Overview of Features

SSRS has a number of features to address complex business reporting needs. Over the course of this book, these features are explored more closely. For now, here is a brief overview:

• SSRS can be used across the enterprise by various users simultaneously .

• SSRS leverages .NET data providers and can query a variety of data sources. Examples of the .NET providers are SQL Server, Oracle, Analysis Services, Microsoft Access, and many more. If needed, SSRS can also be extended through the custom data-processing extensions.

• SSRS includes delivery mechanisms to distribute reports to individual users on demand or on a scheduled basis.

• SSRS reports can be rendered to a number of formats, including Excel or HTML. The reports themselves can also be used as data sources for other applications when rendered to XML.

• SSRS provides mechanisms for ad hoc reporting.

• SSRS is highly available. Many enterprises are multinational companies and perform work in multiple shifts; to be a true enterprise reporting solution, SSRS had to include high-availability features.

As you can see, SSRS provides a comprehensive set of features out of the box. Another nice feature of SSRS is its extensibility. Because there is no way that the developers of SSRS could have anticipated every need of an enterprise reporting solution, they made SSRS extensible. This allows developers to use SSRS in any number of ways from embedded reports to customized reporting solutions.