The Rational Guide to SQL Server Reporting Services

I enjoyed the book very much. I have been researching for more efficient methods to create and maintain data driven reports. "The Rational Guide To: SQL Server Reporting Services" provided an excellent feature and technical overview allowing me to make a well informed decision to move forward with implementing Reporting Services. The book answered many questioned I had such as creating and maintaining reports, SharePoint integration, security, multiple data sources, and many more. I also liked the numerous demonstration "steps", easy to read shorter format with examples and details, extremely well organized, called out "Notes", bonus material, and effective screenshots. It is refreshing to finish a technical book wanting more rather than feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, allowing me to spend more time working with the product. I am looking forward to reading "The Rational Guide To: Building SharePoint Web Parts".

As the sole SQL Server DBA in a 1500 person company a lot of technology changes are left to me to get started. Tony's book helped tremendously to get me up to speed, which allowed me to teach others and we're now in the process of converting our Crystal reports to Reporting Services. Thanks, Tony!

As a SQL Server DBA I normally don't deal with reporting tools at all. Since this one is branded and bundled with Microsoft SQL Server I was naturally expected to pick this up and run with it. I needed a crash course. The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services seemed like a natural fit. Quick, concise, and to the point it only took a couple of nights to read the book and a couple more to work through some basic exercises and get up to speed. Inside a week I had the basic skills and was able to show the value of this product. Anthony Mann continues to do what he does best, break what could be a very complicated subject into small digestible chunks to get you started and comfortable with the subject quickly. This book doesn't aim to be the end all be all well of knowledge, it is meant to get you started working with the product quickly so you can be as productive as you can be. If you haven't started working with SQL Server Reporting services, or find that you have just started and don't normally work with these kinds of tools, this book is absolutely for you.

MCDBAs & MCSDs will notice that everything in this brief, easy to read without a computer, book will be found in the Reporting Services Books Online. Of course, they'll also discover a lot of other stuff in the BOL which will not help them get up to speed quickly on the technology. And herein lies the strength of Mann's work - it only contains what developers need to get going with SQL Server Reporting Services.

This book is the perfect way to get up to speed with the feature set and architecture of Reporting Services. It's an easy read, and the quality of the book itself is way more than I expected for the price. It's not an intimidating book due to it's size and layout, so others on your team may also want to read it. In fact, my boss and a co-worker of mine were caught flipping through the copy that was on my desk before I was done with it :)Keep in mind that you'll rely on the online documentation and possibly another more in-depth book for advanced details, but the Rational Guide is a great way to start your evaluation of Reporting Services. Well worth the money!