Microsoft® Dynamics CRM 2011 Administration Bible

Chapter 25. Custom Reporting for Dynamics CRM

IN THIS CHAPTER

• The anatomy of Dynamics CRM reports

• Reporting tools

• Designing custom reports

• Publishing and sharing reports

In spite of the tremendous improvements to the built-in reporting tools in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, there may still arise a need for more complex or customized reports. When custom views or visualizations, dashboards, Excel pivot tables, and Report Wizard reports do not provide the flexibility your organization requires, it is time to turn to custom report development.

The goal of this chapter is to provide you with the knowledge you will need to begin creating custom reports for Dynamics CRM, beginning with an introduction to the architecture of Dynamics CRM's reporting engine. We then provide an overview of the tools you can use to develop custom reports for both on-premises and online deployments, recommendations for creating professional, useful reports that meet your users' needs, and a walk-through of the report development process.

In the most general sense, a report can take many forms. A report can be any organized view of data, including lists, charts, and tables. Reports can be rendered as dynamic views, printed lists, spreadsheets, or any number of formats. The focus of this chapter, however, is on the concepts and technologies used to create reports that are powered by SQL Server Reporting Services. These custom reports are launched from the reports list view in the Dynamics CRM Workplace area or from ...