CHAPTER 10 MANAGING REPORTS Note In order to create snapshots and subscriptions, you will need to ensure that SQL Server Agent is running
on the server containing the ReportServer database. If it is not running, you will receive the error: “The SQL Agent
service is not running. This operation requires the SQL Agent service. (rsSchedulerNotResponding)”. If you see this
error, just start the SQL Agent service in the Administrative Tools or in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
Over time, the snapshots will be created in the report history. Users who have access to the report
history can access the snapshots through Report Manager by navigating to the History tab for the report.
The History tab for the AR Reconciliation report, as shown in Figure 10-13, indicates that over a four-
month period, four snapshots have been generated, as expected.
Figure 10-13. AR Reconciliation report snapshots created on schedule
It is beneficial for performance to render a report from history, first because the report has been
pre-processed and second because there is no need to query the data source for the report, as both the
data and layout information are stored in the snapshot. When generating large reports, such as financial
reports with hundreds of pages, we highly recommend using snapshots, as well as other performance-
enhancing features of SSRS such as report caching, which we will cover next.
Processing Reports and Performing Caching
The AR Reconciliation report is now set up to be delivered from a schedule, rendered from a snapshot,
and saved in the report history. Employees will also run this report on-demand, meaning that users can
view the report with the most recent data. Because this is potentially a resource-intensive financial
report, you should ensure that performance isn’t affected when the report is rendered for multiple users
simultaneously. You’ll use Report Manager to configure the settings that control how the report is
processed.
The first step is to navigate to the Properties tab for the AR Reconciliation report and then select
Processing Options in the left frame. Figure 10-14 shows the available settings for report processing.