Reporting Tool Keys SQL Server 2005 Preview


Business intelligence highlights the third Community Technology Preview
(CTP) for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, which includes a tool that allows
business users with little technical experience to create reports on the
fly.


The third SQL Server 2005 CTP boasts Report Builder, an advanced, ad-hoc
reporting tool Microsoft integrated from its ActiveViews acquisition last year. Report Builder will be a key utility in SQL
Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.


The release also features 64-bit support for Reporting Services and
Notification Services; tighter integration with Visual Studio 2005;
performance improvements in Management Studio; and a tool to help upgrade from
SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005.


Something of an incremental beta test, a CTP allows developers to better test
and keep up with how a developing product is coming along, which allows them
greater control over how the finished product will look. The new CTP is
available now to MSDN subscribers and participants of the SQL Server 2005
beta program.


Microsoft began offering CTPs for SQL Server 2005 last year after garnering
great support for the unofficial betas for its Visual Studio product line.
CTP 2 appeared in December, and the first CTP launched
in October.


Pricing and packaging for SQL Server 2005 was announced last week, with the finished product due this summer.


Microsoft officials have said SQL Server 2005 is expected to match IBM’s DB2
database and Oracle’s 10g database in performance and reliability at a
fraction of the cost.


Continuing in the reporting features and business intelligence vein,
Microsoft also improved reporting features in SQL Server 2000, including the
release of SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services Service Pack 2 (SP2).


SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services, downloaded more than 153,000 times since
it launched in January 2004, provides business managers real-time
information from any data source to any device. SP2 for the product includes
SharePoint Web Parts, which will make it possible for users to view reports
through Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server.


Such close interaction between the reporting services and collaboration
software will allow users to access reported and other information through one
interface, courtesy of the SharePoint portal.


Also, Microsoft announced the upcoming release of SQL Server Report Packs
for Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 and SQL Server Report Pack for IIS Logs.


Both Report Packs, available for free later this month, will make report
development easier by providing users with templates of reports to modify
for their own custom reports.

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