The following is an excerpt from SQLServer.com’s Jonathan Spink as he reviews OfficeWriter’s integration with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Read the full review here.

“…The idea behind OfficeWriter is to extend the functionality of software users are already familiar with, i.e. Excel and Word, so they’re able to both acquire the data they need and arrange it into a useful form. While OfficeWriter does come in two more specific forms, ExcelWriter and WordWriter, this review looks at the version developed for use with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), available in both 2000 and 2005 incarnations.

In order to take advantage of the different parts of this system, the OfficeWriter for SSRS package comes in two parts. The Designer is what you use to create the reports, either in Excel or Word, while the Renderer sits on the Reporting Services server.

This then is the OfficeWriter approach: from the Ms Office front-end, reports are produced in the SSRS XML-based RDL format, then uploaded to the SSRS ReportServer database, like any report produced using Visual Studio (VS). This means that they can also be viewed in Report Manager along with any other SSRS reports you have.”

[Read the full review]