There are multiple reporting capabilities in STRUMIS in the current architecture and new reporting features being developed that will complement the new architecture moving forward.

There are over 200 system reports in the current system today and some of these reports started life in the GoData DOS system which have been migrated through each major release of the software. However we are always improving the software.

Active Reports is one of these improvements. STRUMIS uses the Active Report engine to allow the user to extend the functionality of the “look-and-feel” of what actually gets printed to paper. This can vary from a simple column name change to full grouping and re-ordering of the entire report. Further to this the engine also has scripting capabilities to allow developers to hook into the various header and footer events for more advanced scenarios’.

SQL Server is used for all front end reports and each report has its own stored procedure where the business logic is gathered, shaped and projected then sent to the report engine. Complex custom reports can be created in the same way however the user will take ownership of the stored procedure and it will not be effected by STRUMIS updates.

The powerful grid controls that are displayed throughout STRUMIS in searching and object creation can also be used as a reporting tool. The grids have the ability to (filter, group, order, aggregate totals, highlight certain columns and alternative rows). Further to this the grids can be printed to a report or exported to Excel and Email.

Both the Active Reports and exporting from the grids contribute to the real time reporting within STRUMIS. Part 2 of Reporting in STRUMIS will cover Snapshot Business Intelligence reporting using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), and Introduce SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as a Web based reporting tool that will complement the new Service Oriented Architecture.