Getting more out of SSRS
A guide to some of the more advanced features of SSRS, and how you can utilise them to do things you maybe didn’t think you could

Who am I (and who are you?)
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Oz Locke
BI Analyst
Employed by Principality Building Society
Worked/works with: SSRS, SQL, MDX, HTML, CSS, SharePoint, Excel, LaTeX…
Loves all things tech
Learning JavaScript
I’m pretty experienced with SSRS, what about you?

What are we going to talk about?
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Some perceived limits of SSRS
Some features that can let us overcome them
Some practical uses of these features
What if I know it all already?
No point being bored, I won’t be offended if you sneak off for a coffee 
What are we going to see?
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A list of some of these features
An explanation of some things we can do with them
A demo showing these features in use
A review of the build of the demo and how the features were used

So what are these features?
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Parameters
 Let users control what they see, dictate how a report is shown or even store values
Custom datasets
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Let us create dropdowns exactly as we need them, and store local data
Built-in fields
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Let us change the report based on it’s condition, user, runtime…
Actions
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Not just report links; linked with parameters we can make dynamic reports

What can we do with parameters?
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Let users change data ranges
Let users change how they see the report
Let users add commentary to their report
Add dynamic text and other elements to your report
Store choices when drilling down to another report…
…and then send those choices back up again

What can we do with custom datasets?
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Create better datasets for parameter dropdowns
Write data locally that can be used by the report

What can we do with actions?
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Drill down to other reports
Turn text boxes into buttons
Redirect to the same report with altered parameters for interactive reporting
Create dynamic and rules based actions for extra control

What can we do with built-in fields?
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Dictated displays and actions based on set conditions
Automatically display as raw data when exported to Excel
Get the best visual presentation in any render format
Create pagination and runtimes
Restrict visibility based on current user, time of day, and much more
Change presentation based on current environment (great for reports in test)
Create a swish nav-bar when combined with Actions

Can we see it all in action?
Let’s all pray to the Demo Gods, because it’s time to explore an example report using everything we’ve talked about!

Is there anything else?
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There’s huge potential in combining these features
SSRS even allows you to add variables and custom code!
I’ve created custom code for aggregating on Lookups
With caching and subscriptions you can do even more
Just remember; there’s rarely a time when you can’t make SSRS do what you want. Stack Overflow alone is full of amazing questions and answers that have saved my hide.

(Any questions?)
Now’s your chance, ask away (I can’t promise I’ll have an answer though!)