We often give our users a way to extract data directly into Excel and then ask them to mock up reports there. That way, we know what they need and how they want it presented.


>Exactly, Mike.
>As Kevin points out some things don't lend themselves to Excel reporting and can be dangerous.
>I, for one, won't accept a financial statement in a spreadsheet, since I can never be sure what formulas, etc., are at work behind the scenes. Yes, other tools that prepare them can be jimmied too, but not so readily.
>My clients use it primarily for secondary analytics, ad hoc queries, etc. They know its strengths and limits and use it prudently. As you say, they're happy with it.
>Most only use a small fraction of its capabilities, but if you think about it a large piece of reporting is still the same thing we used to do with sorters and tabulators before computers came on the scene i.e.- sort, summarize, and list.