SQL Reporting Services

Okay, I've seen this topic mentioned, but no definitive answers
Has anyone actually, in reality and in fact, used SQL Reporting Services to create reports against the CRM databases
I agree that in theory it can be done, but it would be great to hear from someone who actually has done it in a live production environment
Any takers?

Jim
Mon Jun 07 09:53:31 CDT 2004

Matt,

We have successfully used Microsoft SQL Reporting Services (SRS) to write
reports for Microsoft CRM version 1.2. We have been able to produe some very
useful reports and I can say I definitely like SRS for this better than
Crystal.

The difficult part has been to find the fields we are looking for. The query
creation process certainly adds the appropriate links between tables
automatically, but sometimes certain fields which are not necessarily where
you would expect them or named what you would think they would be. It would
be great if there was a database schema and explanation document somewhere
but I have not found one yet.

Good luck with SRS and CRM.

Walter
www.sqlpros.com

We hav done so successfully.
"MattNC" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3974013B-EAF2-41CA-A830-2CDB7F9C88A6@microsoft.com...
> Okay, I've seen this topic mentioned, but no definitive answers:
> Has anyone actually, in reality and in fact, used SQL Reporting Services
to create reports against the CRM databases?
> I agree that in theory it can be done, but it would be great to hear from
someone who actually has done it in a live production environment.
> Any takers?

anonymous
Mon Jun 07 10:51:04 CDT 2004

Thanks for the response. We may give it a try

Matt

Matt
Mon Jun 07 21:43:54 CDT 2004

Matt,

I heard awhile back that MS is working on a generic ODBC driver that will
encapsulate the data access layer similar to how Crystal uses it. No word
though on when this might be available.

Matt Parks

----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 08:51:04 -0700, MattNC <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

Thanks for the response. We may give it a try.

Matt

Mj
Wed Jun 09 09:37:29 CDT 2004

Remember, we reserve the right to change the underlying database schema
around and we probably will in upcoming releases. If you really want to read
directly from the database I would suggest not using the *Base tables but
instead going after the views. They contain more information and quite a few
of the more complex relationships are taken care of already. Either way, the
bits you'll be missing are the string customizations such as picklist
contents, status codes, and so on.

But seriously, I've talked about the problems with reading directly from the
database and why it's unsupported. This wil be another case where things
will likely break in future releases.

Mj

"Jim" <jim@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:unz218JTEHA.2988@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Matt,
>
> We have successfully used Microsoft SQL Reporting Services (SRS) to write
> reports for Microsoft CRM version 1.2. We have been able to produe some
very
> useful reports and I can say I definitely like SRS for this better than
> Crystal.
>
> The difficult part has been to find the fields we are looking for. The
query
> creation process certainly adds the appropriate links between tables
> automatically, but sometimes certain fields which are not necessarily
where
> you would expect them or named what you would think they would be. It
would
> be great if there was a database schema and explanation document somewhere
> but I have not found one yet.
>
> Good luck with SRS and CRM.
>
> Walter
> www.sqlpros.com
>
> We hav done so successfully.
> "MattNC" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:3974013B-EAF2-41CA-A830-2CDB7F9C88A6@microsoft.com...
> > Okay, I've seen this topic mentioned, but no definitive answers:
> > Has anyone actually, in reality and in fact, used SQL Reporting Services
> to create reports against the CRM databases?
> > I agree that in theory it can be done, but it would be great to hear
from
> someone who actually has done it in a live production environment.
> > Any takers?
>
>

Jim
Wed Jun 09 10:01:28 CDT 2004

Mj,

Does Microsoft plan to provide a way to use SQL Reporting Services with CRM
using some supported method?

Thank you,

Jim

"Mj Miller" <remove.this.mikemill@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uiieQ8iTEHA.3016@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Remember, we reserve the right to change the underlying database schema
> around and we probably will in upcoming releases. If you really want to
read
> directly from the database I would suggest not using the *Base tables but
> instead going after the views. They contain more information and quite a
few
> of the more complex relationships are taken care of already. Either way,
the
> bits you'll be missing are the string customizations such as picklist
> contents, status codes, and so on.
>
> But seriously, I've talked about the problems with reading directly from
the
> database and why it's unsupported. This wil be another case where things
> will likely break in future releases.
>
> Mj
>
> "Jim" <jim@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:unz218JTEHA.2988@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> > Matt,
> >
> > We have successfully used Microsoft SQL Reporting Services (SRS) to
write
> > reports for Microsoft CRM version 1.2. We have been able to produe some
> very
> > useful reports and I can say I definitely like SRS for this better than
> > Crystal.
> >
> > The difficult part has been to find the fields we are looking for. The
> query
> > creation process certainly adds the appropriate links between tables
> > automatically, but sometimes certain fields which are not necessarily
> where
> > you would expect them or named what you would think they would be. It
> would
> > be great if there was a database schema and explanation document
somewhere
> > but I have not found one yet.
> >
> > Good luck with SRS and CRM.
> >
> > Walter
> > www.sqlpros.com
> >
> > We hav done so successfully.
> > "MattNC" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:3974013B-EAF2-41CA-A830-2CDB7F9C88A6@microsoft.com...
> > > Okay, I've seen this topic mentioned, but no definitive answers:
> > > Has anyone actually, in reality and in fact, used SQL Reporting
Services
> > to create reports against the CRM databases?
> > > I agree that in theory it can be done, but it would be great to hear
> from
> > someone who actually has done it in a live production environment.
> > > Any takers?
> >
> >
>
>

Mj
Wed Jun 09 17:42:23 CDT 2004

I can't really comment on what will or will not happen in future versions. I
can say that we're doing some work on reporting just like we're doing work
all over the product to make things better. I wish I could say more, but I
really can't.


"Jim" <jim@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:eA8MmKjTEHA.1764@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Mj,
>
> Does Microsoft plan to provide a way to use SQL Reporting Services with
CRM
> using some supported method?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jim
>