Active Directory Reporting Options

The need to generate Active Directory based security and access reports is an essential IT need.

Unfortunately, Microsoft only provides very basic reporting tools with Windows Server and for many organizations these tools are usually insufficient. Most organizations thus need to take additional steps and evaluate options to fulfill their IT security audit and regulatory compliance reporting needs.

Today, organizations have two predominant Active Directory Reporting Options to select from –

1. Develop their own Active Directory reporting capabilities in-house – Have IT admins spend time and effort to build scripts using LDAP, Visual Basic, Microsoft Powershell etc. for IT reporting

2. License and use a dedicated 3rd party Active Directory reporting tool – License and provide IT admins an automated, dedicated and reliable (accurate, tested and trustworthy) reporting tool.

Summary of Active Directory Reporting Options

Each of these options has their own advantages and disadvantages, which are summarized below.

Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
Develop own Active Directory reporting capabilities in-house	Achieve nominal short-term IT cost savings	Requires substantial time/resources to build High risk of human-error resulting in inaccuracies Results in non-trivial IT maintenance overhead Difficult to generate complex reports (e.g. Last-Logon, Nested Group memberships) Very difficult to generate reliable (100% accurate) delegated (resultant) access reports
License a dedicated Active Directory reporting tool	Automated AD report-generation saves time Automation eliminates risk of human-error No need to maintain or test scripts and code Multiple IT personnel can generate reports Easily generate complex reports (e.g. Last-Logon) Instantly, effortlessly and reliably generate delegated (resultant) access reports	Involves nominal tool licensing costs

As seen above, contrary to popular belief, developing Active Directory reporting capabilities in-house turns out to be substantially more expensive, error-prone and hard to manage in the long run.

On the other hand, a trustworthy and dedicated Active Directory reporting tool can help IT personnel save substantial time and effort by automating the accurate generation of essential Active Directory reports.

However, care must be taken in selecting the right Active Directory reporting tool because while there are many Active Directory reporting tools available today, they can differ markedly not only in capability but also in essential qualities which are often overlooked, such as their trustworthiness.

When selecting a tool, it is helpful to consider Active Directory Reporting Tool Selection Guidelines.