A report-design tool for nontechnical users is the promise of a planned SQL Server 2005 feature called Report Builder, now available for preview. Based on technology acquired with ActiveViews in Apr. 2004, Report Builder allows end users to construct detailed personal or ad hoc reports from SQL Server databases without requiring SQL Server programming skills or an understanding of SQL Server concepts. Report Builder will ship as a feature of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, which provides development and management tools for report creation and distribution; however, the new feature steps into areas supported by partners.

Report Builder is available in the Feb. 2005 Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2005. The CTP also addresses several problems in SQL Server 2005 Beta 2, including a previous lack of tools to assist upgrades from SQL Server 2000 and performance of the product's management tools. In addition, the CTP provides 64-bit support for Reporting Services and Notification Services, which helps developers build applications that can notify users of key events (such as a change to a flight departure time).

Custom Reports for Nontechnical Users

Report Builder complements Reporting Services by allowing nontechnical users to create and customize reports. Developers or administrators first create a data model based on one or more underlying data sources (initial releases of Report Builder will likely work against SQL Server data sources only). Data-model creation is done with a Visual Studio plug-in called the Report Builder Model Designer, which supplies wizards to assist with creation of data models. Once a data model has been created, nontechnical users can create and customize reports based on the model with client tools available in the Reporting Services report manager, a Web-based report portal. (The Report Builder client tools are .NET WinForm applications—users click on the Report Builder link in the report manager, which causes the client's tools to download and run on the user's desktop.) Report Builder runs on top of Reporting Services and uses Reporting Services for lower-level functions, such as report management and delivery.

While the ability to give nontechnical users self-service reporting capabilities will be a welcome addition to many IT shops, the Report Builder feature could compete with some partner offerings. Because it was aimed at developers creating managed reporting infrastructures, Reporting Services has offered an opportunity for ISVs to supplement it with the type of self-service reporting capabilities offered by Report Builder. ISVs working on reporting features targeted at nontechnical users, such as Microsoft partner Cizer Software, could find demand for those features eroding with the debut of SQL Server's latest feature.

Availability and Resources

The CTP is an interim release and is therefore not subject to the same rigid test and release criteria as are SQL Server beta releases. The release is intended primarily to give early adopters a preview of previously unavailable features, such as Report Builder, and addresses several known problems in SQL Server 2005 Beta 2. Consequently, users of the CTP could find it buggier than typical SQL Server beta releases.

Support for 64-bit processors in the CTP extends only to Intel's Itanium processors. However, Microsoft plans to support x64 (AMD's 64-bit architecture) processors in SQL Server 2005 as soon as such support is available in the Windows Server OS (Windows Server 2003 SP1, planned for the first half of 2005, will support x64 processors). Interested customers should also note that the Report Builder feature will be available with SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition only.

The CTP is available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers and SQL Server 2005 beta program participants.

More information about the SQL Server 2005 CTP is at www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/mar05/03-03ReportingOfferingPR.asp.

The acquisition of ActiveViews was outlined in "Self-Service Reporting Technology Acquired" on page 21 of the June 2004 Update.