I was pondering (like you do) how accessible report creation is in SMS2003.

It requires a few skills to be under-your-belt (SQL, SQL tools, areas in SMS) before you can master this subject enough to produce quality reports. And, well I was taught (back when I was a padawan, I eventually killed my master in true Star Wars Sith Lord fashion while he slept after a heavy nights SMS2003 SP3 troubleshooting, the old fool! ;-) a trick for creating reports that lined up my knowledge a bit more and helped kick-start my efforts in creating new and modifying existing reports.

In the linked document I talk about how to use SQL2000 Enterprise Manager and present some screenshots to help guide the novice along to the conclusion ... a complex (in that it uses a JOIN) report.

Here's the file description:

A word document (due to so many screenshots) showing how to easily create SQL2000 queries for use in SMS2003 Reporting

I get a lot of SQL query creation questions, so thought writing up a short document on how to use SQL2000 Enterprise Manager to build complicated (well reasonably) SQL queries would be helpful.

If you're experienced with SQL, then you won't learn much at all from this document. If you've shied away from writing SMS2003 Reports due to lack of SQL knowledge then this is a great aid to getting "skilled up" enough to put you on the path that'll take you forwards to carving out epic-style reports

If you're new to writing reports for SMS2003 then this will really help you get a foot on the first rung of the proverbial ladder.

Go get that word doc and check it out ...

Hope it helps somehow,