What is reporting software? Software that collects data from a database to provide insights and other information by way of charts or graphs is referred to as reporting software. Generally, reporting software is part of a business intelligence suite, and automates business reporting in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Although reporting software can vary in complexity, it still utilizes traditional processes of report generation. Reports generated from reporting software convey large amounts of data or useful business-related information in a quick and efficient way and can also be saved in a wide array of formats, including printed, distributed, or visualized for presentation. Reporting software produces reports that are more visually compelling than other traditional options such as Excel. It is able to merge quantitative and qualitative information with ease, and can also consistently aggregate, calculate, and evaluate data as needed.
Reporting software helps present information from computers so it can be easily understood by human beings. A report builder takes data and puts it into charts, graphs and tables according to specifications determined by the user. Virtually all relational database software packages include some reporting tools. However, users often want analysis and presentation options that are not included with the database software’s built-in reports. They also typically want to import data from multiple sources, something that is not always easy to do with a particular database’s out-of-the-box reports.
PeerSpot members have written reviews and comments about a wide variety of reporting software products. Their selection criteria include the ability to do ad hoc reporting and easily visualize data. Ease of use for reporting software in general is a common theme of user reviews on PeerSpot.
Users want the ability to connect to any data with ad hoc reports, blending data from multiple sources. Ease of dashboard creation and ease of dashboard sharing also figure prominently into user preferences for reporting. And, of course, speed and stability are highly prized in reporting.
Proven compatibility with popular packages is helpful, according to PeerSpot Managers. For example, a reporting tool with that has SQL Server Integration Services SQL Server Management Studio on the Microsoft stack is preferable given how common that platform can be.
Reporting is a practical business matter, too. Some users stress the importance of a reporting tool helping to achieve organizational goals. For these users, reporting does not exist in a vacuum. A report needs to be part of well understood business workflow. The tool should support this workflow. In this vein, some users recommend that potential adopters of reporting look closely at the solution’s scheduler, which makes it easy to run the jobs and jobstreams at any convenient moment.
Reporting tools are powerful tools used by organizations to enable high-performance reporting and to help companies make more informed fact-based decisions. They are used to explore data and generate visualizations that accurately communicate important data information and reveal deeper insights. Reporting tools are also used for report distributions and consumption. Moreover, companies find them to be useful because they ensure that reports remain accurate, which makes decision-making easier. In some cases, reporting tools are also used to help organizations ask the real, “big picture” questions and then collect the data you need to make informed decisions.
Reporting tools come with a list of benefits, including some of the following:
When beginning to search for which reporting software is most suitable for your company, it is important to look for a solution that can handle these five components:
