Ah I see, quite the coincidence that as I was previously reading the Access API and its capabilities when you should mention this! Thank you for all the excellent points as well as references, as they will be quite useful! I think just for this first moodle project, I'll wrap it up with a block implementation, then move it on over to a report. Sure, one could say do it 'right' the first time, but I want to become relatively comfortable become diving into the sea of worms! Plus, it also helps that this block needs to be completed within one month. I will, however, use the permissions checking for the displaying of different graphs to different users of the system.
As for the addition of parent views, what type of user would they be? Would not they be recognized as a guest? As for as I have researched, guest roles are a no no, unless you are stating something that I am blundering about in my understanding!