Reporting made easier using XML Publisher

Oracle announces in the November/December issue of Oracle magazine that it will release XML Publisher as a standalone version.
This is very good news for all the users that want to make use of Oracle’s Java based tool but are not using the Oracle E-Business Suite.
XML Publisher allows you to maintain your reports in a much more friendly way as the traditional Oracle Reports tool.
Ever delivered a report to your organization which needed to be changed within a few weeks because some label needed to be changed? Are you maintaining numerous reports all displaying the same information with as only difference, the language the data is presented in? XML Publisher helps you overcome the maintenance issues by splitting the report layout from the data. You can now have end-users design the report layout with the use of the tools they know like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat and you will be able to fully focus on the data to be presented in the report.

How does it work?
In short your report functionality is split in a data set and a layout. XML Publisher merges these sets together to one report. By spitting the data from the layout the end-user will be able to maintain his own reports as far as the layout. An other advantage is that you will be able to use layout templates of third parties to present your data with. And even within your own organization you will be able to produce reports in the same layout with data coming from several sources.

Will XML-Publisher be the better alternative to other reporting tools like Oracle Reports?
Time will tell but now XML Publisher is going to be released as standalone product you will finally be able to have a look at it and make your own conclusions.

More information can be found on oracle.com/technology/products/apllications/publishing