Data Mart / Data Warehouse databases are designed for efficient
reporting. Can your users locate the data they need to furnish management with good
decision support? Can users generally create reports on their own, or do they always
need to get a programmer or other IT support personnel involved? When users try
to run reports on your data, do the reports take a long time to run? A database
that is well-designed for data entry purposes (OLTP - Online Transaction Processing)
may not be well suited for reporting purposes (OLAP - Online Analytical Processing).
You may benefit by having a reporting database (a Data Mart or Data Warehouse) designed
for your specific reporting requirements. Such a database can be automatically refreshed
weekly, nightly, hourly, etc., according to the particular need.
Microsoft SQL Server comes with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), a tool that
facilitates the gathering of data from various sources into a common database for
reporting purposes. (Prior versions of SQL Server had a similar tool, DTS - Data
Transformation Services). SSIS can handle any needed transformation of the data.
SQL Server also manages the scheduling of these transformations to automatically
refresh data at regular predetermined intervals.
SQL Server also contains tools for pre-aggregating data into "cubes" through Analysis
Services. These cubes can be accessed through SQL Server Reporting Services through
the Report Designer, as well as through the Ad Hoc reporting tool.