<s>
A	O
report	B-General_Concept
generator	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
computer	O
program	O
whose	O
purpose	O
is	O
to	O
take	O
data	O
from	O
a	O
source	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
database	O
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
stream	O
or	O
a	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
,	O
and	O
use	O
it	O
to	O
produce	O
a	O
document	O
in	O
a	O
format	O
which	O
satisfies	O
a	O
particular	O
human	O
readership	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Report	O
generation	O
functionality	O
is	O
almost	O
always	O
present	O
in	O
database	B-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
where	O
the	O
source	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
the	O
database	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
argued	O
that	O
report	O
generation	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
purpose	O
of	O
a	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Standalone	O
report	B-General_Concept
generators	I-General_Concept
may	O
work	O
with	O
multiple	O
data	O
sources	O
and	O
export	O
reports	O
to	O
different	O
document	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
early	O
report	O
writer	O
was	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Nomad	B-Application
software	I-Application
which	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
1970s	O
and	O
had	O
its	O
widest	O
use	O
was	O
in	O
the	O
1970s	O
and	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
