Hi, I am a Web Developer trying to use Microsoft’s SQL Server Reporting Services for the first time. I have raw data in an MS SQL Database and intend to create a really comprehensive report consisting of multiple pages / sub-reports; sub-reports which could invariably be exported / published individually as pdfs and in various other ways, such as html, if required. Some research led me to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0, which I have downloaded and started reviewing. I intend to create a set template and import data from my database for each sub-report, which will have its own unique identifier. Is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 able to achieve this? Does it support batch procesing or is it designed for small reports? I have also come across a lot of references to Microsoft's Business Intelligence Development Studio for creating comprehensive reports. Is this a better application to use for what I wish to achieve? Many thanks.

Hi Uju Onwuachu, Generally, the Business Intelligence Dev Studio(BIDS) environment is designed for developers and Report Builder is designed to look more like office. If you are creating simple reports that are just a quick drag and drop from a data set into a table, or an easy chart or graph, the report builder will do fine. If you want to have complete control of every aspect of the report the BIDS would be the way to go. Based on the information posted, I will suggest you to use subreport to fulfill sub-report and Report Model or shared dataset to work as your set template. More details about Subreports /Report Model/Creating Shared Datasets, please see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd239314.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd220475.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff714047.aspx Thanks, LolaPlease remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

Thanks Lola. I'd install BIDS then and test its capabilities in relation to my requirements...fingers crossed.

I work in an IT department for a large-ish company and we have taken the view that the best option for us is Report Builder 3 with a SharePoint 2007 backend doing version control. The Problem with BIDS is that you need to work in "Projects" so if one person wants to use BIDS everyone has to otherwise reports will get out of Sync. It's probably worth adding that we have yet to find something so complex that we couldn't do it in Report Builder - but then we have a "no custom code" policy which kind of cuts down on that sort of thing anyway. But as you say you know your environment, you know your developers, and you know your users - look at all the options and then do what's best for your company.

Thanks Andy. Do you produce batch reports of different records with a set template, with your method (Report Builder 3 with a SharePoint 2007 backend doing version control)? If you do, can you please elaborate on how you achieve this?

We have approximately 600 reports running off of about 300 data sets which run off about 3 data sources. We have "template" reports which you open in Report Builder and then add the Data Set you want to report on too. I'm not sure what you mean (it could be that's because you mention Batch Reports and we do production work so do work in Batches but I'm not sure if you mean "Batch" as we mean "Batch"!). We have done a lot of work "standarding" our reporting templates as well as standardising the way we do things (i.e. echo parameters back to the user, grid line height, etc). Does that help?

Thanks Andy. I have setup a template in Report Builder 3.0 and added a dataset from a data source (database) to it. So, I know how it is used manually. However, with the right application or combination of applications / services, I wish to generate a series of reports in a batch rather than creating them manually, with a single / standard template. Is this achievable with MS SSRS?

Hi Uju Onwuachu, As I have posted, the single/standart template can be achieved by a Report Model, and then generate a series Ad hoc reports based on the Report Model datasource. Here are some good articles to help you to learn Creating a Report Model Project and Designing Reports in Report Builder 3.0: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms156285.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159253.aspx Thanks, LolaPlease remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

Hi Lola, Thanks for your feedback. I've reviewed both links and I have a question please. The Report Model Project, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms156285.aspx, seems to have been created in Visual Studio, or was it the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS)? Many thanks.

Hi Uju Onwuachu, I suggest you to use BIDS. Actually, BIDS is part of Visual Studio. If you have BIDS part installed in Visual Studio, you can also created in Visual Studio. Thanks, LolaPlease remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.

While Report Builder is geared towards the end user it lacks an important feature which would help especially the target audience: there's no IntelliSense in the expression editor, i.e. no auto-completion (not even -suggestion) of properties (e.g. deleting ".Value" from "Fields.Value" and typing "." again is showing a list of available properties in BIDS) nor tooltips showing parameter help (e.g. BIDS is showing a tooltip showing the function's parameters and their data types when typing the "(" after the function name) best regards, Gerald

I choose RB over BIDS . reason? 1. RB is light weight and faster to load , while BIDS slow . 2. BIDS is crash too often compare to RB . try to run report with 100K records I have no issue using RB even though without auto-completion / tooltips since I don't write alot code in report . most of the work done at sql level

I prefer the other way - I can't remember when BIDS has crashed last time, it has been too long ago. RS was very unstable before 2005 SP2, but now it is working quite well. Personally I don't need auto-completion or tooltips, but I give some RS training courses to our customers and therefore I can easily recognize where the problems for non IT users are. These prefer - for obvious resons - RB over BIDS. It is not necessary to write a log of code in reports, but each more sophisticated report requires a lot of (more or less complex) expressions - auto-completion and tooltips would help the target audience a lot (at least in my opinion). best regards, Gerald