it's been a while since I've reviewed all the BI reporting options available to us, and I'd love to get feedback on what people are using these days.
For years now, I've combined any Civi install with an install of Jasperserver in order to build more customized reports with complex SQL. We tend to create more complex queries (sub-selects, unions, more complex group_concats, etc) for our BI reporting needs, so Jasper has been the tool of choice in the past. Once we know the DB schema well enough, it's pretty quick to create new reports, with input parameters that can also use SQL for dropdown options, etc.
However, Jasper does require a tomcat server and more maintenance, syncing users, etc. It doesn't easily integrate into Civi. At least, I haven't figured out how to make it look like it's a built-in Civi page seamlessly. Maybe there are ways with the soap client, I haven't tried.
Given the additional maintenance for Jasper, I'm looking to see what other tools are preferred these days.
Is SearchKit with Form Builder the extension that is going to eventually replace CiviReports? Am I (or will I be) able to do complex SQL queries in SearchKit and have the resulting columns displayed there as output that can be acted upon? Can we create graphs, input parameters with SQL options, and things like that? I just watched the latest SearchKit video, and it looks amazing, but I'm not yet sure if it's a replacement for reporting or more for forms/contact summary things.
If not SearchKit, is it recommended to try and stick with CiviReports? Those tend to be more of a pain for me to build, there is a lot that must be defined correctly for filters and columns, and I'm not always seeing those definitions in the documentation. It's been a bigger learning curve. But it has a big advantage of being a core part of Civi, and fully integrated with the UI and functionality (exporting, etc, is all built-in).
Any thoughts on what the best tool is for more rapid reporting that can also integrate into Civi?
Thanks!
