DBA teams get asked for a performance update far more often than they get asked to build one from scratch — which is exactly why...
DBA teams get asked for a performance update far more often than they get asked to build one from scratch — which is exactly why so many teams end up with a folder of slightly different manual exports instead of one repeatable process. The IDERA tutorial Creating SQL Reports with SQL Diagnostic Manager walks through the built-in reporting library inside SQL Diagnostic Manager, and it is the basis for the question-by-question guide below.
To automate SQL Server performance reports for stakeholders, use a monitoring platform that both collects performance data continuously and can deploy reports to a scheduling engine like SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). SQL Diagnostic Manager does both: it stores collected metrics in its own repository and lets any built-in or custom report be scheduled for automatic, recurring email delivery — daily, weekly, or monthly — with no manual export required.
Creating SQL Reports with SQL Diagnostic Manager
Scheduled reporting is the automatic, recurring generation and delivery of a performance report, without a person manually running the report each time. In SQL Diagnostic Manager, any built-in or custom report can be deployed to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and set to run and email itself on a defined cadence — commonly daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on the audience.
The distinction that matters is “deployed” versus “exported.” Exporting a report to Excel or PDF is still useful for a one-off request, but it is a manual action every time. Scheduling a report removes the person from the loop entirely after the initial setup.
A useful reporting cadence usually maps report type to audience and frequency rather than sending the same report to everyone on the same schedule. A common pattern: a weekly Server Summary Report to application owners for the systems they care about, a monthly Enterprise Summary Report to infrastructure leadership for a rollup view across the estate, and a quarterly custom report built around capacity or growth trends for planning conversations.
The goal is not more reporting — it is matching the right level of detail to each audience, on a cadence that fits how often they actually need to know.
A manual export requires someone to log in, run the report, and send it, every single time — and the report only reflects that moment, prepared by whoever had time to build it. A scheduled report is configured once and then runs on its own, on time, in a consistent format, whether or not anyone remembers the deadline that week.
This distinction compounds as the number of recurring stakeholder requests grows. One manual report is a minor task. A dozen manual reports, each slightly different, each dependent on someone remembering to build it, is a recurring operational burden with no natural stopping point — until it is automated.
SQL DM’s built-in reports are grouped by category on the reporting console’s Getting Started page, each with a short description to help pick the right one. The Enterprise Summary Report rolls the health of every monitored SQL Server instance into a single view — a good fit for a leadership audience that wants the big picture. The Server Summary Report focuses on one instance over a chosen time window — a good fit for an application owner who only needs their own system’s status.
Beyond the built-in library, a custom report can be built from any metric SQL DM already collects, including custom counters, with control over which counters appear, their order, and how each is aggregated — useful when a stakeholder’s request does not map cleanly onto a built-in report.
From the reports console, selecting a report exposes a “Schedule Email” option that opens the reports deployment wizard. The wizard collects who the report should be emailed to, the subject line, and the time it should run, then moves to a step that points at a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) instance and confirms authentication for the underlying data source. A final summary screen reviews the deployment choices before SQL DM hands the recurring job to SSRS, which generates and emails the report on schedule from that point forward with no further manual action.
| Dimension | Manual Reporting | Scheduled Reporting in SQL DM |
|---|---|---|
| How it runs | A person logs in and exports the report each time | Deployed once to SSRS; runs and emails itself automatically |
| Consistency | Varies by who builds it and how much time they have | Identical format and content every cycle |
| Effort per cycle | Recurring manual work every time it is due | Zero, after the initial setup |
| Scales to more stakeholders | Poorly — each new request adds recurring manual work | Easily — each new audience is a new scheduled subscription |
| Best suited for | One-off, ad hoc requests | Any recurring stakeholder update |
Yes. SQL DM’s built-in reports already span from enterprise-wide to single-instance detail, and custom reports can be scoped to whatever counters a specific audience cares about — a leadership rollup does not need the same level of detail as a technical review with the application team. The same underlying performance data can support several differently scoped scheduled reports without duplicating any collection effort.
There is no universal answer, but a reasonable starting point: weekly for application owners who want to catch issues early, monthly for leadership rollups tied to a recurring review cycle, and quarterly for capacity or planning-oriented custom reports. The cadence should match how often a stakeholder actually makes a decision based on the data, not how often it is technically possible to generate a report.
SQL DM deploys scheduled reports to an existing SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) instance, which most SQL Server environments already have available. No separate reporting or business-intelligence platform needs to be purchased or stood up, and no professional services engagement is required — report scheduling is configured directly from the reports console as part of the existing SQL DM license.
How long does it take to schedule a report?
Most teams schedule their first report in well under an hour, since SQL DM is already collecting the underlying performance data — scheduling is a configuration step, not a new deployment.
Can I schedule different reports for different stakeholders?
Yes. Each report is scheduled independently, so a leadership audience and a technical audience can each receive a report — built-in or custom — matched to what they need, on their own cadence.
What happens if a stakeholder wants a report right away, outside the schedule?
Any report, whether or not it is already scheduled, can also be exported on demand to Excel or PDF for a one-time request.
Does scheduled reporting require a separate reporting or BI tool?
No. SQL DM deploys directly to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), which most SQL Server environments already have in place, with no additional platform to purchase.
Can a scheduled report include custom counters?
Yes. Custom reports can be built from any metric SQL DM collects, including custom counters, with control over which counters appear and how they are aggregated.
Does this replace the DBA’s judgment about what stakeholders see?
No. Scheduled reporting automates delivery, not the decision about which audience gets which report, at what level of detail, on what cadence — those choices remain with the DBA team.
Is this the same as building an executive dashboard?
It is related but distinct. A dashboard is typically viewed on demand; a scheduled report is pushed to an inbox automatically on a recurring basis, which suits stakeholders who want an update delivered rather than a screen to check.
Manual and scheduled reporting are not competing philosophies — one is right for a genuine one-off request, and the other is right for anything recurring. The practical path is to keep manual exports for ad hoc requests and move every recurring stakeholder update to a scheduled report, starting with whichever one currently eats the most time each month.
SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server
SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server
SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server
SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server
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