Reporting Tools
Reporting Tools in many ways are the most critical pieces of your software system. All systems store ridiculous amounts of data but the ability to retrieve that data and make decisions around it are the real reasons company's implement new systems. These pieces of your software puzzle can give you the look into future that tells you where the organization is headed or the look back in to the company's past that tells you exactly where you have been. They allow you to see data in a variety of formats.
All reporting tools now offer drill-down capability, which is the capability to select an item from a summary form and display the detail. As an example you might be looking at a graph of your company’s accounts receivable, so you might drill down to see what each individual customers’ balance is. Also, using reporting tools you might opt to sort those balances from highest to lowest or only see those that are more than 30 days old. Oh and with the right reporting tools you can have that report automatically emailed to you at the time of your choosing. As you can see reporting tools are where the rubber meets the road with your system.
