What is a typical scenario for and end-user reports design?

Question

I'm wondering what would be the typical scenario for using an end-user report designer. What I'm thinking of is to have a base report with all the columns that I can have, also with a basic view of the report (formatting, order of columns, etc.) and then let the user to change that format and order, take out or add (from the available columns) data to it, etc.

Is that a common way to address what is called end-user designer for reports or I'm off track?

I know it depends on the user (if it's someone that can handle SQL or not for example), but is it common to have a scenario where the user can build everthing from the sql query to the formatting?

Thanks!

Sebastian

Answer 1

The first thing I would think about is to put them in a very tightly controlled sandbox, both for security and also to prevent monstrous, server-eating queries. Beyond that, I think giving them a "menu" of limited options is a good path. I would not give them direct access to SQL.

Answer 2

First question is do you want users creating SQL that could become a run away query (think Cartesian join gone wild).

Depending upon your tooling you might want to publish your report as Excel. Creating a pivot table or a simple spreadsheet may provide the flexibility you are looking for but in a safe environment. Most users can handle removing columns, formatting, etc, in Excel and there are lots of self-help references that you might not find in a report writer tool.