Best practice forum (Archived)
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Hi Lee,
Graphical reporting isnt available at present, one of our partners is working on this at the moment but there is no timeline available.
regards,
George.
Hi Lee,
From a non-development / least cost perspective, for a client I suggested exporting the data via report manager and importing the results into an Excel 'template' where macros / VBA was used to undertake any calculations & generate the required graphs.
A little 'clunky' and manual, though low-cost.
Tony
Hi Lee
There are some advantages to exporting data into a spreadsheet compared to have a web application do this that you can make your clients aware of.
- takes load of data analysis from web server to the spreadsheet
- the spreadsheet can have predefined graphs and analysis in them so the data only needs to be copied and inserted into spreadsheet and graphs and analysis (use range names in formulas to accomplish this)
- spreadsheet allow more control over output than web application as they don't have the limited fonts or layout options of web application
- allows multidimensional data to be analysed with builtin data cubes.
- the interface of spreadsheets is familiar to a large number of people
- spreadsheets have a wide range of data analysis, stats tools
- is ready to go - doesn't need development time to create analysis tools
Craig
There probably is room for both types of analysis tools - Excel for more powerful analysis and layout options and web based for immediate results.
I don't think exporting data to a spreadsheet is very labour intensive though. From the report builder - any report created has an export to spreadsheet button and the report can be scheduled to be emailed in spreadsheet format at specified intervals and selected filters.
Craig
Lee
Don't know if this helps but have you explored Jaspersoft's open source iReport http://community.jaspersoft.com/project/ireport-designer