1. The basics of the report generation
Reports generation is the process of using a tool for creating reports primarily for business users. The software is called a report generator. To generate a report, you need to create a definition of the report, including what data to retrieve, where to get it, and how to display it.
In this way, when you run a report, the report processor will retrieve the data with the specified report definition, and combine the data with the report layout to generate the report. You can preview reports in the report generator. After that, reports can be published to the report server for administration or sharing in the future. And then, data reporting is the next step.
2. Why do we need a report generator?
You may wonder that Excel has been playing a role in generating reports in most companies for a long time. Why do we still need report generators?
Actually, report generation software is more professional and convenient in the process of generating reports than in Excel, from data entry to data display. For example, when you extract data from databases, you don’t need to write as much code as you would in an SQL database. Even non-technical users can retrieve data by a few clicks.
Besides, formulas such as YoY or MoM are built in the software, so you don’t need to enter formulas manually as you do in Excel.
3. The features of the report generator
- Support extracting data from multiple data sources
- Support reports exporting and printing
- Support access control
- Support view reports on the web or on mobile applications
4. Report generation process
There are two types of the report generation process, one is full-automatic generation, and the other is the semi-automatic generation.
4.1 Full-automatic generation– Based on the template
Take the financial statistics as an example, which includes MoM, YoY, Ranking, and is highly frequent used. When you use report generators such as FineReport, templates of financial statics have been built inside, from indicators to the formulas, from titles to the formats. With the full-automatic generation, you only need to connect to your database and drag the data to the corresponding cell.
Compared to searching for the report templates on google and then imitate, the built-in templates inside the report generator are more beautiful and convenient. These built-in templates are studied and beautified by professionals and are applicable to the report generator, which saves a lot of time.
4.2 Semi-automatic generation– Use professional functions to generate each module automatically
Compared with full-automatic report generation, semi-automatic report generation is more common and can better meet the personalized needs of users.
Generally speaking, a complete report design process can be divided into the following three steps:
Connect to databases: includes opening designers > configuring data sources > creating new reports > and configuring private data sources.
Design the reports: includes creating new reports> defining data sources> binding data columns> summarizing> and formatting reports.
Publish and browse reports: includes previewing reports, saving reports, publishing reports.
5.Report generation software
From the perspective of programming language, there are two types of report generators: Java-based and non-Jave based. Currently, with the increasing use of B/S structure, there is a growing demand for the 100% java reporting tools. From the perspective of the interface, there are Excel-like generators and canvas-like generators. Some software combines these two interface modes. The following are the three most used report generators in the enterprise.
5.1 Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports is a popular windows-based report writing application which allows a developer to create reports. The application allows you to connect to various data sources to obtain data such as SQL Server or Oracle as an example.
Once you have connectivity to your data source, you design your reports by adding the fields from the database which are displayed from your data source and adding them to the report.
Its three-pass system allows it to manage a hierarchy of calculations more efficiently, processing raw calculations (this field plus that field) first and aggregates later. However, incorporating reports to webpages sometimes crashes, and it does not offer any free trial plan.
5.2 Sql Server Reporting Service( SSRS)
SSRS is a part of a suite of SQL server services. In general, its reporting perspective is data reporting with simple charting. The canvas-based interface is very user-friendly for developers, where you can develop small to large scaling reports via adding reporting objects (tables, charts, text, images) to a blank canvas. It comes out on top in advanced exporting and printing features such as footers, headers, watermarks, and page numbers. However, the interactivity and data exploration may be limited since it lacks modern interactive chart visualizations. Besides, SSRS costs $1,859 per core for Standard or $7,128 per core for Enterprise edition.
5.3 FineReport
FineReport is java-based reporting software with an Excel-like interface that supports Windows, Mac, and Linux. It serves as enterprise reporting software same as Crystal Reports and SSRS. You can see many companies are replacing Crystal reports, SSRS with FineReport, because of its modern features, mainly are data display and data entry. FineReport provides three report types: general report, aggregation report ad dashboards. The aggregation reports can deal with complex and irregular reports easily because each aggregation block is independent. And the charts provided by FineReport are stunning. Besides, the data entry function as well as makes FineReport distinct. It makes it easy for end-users to input massive data via forms.
Report generation example
Because here does not support gif, you can click the original source: https://www.finereport.com/en/reporting-tools/report-generation.html to look at different kinds of reports. You can use your report generators to intimate it. If you want to save time, you can also use the same templates built in the FineReport. The good news is FineReport is free for personal use.