Escaping Excel Hell - Management Reporting

If you have two choices of how to produce management reports, which would you prefer:

1. Into a web browser direct from the relevant system(s)?
2. Into Excel and manipulate before distribution?

Most people would choose option 1, as that avoids the need for manual manipulation, which takes time and may introduce errors.

But if you want to add commentary to a report, there needs to be the means to do it.

There will also be differences in the graphics available, and the overall ability to format the reports.

So the best direct reporting tools can be magnificent, otherwise is it Excel?

.