SQL Server is the world’s most widely used database for small and medium businesses due to its power, speed and affordability. Yet users of SQL Server often face challenges in producing the business intelligence (BI) needed to gain crucial insight into their businesses. Some of the challenges include: a desire to move beyond a limited set of canned reports to a more mature business intelligence deployment, reporting backlogs, and high total cost of ownership (TCO).

This paper can help those using, or considering using, Microsoft for business intelligence evaluate their situation, challenges, and alternatives. This paper also introduces a new reporting and BI paradigm for SQL Server.