Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a server-based reporting platform that provides comprehensive data reporting from relational and multidimensional data sources. Reporting Services includes processing components, a complete set of tools that you can use to create and manage reports and an application programming interface (API) that allows developers to integrate or extend data and report processing in custom applications. The reports that you build can be based on relational or multidimensional data from Microsoft SQL Server, Analysis Services, Oracle or any Microsoft .NET Framework data provider, such as ODBC or OLE DB.

With Reporting Services, you can create interactive, tabular or free-form reports that retrieve data at scheduled intervals or on-demand when the user opens a report. Reporting Services also enables users to create ad hoc reports based on predefined models and to interactively explore data within the model. All reports can be rendered in both desktop and web-oriented formats. You can choose from a variety of viewing formats to render reports on demand in preferred formats for data manipulation or printing.

Reporting Services is a server-based solution, and thus provides an ideal way to centralize report storage and management; provide secure access to reports, models, and folders; control how reports are processed and distributed; and standardize how reports are used in your business.