TechEd - Building Ad-Hoc Reports using the SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SSRS) Report Builder
Very interesting session on the new Report Builder application for Report Services. The tool is aimed at business users that need to design their own reports. It works an a model of the database, kind of like Business Objects. And with SP2 CTP2 for SQL Server 2005 Reporting services (available soon) it will also feature integration into Sharepoint 2007.
It's not as advanced as the Report Designer, which is more aimed at developers. The tool is deployed to a user machine using ClickOnce deployment, so it's actually running from the ClickOnce cache. It uses an interface that's built on Microsoft Office paradigms, so people with knowledge of Excel and Powerpoint should feel right at home. Reports created using the Report Builder can be stored on the server, just like the 'normal' reporting services reports, and in Sharepoint 2007 using the new add-in. However, that function is still very much beta, as the error messages proved.
The data model required for Report Builder can be created using the Model Designer application. And a lot of it is automated, so you should be able to create a model quite easily. You can create models for SQL server database, but the current version also supports Oracle out-of-the-box. It's not possible to create a model for Analysis Services. If you want (or need) to use that, simply add Analysis services as a datasource to Report Builder.