Analysis/Reporting Architecture
Analysis and reporting in Commerce Server 2002 is built on an open architecture designed to allow total content control by business managers. The business manager is free to add, delete, and modify report content.
Static or dynamic reports can be based on either SQL or multidimensional expression (MDX) queries of SQL or OLAP databases, respectively. Static reports are HTML-based; dynamic reports use Microsoft Office XP Web Components (OWC).
Static report definitions consist of a query with dimension and parameter definitions. The parameter definitions are optional. When a static report is run, the parameters are presented to the operator and then passed to a rendering component. The rendering component generates an HTML document from the query results. Completed static reports are stored as HTML files on the Internet Information Services (IIS) computer hosting the Commerce Server Business Desk Analysis Completed Reports module. These reports can be opened through Business Desk and are displayed in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Dynamic report definitions contain several properties including the pivot table view, which is stored in Extensible Markup Language (XML) in the Data Warehouse. Report results are displayed in the Pivot Table component.
Definitions for the pre-defined reports are contained in the CSReports.sql and CSReports2.sql files found in the Commerce Server installation directory. These files populate the report tables in the Commerce Server Data Warehouse. You use the Report preparation Data Transformation Services (DTS) task to process OLAP cubes and run stored procedures to prepare imported data for reporting.
See Also
Scripts for Securing Databases Accessed by Reports
Accessing the Analysis Server Over HTTPS
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