Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Reviews

In this solution, the cost should be reduced for the enterprise edition. Customers are looking for high availability for applications, but due to the high license cost, they may not agree. Microsoft should consider and think about the cost and licensing for the enterprise edition.

I have been working with this solution for a few weeks, I have worked on this. I was assigned to a project to work on it, and I got some tasks related to deployment and insertions. So, it was just useful for that.

I've been actively using SQL Server Reporting Services for the past year. I have worked with Microsoft SQL Server versions 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2019.

It is a stable solution. We don't use it daily. 

It is a highly scalable solution. We have around 3 to 5 end users for a single instance on-prem. 

I'm very satisfied with the service. And usually, whenever we have any issue or details, we get to the person for the support. I'm really satisfied with the service. Within a few minutes or within a few hours, the support person will be available. 

Positive

It's very friendly to use and also cost-optimized. It's easy to understand whatever we want to do, and it's also cost-effective and very user-friendly that this tool is as compared to Oracle and other databases.

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

It took around when we were migrating one of our databases from on-prem to Azure. It took around the database size of around 650GB, and it took around three to four days to completely migrate it from on-prem.

We migrated from SQL Server 2016 to Azure SQL Database. 

The deployment time varies depending on the complexity of the changes involved. If the changes are minor, the deployment can be done quickly. However, if the changes are more significant, testing and confirmation from the customer are required before proceeding with the deployment.

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

We use the solution to generate reports for end customers and our organization.

The solution mainly provides capabilities to generate reports which can be consumed by end consumers and our business as well. There is no need to go for an alternative platform.

We encounter some barriers while building a report. They should improve numerous areas related to reporting. Also, it is difficult to implement some of the features. It needs improvement as well.

We have been using the solution for one year.

I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten.

Our clients have 4000 registered users for the solution. I rate its scalability an eight out of ten. It is suitable for small to enterprise businesses.

I refer to research forums and the web to find the answers to technical queries for the solution. 

I have set up a single server, port server, and report server software for the solution. I have basically done a full setup for the local environment. I rate its initial setup process a seven out of ten based on the experience. It was straightforward and took about a day to complete. The deployment involves installing and configuring it. Further, it needs to set up a database and provide additional configuration options.

The solution is free to use for developers.

If you have prior experience working with databases, the solution is easy to understand. Otherwise, it would be somewhat complicated.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

When the data source is Microsoft-related, like, Excel or Microsoft products in general, I prefer to use SSRS. The most important thing is I can export the data from different formats at the end. This is one of the main features we love of the SQL Server, SSRS.

There is room for improvement in the setup process. The setup is difficult because you have to install different servers. It's complicated because it stops working and does not have support. We don't have a version for Mac. We have some developers who use Mac, so it's hard to provide them with the product they have to use and the virtualization.

I use SSRS when I need to extract the data. So, I have never had a long-term experience with it, but whenever there is a database that I need to extract the data, I use SSRS.

Once it is working, it will be stable. But sometimes, the performance is a little bit slow when you have larger data sets, when the data is used.

It is scalable. So in terms of scalability, it is scalable as long as it is on a Microsoft platform.

The customer service and support are effective. 

Positive

I would rate the initial setup a seven out of ten in terms of the easiness of the softness of the setup.

Once we configure it, there are no changes in the data structure. Then it is easy to maintain. But if the customers are modifying or having new releases, then it is not easy to maintain. Also, it's not easy to document the setup of SSRS. You have to work or document that externally, and it requires writing the documentation. Some of the engineers who got the script or the network figured out but then they leave, you have to bring another one, and you have to walk them through all the steps to understand. It is not easy to document.

It is not expensive compared to other platforms. So, if ten was the most expensive product and one was the cheapest, I would rate the pricing of this product around seven out of ten.

If your data source is on Microsoft, then I would recommend using SSRS. If your data source is different, I would recommend that you have any kind of APIs or something before they connect to Microsoft.

Overall, I would rate Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services an eight out of ten. I think it will be fair.

We use the solution mainly for the KPIs and dashboards.

I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards.

I'm starting to use Power BI this year, and it would be really nice to have better integration between the solution and Power BI.

I have been using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services since 2015.

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is a stable solution.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten for stability.

Microsoft's support is not generally good, but I haven't had to deal with it. I would only use Microsoft support for the licensing part, which is very complex for SQL Server.

Negative

When I was relatively new to it, the solution's initial setup was complex for me. On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a three or four out of ten.

According to me, the solution's pricing is very expensive, but I don't know how much Oracle or other competitors would cost. Since I am unfamiliar with other pricing schemes, the solution's pricing may be fair. Getting the type of license we bought was very complicated. Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay. I rate the solution a seven out of ten for the value we received from the solution's pricing.

The solution's data visualization capabilities have helped enhance our reporting and made my life easier. I don't have to deal with third-party software.

The solution's integration with other tools and systems has proved to be a time-saver. The solution's integration saved me a few weeks out of a year on a lot of analytics. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

It is mainly for creating and managing less complicated reports. We use it for ourselves and for the DBA team to get some insights into the operational health of the database environment. 

And a few other teams are using it for some simple application reporting purposes. So, it is a fairly small reporting environment, not a big one.

What I like is the ease of use of the application. It is easy to set it up and start working with it. The reporting capabilities are also quite flexible. It is easy to create reports and it is easy to mark up the reports, to format the reports. And also the export capabilities to export the reporting in various file formats.

I would like to see more integrations. 

I have been using it for two years now. 

I would rate it at nine out of ten because we haven't had issues with Reporting Services. The only issue I can think of is if we perform a software upgrade of the environment or of the reporting instances. 

Sometimes, in some scenarios, things can break because of new, more stringent security controls or new functionalities in the Server, and all functionalities get deprecated. But it is basically a matter of reviewing the release notes of the new software release and making sure that those criteria have been met.

I would rate the scalability an eight because it is easy to scale out to the environment to add multiple servers in a farm so that if one server goes down, the other takes over the workload. And also in order to balance a lot across the environment.

Sometimes, we need to make sure that the configuration stays consistent across the reporting instances. They all connect to the same database. So, it shares that same backend, but the reporting services itself can also be configured. On the application level, for reporting level. And it is, based on my own experience, it is a manual effort to make sure that the reporting servers are configured the same across the environment.

But that's a minor detail because it is easy to get an overview of the current configuration of one Server and make sure that those configuration parameters are configured on the other nodes as well.

We have roughly 20 end users using this solution. 

The initial setup is easy. It is on-premises.

A first deployment takes less than 30 minutes. If you have all the prerequisites for, like, the server, an empty database, or actually not an empty database, but if you have the server, a database server, those kinds of things, then 30 minutes.

I would rate it an eight out of ten. Microsoft also has another solution called Power BI. Power BI is a bit more powerful, and it has more integration compared to Microsoft SQL.

So, if organizations are considering using SQL Reporting Services, then it is also wise to do a comparison between Reporting Services and the newer Microsoft Power BI solution.

We use it to create reports within our internal systems, specifically our proprietary systems. So it's integrated into our existing applications.

We were able to embed the report builder within our internal proprietary systems, improving our reporting capabilities.

It's integrated, making it easier to use. It also provides better functionality within the SQL Server BI toolset.

There is room for improvement in the pricing model. The overall suite, including the BI suite, is expensive.

I have had a good number of years of experience.

It's pretty solid. It is a stable solution.

It's pretty scalable.

I usually refer to the FAQs for assistance.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. 

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a seven out of ten, with one being complex and ten being easy. 

For the most part, the deployment takes a couple of days to install.

Around four people were involved in the deployment process. 

The ROI was not in monetary terms, but it has certainly improved usability and added extensive reporting within our internal toolset.

So, it saves time and improves efficiency.

 The suite itself is expensive due to the licensing model.

Overall, I would rate the pricing model a seven out of ten, with one being the cheapest and ten being the most expensive.

The decision should be made based on your usage of other Microsoft suite products. I would rate it an eight out of ten because of its feature set and its compatibility with other Microsoft BI toolsets.

Sometimes, the tool is needed for scheduled reporting and sometimes for dashboards. Scheduled reports can be sent as email, links or displayed on dashboards. SSRS can be integrated into dashboards. 

The tool's valuable features are its drill-down feature, graphs, and charts. 

Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality.

I have been using the product since 2012. 

I would rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten. Once designed and integrated into the dashboard, it doesn't break unless there's an issue with the data or the connectivity to the database.

Many people find Tableau more scalable than SSRS. I rate its scalability an eight out of ten. 

When we create a case with the tool, their support responds and ensures the issue is resolved. A security management task was resolved within a week. It was a complex task but completed within the anticipated timeframe.

Positive

The initial setup was not exactly complex. If you know your way around, it's quite straightforward.

I rate SSRS as nine out of ten. 

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services needs to improve performance.

I have been using the product for six to seven years. 

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is stable. 

The solution is scalable. My company has 25 users for the product. 

We get good support from Microsoft. 

The tool's deployment complexity is medium. 

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services can be deployed in-house. 

The tool's licensing costs are expensive. 

I rate Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services an eight out of ten.