The Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) strategy is based on the idea that everyone in an organization can benefit from information. Although data warehouses and BI in general are a great way to serve the needs of analysts, an opportunity exists to get even more value by including all the users. Web-based reporting allows you to present information in a useful way without requiring extensive training or complex client software. Reports can be published in Web portals, sent to users via e-mail, or included in applications and dashboards to allow all users to benefit from the information in a data warehouse.

In this chapter, we cover Reporting Services, which is a server-based platform for designing and delivering reports. We look at some of the kinds of business benefits that can be realized by getting specific information to users at the right time, in the format they need.