New Report Packs on the Way

Upcoming report packs for SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services will help developers jump-start design of reports from data in Great Plains 8.0 and data gathered from Internet Information Services (IIS) log files. The new report packs expand the list of Microsoft applications that can use Reporting Services for report management and distribution and suggest a Microsoft strategy to converge on Reporting Services as a cross-product reporting engine. Such consolidation could create new sales opportunities for SQL Server and streamline internal Microsoft product development, obviating the need for individual product teams to develop specialized tools and infrastructure for reporting.

Portfolio of Report Packs Grows

Reporting Services is a component of SQL Server that provides development and management tools for creating and distributing reports from a variety of data sources. Each Reporting Services report pack contains sample report designs that can be run against a sample database. To use the report packs in production, companies will need to modify and integrate these designs with their own data sources. The Great Plains and IIS report packs expand the list of products for which Microsoft has provided report packs, joining Exchange and Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (MSCRM) report packs released in Sept. 2004.