Presented by John P White at the Toronto Sharepoint Summit, May 2012

1. 7.4 - Reporting for Duty
Best Practices for Reporting Services with SharePoint #sp_summit74
John P White
Chief Technology Officer, UnlimitedViz Inc
@diverdown1964
http://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com

2. Who Am I?
 SharePoint Server MVP
 SQL Server v-TS
 CTO/Co-Founder of UnlimitedViz
 SharePoint Focus – BI, Forms and Workflow
 +20 Years in IT Field
 whitepages.unlimitedviz.com
 @diverdown1964
 about.me/diverdown

3. Agenda
Reporting Services in the BI Stack
Native Mode vs SharePoint Integrated Mode
Architecture and Installation
Enabling SharePoint – Lighting Up
Building And Using Reports
Discussion
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4. The Microsoft BI Spectrum
Empowered Aligned
My Context Our Context The Org’s Context
BI solution created BI Solution created by BI Solution created by
by user. Context is power user. Context IT, Established
only for user & exists is for a small team & corporate context & is
as document. it’s managed on a reusable, scalable and
server. backed up.

5. The Tools
Excel Excel Services SQL Server
PowerPivot for Analysis Services
PowerPivot SharePoint
Visio Integration Services
PerformancePoint
Reporting Services
Data Mining Add- Visio Services
in Reporting Services Data Quality Services
Add-in SQL Server Data
Data Cleansing
Add-in
BCS Tools
Chart Web Part
KPIs
Filter Web Parts
Access Services
PowerView
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6. Architecture – Native vs SharePoint Integrated
Integrated Mode Introduced in SSRS 2005R2
All Reporting Services Objects stored in SharePoint Libraries
Simplify Storage
Unified Security Model
Report Builder Accessed through SharePoint
With SQL Server 2012 – Reporting Services is a SharePoint Service
Application
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7. Architecture – Where Do We
Put This Thing?

8. Typical SharePoint 2 Server Farm
WFE Profile Indexer Search ……. DB SSAS SSIS SSRS
SharePoint
Foundation SQL Server
Server OS Server OS

9. Far Too Typical SharePoint 2 Server Farm with RS Integration
WFE Profile Indexer Search …….
DB SSAS SSIS SSRS
SharePoint Foundation
SharePoint Foundation
SQL Server
Server OS Server OS

10. RS Integration – A Better Approach
WFE Profile Indexer Search SSRS ……. DB SSAS SSIS
SharePoint Foundation SQL Server
Server OS Server OS

11. RS Integration – Even Better
Profile Indexer Search SSRS …….
WFE
SharePoint Foundation
SharePoint Foundation
Server OS Server OS
DB SSAS SSIS
SQL Server
Server OS

12. Setup Screen – SQL 2008 R2

13. Setup Screen – SQL 2012 13

14. Configuration Manager – 2008 R2 and earlier
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15. Config Utility – 2008 R2 15

16. Native Mode to Integrated Mode Migration Tool
Download
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29560
Using
http://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com/2012/04/migrate-reporting-services-
from-native-mode-to-sharepoint-integrated-mode/
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17. Shared Service Application - 2012
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18. Configuration - 2012

19. Lighting Up
Demo
Adding Content Types
Using Report Builder
Using Data Tools

20. Deployment Model – Centralized or Distributed?
Centralized Distributed
All Report items stored centrally Report items stored throughout the site
Easy to manage collection(s)
Easy to discover Easy to enable power users
Requires explicit security “Intrinsic” security
Users must navigate to central location Report are in context
for reports Multiple management points
Single point of failure
Answer – It Depends
Requirements of IT will need to be balanced with needs of Power
Users (if any) and End Users
Separate Connection Libraries from Report Libraries
TIP – Avoid the use of the name “Reports” for a subsite.
http://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com/2010/05/deploying-reporting-services-reports-to-
sharepoint-using-business-intelligence-development-visual-studio/

21. Design Tools – BIDS SQL Data Tools vs Report Builder
SQL Data Tools or BIDS Report Builder
Heavy client footprint One Click install
Daunting for end users Meant for power users
Project files stored locally and deployed to Very friendly UI – Office Ribbon
server Report items are edited in place
Analyst Tool Single point of failure
Relatively simple to redeploy (backup) Very quick to get up and running
Can’t use Shared Datasets (BIDS only)
Can use Team Foundation Server (DT only)
Answer – It Depends
A mixture is likely
Analysts IT own enterprise assets and would likely use Data Tools
Power Users would own Team assets and use Report Builder
Do NOT mix on a single library
TIP – Make Enterprise assets read only to avoid collision
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22. Building and Using
Demos
Reporting on SharePoint Data
Report Processing Options
Using Parameters Effectively

23. Reporting on SharePoint Data
Report Directly On SharePoint Data
Very easy to implement
Places load on SharePoint Server
“One Off” approach
Move SharePoint Data into a Data Warehouse
Less Flexible
Highly Performant
Can be integrated into warehousing strategy
Answer – It Depends
But will almost always be the Warehouse approach
SP Data Source for SSIS
http://sqlsrvintegrationsrv.codeplex.com/releases/view/17652
Using the SP Data Source for SSIS
http://dataqueen.unlimitedviz.com/2011/06/how-to-use-a-sharepoint-list-as-a-data-source-
in-your-ssis-package/
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24. Processing Options
Caching
Report Data is stored for a period of time
Can be automatically refreshed
Snapshotting
Versions of reports are stored in the database
Can be used as primary report source
Subscriptions
Reports are delivered according to predefined criteria
Use Shared Schedules
Reports delivered to Libraries get indexed
Data Driven subscriptions run concurrently
Null Renderer
Used to refresh cache for parameter driven reports with caching
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25. Use Parameters Effectively
Drive options with data
Unless controlled elsewhere….(SP Filters)
Pull from shared data sets when possible
Queries vs Filters
Filters for Cascading Parameters, dynamic content, small data sets
Queries for Report Data
Use an All Selector
Use SharePoint Filters
When connected, Parameter disappears from view
http://dataqueen.unlimitedviz.com/2011/06/how-to-default-to-all-in-an-ssrs-multi-select-
parameter/
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26. Shared Data Sources/Sets/Models
Data Sources
Should be secured separately from report library
Can use current or proxy accounts
Data Sets
Change Field Names in Your Data Source
Good for reusability
Use for parameter options
Can’t pass parameters to them
Data Models
Introduced with SSRS 2005
Becoming deprecated
Look to BISM to replace
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27. Other Items
Use the Reporting Services Web Part!
Web Services
Can use to manage Reports or Render
Different Endpoint Depending on Version
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms155398.aspx
Pre-Render Reports
http://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com/2012/04/how-to-automate-sharepoint-
report-creation-with-ssis-and-ssrs/
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28. In Conclusion
Add RS to SharePoint, DON’T add SharePoint to SQL Server
SSRS Integrated Mode > SharePoint + Reporting Services
Understand your usage and design model
Never mix models in a single location
Report from a data warehouse when possible
Especially with SharePoint data
Filter your data as close as possible to the source
Understand your loads
Take advantage of report processing where possible
Reuse as much as possible
Take advantage of SharePoint features
Never, ever forget about the end user
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29. Questions
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