Systems Center Reporting Manager 2005 FAQs
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Q1: What is System Center Reporting Manager 2005?

System Center Reporting Manager 2005 consolidates your change and configuration information from SMS 2003 and your event and performance information from MOM 2005 to give you easy access to the reports you need to manage your enterprise.

Q2: What data from MOM 2005 and SMS 2003 will be in System Center Reporting Manager 2005?

All data currently available in the MOM 2005 Operational Database will be in System Center Reporting Manager 2005.

The same data transfer service (DTS) jobs used to move data from the MOM 2005 Operational Database to the MOM 2005 Reporting Server, will be used to transfer data from the MOM 2005 Operational Database to the System Center Reporting Manager 2005 Data Warehouse. With SMS 2003, all the software inventory, hardware inventory, software distribution, and security update management data will be moved to System Center Reporting Manager 2005.

Q3: Will the System Center Reporting Manager 2005 schema be published?

Yes. System Center Reporting Manager 2005 schema will be published to enable you to create custom reports and ad hoc queries.

Q4: Will I be able to change the System Center Reporting Manager 2005 schema?

Yes. You will be able to manage, change, and extend System Center Reporting Manager 2005 in the same way you can update any standard data warehouse.

Q5: Will I be able to make changes in System Center Reporting Manager 2005 reports?

Yes. Given that System Center Reporting Manager 2005 is based on SQL Server Reporting Services technology, you will be able to edit reports or create new ones as needed using Visual Studio.

Q6: What are the advantages of using SQL Server Reporting Services in System Center Reporting Manager 2005?

You can use various export formats, pagination, report subscription, and full reporting lifecycle support, such as authoring, management, and delivery, among other features.

Q7: What are the major components of System Center Reporting Manager 2005?

The two main components of System Center Reporting Manager 2005 are a data warehouse and a reporting server. The data warehouse contains all the transferred data and the reporting server offers a user interface to generate reports from that data.

Q8: Will there be a MOM 2005 Management Pack for System Center Reporting Manager 2005?

Yes. In the future, there will be a MOM 2005 Management Pack for System Center Reporting Manager 2005.

Q9: Are there System Center Reporting Manager 2005 reports for SMS 2003 users?

Yes. Some of the SMS 2003-only reports are:

• Microsoft Operating System or Office inventory by domain or location.

• Other applications by domain or location.

• Hardware inventory by domain, building, cost center, or manager.

• Hardware shrinkage by domain, location, cost center, or manager.

• Environmental baseline and compliance.

• Software distribution by domain or location.

• Software update compliance by domain, region, cost center, computer owner, or software update ID.

• SMS health index by site code or collection.

Q10: Are there System Center Reporting Manager 2005 reports for MOM-only users?

Yes. All reports included in MOM 2005 are also included in System Center Reporting Manager 2005 and have been extended to allow for reporting across multiple MOM 2005 management groups.

Q11: What are examples of the System Center Reporting Manager 2005 reports that combine SMS and MOM data?

Some of the 'better together' reports included in System Center Reporting Manager 2005 are:

• Critical alerts by operating system/application.

• Performance statistics comparison.

• Over-utilized/Under-utilized computers.

• Computer that showed a specific alert.

• Server/Baseline Server configuration comparison.

• Hardware/Software changes by building/computer owner/computer group.

• Performance comparison before/after configuration change.

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