be configured to deliver reports to peoples' inboxes, file shares, and so on. SSRS is capable of generating reports in various formats, such as the web-oriented Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and desktop application (Microsoft Excel and CSV) formats, thus allowing users to manipulate their data in whatever format is required.

SSRS is just one of the components in the Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) platform. Combined, those components provide an excellent platform for enterprise data analysis. The Microsoft BI platform includes the following:

• SQL Server The traditional database engine, which also stores SSRS' catalog data.

• SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) A component for online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining. OLAP performs data aggregation and allows users to traverse from aggregations to details looking though the dimensions (such as geography or time) of data. Data mining helps users to discover patterns in data.

• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) A component for extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) data.

• SQL Server Notification Services (SSNS) A component for deploying and sending notifications of changing data.