Currently we have a process that our IT department has to do manually on a weekly basis that we really need to automate. We have a few of our employees that get paid a different way. The hr department has to send us the employee names and dates and we have to connect to a MySQL database. Put the correct employee numbers and dates in a script we have set up. Execute the script. And then send the hr department an email back with the table it generates.
I was thinking is there a way to automate a SQL script in Excel using macros or something similar. That way we could send the hr department the spread sheet. They go in the spreadsheet input the employees and dates in cells. run the script and let it give them their data back?
Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
There are many different things you could pursue, depending on you what need done exactly. If I was in your shoes I would discuss with your IT dept about SSIS packages, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Server_Integration_Services . With SSIS you can upload excel docs, have it run the queries you need and then export the spread sheet with the updates.
However, you will need someone knowledgeable of SQL servers and SSIS to set this up.
You could integrate the SQL query to a VBA script within your Excel file, but you would definitely have to code that.
Take a look a this example to get automated query from SQL Server:
Using Excel VBA to run SQL query
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I have an Access database with a few tables and several queries. I already have this working perfectly in Access but my boss wants me to replicate the results using excel 2010. I have tried using the MS query inbuilt into excel but I can’t get the SQL query to do the same thing, I have asked several experienced people but they also didn’t know. I have decided to try a different approach.
The users need to regularly update the information in the tables and then re-run the queries. The result is then exported to excel for further manipulation. Would it be possible for me to make the database accessible via runtime. Could I have it so that the user puts all the tables that need updating as excel spreadsheets in a certain folder and then in VBA in excel have the runtime access application update the tables, run the queries and output the results in excel? The main thing is that the users won't have the full access application.
I have had a look around but couldn’t find much on this. If not, any other ideas would be greatly welcome.
From the Access wiki:
The runtime version allows users to view, edit and delete data, along
with running queries, forms, reports, macros and VBA module code. The
runtime version does not allow users to change the design of Microsoft
Access tables, queries, forms, reports, macros or module code.
Therefore, you can send code to the Access runtime version that runs queries that update your data, and have Excel linked to the tables that result from those updates.
I have a folder with around 15 reports in it, these are Report Server reports. To run each report individually will take a while, so I want them to run together. So, what I want to be able to do is somehow run all the reports in this folder, is this possible?
This is somewhat of an ambiguous question. Let me explain. What are you asking specifically?
Q: Can you run multiple reports at the same time?
A: Yes, and there are several ways to accomplish this.
1. You can use SQL agents
2. Use batch files with task scheduler
3. Use an SSIS package and use an agent to run them at specific times...etc...
Hopefully one of the reports does not depend on another and another thing that you have to take in to consideration is how hard you will be hitting the SSRS or SQL server. Running them all at one time may take longer than one at a time. depending on the bandwidth of the SQL Server and what tables are going to be locked up during each of these processes.
You might want to give a little more detail in your question...
I would recommend an SSIS package, especially as it also one of the options presented by #Michael that can email the Excel workbook too which you mentioned in an earlier comment.
The following resource covers quite well the execution and export of an SSRS report using SSIS, including code you will need as a starting point: Executing an SSRS Report from an SSIS Package.
You could save some time in coding the solution by using the following custom Task that can be integrated into SSIS: SSIS ReportGenerator Task.
There is one problem in your requirements though which is merging reports into one Excel workbook where I assume you want separate sheets for each report within the same workbook?
Reporting Services can use multiple worksheets (to divide a report up into pages a.k.a pagination) but only for a single report; it can't merge reports into one Excel file. This can be accomplished with custom code however. There's a somewhat basic example here: Merging workbooks into a master workbook with separate sheet for each file.
One way to run all the reports at once is to add subscription to all of them and set same subscription start time in all of the reports. what will happen is once the start time arrived all the reports will run simultaneously and will generate excel/pdf (any format specified) file at shared location.
I want to have a system whereby someone who doesn't know any SQL can retrieve a excel spreadsheet based on arguments, such as data based on a list of employees, or up to a certain date, etc.
How would you approach this problem? I am using MS SSMS.
I am new to SSRS and I just want to know if it is possible to loop through datasets in an SSRS report and save each dataset separately as an Excel spreadsheet.
For example, if we have a report with 5 managers, if you click on each one of these managers you can see/drill down to all the supervisors that are under this manager and if you click on any of those supervisors you can see all the employees that are under that particular supervisor. Now, what I'm trying to do is I want to save each one of the managers' (and supervisors' eventually) downline in an excel document (although it really can be in any format as long as they can later drill down on it) so that each manager can only get his/her own supervisors/employees. Can this be done in SSRS and if so I'll try to figure out how. Also, if you think there is a better way to restrict every manager from seeing every other manager's supervisors employees please let me know. The report that I currently have is perfect but everyone can see other people's supervisors/employees and their data.
Thanks!!
if you want to generate flat files to send out, then you have to create a parameter on your report, deploy it to the report server, and then create 5 subscriptions to that report.
in each subscription you can set the parameter and where you want to write/email the file.
If the subscriptions part doesn't work well for you (if you have too many to manage), you can use data driven subscriptions (enterprise edition feature), rs.exe scripts (if you figure out how it works), or use my new cool tool (http://busysreports.codeplex.com)
also, you don't have to generate flat files, you can also set up some security so when the managers open the report in reporting services they see only their data.
I have an Oracle query and I want to export the query results to an excel file daily. I've looked into both SSRS and SSIS and am not sure which would be better to use.
The query is a normal select that returns 10-20 fields. It is pretty straight forward with a couple joins and where clauses. It selects DISTINCT to get rid of duplicate rows.
It's a straight mapping from the query to the excel file.
Does SSIS have performance advantages over SSRS?
I was leaning toward SSRS because it's very simple to set up and there are added benefits of being able to easily run our extract/report with different dates through the SSRS web UI.
SSIS seems like it will be more complex to set up, but still simple. However, it seems I would have to handle how to rename the extracts without using the main excel "template" so there are more steps involved. Also having issues getting parameters to work with Oracle queries.
Even though I am a big fan of SSIS, I would go with SSRS in this scenario.
Your requirement is that you simply need data in an Excel file. Though both SSIS and SSRS can do this task. SSRS has slight advantage in what you are trying to achieve.
You can format the Excel file in SSRS report however you would like to.
Similar to SSIS package that is easy to configure, SSRS also has easier development process. You can design and populate however you would like.
SSIS requires a SQL job to schedule it in order to run the package and then send you the Excel file or save it to some location. However in SSRS, you can simply create a subscription and export the Excel file to particular folder or send it to you in an email.
If you ever want to change the file export format, SSRS already does that for you.
Some of the points that I could think of.
This isn't a report, so don't use Reporting Services.
The SSIS package necessary for this is a single Data Flow task with two components: an "OLE DB Source" for your Oracle query, and an "Excel Destination". Draw a connection between the two components, configure them, press F5 and you're done.
Almost any property in SSIS can be set to the value of an expression. This includes the "ExcelFilePath" property of the Excel Connection Manager. Simply set that to an expression that appends the date to the file path, and you'll be set as long as you only run the package daily.
If you need to run it more than once a day, then simply precede the Data Flow task with a File System task to delete any previous version of the file.
Just tried this quickly myself and found one small issue. The data source I used included VARCHAR columns. The Excel Destination wanted Unicode, so I had to place a Data Conversion component between source and destination.
This link has a nice evaluation of the case you are presenting:
http://theruntime.com/blogs/gscarfone/archive/2009/07/15/data-dump-to-excel-through-ssis-and-ssrs.aspx
Basically it depends on your particular scenerio.
Hope it helps...