Understanding the SQL Server Reporting Services

History of Reporting Services:

Initial development began in 2000. Below Figure-1 tracks in chronological order the major events that have shaped Reporting Services. The black milestones represent the reporting technologies that Microsoft acquired to enhance Reporting Services.

Figure-1 : The Reporting Services history

Components of Reporting Servies:

• Report Server : At the heart of the Reporting Services architecture is the report server, a web-based middle-tier layer that receives incoming report requests and generates reports. The Figure-2 shows a simplified logical view of the report server. To facilitate integration with external client applications, the report server provides two communication interfaces: URL access and a Web service. Consequently, both off-the-shelf and custom tools can communicate with the report server via HTTP or SOAP. The Report Processor component of the report server is responsible for processing the reports at run time.

Figure-2 : The major Reporting Services components

• Report Server Database : In Reporting Services, report definitions and properties are saved in the report server database. The report server database is implemented as two SQL Server databases that get installed when you configure the report server. The report server database is a logical term for two physical databases: ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB. The ReportServer database hosts the report catalog. It stores the report definitions and management settings. The ReportServerTempDB stores temporary information about the report execution.

Reporting Services supports two deployment modes.

• Native mode (default) : The report server as a stand-alone application server that provides all processing and management capability exclusively through Reporting Services components.
• SharePoint mode : The report server is integrated with Windows SharePoint Services or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Report viewing and management happens inside the SharePoint portal.

Report Definition Language (RDL) is an XML-based schema for defining reports. RDL is an open standard proposed by Microsoft to promote interoperability of commercial reporting products.

Reporting Services Architecture:

Figure-3 : The Reporting Services Service hosts the three report server applications: Report Manager, Report Server Web Service, and Background Processor

• Report Manager : Report Manager is an ASP.NET web application that provides report management and viewing capabilities for a Reporting Services instance configured in native mode. You can view Report Manager as a client application that integrates with the report server.
• Report Server Web Service : The Report Server Web service handles on-demand report processing. The Report Server Web service is the primary programmatic interface for custom applications that integrate with Reporting Services. The Report Server Web service provides four Web service endpoints that expose the Reporting Services feature set to external clients.
• Background Processor : The Background Processor application is responsible for handling all tasks that run in an unattended mode.

SSIS: Read customized configuration data from SQL table to multiple package variables

Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services provides multiple ways to configure the package. These package configuration types are as below:

• XML configuration file
• Environment variable
• Registry entry
• Parent package variable
• SQL server

If you select the SQL Server configuration type, a default "SSIS Configurations" table will be used to store the configurable data. But sometime you need to use customized configurable table, which SSIS does not support for automatic configuration. So below solution can be one of the way of implementation:

Lets consider our configurable table is as below:

And list of our SSIS package variables as belw:

Here variables "V_SCHEMA_NAME", "V_SCHEMA_RESULTSET" and "V_SCHEMA_ROW" are used internally for looping and data storage.

Below are the steps to create a SSIS package to read the confiuration values from SQL server table into our SSIS package variables.
Steps:

1. Add "Execute SQL Task" and set the properties as below:

Tab	Properties	Value
General	Name	Execute SQL Task - Get Schema List
	ResultSet	Full result set
	ConnectionType	ADO.NET
	Connection	SSISTest
	SQLSourceType	Direct input
	SQLStatement	SELECT DISTINCT [SCHEMA_NAME] FROM [dbo].[CFG_SCHEMA_CONN] WHERE [ISACTIVE] = 1
Result Set	Result Name	0
	VariableName	User::V_SCHEMA_RESULTSET

2. Add "Foreach Loop Container" and set the properties as below:

Tab	Properties	Value
General	Name	Foreach Loop Container - Loop through each Schema
Collection	Enumerator	Foreach ADO Enumerator
	ADO object source variable	User::V_SCHEMA_RESULTSET
	Enumeration mode	Rows in the first table
Variable Mappings	Variable	User::V_SCHEMA_NAME
	Index	0

3. Add "Execute SQL Task" inside the foreach loop container and set the properties as below:

Tab	Properties	Value
General	Name	Execute SQL Task - Get data for schema
	ResultSet	Full result set
	ConnectionType	ADO.NET
	Connection	SSISTest
	SQLSourceType	Direct input
	SQLStatement	SELECT [REPORT_CONN_STR], [PROD_CONN_STR] FROM [dbo].[CFG_SCHEMA_CONN] WHERE [SCHEMA_NAME] = @SCHEMA_NAME
Parameter Mappings	Variable Name	User::V_SCHEMA_NAME
	Direction	Input
	Data Type	String
	Parameter Name	@SCHEMA_NAME
	Parameter Size	-1
Result Set	Result Name	0
	Variable Name	User::V_SCHEMA_ROW

4.Add "Script Task" inside the foreach loop container and set the properties as below:

Tab	Properties	Value
General	Name	Script Task - Store data in package variable
Script	ScriptLanguage	Microsoft Visual C# 2008
	EntryPoint	Main
	ReadOnlyVariables	User::V_SCHEMA_NAME, User::V_SCHEMA_ROW
	ReadWriteVariables	User::V_SCHEMA1_PROD_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA1_REPORT_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA2_PROD_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA2_REPORT_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA3_PROD_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA3_REPORT_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA4_PROD_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA4_REPORT_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA5_PROD_CONN_STR, User::V_SCHEMA5_REPORT_CONN_STR
	Edit Script	public void Main() { try { DataSet ds = Dts.Variables["V_SCHEMA_ROW"].Value as DataSet; if (ds != null && ds.Tables.Count > 0 && ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count > 0) { DataRow dr = ds.Tables[0].Rows[0]; string schemaRptConnStr = Dts.Variables["V_SCHEMA_NAME"].Value.ToString() + "_REPORT"; string schemaProdConnStr = Dts.Variables["V_SCHEMA_NAME"].Value.ToString() + "_PROD"; foreach (Variable v in Dts.Variables) { if (v.Namespace.Equals("User") && v.Name.Contains(schemaRptConnStr)) { v.Value = dr[0].ToString(); } if (v.Namespace.Equals("User") && v.Name.Contains(schemaProdConnStr)) { v.Value = dr[1].ToString(); } } } Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Success; } catch { Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Failure; } }

The SSIS package will look like as below:

Creating YTD Calulation using MDX

Ytd function returns a set of sibling members from the same level as a given member, starting with the first sibling and ending with the given member, as constrained by the Year level in the Time dimension.

And

PeriodsToDate function returns a set of sibling members from the same level as a given member, starting with the first sibling and ending with the given member, as constrained by a specified level in the Time dimension.

One of these function can be used for YTD calculation in MDX queries.

Prior to use of these funtion, please check your Time Dimesion as below:
1. Time dimension attributes should have properites as shown below:

2. Time dimension should have hierarchies specified.

3. Time dimension should also have attribute relationships specified.

Now, you can add the calculated members within the cube to get the Year-to-date values, as below:

New Calulated Member
Name : [YTD Amount]
Parent hierarchy: Measures
Expression: SUM(PERIODSTODATE([Dim Time].[Fiscal].[Fiscal Year], [Dim Time].[Fiscal].CURRENTMEMBER),[Measures].[Amount])