How often do we try to force a reporting tool to meet a challenge it is not well suited for? For example, it's not uncommon to witness a user export a Sales Transaction SmartList containing thousands of rows into Excel, use Excel formulas to summarize the values from that record set and plug the end result into a single cell into yet another spreadsheet, only to have to repeat this process for several other values. All of this for a single Summary Sales Report by Division that's out-of-date the minute the data is exported to Excel. Rather than continue to waste productive hours watching a SmartList export to Excel on a regular basis, it may be time to consider other reporting tools, such as Excel Reports, which refresh SmartList data directly to Excel or Analysis Cubes . Excel or Analysis Cubes provide support for Excel-based dashboards to meet the needs of our report user.

In the end, this book will reduce potential frustrations caused by using the wrong...