One of the interesting features of
SQL Server 2005 is a new utility for working with Reporting Services called
Report Builder.
Designed as a reporting solution for the non-developer set (a la MS
Access reporting, and others), the tool works against “Data Source Views” (DSVs)
created as an abstraction of the underlying tables – the general idea is that
the end user works with entities and relationships of entities rather than with
relational database tables (think “General Ledger View” vs. GL00100, GL00101,
etc.)
For the more savvy users in some
organizations, Report Builder, used in conjunction with well-planned DSVs could
eliminate some of the ad-hoc reporting tasks that are often delegated to
developers.
Video demonstration here.