SSRS Interview Questions

1. What is SSRS?

The Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) is a server-based reporting platform. It allows you to produce structured reports. The reports are generally represented in the form of data, graph, charts, and images.

2.  What are the components of SSRS architecture?

There are the following components of SSRS architecture –

• Report Builder
• Report Designer
• Report Manager
• Report Server
• Reporting Server Database
• Data Sources

3.  Explain the features of SSRS.

There are the following features of SSRS –

• It offers a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) programming applications and pluggable architecture.
• It retrieves data from ODBC and OLEDB connections.
• It displays KPI (Key Performance Indicator) data using chart controls.
• It supports web-based features.
• In SSRS, users can create reports in the form of a table, matrix, charts, etc.

4. Define Reporting Life Cycle of SSRS.

SSRS reporting lifecycle can be classified into the following three phases:

• Authoring: In this phase, the Report author defines the layout and source of the data.
• Management: This phase involves managing the published reports, which are public and available on the websites.

Report Management includes:

• Organizing reports
• Scheduling report execution and delivery
• Tracking reporting history
• Delivery: This phase includes delivering of reports in a required format like pdf, gif, etc., and creating subscriptions to deliver the reports on a scheduled format.

5. What is the difference between the Crystal Report and SSRS?

Crystal Reports	SSRS
Crystal Reports designer requires additional software to design the reports.	SSRS designers require BIDS or Developer Studio with the SQL server database engine.
In Crystal reports, the data connection is embedded in the report.	In SSRS, data connections are separate from the report.
Reports resides as files on your personal PC or network location.	Reports resides on the server and can be accessed from any web browser.
Crystal reports allow standard and user-defined field labels.	SSRS allows user-defined field labels.

6. Name few command-line utilities in SSRS.

Name	Command file
RSS utility	rs.exe
Rsconfig utility	rsconfig.exe
Rskeymgmt utility	rskeymgmt.exe

7. How SSRS works?

The working of SSRS can be explained in the below steps:

1. End users who work with the data, first send the Report Request to the SSRS server.
2. The SSRS server finds the request in the form of metadata and sends a request for data to the data source.
3. Now, after processing the data, the data source returns the data in the form of a merged report.
4. Once the report is created, it is returned to the end-users.

8. What is the difference between the Report Manager and Report server?

Report Manager – It is a web user interface for the Report server that enables you to view your reports, data sources, and report resources.

Report Server – It is the web application that functions as a programmatic gateway to the SQL Reporting Services engine.

9. What are the different stages of Report Processing?

• Compile
• Process
• Render
• Export

10. List out what other servers you can use with SSRS?

There are the following servers that you can use with SSRS.

• Oracle
• ODBC and OLEDB
• Teradata
• Hyperion
• Flat XML files
• Report Server Model
• SAP Net weaver BI

11. In which SQL Server version, report builder was introduced?

SQL Server 2005, introduced the report builder.

12. How can you deploy an SSRS report?

SSRS report can be deployed in three ways –

• Using Visual Studio
• Using Report Server
• By creating the Utility

13. List what are the different types of SSRS reports?

• Parameterized reports
• Snapshot reports
• Cached reports
• Clickthrough reports
• Drilldown reports
• Drillthrough reports
• Sub-reports
• Linked reports
• Ad-hoc reports

14. What is Parameterized Report in SSRS?

A parameterized report uses input values to complete the report. With the help of parameterized report, you can vary the output of a report based upon the values.

15. What is RDL?

Report Definition Language (RDL) files can be created by Microsoft Visual Studio or with a text editor. These files contain charts, images, graphs, and text. 

16. What are the Export formats of SSRS?

There are the following export formats of SSRS:

• XML
• CSV
• PDF
• MHTML
• TIFF
• Excel
• Word

17. What are the minimum software requirements for the SSRS framework?

The minimum software requirements for the SSRS framework are –

• Operating System – Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 either Standard or Enterprise Edition with service pack 4 or higher.
• Processor – Intel Pentium 2 and higher.
• Hard Disk – Forreport server, it needs a minimum of 50 MB space, for .NET framework, it needs a minimum of 100 MB space, and for report designer, it needs 30MB space.
• RAM – Minimum 256 MB.
• Database – SQLserver 2000 with a minimum service pack 3 or higher.

18. What is the Matrix reports?

Matrix reports are used to show summarized data in the form of columns and rows.

19. What is the difference between SSRS and Power BI?

SSRS	Power BI
SSRS was launched in the year 2004.	Power BI was launched in the year 2017.
SSRS is used to produce the server-based reports.	Power BI is used to produce server-based and cloud-based reports.
In SSRS, there is no limit for the size of the data set.	In Power BI, there is a limit of 1GB data in the free version.
SSRS implementation process is complex.	Power BI implementation process is simple.
Nature is User-friendly.	Nature is less user-friendly.

20. What are the tools available in the market as an alternative to SQL Server Reporting Services?

There are the following tools available in the market as an alternative to SQL Server Reporting Services –

Non-Open Source:

• Actuate
• BusinessObjects
• Oracle Express OLAP
• Qlikview
• Cognos
• IntelliView
• Informatica Power Analyzer
• Dundas Chart for .NET
• MicroStrategy
• Pentaho
• Proclarity

Open Source:

• JFreeReport
• Business Intelligence Reporting Tool (BIDS)
• Jasper Reports
• Data Vision
• OpenReport

21. What are the disadvantages of SSRS?

There are the following disadvantages of SSRS –

• In SSRS, there is no print option, so if you want to print something, you first need to convert the file into PDF, word, excel, or in other formats.
• It does not allow to add page number in the report body.
• It is difficult to make changes in the code.
• It is difficult to upgrade.

22. What is report subscription in SSRS?

Report subscription allows the user to generate reports without interacting with Report Manager, Report Builder, or BIDS.

SSRS allows you to build two types of subscription –

• Standard subscriptions
• Data-driven subscriptions

23. Name a few Endpoints exposed by SSRS 2012?

• Management Endpoints
• Execution Endpoint
• SharePoint Proxy Endpoints

24. What is Cached report in SSRS?

A cached report contains a copy of processed report. These reports are used to improve the performance by decreasing the number of processing requests to the report processor.

25. Does SSRS support other databases except MS SQL Server?

Yes, SSRS supports other databases like Oracle, OLEDB, ODBC, etc.