Rows
A manager may see one region while an executive sees all regions.
Self-service reporting should reduce repetitive report requests without turning every employee into a database analyst. The safest model is a catalog of trusted datasets with useful filters, clear definitions, and permissions that follow the underlying business data.
PHPRunner and ASPRunner.NET Enterprise editions can provide interactive report and chart tools, while the reporting model determines whether users receive dependable answers or merely more ways to create conflicting numbers.
Publish curated reporting datasets rather than raw tables. Define each metric once, provide filters that match real questions, restrict rows and fields by role, and let users save or export reports only from data they are already permitted to see.
“Sales by region this quarter” and “open cases older than seven days” are strong starting points because their dimensions, dates, and measures can be defined. A portal should make these questions easy to answer repeatedly, then allow controlled variation without changing what the underlying metric means.
Views or purpose-built queries can join operational tables, normalize status values, and expose meaningful names without revealing internal columns. Document the time zone, date basis, exclusions, and calculation behind important measures so two users applying the same filters receive the same result.
A manager may see one region while an executive sees all regions.
Sensitive costs or personal data may be excluded for some roles.
Downloaded files must obey the same scope as the on-screen report.
The Enterprise editions include web-based report and chart builders that can be placed inside an authenticated application. Administrators can provide prepared datasets and permissions; authorized users can filter, group, chart, save, and export reports without receiving direct SQL access.