A flexible metadata driven and workflow based report generation system is disclosed. The system comprises a Flexible Reporting GUI with four components that allow the user direct control in the creation of a report within a single application: a Data Generator for retrieving data, a Report Designer with a built-in report designer application, a Report Deployment element for deploying the report and an Report Run element for interactively running the report. The Flexible Reporting GUI allows a user to run a report with updated data stores, and to define the various parameters that affect the content of the generated report with great flexibility. Through the system of the invention, the user can be directly involved in all the report generation steps, through a user friendly interface, and a simplified environment. Moreover, the system in the invention provides improved solutions for updated data retrieval from protected data sources.