Of the reporting tools covered in this book, Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is perhaps the most well-known and widely used tool of all. As one of the components of SQL Server, SSRS can be used for reporting across a wide range of data sources. SSRS provides a mechanism for designing and creating reports, publishing reports to a report server, managing access to these reports through role-based security, and viewing these reports through a web-based connection. In short, SSRS is capable of managing the entire reporting process from beginning to end.

Because of its versatility and sophistication, however, SSRS can be a challenging tool to learn in the context of being used with a single application such as Dynamics GP 2013. In years past, report development via SSRS has often been considered the domain of the technical experts on staff. But this is changing. With recent versions of GP, even the less technically adept developers and...