Reporting solution for .NET client

Question

We have built a .net (asp) web based solution (SQL Server database) for a client with a very complex database model (over 100 tables with some complex relationships). This software is used by several of their clients. We have built over 40 reports to try to accomodate many of the main higher level reports but we are constantly being asked for more reports or a better reporting solution.

I know that Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services provide various aspects of a solution but the solution needs to include the following:

• The client need to be able to create and save reports on the fly.

• Since the database is very complex we would need some level of
  abstraction with the reporting product such that we can define views (either in SQL Server) or as part of the product that shields much of the complexity of the database model from the client.

• The reports would need to include basic grouping, summation, and
  exporting to excel.

• There does not necessarily need to be integration with our current
  app although having a page behind our login would be best.

I've seen some answers here: Right reporting solution in a .Net environment

but I'd be interested in knowing what others have experienced with various off-the-shelf products where the database model is too complex for a basic user to understand but the need for generating reports with an easy UI is available.

Again the key here is that the reporting solution must not require any development time once set up (and database views or abstraction is created).

Answer 1

Analyze deeply what your customer is wanting to get from Reports.

Design and implement fact-tables that presents all the data involved in a lay-down way.

Buy something like Dundas; develop scoreboards and other nice dynamic stuff.

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No matter what you choose, what your customer asks for is very expensive and requires a lot of work; there is no install and smile solution for this.

Answer 2

This screams out for something like Microsoft's Report Builder, especially as you are already using SQL Server.

If you need to you can reorganise your schema with some views or denormalized tables to make things easier for the end user.

Answer 3

I've always been impressed with Cognos. Essentially what you do is have your data expert create "data cubes" which then gives the end users full control over customizing their own dashboards and reports. According to this document Cognos plays nicely on Microsoft servers and I wouldn't be surprised if there are some .Net controls or libraries out there do do some deep integration.

To note: I have not done any hands on work with Cognos. I had worked with a few demos at one job and my recent job had a "lite" version of Cognos installed to interact with one of our finance related systems, but the folks I talked to that were involved with it there were very happy with the product as well.

Answer 4

Sound like you search an Ad-Hoc reporting tool like this demo. There exist also the option to define data views to make the database simple for the end user. There exist an .NET port and a sample for ASPX. With the export button you can save it in the excel format and other formats. If the reporting feature are enough for you can you see in the live sample.

Answer 5

If I was in your shoes my bet would be Cognos Report Studio without a doubt. I know there are many reporting tools out there but this one is the best at:

1. Report Management. It is easy to re-use styles, look & feel and report headers & footers.
2. Data Filtering. Drill down, row filtering, slice and dice of data is something that Cognos does very well.
3. Mapping relational and Olap data to reports. This one is another of Cognos' strengths, using another tool named Framework Manager.
4. Report Authoring. This one is my favourite, since all you need is grant access to users and they can directly create and consume their own reports within the browser; no additional programs need to be installed.
5. Data is consistent across all reports since the design comes from one place. All figures match.

I have been working with Cognos since 2004 and one of the projects I was involved was a mixture of C# Winforms and Cognos Reports. Since the parameters can be passed in the URL of the report and LDAP / Active Directory as filtering the data automatically, the final user got the right information seemlessly. In Winforms it was just a matter of embedding a web browser in the windows.

From the developer's point of view I think it is the best choice by far. If you don't have more than a couple hundred of users, the price is affordable too.

Answer 6

Take a look into List & Label. It should solve your problems. Its used in a very complex database software and you sit in between of the database and the report engine, so you are able to hide whatever complex things you need. See here a description of the principle. We've done some projects with this nice tool and we were always satisfied. There is an ActiveX to integrate the report designer into the browser.