Its hard to argue against a statement like "html is the best report format". HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the common currency of the web. There's lots of advantages to other output formats; almost everyone has a web browser - so potentially everyone can read the report (without needing activex installs) - well written html can be used for data imports - it can be easily emailed, converted to pdf or just communicated via its URL address.

Many people don't realise how easy it is to host a website within a company context - i.e. a intranet. Even if your OS doesn't have a pre-installed IIS - there are plenty of excellent web-hosts that can be dowloaded for free.  Where needed Ulysses Software will enlist you use of trusted and proven networking specialists to ensure external access to your intranet is controlled and secure, firewall or VPN or both.  When you're in this position - all the advantages of your intranet may be realised in the internet context - i.e. anywhere in the world!
Here is one web model Ulysses Software can use to generate web-based reports. These reports offer the ability to "drill-down" on the report data by embedding further report links into the report data.   This approach also allows offline viewing using xml data islands and PDF output format, or scaled for use on PDA's using alternative xsl transformation files