Using SharePoint at a Sixth Form College to report on UNIT-e

Capita’s UNIT-e is often only available for reporting via Columbus. However, by implementing SQL Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode, Parabola have enabled Havering Sixth Form College to report via SharePoint and thus make use of the extended reporting features in SharePoint 2007.

While Reporting Services reports can be deployed to any SharePoint site or document library, SharePoint Server 2007 includes advanced out of the box functionality for reporting, known as the Report Center.

This has a number of advantages to Havering (or any college using SharePoint) particularly when trying to leverage the student data in UNIT-e:

UNIT-e reports are made more easily available and can be published to management and/or staff via their SharePoint portal.
They can use SharePoint document libraries to store reports, data sources, and report models.
They can publish, view, manage, and deliver reports from the same friendly user interface used for managing Office documents.
They can make use of the Business Intelligence dashboards in SharePoint whilst reporting on UNIT-e.
They can build on the workflow and collaboration capabilities that are already available in Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Parabola implemented SharePoint at Havering in 2007. This has provided document management and collaboration tools to staff, but integration with UNIT-e was identified early on in the project as something which would enhance the effectiveness of SharePoint in the college. Havering has worked closely with Capita in the interim on developing their SharePoint integration offering but needed Parabola’s assistance in implementing SQL Reporting Services correctly.

For more information on using SQL Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode or reporting on UNIT-e via SharePoint, please contact Adam McCarthy on 020 8399 5853.

Technology

SQL Server 2008
Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Capita UNIT-e