Reporting tool Blank Title 132215

Yahoo Archive
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I agree. I would add though that a good place to start is SQL and Excel. You write a query to get your basic data dump and use ODBC to read it into an excel worksheet. Then apply a pivot table and/or vlookups to get the data you are looking for.

Of course, there are far more complex and valuable ways of doing this, but if you are just starting and want to dabble in it, this is a good place to start.

I recommend creating a sql user though that only has read access to the database so that you don’t accidently do something dumb.

Tom Christie | Information Technology Manager | AGM Container Controls, Inc.<http://www.agmcontainer.com/> | tchristie@...<mailto:tchristie@...> | t: 520.881.2130 ext 2176

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2014 9:12 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: reporting tool



The most important part of reporting is having a deep understanding of what metrics you want to capture (that's what business intelligence is all about). Once you know your metrics, you will need to know the database schema in order to capture the right data to populate those metrics. Now you're ready to decide on a 'reporting tool'. Will you need a repository for a transformed dataset? ie. a data warehouse? Do you just need to write a little SQL? ie. TOAD (it's free). There are literally thousands of applications and it all depends on your needs. Crystal Reports is pretty good and comes with your Epicor License. None of the tools can create and populate metrics for you automatically... you need to know those before picking out a tool, then your choice will become more clear.



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looking for a reporting tool that will query sql data base some type of 

Business Intelligence program of sorts 

any thoughts any one ?

thanks  

3
The most important part of reporting is having a deep understanding of what metrics you want to capture (that's what business intelligence is all about). Once you know your metrics, you will need to know the database schema in order to capture the right data to populate those metrics. Now you're ready to decide on a 'reporting tool'. Will you need a repository for a transformed dataset? ie. a data warehouse? Do you just need to write a little SQL? ie. TOAD (it's free). There are literally thousands of applications and it all depends on your needs. Crystal Reports is pretty good and comes with your Epicor License. None of the tools can create and populate metrics for you automatically... you need to know those before picking out a tool, then your choice will become more clear.