Move Out of The Way SQL

For someone who talks a lot about SQL being my favorite data analysis tool, I have a lil confession to make…

I love Excel more now!

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Haha, just kidding. Excel’s growing on me, but it’s not my favorite (not yet, at least).

However, another Microsoft-owned tool has been flirting with me recently – SSRS (aka SQL Server Reporting Services).

I know SQL is in the name, and I still write queries to build reports, but there’s more to the software than I expected.

I’ve used it frequently since starting my data job in September. But everything has been basic:

1. Write a SQL query
2. Copy and paste query into SSRS
3. Insert a table into the report
4. And Voila! Report built!

Nothing fancy… Until now.

Yesterday I received a task to build a new report for someone in my company. So, the first thing I did was look at the mock design they created.

Right away, I felt sick.

It looked nothing like the reports I’ve worked on so far in my journey. This one had conditional formatting with colors, line breaks in each cell, and a time frame parameter that changed the number of columns based on the user's input.

Ugh, it killed me.

I didn’t know how to do this stuff, so I didn’t want to build the report.

But I’ve been writing a lot recently about being open-minded and eager to learn new things. So, I got to work researching "SSRS advanced tips and tricks.”

I spent most of my day playing scientist, testing out different expressions using Visual Basic. And I learned a lot. The report’s not done yet, but I already know it’ll be my best one yet.

Yesterday was one of the most fun I’ve had over the last few weeks as a data analyst.

Gotta love working with new tools and new features.