Reporting Software connects with data sources, gather information and provide insights in the form of graphs and charts based on the input data so the user can find useful information.

This application usually comes in a business intelligence suite. The reporting tools help in the decision-making process. Detailed insights will give you more visibility over data.

Reporting tools present the data in an attractive manner. By representing the data in an attractive manner, these tools make data more readable, useful, and presentable.

There can be two types of reports, i.e. Static reports and Interactive reports.

Static reports cannot be altered by the end-user, and Interactive reports allow you to get detailed insights by drilling down to the data. These reports also provide the facility to navigate, filter, sort, & view the data.

These reporting tools can generate different types of the report as shown below:

• Reporting for business intelligence,
• Visualization and reporting,
• Self-Service reporting,
• Enterprise reporting,
• Application performance reporting,
• Finance related reporting.

Generally, it is considered that reporting tools and business intelligence software are the same, but there is a difference between the two.

Reporting tool or software is a part of a business intelligence suite, whereas Business intelligence software contains various categories of tools. The main difference is in their ability to correlate the data.