Reporting services deployment for external users?

Question

In most organizations, are external users (outside the organization) granted access to SSRS reports by going directly to Report Manager with limited permissions to view their reports only, for example, or do organizations more often create a separate dashboard website which pulls in the reports from SSRS?

I'm asking because currently I see a situation where there is a separate .NET site which pulls reports from SSRS, and I'm curious if this is a possibly unnecessary extra layer (the separate website), or do companies often create a separate dashboard site due to limitations(?) of SSRS Report Manager, or for security reasons? For example, could the Reporting Services Report Manager interface be customized to look like an organization's website reporting interface (with their logo, colors, etc), and not the standard out of the box Report Manager?

Answer 1

Do companies often create a separate dashboard site due to limitations(?) of SSRS Report Manager, or for security reasons?

Yes and no; it's going to depend a lot on the needs of the company. If Report Manager isn't doing what you need, then a custom solution is really the only option...

For example, could the Reporting Services Report Manager interface be customized to look like an organization's website reporting interface (with their logo, colors, etc), and not the standard out of the box Report Manager?

To a very limited degree, yes. You can modify the CSS sheets being used by SSRS, and inject some Javascript to apply some style hacks, but what you'll be able to accomplish is still quite limited. See here for getting started: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345247.aspx