Please comment on reporting tools that you have used with Project Server 2003 databases. I would like to know anyone's experience with Cognos, Business Objects or Oracle's Discoverer. Saving Changes...
Hi - you can use those tools you mentioned, but we've worked with several reporting tools to get info right out of Project Server's SQL database. The most useful for us has been SQL Reporting Services, a new FREE download from Microsoft that is an add-on to SQL Server. It mimics alot of the functionality in Crystal, Cognos, etc but allows use of the MSFT development environment (VS.Net) to easily drag and drop reports to create them as needed.
Uptime on this tool is a few hours - recommend taking a course on Reporting Services but, once you get the hang of it, it's just like all other GUI-based MSFT tools - very easy to use, and designed to work with SQL Server.
One other option is to extend the OLAP Cube via Analysis Services, in order to expose the data you need. This is useful if you have many users requiring ad-hoc reports - it basically allows use of the Portfolio Analyzer web reporting interface and supports direct integration with Excel - another tool everyone knows.
Those are your best options, from a cost and data management perspective, based upon our experience. Hope this is helpful.
