SQL training from BOTI equips your data and reporting staff to build, manage and deploy reports straight from your SQL Server databases. This practical 2-day course covers Reporting Services end to end and is delivered in-house, on-site or online across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria. Request a quote below.

If your team turns raw database tables into the dashboards and reports the business relies on, this is the practical, instructor-led SQL training that gets them productive fast. BOTI is a South African corporate training provider with over 450 courses and a client base that includes Sasol, Glencore and the City of Johannesburg.

Course at a Glance

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for individuals who administer and maintain SQL Server databases as their primary area of responsibility, or who work in environments where databases play a key role in their job. The secondary audience is individuals who develop applications that deliver content from SQL Server databases — including programmers and SQL Server professionals building reporting solutions.

Course Outline

The curriculum covers five core modules:

1. Getting Started with Reporting Services — Introducing Reporting Services, Installing Reporting Services, Exploring Reporting Services
2. Developing Reports — Designing Reports, Developing Expressions, Adding Interactivity, Using Analysis Services as a Data Source, Visualising Data, Developing Report Models
3. Managing the Report Server — Deploying Reports to a Server, Securing Report Server Content, Performing Administrative Tasks
4. Viewing Reports — Accessing Reports Online, Creating Ad Hoc Reports, Working with Subscriptions
5. Using Reporting Services as a Development Platform — Programming Reporting Services

Practical Outcomes for Your Team

By the end of the course, your reporting staff will be able to:

• design and build reports against SQL Server data sources,
• add interactivity such as parameters and drill-through,
• deploy reports to a managed report server,
• schedule subscriptions so stakeholders receive reports automatically, and
• apply security so the right people see the right numbers.

These are concrete day-one skills that reduce reliance on IT and shorten the turnaround on routine and ad hoc reporting requests.

Why Choose BOTI for SQL Training

• Practical and outcomes-focused — a facilitator-led skills programme; delegates receive a BOTI certificate of completion (this is not an accredited qualification).
• In-house and on-site — we come to your premises in JHB, Cape Town, Durban or Pretoria, or run live online sessions for distributed teams.
• Group savings built in — tiered pricing rewards training whole teams together.
• Trusted by large SA employers — including Sasol, Glencore and the City of Johannesburg.

Need accredited training? Ask about BOTI’s QCTO/SETA-accredited programmes in areas such as IT End User Computing (Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills).

SQL Basics for Data & Reporting Staff

Not everyone who needs to build reports starts as a database expert. Before your reporting team gets the most out of SQL Server Reporting Services, a grounding in core SQL training fundamentals pays off quickly. This section explains what those basics are and why they matter for the people who produce your business reports.

What “SQL” actually means for a reporting role

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the language used to ask a database questions and get answers back. For data and reporting staff, the day-to-day work is mostly about retrieving and shaping data rather than building databases from scratch. The foundational skills that underpin confident report-building include:

• SELECT statements — pulling the exact columns and rows a report needs.
• Filtering with WHERE — narrowing data to a region, date range, branch or product line.
• Sorting and grouping (ORDER BY, GROUP BY) — arranging results and producing subtotals.
• Joins — combining data from multiple tables (for example, sales linked to customers and regions).
• Aggregate functions (SUM, COUNT, AVG) — the building blocks of summary reports and KPIs.

These are the same query patterns that power the datasets behind every SSRS report. A reporting analyst who understands them can troubleshoot a slow or wrong-looking report instead of waiting on IT.

Why data-literate reporting staff matter to the business

When reporting staff understand SQL fundamentals, the whole organisation moves faster:

For L&D and HR buyers, this is the difference between a team that simply runs reports and one that can interpret and improve them — a measurable lift in data maturity across finance, operations and sales.

Building a sensible SQL learning path for your team

Most teams benefit from a layered approach. Pair foundational SQL and data skills with reporting and analysis tools so staff can take data all the way from query to boardroom-ready output:

• Start with SQL and database fundamentals for analysts who write or read queries.
• Add Reporting Services (this course) to turn those datasets into managed, scheduled, interactive reports.
• Layer in Excel, Power BI and broader data skills so the same team can model, visualise and present.

BOTI can sequence these into a single in-house programme tailored to your team’s current level — useful where you are mapping skills development against your workplace skills plan.

How this fits your reporting and data stack

SSRS rarely lives in isolation. Reporting staff typically move between the database, a spreadsheet and a BI tool throughout the day. Grounding your team in SQL basics first means they can:

• pull clean, correct data into SSRS,
• understand why a report is slow and tune the underlying query, and
• hand cleaner datasets to Power BI or Excel for further analysis.

That cross-tool fluency is exactly why many SA organisations train data and reporting staff as a cohort rather than one tool at a time.

Scheduling and Group Bookings

Related BOTI Courses

Build a complete data and reporting skill set with these BOTI courses:

• Developing Microsoft SQL Server Databases (Course 20464) — for staff who build and maintain the databases your reports read from.
• MCSA: SQL Server 2014 Training Course (JHB, CPT, DBN) — broader SQL Server administration and querying skills.
• Microsoft Access Beginners Training Course — entry-level database and querying skills for office and admin teams.
• Browse all BOTI courses — including Excel, Power BI and the full MS Office and data cluster.

Funded and In-House Training

BOTI training can support your skills-development planning. South African employers above the threshold pay the Skills Development Levy (SDL) at 1% of payroll, and the skills-development element of B-BBEE is measured against a target of 6% of the leviable amount. Training a data and reporting cohort in-house is an efficient way to align upskilling with these objectives. This is general guidance, not financial or legal advice — confirm specifics with your SDF or advisor.

Request a Quote or Free Course Outline

Ready to upskill your reporting team? Request a quote or a 15-minute callback, or call 011-882-8853. Ask for our free SQL Server Reporting Services course outline to share with your team and stakeholders before you book.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is the BOTI SQL training (Reporting Services) course? The Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Course runs for 2 days. It can be delivered in-house, on-site or online across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.

Is the course accredited? This is a practical, facilitator-led skills programme; delegates receive a BOTI certificate of completion (this is not an accredited qualification). If you need accredited training, ask about BOTI’s QCTO/SETA-accredited programmes, such as IT End User Computing (Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills).

Do reporting staff need SQL experience before attending? The course is aimed at people who administer SQL Server databases or develop applications using them. Staff who are newer to SQL benefit from pairing this course with foundational SQL and database training — BOTI can sequence both into one in-house programme.