Distribution for SQL Server Reporting Services
Though there are plenty of less expensive database solutions available, many businesses are using MS SQL Server just for the included reporting services. The powerful reporting services built in to MS SQL allow administrators to create and save custom reports to track all sorts of SQL transactions. Despite the capabilities of MS SQL Server Reporting Services, it is lacking in distribution and automation.
SQL Server Reporting Services, robust as it is, has no way to automatically trigger reports to run. There are many times that administrators will want reports to be triggered when a certain event occurs, when a threshold is surpassed or to continue running on a schedule until a certain event occurs and then quit. Currently, there is no built in way to schedule reports to do this automatically in MS SQL Server. With the stock reporting services that come with MS SQL, reports have to be manually triggered.
The lack of distribution tools included in SQL Server Reporting Services is an even bigger problem than the inability to run reports on predefined schedules. When the administrator pulls a report, he has to take the time to format it into a file format that users can easily open and read. Then he has to determine which users should have access to the report and either email a copy to those users or deliver it to them via hard copy. This is basically low-tech stuff that takes up far too much of the database administrators valuable time to complete. While well staffed organizations with fat IT budgets may be able to hire an assistant to complete this grunt work for the database administrator, it would be ideal if a software solution could be devised that would allow the administrator to schedule the report to run automatically, set the preferred file format and then automatically see to the distribution of the completed report.
SQL-RD is the add-on product for MS SQL Server Reporting Services that administrators have been waiting for. With it, administrators can create schedules to automate their reports or set reports to run on triggers. With the distribution services provided, reports can be packaged in their preferred format and sent to just department heads or if desired to every member of an organization.