Reporting Services Architect InfoCenter

An architect who is evaluating Reporting Services will need to make recommendations about which tools to use, which deployment modes and topologies to implement, and whether the off-the-shelf features need to be supplemented or replaced with custom components. Because an architect typically approaches product evaluation with a predefined set of requirements, the focus of the evaluation might include all or some of the following tasks:

• Evaluate report layout features, presentation formats, and data sources supported in Reporting Services to determine whether users can build the types of reports that they need.

• Evaluate report access and distribution features to determine whether you can secure reports using existing the security infrastructure and deliver reports to users at the right time and format.

• Evaluate approaches for archiving reports and auditing report activity.

• Evaluate server deployment configurations to address requirements around scalability, availability, integration with other server technologies, and server access over public HTTP connections.

• Determine whether all requirements can be satisfied using the off-the-shelf tools and features provided in Reporting Services, or whether you need to consider customization. Reporting Services includes a rich set of default features, and an equally rich set of features for customizing, integrating, and extending server and report capabilities. Given the range of programmatic interfaces and controls that are available, you will want to determine early on whether to use the default functionality or build custom features.

The following topics contain information and links to guide you through the evaluation process so that you can quickly determine how best to use Reporting Services in your organization.