Report Manager Components The Report manager can be accessed from the reporting services configuration manager. The home page for the report manager is as shown below: The number of activities can be performed using the report manger. A new folder can be created by the user A new data source can be created by the user File can be uploaded from the system Report builder can start up User can access to the following activities in addition to the standard. They are as mentioned below: MySubscriptions: It helps user show all the created subscriptions for the reports including standard and data driven ones. User can edit, create, delete and check the subscriptions status. The Home page link helps user to return to the home page from the current page Site Settings: The report manager title can be set in the settings page. A name can be provided. Help page provide user with the online help for the report manager installed using SQL Server 2008. The default settings for the report history page can be selected. The number of copies for each report in the history can be limited. The report level can be modified. The older folders are removed and the new ones can be added to it. The number of reports cannot exceed a specific limit. The report timeout is the time taken on the server to process reports. The roles and permissions can be modified through the site settings. Folder structure and hierarchy The home page is accesses directly using the report manager. The manager is folder based with sub folders containing reports, data sources, models, and other folders. The folder structure is similar to the Windows file system. Every object in the manager folder has own properties. Report manager folders are hierarchical and every folder has properties that refer to the contents. Creating, deleting and modifying folders The Home page is the root folder consisting of other folders. There are reserved folders like DataSources and models. Creating a folder The creation of folder in report manager is very simple. The steps for creating are as mentioned below: Start the report manger In the Home page, click New folder toolbar item Add a name for the folder and a description. Place a checkmark for the Hide in list view option Click ok button Deleting a folder The deletion of folder consists of the following steps In the report manager, place a checkmark to the folder to be deleted The Delete button is enabled Click on the delete button for folder removal The message asking for delete confirmation is displayed. Click Yes The folder is deleted from the system Moving a folder There are requirements where the folder needs to be organized by the user. The report manager easily moves the folders. The following steps are used for moving the folder. In the Home page, click Show details item Place a checkmark on the folder to be moved Click Move button. Click on any one of the existing folders. The location where the folder will be moved is added to the Location textbox Click Ok Permissions in reporting services The report server access is controlled using the roles users assume. By assigning the roles, the visibility can be limited. The administrative privileges must be present with the user for assigning the roles. There are two types of roles as system level and item level. The system level roles are assigned to the system based tasks. The item level roles are assigned to the tasks like publishing reports, viewing reports, creating subscriptions, etc. The following list shows the roles and description of the type of tasks and permissions to carry out. System user: It is useful to view the system properties and shared schedules System administrator: It can view and modify the system role assignment, definitions, properties, and shared schedules Browser: It may view folders, reports and subscribe the reports Content Manager: It may manage the content in the report server including folders, reports and resource in the My Reports folder MyReports: It may publish the reports, linked reports, manage folders, reports and resources in the folder. Publisher: It may publish the reports and linked reports to the report server. Report Builder: It may view the report definitions Custom roles: It may pick and choose tasks for the user An administrator can set up new roles and customize them. Right click on the folder in the node, new role window will appear. In the new role window, user can select the tasks the role can have permissions and save the custom name. In the new role window, select the tasks that the role can have permissions to carry and save with the custom name. The new roles can be created using the management studio. The report manager carries out the assignment of the user roles. The custom roles are created from the Roles table. Creating a Windows User The user can have access in Windows when it is present in the group or it is a windows user. The steps for providing access to windows group are as mentioned below: Go to Start, Control Panel, Administrative tools. Select Computer management In the management window, right click on the Users and select New User In the new user window, add a user name, full name and description. Add a password that can be remembered. Click Ok button Assigning user to the system administrator role The System Administrator is useful for managing the tasks. Log on the report manager from the reporting services configuration tool In the manager window, click the Site settings link. The site settings page is displayed Click on the security link The Administrator with system administrator role is displayed Click on the New Role Assignment tab The New Role assignment page gets displayed as shown below Add the group or user name in the textbox and place a checkmark for the System administrator, click Ok Assigning users to roles The Windows users and group can be assigned roles. User needs to add a windows user to the group and the user have the permissions for the group. Open the IE browser for accessing the report manager. Click the properties tab on the home page The properties page open in the browser Click on the New Role assignment option Enter the user name in the textbox and add a checkmark for the Browse role, click ok Assigning user to a custom role Create a new user with a specific username and add an appropriate password to it Logon to the reporting services in the management studio, expand the security node Right click on role and display the new user role window Add a name and click view reports, click ok Open the IE browser and then type the report manager URL Click on the New Role management and assign the role to the windows user Report Data Sources Data added to the report is from the data sources obtained from the databases in the database servers. There are two ways data sources can be configured for reports as embedded and shared. The RDL report file carries the information with it. The report has four options for connecting with the server data. They are as mentioned below: The credentials supplied by the user for executing the report The credentials added securely to the report server Windows integrated security Credentials are not required Report viewing and printing Viewing reports and printing reports are the activities needed daily by the organizations. They are electronically generated and can be modified according to the user specific format. The reporting services have different formats for print and web. The number of reports created can be large. The report search is a must for the user. The Find tool helps in searching the reports for the specific information. There is security assigned for viewing the reports. Viewing reports The reports can be viewed once they are deployed by the user. The following steps must be performed by the user for viewing the reports. Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Configuration tools, reporting services configuration manager In the configuration manager, connect to the report server. In the status page, click Start In the navigation list, click on the reporting services configuration manager. Click report manager URL On the report manager page, click on the hyperlink for the URL The home page for the report manager is displayed Click on the appropriate folder. The hyperlink takes the user to the page. The number of reports present in the project is displayed Printing reports The reports from the IE browser can be printed by the user. The following steps are executed by the user. Click Alt + R and Alt + P The Print window is displayed to the user. The printer can be selected from the available list. Printing report from the print button on report When the user views the report on the report manager, the server has sufficient permissions to access the report for verification and checking. Reporting services provide number of options for printing the data. Click Print button The SQL Server 2008 message is displayed. It states that is it safe to download the file. Click yes button. Click Preview button to view the report. Using properties, the printer properties can be set. Changing the report format for printing The reports can be printed in different formats. Reports in the reporting services have various formatting options. Click Select a format, from the dropdown list click the format needed. Click export link The file will be saved in the specific format to a location of user choice.
