I use Crystal in a number of ways: 1. I answer a lot of questions about Crystal in online forums - the SAP Community forums as well as a few others. 2. I train our clients in how to use Crystal, not only the standard SAP classes, but also one I've created that walks through the most-asked questions from the forums and what their solutions are. 3. I personally use Crystal for a number of different tasks, including analyzing data when I do security reviews of clients' SAP BI Platform and SAP Crystal Reports Server systems.,In addition to linking together tables and views from the database in order to get data into your report, Crystal allows you to write your own SQL queries using an "Command". This feature allows for the use of very complex queries to get data for your reports. Crystal can connect to MANY different types of databases. It has native connections available for a number of them, including Oracle, and will connect to almost anything else using either ODBC or (less common) JDBC. Subreports, when used correctly, are a powerful feature for bringing additional data into a report. There are SDK's available to integrate reporting into either .NET or Java applications and websites.,The option to export to Excel is very picky about report format to get a clean export. Once you know the tricks for setting up a report for this export, it's not hard to do, but it can be very tedious if the report has a lot of elements. This is the way it's been for years and SAP has indicated that it's not something that's going to be changed. Crystal requires that a user knows how the data they're reporting on is configured in the database - it's not really suited for a "casual" user, but for someone with at least some technical skills in relation to databases. This is not something that can or should necessarily be changed, but it is something that potential users need to be aware of. Other than new types of database connections, SAP has indicated that they will not be upgrading any functionality in "classic" Crystal. They instead have chosen to focus on upgrades to Crystal for Enterprise. The problem with that is that it requires the SAP BI Platform - either SAP BusinessObjects or SAP Crystal Reports Server. One of the major things that's not being upgraded is the Charting libraries, which were last updated in the early 2000's, before SAP purchased Crystal. So, Crystal doesn't have newer chart types available.,10,,9,5,SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform, Microsoft SQL Server,Yes,3,No,Since I answer questions on the forums, there have been very few times when I've had to ask for support over the last 15 years. When I have, there are awesome people, a couple from SAP, on the forums who have been able to assist with the more complicated problems that I come up with.,Commands for providing your own SQL query for a report The formula editor is easy to use and has functionality to validate formulas before they're saved. Adding groups and summaries to reports Subreports - they work just like the main report other than you cannot embed a subreport inside another subreport.,Charting/graphing Configuring reports for Excel export Adding data sources for a report unless you explicitly have knowledge of the underlying database and you know how to use different join types.,No,8

SAP Crystal Reviews

Score 7.8 out of 10

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October 16, 2018

User Review: "Long-time User of SAP Crystal Reports"

Dell Stinnett-Christy

Senior Manager, Data & Analytics Practice

ProtivitiManagement Consulting, 1001-5000 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros and Cons

In addition to linking together tables and views from the database in order to get data into your report, Crystal allows you to write your own SQL queries using an "Command". This feature allows for the use of very complex queries to get data for your reports.
Crystal can connect to MANY different types of databases. It has native connections available for a number of them, including Oracle, and will connect to almost anything else using either ODBC or (less common) JDBC.
Subreports, when used correctly, are a powerful feature for bringing additional data into a report.
There are SDK's available to integrate reporting into either .NET or Java applications and websites.

The option to export to Excel is very picky about report format to get a clean export. Once you know the tricks for setting up a report for this export, it's not hard to do, but it can be very tedious if the report has a lot of elements. This is the way it's been for years and SAP has indicated that it's not something that's going to be changed.
Crystal requires that a user knows how the data they're reporting on is configured in the database - it's not really suited for a "casual" user, but for someone with at least some technical skills in relation to databases. This is not something that can or should necessarily be changed, but it is something that potential users need to be aware of.
Other than new types of database connections, SAP has indicated that they will not be upgrading any functionality in "classic" Crystal. They instead have chosen to focus on upgrades to Crystal for Enterprise. The problem with that is that it requires the SAP BI Platform - either SAP BusinessObjects or SAP Crystal Reports Server.
One of the major things that's not being upgraded is the Charting libraries, which were last updated in the early 2000's, before SAP purchased Crystal. So, Crystal doesn't have newer chart types available.

Likelihood to Recommend

I'm biased because I've used Crystal for so long and there's very little that I've needed to do that I haven't been able to do with it.

I particularly like being able to write my own queries instead of having Crystal write them for me. With this feature, I've been able to do some very complex reports this way. I could have done most of these reports by linking tables together in Crystal and using Crystal's filter and suppression features, but putting the logic in the query means that Crystal is processing less data so the report is faster.

Crystal is less suited for showing graphs, unless you just need very simple line or bar graphs. It's also not really suited to doing ad-hoc reporting for most users because it is more technical than some other reporting tools.

Read Dell Stinnett-Christy's full review

December 07, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Dynamic and Interactive Reports - a powerful tool"

Jitu Mani Das

Information Security Manager

SPXFLOWMachinery, 10,001+ employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Crystal resolves or empowers our BI platform. Currently it is used globally across our organization. SAP Crystal allows us to create report designs with charts and graphs using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex and SAP Crystal Dashboard Design data visualizations which makes things easier for us.

Pros and Cons

Conditional box formatting, data export to multiple formats, right-to-left text formatting, vertical text alignment and parameter description display.
Easy to adjust if we want a report to be changed.

Structure and commands part is difficult to use. Coding is must if we wanted to be through with it.
Look forward to a scheduler, so that manual effort would be less while generating reports.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited: For small and medium organization it's good. Even we as a global customer found it useful.
Less Appropriate: Exporting of the data into any Excel format. It seems to not carry over the same formats that we've already set in Crystal Reports. Smaller cons are things like maybe being able to filter the same data selection in more than one way or maybe also offering a "Contains" option.

Read Jitu Mani Das's full review

July 31, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports is a great reporting tool"

Janet Fawcett

Business Systems Analyst

Weldon, Williams & LickPrinting, 201-500 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Crystal Reports across our whole organization. We first were introduced to Crystal when we implemented our ERP system, EFI Monarch, because they had designed a report library of reports they had written for their ERP system using Crystal Reports. Their report library allowed us to create our own Crystal Reports and add them to the library. I love Crystal Reports. It saves us so much time when specific information is requested across our many databases (DB2, SQL, Progress, Excel spreadsheets, XML data, Lotus Notes databases, etc). I haven't found any database that wasn't compatible with Crystal Reports.

Pros and Cons

It allows you to connect to virtually any data source. I have used it to write reports using data from DB2, SQL, Progress, Excel spreadsheets, XML data, Access, and Lotus Notes databases. You can also join different database types together in one report.
The drag and drop layout makes it easy to design your report and easy to select data fields to add to your report.
When creating a report the Standard Report Creation Wizard walks you through each step needed to create the report and will layout the report for you.
There is a wealth of online answers if you have a question about how to do something specific in Crystal Reports.

It would be nice if there was a way to search your .rpt files for a specific field or table using a normal search engine. There are secondary tools available for purchase but it would be nice if there were a way to do this without additional purchase.
When I first started using Crystal Reports the learning curve was steep. That being said I had never used a reporting tool before. I think if you are familiar with reporting tools the learning curve would not be as steep.
If you do happen to get an error message they are sometimes very cryptic and require internet searches to figure out what exactly is wrong.

Likelihood to Recommend

I have recommended Crystal Reports many times to colleagues. It works well with any database structure I've written reports against. I have done a few charts with Crystal and they look amazing. I think the only problem many have with it is the learning curve but that can be overcome with a few online tutorials. There is a wealth of information on the internet. Most colleagues have grown to love Crystal Reports.

Read Janet Fawcett's full review

November 19, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Old Reliable, as in 'Works great but showing its age'"

Damien Dolan

Business Analyst Developer

SilberlineChemicals, 501-1000 employees

Score 6 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use SAP Crystal reports to create reports. Our ERP did not come with built in reports so we had to create all our reports, for the company from scratch. This is used company wide from production to finance. It addresses the main concern of getting information from our ERP into a manageable, readable format that users can use to disseminate information

Pros and Cons

Reliable software
Constant support
Def not going anywhere

Its interface, while it's a workhorse, is not going to win any beauty pageants
Adding graphics and charts to a report feels cumbersome and VERY antiquated
It shows its age sometimes

Likelihood to Recommend

If you want reliable software this is your move. It's a workhorse that can handle heavy workloads and is very stable. The only bugs it ever has is because it's on a Citrix server. Very dependable and has pretty good support. Where SAP Crystal may not be suited is if you want chart/graphic heavy reports. SAP Crystal is better suited for text/number reporting.

Read Damien Dolan's full review

July 19, 2018

Review: "SAP Crystal, one deep and complex reporting tool for your business!"

Victor Arana

IT Manager

Stoneleaf Construction LLCConstruction, 51-200 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use Sap Crystal Report for Sage 300 CRE to set and develop a custom report for the accounting team, headboard members and for the estimating team to achieve the insights of our business progress from the financial basis to the operating level. We have been working with this software for almost 5 years and from my personal perspective, it has a wide toolset to manage, deliver, be more collaborative with your team and set complex reports and feed BI dashboards.

Pros and Cons

The integration using the connection as ODBC, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, etc.
Price is relatively inexpensive compared to other tools on the market.
Create complicated reports with the ability to adjust display and format to the level of detail that only financial experts can easily manage and get the most of those reports.

Not intuitive – takes a skilled developer to write a complex report, so be aware to manage several consults or even the basic structure of financial report development.
Microsoft Updates, .NET updates my cause crashes in the reporting services so many times and it takes days to correct the issues, that you have to read carefully before you apply updates this can turn things against you.
The learning curve is considerable small, but if you don't know SQL and understand the basics of relational databases you'll have to dig into a proper training that is fair to manage a large range reporting tool.

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP Crystal Report is well suited for those companies that posses ERP systems based on SAP, if you're willing to learn how to use the tool and set goals to master the reporting features this is the right tool for you and your company. You can develop and deliver amazing results with the reports. However, if you're looking for an intuitive tool that allows you to set up fast track to achieving decent reports with integration capability try to use BI tools that allow you to use a cross-reference from diverse sources.

Read Victor Arana's full review

July 17, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "It does a lot, but it can take a long time to do it"

Darian Rawson

Senior Designer

Eview 360Design, 11-50 employees

Score 6 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Crystal Reports to generate reports in the form of PDFs and also online reports of usage of our products, along with generating invoices, quotes, packing lists, and other terms and conditions agreements with our sales and support of our order fulfillment processing. We use this product across a range of multiple sites and products.

Pros and Cons

Detailed invoices calculating shipping, installation and delivery
A central point for developers to generate templates for end users
Flexible range of output

The way you design templates is kind of hodge podge
Unpredictable output from time to time
A bit confusing for non-technical people, requires a lot of trial and error

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP Crystal Reports is well suited for a long term ROI when you can afford to implement a lot of time on the back end setting up criteria for reporting to benefit over the long term, meaning the next 12-36 months. It can take considerable time to implement on the back end so I wouldn't suggest this for small agile teams or products.

Read Darian Rawson's full review

July 17, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports is not for casual users, but provides an excellent tool for professional report design."

Greg Goss

SQL Database and Business Intelligence Manager

Ten CateTextiles, 1001-5000 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Crystal throughout our organization. Our ERP system serves up Crystal Reports for both analytical and operational reporting. We store our Crystal Reports in an SAP Business Objects repository which is called via Open Document. Users generally aren't savvy enough to generate their own Crystal Reports content, but consume it on a daily basis.

Pros and Cons

Crystal is very good at presenting the data exactly how you want it. There is a robust set of options for formatting and presentation.
It can connect to a wide variety of data sources. We primarily use SQL sources. As a DBA, I generally prefer to have Crystal access views rather than people writing direct queries, but the option is there to do both.
There are lots of options for data manipulation once the data set is in Crystal. For example, if you pull some raw data out of a sales table, there are a great many ways to calculate, manipulate, and transform the data into whatever you need.

The learning curve in creating content in Crystal Reports can be steep. This is not a tool that I feel should be wielded by casual users.
Crystal isn't great anymore for ad-hoc reporting. At one point in my career, I used Crystal for ad-hoc reporting, but with the advent of web-based and visual reporting tools that can be wielded by the general user population, I wouldn't even think of going to Crystal for one-off type reports.
Crystal Reports doesn't have its own scheduling component. So you'll need to either code up or buy a separate solution for report distribution.

Likelihood to Recommend

Crystal is great for generating reports intended to be routinely delivered for operational or analytical purposes. I prefer to avoid Crystal for ad-hoc and one-off report scenarios. Also, if I need a simple report, I'd generally steer users towards a visualization type reporting system...but for well formatted, professional reports, Crystal is still one of the best options.

Read Greg Goss's full review

June 22, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports, still best at what it does"

Ken Hamady

Owner / Consultant

Ken Hamady, LLCInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am a one man shop and I use Crystal Reports to manage many areas of my business.

I have reports that:

Track activity for new prospective customers
Analyze sales quantities and revenue over time
Highlight errors in data entry
Generate invoices
Track receivables
Provide historical analysis of products used for blog articles
Automate follow-up for newsletter subscribers

Pros and Cons

Crystal allows you to connect to virtually any type of data that is available.
Crystal Reports has a rich ecosystem of third party products that extend its capabilities. My site lists dozens of tools that provide viewing, scheduling and managing reports, along with formula UFLs that can let your report interact with your operating system and other applications and services.
Crystal, especially the more recent versions, let you create virtually any desired layout with the ability to locate objects anywhere and move them based on conditions in the data.
Crystal uses the classic "recurring bands" structure for page layout. I find this efficient and very flexible for generating different types of reports.
Crystal doesn't require that you set up a meta data layer before creating reports. It gives you direct access to your tables and fields.
The interface in Crystal Reports, while sophisticated, is still primarily designed for end users rather than a programmers.

Many of us would like to see the RPT Format stored in something open (like XML) rather than in a closed and proprietary format. It would be great for users, but probably not a realistic business decision.
The charting engine is functional but has been left behind by some of the visualization tools out there. Of course, these visualization tools often can't create classic reports
Page layout doesn't include the ability to add a structured table object. Tables have to be created with lines and boxes.

Likelihood to Recommend

Having done little else for the past 20 years I may not be the most impartial judge. But I have found that Crystal is well suited to almost any type of report including simple listings, classic summary reports, pro forma financial statements, multi-section narrative reports and reports designed to simply dump the results of a query into a spreadsheet.

Read Ken Hamady's full review

October 15, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Power hidden"

Rodolfo Pinera

SAP Business Objects and BI Consultant

Independiente / FreelanceInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm a Business Consultant. I give training of "Crystal Reports." I think this is a very robust application. It has a particular form of work that you need to understand in order to obtain good results. I would like them to improve the different types of graphs. Easy access to help, with samples of functionality. For a programmer of reports in "Crystal Reports," you need good training and to know something of database terms.

Pros and Cons

Easy to create reports
Combined with SAP BO security you can access different users with different roles
Can add easily any comments about your data. Even I think I can use CR for generating infographics

I recently only use CR for training

Likelihood to Recommend

CR is good for reporting, but I think is not appropriate for creating Dashboards for example.

Read Rodolfo Pinera's full review

October 08, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports is an excellent tool for pulling and reporting data"

valentine leamy

IT Technician

Innovative Corporate SolutionsInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I like that Crystal is able to customize the different reports we generate daily and multiple users can view them in our organization; it's being used mostly by the customer service department to create monthly reports for the entire organization. This software corrects many problems in how we collect and format data with the various options, and once you are trained it's actually easy to use.

Pros and Cons

It is compatible with the most popular database administrators, MYSQL, SQLSERVER, POSTGRESQL. and more
SAP Crystal Reports allow for multi-level, in depth reports to be developed efficiently and effective using large scale databases.

Sharp learning curve, especially if you don't know SQL and understand the basics of relational databases.
Beyond the simple reports, it will require some level of training. Support normally isn't free but you should be able to find samples and help on the internet.
Updates can cause delays and can have impact on delivery of the product, hence leave it to update off hours or when not in use

Likelihood to Recommend

Easy to use. It did take a bit of a tutorial and some playing around but once you understand how it works, it becomes much simpler. I use this software to analyze and create financial related reports which drive statistical metrics.

Read valentine leamy's full review

October 05, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Getting great results from your data with Crystal Reports"

Tom Fragale

Sr. Consultant and Sr. Corporate Trainer

The PC Guy Consulting, INCInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I like Crystal Reports because it has the ability to pull data from many sources into 1 report. For example, I pull data in from Excel, text files, Access databases, and SQL databases, and Crystal can use all of those and many other data sources, and pull them all into 1 report. It follows the relational database model, so the tables can be linked together on common fields, even when they are from different data sources. It allows you to make totals, running totals, charts, grand totals, and your own calculations. It has many built-in functions. I like the ease of use, and how you can get results pretty quickly, and yet it can handle large amounts of data.

Pros and Cons

Gathering data from many sources
Linking tables together on common fields
Subtotals, running totals, calculations, grand totals
Charts
Filters, sorts

It needs to bring in more data types, and newer data types. For example, it can use XLS Excel files, but not XLSX Excel files.
More chart types.

Likelihood to Recommend

Ease of use
Flexibility
Power

Read Tom Fragale's full review

August 16, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Really professional and compatible reports everywhere."

Erue Dfut

IT Consultant

San Francisco City CollegeEducation Management, 51-200 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

This is the traditional reporting tool that is used in many financial organizations. I have used SAP Crystal Reports 12 in my organization. We can design highly formatted reports using this tool. It can connect to multiple data sources such as ODBC, OLE DB etc. We can create reports with different formats such as pdf, csv, txt, xls, etc. We can also create html, xml reports. The price of this tool is also cheap. We can create detailed graphics, instrument panels.

Pros and Cons

There are some written exercises based on SAP Crystal Report that facilitate learning.
The integration with the different IDE of development are optimized
It is compatible with the most popular database administrators, MYSQL, SQLSERVER, POSTGRESQL. and more...
The designer of Crystal is fantastic, drag and drop add-ons to create your report.

I had a lot of problems and spent a lot of time trying to adjust the space between the rows. I hope that in the future, SAP Crystal Report will make it easier.
Should block the sizes of pre-established and blocked sheets to avoid leaving the margins.

Likelihood to Recommend

Crystal Report is ideal for designing professional and complex reports for operational or analytical purposes, but when it comes to simple applications Crystal seems to be too much. Also, if I need a simple report, I usually direct users to a visualization type reporting system ... but for well formatted professional reports, Crystal is still one of the best options.

Read Erue Dfut's full review

December 05, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Takes a bit of time to get there, but it come up with the desired reports."

Carlos Daniel Casañas Bertolo ஃ

Director

Leverage - Advisory & ConsultancyComputer & Network Security, 1001-5000 employees

Score 6 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The financial department is the one that benefits the most, thanks to SAP Crystal's flexibility and capacity for multiple data sources. We also use it for data modeling.

Pros and Cons

It's report features, various charts, user friendliness, ease of use, pricing... You will love it.
I like that Crystal reports have very strong capabilities, like sorting of data. You are also able to retrieve most of your company's data for analysis using the tool.
Another awesome thing about Crystal reports is that the process of creating reports is easy once you get used to the mechanisms of the tool. For example, once you pull a certain aspect of a specific set of data, you can reuse it and only change a variable according to your new needs.

Though the initial purchase of SAP Crystal can be quite affordable, the tool gets expensive when you need to buy the server which is quite costly but essential for scheduled notifications and other benefits.
It's not easy to learn if you only want to design a form. This is truly a developer's tool, or at least, a designer's tool. Not for your average user.
When using SAP Crystal reporting, in the beginning, the process of formatting and converting the data to a different output was difficult. But, since it has been updated it's easier to use.
I had a lot of problems and spent a lot of time trying to adjust the space between the rows. I hope that in the future, SAP Crystal will make it easier.

Likelihood to Recommend

This is the traditional reporting tool that is used in many financial organizations. SAP Crystal Reports allows for multi-level, in depth reports to be developed efficiently and effective using large scale databases. The tool allows easy customization when making reports for an entire database that is constantly changing.We can design highly formatted reports using this tool. It can connect to multiple data sources. We can create reports with different formats. We can create detailed graphics and instrument panels.

Read Carlos Daniel Casañas Bertolo ஃ's full review

July 31, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reporting in a Manufacturing/Production Environment"

Matt Tobin

Print Estimator

Southern Colour PrintPrinting, 11-50 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm the only user of Crystal Reports in our organization. We use it primarily for production-related reporting from our MIS (via SQL), but it also has heavy use as a business analysis tool. We are able to quickly identify business trends and sales goals.

Pros and Cons

The interface is easy to learn and understand, with clear iconography and unambiguous tool names.
It's easy to connect data from many different sources at once.
The help section is actually helpful (!) and easy to navigate to find the answers quickly.

A more powerful search function for where formulas and fields are used in the report, such as being able to see at a glance every instance of {@formula}, be it selection criteria, other formulas or location in the report body.
Keyboard shortcuts, such as T or Ctrl+T for inserting a text box, S or Ctrl+Shift+S for select expert, etc.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited to any integration with MIS in a production or sales environment, especially where quick analysis of bulk data is required.

Read Matt Tobin's full review

July 21, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "SAP report benefits over other software"

RANDHIR KUMAR

UI Designer

ANS CommerceInternet, 11-50 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Reports can be made easily by Crystal Reports according to your purpose and imagination. With the help of WYSIWYG you can design your own template of reports. Crystal Reports delivers design dynamic reports that can be linked to almost any data source. It can be connected to any databases for operation reporting. SAP Crystal Reports easily offers flexibility and adaptability.

Pros and Cons

Reports can be very specific and highly formatted. It has an intense amount of format options and other ways to present your view and data.
Very powerful. Very competent.
It allows us to create exactly what is needed to support our operations. Crystal Reports allows us to do anything where more user-friendly software fails.

Crystal Reports takes a great degree of skill, experience to use it. New users should learn first how to use it. An expert's tool.
There are a lot of updates, versions and a number of features and it is hard to keep track of new updates.
You need to purchase new feature as you want and you'll realize that you're spending more than you thought.

Likelihood to Recommend

Organizing reports and sharing with colleague are very easy with Crystal reports. Rich with features as a user wants. The best part is WYSIWYG with which you can design your own template for reports. Reports can be very specific and highly formatted. It offers multi-language support in English, French, German, Japanese etc. Support system of Crystal Reports is also good and provided through any medium like online forum, email and phone.

Read RANDHIR KUMAR's full review

July 19, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Not the Cadillac, but still Very Nice."

Dan Sarauer

IS Department Manager

Eau Claire Press CompanyPublishing, 201-500 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are currently using SAP Crystal Reports as our main report building engine for our CRM system. I have not integrated it into other systems yet as we have not needed the metrics available through Crystal Reports. The main business needs that this software serves is it allows users that are not well versed with SQL to understand the data and build a report to show what information they have a vested interest in.

Pros and Cons

The UI is done very well and easy to grasp for not tech people.
The available charting functions are easy to configure.

Some aspects of building a report are not very intuitive. I don't have a specific example off-hand, but I know when I first started with the software I was using Google and user forums a lot to figure things out.
When the platform changed the infrastructure of the reports making backward compatibility a problem it put stress on us to upgrade to meet supported versions with a vendor.

Likelihood to Recommend

The platform really excels at delivering information in a summary format. The part I feel that is lacking is where you really want detailed information, but aren't en expert at data manipulation or sequel statements. I feel that this causes issues for some of my users when they want to modify or change a report, but aren't well versed in these other technologies.

Read Dan Sarauer's full review

July 19, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports presents data in a crystal-clear way!"

John Suit

System Administrator

North South Supply IncWholesale, 11-50 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Crystal Reports is used by the IT Director and System Administrator to create and present customized reports to Managers, End users, and customers. We utilize Prophet 21 software for managing our wholesale distribution (and counter sales) business, and Crystal Reports allows us to modify customer forms and internal reports as needed to present information concisely and correctly!

Pros and Cons

Allows us to generate custom formulas to present complex data in an accurate format.
Provides a comprehensive means to modify font types, sizes, and formats to present to internal and external customers.
Allows us to present data from multiple SQL database tables and views, and allows us to customize formulas if data is not stored in the SQL database.
Formatting of fields and text boxes allows consistency among sections.

Would like even more flexibility in exporting reports to Excel, although I understand Microsoft has some control over this.
Still difficult sometimes to line up boxes/fields vertically across multiple report sections.
Drawing lines sometimes present issues when spanning multiple sections.

Likelihood to Recommend

Perfect when using SQL Server databases, or when integrating SQL databases and MS Access databases in the same report. I also recommend Crystal Reports for generating forms for clients and end users, as the use of parameters and data-specific conditional formatting (show/hide fields, etcetera) allows us to design one 'report' for multiple uses!

Read John Suit's full review

July 17, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Crystal Reports is the future"

Brian Arsenault

Data Analyst

SouthWest DirectPrinting, 51-200 employees

Score 10 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Crystal Reports is being used by our organization primarily for medical billing statements. It is being used by the whole organization. Crystal Reports generates print files faster than any other program we have tried. It also has a great deal of functionality with regards to formatting and conditional output.

Pros and Cons

Crystal Reports is very easy for any user to use.
It compiles data very quickly.

It would be helpful if Crystal Reports could output text flowing up instead of down.

Likelihood to Recommend

Crystal Reports is well suited because it can output iteration lines. It can output any number of lines, and can even flow to other pages. We also use it to change the font size on longer lines of data. This is important when you have a limited space to work with.

Read Brian Arsenault's full review

June 26, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Simple and practical in its general use"

Fabio da Silva

Consultor de serviços

UNIMESTRE Sistema de Gestão EducacionalInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I work with educational institutions across the country and Crystal Reports is a tool that enables me to deliver relevant information to my partners as well as important financial data through simple visualization charts and reports, facilitating the decision-making process of managers and directors. For me, Crystal Reports is important because it is an easy tool to create reports to monitor indicators of each department in companies.

Pros and Cons

It enables the creation of reports through a simplified and useful visual interface. During the creation of the reports you can already have a view of what is being set up.
Ease of reporting, with the possibility of using data of various types of connections to the most varied types of databases.
It supports large amount of data, processing them efficiently and quickly.
Its formulas can be easily created, with a language based on SQL its use is very simple.
It has a good help menu with many examples to use its formulas, which is very useful in several moments of its use and also facilitates its learning.

The use for graphing sometimes is not simple, since the data type often needs to be very standardized to be accepted in the use of graphics.
Information on solving more complex problems is more difficult to find among the community of users who use the program.
The lack of local training can make it difficult to learn advanced items, even though their use is simplified in general.

Likelihood to Recommend

Their use may be best suited for financial data presentation as well as data listings. Its more advanced usage is dependent on SQL understanding, so people without this affinity may have their experience impaired.

Read Fabio da Silva's full review

September 07, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Make your reports stand out"

Matthew Dempsey

Especialista en ventas y marketing

Parques ReunidosLeisure, Travel & Tourism, 10,001+ employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it across the whole organization for generating reports on prospective financial investment opportunities and also for collecting data from various vendors and sources. It's really helped in managing these sources and feeding them into one place saving us a lot of time and effort.

Pros and Cons

Customization for reports
Allows multiple users to feed and draw data
Flexibility

Expensive
Hard to setup

Likelihood to Recommend

On the one hand, Crystal Reports is the program I go to when I need reports that are very specific and highly formatted. Crystal has an almost intense amount of formatting options and ways to present data. On the other hand, while Crystal lets me do what I need to do, it takes a great degree of skill, experience, and possibly a degree in anger management to use it. This is never going to be something you can give to your average user and expect them to be able to do anything. This is an expert's tool.

Read Matthew Dempsey's full review

August 17, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Feedback about Crystal"

Vivian Pereira

Manager, Enterprise Reporting

Perrigo Company plcPharmaceuticals, 10,001+ employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Crystal is used for SOX reporting. Client as well as Web via BOBJ. It also acts like self service reporting tool. Its used in IT and business

Pros and Cons

Very formatted reporting.
Self service querying tool on SAP
Governed SOX reporting

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP is easy to use with SAP ECC/Data. Its also easy to use with SQL. For more governed self-service i would prefer Lumira over Crystal.

Read Vivian Pereira's full review

August 16, 2018

User Review: "SAP Crystal: still a winner"

Vamsi Krishna Chitluri

Analytics SME

COMERITInformation Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Used across the organization for writing some pixel-perfect report. It helps on floor where users does not have continuously access to intranet so they user printed reports.

Pros and Cons

Connects to a variety of data sources easily
Stable product & strong user community for help
Pixel-perfect reporting at its best

Still two similar client tools causes some confusion to super users
Some form of ad-hoc reporting features would help
UI is little aged so better make it contemporary

Likelihood to Recommend

It is for repetitive reporting but not to wow management so some catchup needs to be done for UI richness.

Read Vamsi Krishna Chitluri's full review

July 31, 2018

SAP Crystal Review: "Flexible and Easy to Learn"

Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 5001-10,000 employees

Score 8 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used to provide many staff members access to run shared Crystal reports that were created by 1-2 report developers, but Crystal no longer connects directly to our Oracle/PeopleSoft database. Thus, our 1-2 report developers still use Crystal for established reporting projects and new one-off projects, but the "public" reports are no longer possible for our staff to run.

Pros and Cons

Crystal is very flexible. If you have a unique formatting need for a report, it will be easier to implement with Crystal than most other tools.
Creating run prompts in Crystal is a more straightforward process than in most other tools I've used.
You don't need to build queries within Crystal while creating a report. That process has confused me when other tools require it.

Creating a loop with Crystal is more difficult than I would like.
In the design template pane in Crystal, you sometimes need to cram objects tightly together to get the report appearance you want. It's hard to see/work with these objects later.
Crystal no longer connects directly to Oracle/PeopleSoft databases, which is our enterprise system.

Likelihood to Recommend

Generally, Crystal is a very flexible reporting tool that can handle any report format you need to create. There's a very mild learning curve for creating things like calculated fields and run prompts. Reports can easily be run to Microsoft Word, Excel, PDF and other options. Crystal can be directly connected to some (but not all) enterprise system databases so report builders can use an existing query or the database tables and fields themselves to drive a report.

Read this authenticated review

November 21, 2018

Review: "SAP Crystal, another competent vendor in the BI space, has deep integration."

Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 5001-10,000 employees

Score 6 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Crystal is in use by different departments in our enterprise. The primary users are the financial dept and other folks who need custom reports created and ran no matter which department they are in. It is bundled with our ERP solution and helps to provide additional reporting capabilities that SSRS may not be able to.

Pros and Cons

Deep integration with our ERP solution which provides the ability for the customers to create their own individualized reports.
The central management console provides a single place to create, import, modify, etc reports.
Integration with SQL server that allows for comparison to SSRS reports.

Complex and involved installation provides a lot of custom features but is not the easiest software to implement.
Enterprise product which includes enterprise sized licensing costs.
Integration with the ERP can be simple or as complex as you make it, all depends on the requirements.

Likelihood to Recommend

Given the choice between SSRS and Crystal reports, we see SSRS used more often. I believe this has to do with how it ties in with our ERP solution and how SSRS has a bigger user base. More people are familiar with SSRS but those who are skilled in Crystal Reports are valuable. Out-of-the-box solutions provided by Crystal tend to adequate for most our users needs.

Read this authenticated review

August 22, 2018

Review: "SAP Crystal Reports and Crystal Reports Server"

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 501-1000 employees

Score 7 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Crystal Server software enables self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration within a secure BI infrastructure that’s quick to deploy. It was used by my department.

Pros and Cons

It requires a developer skilled in Crystal Reports’ proprietary language, but one of CR most touted benefits is its flexible, customizable report design.
Using CR, a developer can create highly formatted, pixel-perfect reports in nearly any layout desired and in up to 24 different languages.

Like other major business intelligence vendors, SAP typically buys technology instead of innovating it. As a result, a number of interfaces must be used to leverage CR, including a report designer and a dashboard designer.
Security is built into the report itself, so when you need a report for two different audiences, the developer must modify the security settings for each report- in effect duplicating the report for each person.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's licensing model is confusing. There are a lot of product SKUs, many versions and a number of features. For example, you license the server, but then you need to get user licenses on the server, then there are add-ons. You need mobile user licenses for the server, plus you must license a designer tool to build reports and license a designer tool to build dashboards. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but as you can tell, you’re spending much more than the initial cost.

Read this authenticated review

BI Standard Reporting

Pixel Perfect reports (90)

8.0

Customizable dashboards (78)

7.6

Report Formatting Templates (95)

8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Drill-down analysis (99)

7.7

Formatting capabilities (112)

8.4

Integration with R or other statistical packages (51)

7.1

Report sharing and collaboration (97)

7.8

Report Output and Scheduling

Publish to Web (72)

8.0

Publish to PDF (110)

8.7

Report Versioning (73)

7.8

Report Delivery Scheduling (77)

8.3

Delivery to Remote Servers (32)

8.3

Data Discovery and Visualization

Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.) (52)

7.5

Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization (61)

7.3

Predictive Analytics (43)

7.7

Access Control and Security

Multi-User Support (named login) (64)

7.9

Role-Based Security Model (64)

7.6

Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete) (63)

7.7

Single Sign-On (SSO) (23)

7.7

Mobile Capabilities

Responsive Design for Web Access (45)

7.5

Dedicated iOS Application (31)

7.4

Dedicated Android Application (28)

7.5

Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile (41)

7.4

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

REST API (8)

7.5

Javascript API (19)

7.7

iFrames (8)

7.0

Java API (20)

8.0

Themeable User Interface (UI) (23)

7.3

Customizable Platform (Open Source) (19)

7.1

About SAP Crystal

SAP Crystal Reports and SAP Crystal Server are designed to help users create pixel-perfect, richly formatted, and dynamic reports from virtually any data source – delivered in dozens of export formats, in up to 24 languages. According to the vendor SAP Crystal Reports is a robust production reporting tool, that turns almost any data source into interactive, actionable information that can be accessed offline or online, from applications, portals and mobile devices. SAP Crystal Server enables self-service access to reports, dashboards, and data exploration within a secure infrastructure.

Categories:

SAP Crystal Features

BI Platform Features

Administration via Windows App

Administration via MacOS App

Administration via Web Interface

Live Connection to External Data

Snapshot of External Data

In-memory data model

OLAP (Pre-processed cube representation)

ROLAP (SQL-layer querying)

Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)

Data warehouse / dictionary layer

ETL Capability

ETL Scheduler

Supported Data Sources Features

MS Excel Workbooks

Text Files (CSV, etc)

Oracle

MS SQL Server

IBM DB2

Postgres

MySQL

ODBC

Cloudera Hadoop

Hortonworks Hadoop

EMC Greenplum

IBM Netezza

HP Vertica

ParAccel

SAP Hana

Teradata

Sage 500

Salesforce

SAP

Google Analytics

BI Standard Reporting Features

Pixel Perfect reports

Customizable dashboards

Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

Drill-down analysis

Formatting capabilities

Predictive modeling

Integration with R or other statistical packages

Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

Publish to Web

Publish to PDF

Output Raw Supporting Data

Report Versioning

Report Delivery Scheduling

Delivery to Remote Servers

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)

Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization

Predictive Analytics

Support for Machine Learning models

Pattern Recognition and Data Mining

Integration with R or other statistical packages

Access Control and Security Features

Multi-User Support (named login)

Role-Based Security Model

Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)

Report-Level Access Control

Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)

Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Mobile Capabilities Features

Responsive Design for Web Access

Dedicated iOS Application

Dedicated Android Application

Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding Features

REST API

Javascript API

iFrames

Java API

Themeable User Interface (UI)

Customizable Platform (Open Source)

Additional Features

Powerful options to deliver key insights and a clearer picture of the business to decision makers

Broader connectivity to diverse data sources to provide real-time operational reports that empower employees to make day-to-day business decisions

Flexible, customizable report design to give customers and partners the information they need in the reporting format of their choice

Show unsupported features

SAP Crystal Screenshots

SAP Crystal Videos (4)

SAP Crystal Downloadables

SAP Crystal Integrations

SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio, SAP Crystal Reports for Eclipse

SAP Crystal Competitors

Analyza, Windward Reporting and Document Generation Solution, TIBCO Jaspersoft, Jet Reports

Pricing

Free Trial Available?Yes

Free or Freemium Version Available?Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services Available?Yes

Entry-level set up fee?Optional

Edition	Pricing Details	Terms
SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - Full version	$495	per user
SAP Crystal Server 2016 1 NUL	$869	per named user
SAP Crystal Server 2016 5 CAL	$8,744	per 5 concurrent users
SAP Crystal Reports Viewer 2016	$0	per user
SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - Upgrade	$295	per user

* SAP Crystal Reports 2016 Viewer allows you to view static data within a SAP Crystal Reports file. * SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - Full version allows you to create powerful, richly formatted, and dynamic reports from virtually any data source, delivered in dozens of formats, in up to 28 languages. If you already have an older version of Crystal Reports, buy a license for SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - Upgrade at a discounted, upgrade price. * SAP Crystal Server 2016, 1 NUL includes 1 license of: SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - SAP Crystal Server 2016 - SAP Crystal Dashboard Design 2016. * As an add-on to SAP Crystal Server 2016 1 NUL, SAP Crystal Server 2016 5 CAL allows you to support a wider, intermittent audience of end users, up to five logged on at the same time.

For the latest information on pricing, visit https://www.sapstore.com/solutions/99043/SAP-Crystal-Reports-2016

SAP Crystal Support Options

	Free Version	Paid Version
Live Chat
Email
Forum/Community
FAQ/Knowledgebase
Social Media
Video Tutorials / Webinar
Phone

SAP Crystal Technical Details

Deployment Types:	On-premise
Operating Systems:	Windows, Linux
Mobile Application:	Apple iOS, Android
Supported Languages:	English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Thai, Czech, Hungarian, Slovakian, Turkish, Romanian, Slovenian

SAP Crystal Reviews

SAP Crystal Scorecard Summary

Feature Scorecard Summary

About SAP Crystal

SAP Crystal Features

Additional Features

SAP Crystal Screenshots

SAP Crystal Videos (4)

SAP Crystal Downloadables

SAP Crystal Integrations

SAP Crystal Competitors

Pricing

SAP Crystal Support Options

SAP Crystal Technical Details