Reporting, or knowing the results of a report makes us feel smart.  Better yet, coming up with a reason as to why a report yields specific results makes us feel even smarter.  But an interesting question arises…which one is more important in the enterprise: canned or ad-hoc reports?

The answer is not straightforward.  Some of this depends on your organization, and some depends on your users.  But, for most organizations, I think the reality versus what is generally thought important can be flipped.  I find many organizations feel that ad-hoc reporting is the answer to their prayers, while those same organizations may want to take a harder look at their operational reporting strategy.  In some cases, people think they are using analytical/ad-hoc reporting, when they are actually just using an analystical reporting product to deviler sub-optimal canned reports.  There will be more on this in coming posts, but I wanted to get the brain wheels churning (and those hamsters off their lazy butts) to let you think about how your organization approaches its reporting strategy.