Hello, I'm Denise, a writer for PerformancePoint, and I'm posting from the SharePoint Conference 2010 in Las Vegas. Today I attended a session on "Advanced Reporting Design Techniques and Capabilities."

This session covered how to create advanced reports by using SQL Server 2008 R2. Advanced reports are highly customizable views that enable report authors to deliver information to users they way they want to see it. Using SQL Server 2008 Report Builder, can create all kinds of advanced reports, such as:

• Sparkline graphs
• Line and bar charts
• Pyramid charts
• Radar maps
• Gauges
• Maps, such as geographical maps
• Donut graphs
• Tables
• and many more.

Report Builder is one of many tools that you can use to create reports for dashboards or for sharing with users.

• You can create a Chart Web Part by using edit mode in a SharePoint site, or by using SharePoint Designer.
  
• You can create highly interactive analytic charts and grids, scorecards, strategy maps, and many other reports by using Dashboard Designer.
  
• You can create many different kinds of reports by using Microsoft Excel 2010, and then publish those reports to Excel Services.

However, Report Builder offers you the ability to create highly customizable, advanced reports that you cannot easily create by using SharePoint applications, such as Dashboard Designer or SharePoint Designer. But you can use the reports that you create by using Report Builder in your dashboards, because SQL Server 2008 integrates closely with SharePoint Server 2010.

For example, using Report Builder, you can create a highly interactive geographical map that shows which regions are performing well, and which ones aren’t at a glance. In that map, you can drill down to see the underlying data. Using Dashboard Designer, you cannot create an interactive geographical map as a primary report type, but you can create a PerformancePoint Web Part to display that map in your dashboard.

As another example, using Report Builder, you can create a tabular report and then embed interactive charts in one or more cells. You can customize chart legends and format each chart or table to look just the way you want it to (or just the way report users requested it to display). You can also take pieces and parts of reports that you create by using Report Builder and create other reports (this is called this “Grab & Go reporting”).

SQL Server 2008 R2 nicely complements the business intelligence functionality that you get with SharePoint Server 2010 and its services, including PerformancePoint Services and Excel Services.

-- Denise