Portland, Oregon

We recently hired a database specialist and he has learned the basics of Crystal Report writing. We are now looking at converting our reports over to SSRS, however we have heard some chatter that the industry / Microsoft is slowing moving towards Power BI and now we are wondering if it's worth our time training our new specialist on SSRS or should we just shift our focus to Power BI. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be highly appreciated.

------------------------------
Christopher Gibbons
Sr. Accountant
Prairie Electric, Inc.
6000 NE 88th St.
Vancouver WA 98665

O: (360) 573-2750
C: (360) 241-1581
E: chrisg@prairielectric.com
------------------------------

Hi Chris,

Here's what we've found with those three report options in Vista:

Crystal Reports
Pros:

• Best integration with Vista, especially regarding data security
• Many standard reports available to modify

Cons:

• Hard to learn and use

SSRS
Pros:

• OK integration with Vista
• Ability to include on dashboards
• Scheduled reports through subscriptions 
• Can be made available in Keystyle

Cons:

• <g class="gr_ gr_245 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="245" data-gr-id="245">Extra</g> layer of configuration and permissions required
• Data security only works if using Windows Logins in Vista

Power BI
Pros:

• Easy to create nice looking reports and dashboards
• Lots of resources available through Microsoft and third-parties for learning

Cons:

• No real integration with Vista
• Doesn't work well with composite keys, so every report requires making a denormalized SQL view

------------------------------
Michael Kelley
President
Silvertrek Systems LLC
Battle Ground WA
(360) 667-3340
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-14-2019 13:03
From: Christopher Gibbons
Subject: SSRS vs. Power BI

We recently hired a database specialist and he has learned the basics of Crystal Report writing. We are now looking at converting our reports over to SSRS, however we have heard some chatter that the industry / Microsoft is slowing moving towards Power BI and now we are wondering if it's worth our time training our new specialist on SSRS or should we just shift our focus to Power BI. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be highly appreciated.

------------------------------
Christopher Gibbons
Sr. Accountant
Prairie Electric, Inc.
6000 NE 88th St.
Vancouver WA 98665

O: (360) 573-2750
C: (360) 241-1581
E: chrisg@prairielectric.com
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hi Chris,

Here's what we've found with those three report options in Vista:

Crystal Reports
Pros:

• Best integration with Vista, especially regarding data security
• Many standard reports available to modify

Cons:

• Hard to learn and use

SSRS
Pros:

• OK integration with Vista
• Ability to include on dashboards
• Scheduled reports through subscriptions 
• Can be made available in Keystyle

Cons:

• <g class="gr_ gr_245 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="245" data-gr-id="245">Extra</g> layer of configuration and permissions required
• Data security only works if using Windows Logins in Vista

Power BI
Pros:

• Easy to create nice looking reports and dashboards
• Lots of resources available through Microsoft and third-parties for learning

Cons:

• No real integration with Vista
• Doesn't work well with composite keys, so every report requires making a denormalized SQL view

------------------------------
Michael Kelley
President
Silvertrek Systems LLC
Battle Ground WA
(360) 667-3340
------------------------------