I have been a fan of Telerik WinForms and ASP.NET controls since 2007. When Telerik decided to enter the Business Intelligence (BI) development, I was ecstatic. I immediately downloaded and began using Telerik Reporting v.1 I must confess, I was a little lost for words. The great Telerik had finally let me down. The first edition of Telerik Reporting seemed nothing more than a “revamp” of Microsoft Visual Studio embedded reports. So, unfortunately I sort of pushed it aside and continued using Visual Studio for reporting needs.

Fast forward to 2012……………

Today I downloaded the new Telerik Reporting and was VERY impressed and pleased with the newest rendition of the product. The integrated Client Install, is an easy way to “pick and choose” what you would like to “try” and actually gives you access to licenses as well.

I am very familiar with the integration with Visual Studio for a Win Forms or Web applications, but because, I currently work with existing Microsoft SSRS 2008 server and over 100 reports in several Report Projects, I wanted to know explicitly how it could help me in managing existing SSRS hosted reports. So I installed with the Visual Studio 2008 support and immediately opened a new SSRS report project. Bummer; well it seems Telerik and SSRS Projects are still very separate entities, which I am not surprised. I was hoping for the ability to edit deployed SSRS report projects and for some more “integration” between the two; especially since I am now primarily a BI developer.

Now on the flip side; the ability to integrate reports into your application, either Windows or Web, is made easier with Telerik Reporting. The Controls are very straight forward and easy to understand. The ability for Silverlight controls is also an added plus for those applications developers.

I also do a few “side” development jobs one of which required embedded SSRS report. Having Telerik could have made it a more enjoyable experience and quite possibly better to render.

As a BI developer using SSRS, my “customers” are always wanting unusual, challenging and even down right (what I thought was) impossible reports. Because of these challenges and the somewhat short-falls of SSRS 2008; I may actually consider proposing a “reporting” ASP.NET website with Telerik Reports and show my bosses the POWER of TELERIK!