Professional Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Reporting Services

Introduction

The book in your hands has been written and improved over the past 6 years and is now in its third edition. As consultants, solution architects, and instructors, we spend our time at companies and in front of many people who need serious solutions to meet business problems. We've been using SQL Server Reporting Services to build reporting, business intelligence, and decision-support solutions for large and small companies. The authors work for Hitachi Consulting, a leading business intelligence, information technology, and business services solution provider. Since the earliest release of Reporting Services for SQL Server 2000, we have developed and deployed many reporting solutions in dozens of corporate environments, including the world's largest software company; the largest airplane manufacturer; the largest meat and poultry distributor; the leading cosmetics company; savings and investment banks; the largest investment and insurance company; the world's most recognizable sportswear company; and the largest theme park, film, and entertainment company — to mention a few.

We've helped business users understand their reporting needs and then designed reporting solutions for many types of organizations. Reports were integrated into web sites and portals, intranet sites, and desktop applications. We've trained hundreds of users, developers, and administrators, and have presented at conferences. With this experience, we've learned a lot about how not to design reports ...