About SCRM 2006 Report Customization

  • Article

SCRM 2006 uses SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, which means you can use the SQL Server Business Information Development Studio to customize SCRM 2006 reports. In general, customization techniques for SQL Server Reporting Services reports are applied to SCRM 2006 reports. The SCRM customization tasks documented in the SCRM 2006 SDK specifically show you how to work with filters, columns, datasets, and drilldown reports.

The SCRM 2006 Report Users Guide provides information about using the SCRM reports. You can access this document on the SCRM 2006 Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=62111).

For more information about developing SQL Server Reporting Services applications, see the topic "Reporting Services Programming" in SQL Server 2006 Books Online (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=66804).

Report Customization Technologies

You can customize SCRM reports by using the report definition file, SQL Server stored procedures, and SQL views.

Report Definition Language File

A report definition contains data retrieval and layout information for a report. Report Definition Language (RDL) is an XML representation of a report. Each SCRM 2006 report has an associated Report Definition Language file (.rdl). For more information, see the topic "Report Definition Language" in SQL Server 2006 Books Online https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=66805.

Stored Procedures

SCRM 2006 reports make extensive use of SQL stored procedures and SQL views from the SCRM presentation (SystemCenterPresentation) database. In general, the documented stored procedures map onto the appropriate SCRM report filters. For a complete reference, see SCRM 2006 Stored Procedures.

SQL Views

The SCRM stored procedure uses SQL views in the SystemCenterPresentation database. For a complete reference of MOM and SMS views, see SCRM 2006 SQL Views.

Customizing an SCRM Report

Customizing an SCRM 2006 report requires the following steps:

  1. Obtain the report definition file. You obtain the report definition file by using SCRM 2006 Report Manager. For more information, see How to Obtain the Report Definition Language File for an SCRM Report.

  2. Create the SQL Server Business Information Development Studio Report Server project. An SCRM 2006 Report Server project requires a SCRM 2006 presentation database data source and the report definition file for the report you are customizing. For more information, see How to Create an SCRM Report Server Project.

  3. Customize the SCRM 2006 report. The Report Definition Language file is edited in SQL Server Business Information Development Studio in one of the following ways:

    1. You can edit the file by using the Layout view that allows you to visually manipulate the report. For an example, see How to Add a Column Header to an SCRM Report.
    2. You directly edit the report XML. For an example, see How to Switch the Filter Order of an SCRM Report.

  4. Create the stored procedure. Some tasks require customized stored procedures. For information about creating stored procedures, see How to Create an SCRM Stored Procedure. The SCRM 2006 SDK also provides a completed sample customized stored procedure for each task that requires one. See Sample SCRM Stored Procedures.

    Note

    You are advised to use a copy of an existing stored procedure rather than make changes to the original, because other reports might break due to changes made.

  5. Publish the SCRM 2006 report. After you have customized your report, publish it to SCRM 2006 Report Server. For more information, see How to Publish an SCRM Report.

In a number of cases, the documented report customization tasks build on other tasks. For example, the procedure described in How to Switch the Filter Order of an SCRM Report must be done before the procedure described in How to Add Drilldown Functionality to an SCRM Report.

See Also

Other Resources

Sample SCRM Stored Procedures
SCRM 2006 Stored Procedures
SCRM 2006 SQL Views