781.329.4300 ¦ 
One of my favorite features of SQL Server Reporting Services is the ability to provide a parameter with multiple values. This is a great way to give your users flexibility at runtime by allowing them to select one, two, several, or all values from a given list. It even has a built-in way to easily select and de-select all the possible values. A common scenario that would benefit from this is when you are going to publish a single report that could potentially be used by multiple locations or departments.
How do I find data in the MEDITECH Data Repository?
Many new DR report writers have a challenging time locating data in the DR because they're unfamiliar with the database table and column naming conventions. Luckily for those users, MEDITECH has provided tools within each application as well as system level tables for both the NPR and M-AT platforms that help to identify table and column data.
Knowing which tables to use is one of the biggest challenges when writing DR reports. Understanding those tables, and the relationships between them is part of that challenge. Primary keys are a critical part of any database, but especially so in the DR, since they are the only definition we have for how to correctly and quickly get information.
As report writers and analysts, we sometimes have to ask: how do I go about optimizing data retrieval from the MEDITECH Data Repository? When is it appropriate to construct a data mart and what should I consider? Before we explore the answer, let's first, define a few terms (thanks to Technopedia and Wikipedia):
