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 Report delivery best practices

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ninjadbskillznot
Starting Member

4 Posts

Posted - 2014-02-26 : 11:38:10
Hello experts,

We're planning and developing a SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 R2 installation and I have a question about which interface is best to allow end users to view reports.

I realize, though, that there are options and links visible in Report Manager (the Report Builder button and the full link panel at the top to Home, My Subscriptions, Site Settings, and Help. When I started looking into modifying these elements - hiding the Report Builder button for end users, adding a Logout link to allow end users to end a session, etc., it occurred to me that maybe Report Manager is intended for admins to build, view, and administer reports but that end users should not use Report Manager. I did see some recommendations for hiding or altering such features, but they all seem like kluges or don't allow full control (for example, I'd like to hide Site Settings and Help and replace them with a Logout link - not sure how or whether that can be done).

Refs.:
http://codeitsfun.com/2013/04/24/adding-logout-feature-in-microsoft-report-manager-ssrs-with-forms-authentication/

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/f2cf5326-b481-4260-9bb7-b70ca7444b8d/need-to-hide-disable-or-alter-the-home-link-in-ssrs-2008?forum=sqlreportingservices

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/f2cf5326-b481-4260-9bb7-b70ca7444b8d/need-to-hide-disable-or-alter-the-home-link-in-ssrs-2008

So now I'm confused.

Is it best practice to allow end users to use Report Manager and set up security so that they can see only their folders and reports, or is it expected that there will be some other way for them to view them? For this phase of the project, we were not planning on building some other interface so I'd like to get the most out of the native tools and then use a subsequent phase to research and recommend some other front end, but for now that's not an option.

Thanks for any help!
   

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