Why Create Excel Spreadsheets on the Server?
Excel has long been recognized as the de facto standard when it comes to presenting management reports. The unique combination of great calculation engine, excellent charting facilities, and the possibility to perform “what if” analysis make it the “must have” business intelligence tool. So, when I came to replace my aging management reporting infrastructure, I set one key requirement: the new system must be web-based and provide a “download in Excel” option. For mt business intelligence project, I built the data warehouse using SQL Server 2005 populated from PeopleSoft and Novient implementations using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS). The OLAP cube was built on SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS). SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SSRS) provides the web-based access to management reports and the all important “download in Excel” option. So, why do you need to create Excel on the server? The problem with SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services is that it the Excel spreads
