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SAP Crystal

SAP Crystal

Overview

What is SAP Crystal?

SAP Crystal is an analytics and reporting software solution for SMBs. SAP Crystal comprises Crystal Reports for pixel-perfect reporting, and SAP Crystal Server for automated distribution and self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration.

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Recent Reviews

Decent reporting tool

8 out of 10
February 15, 2020
Incentivized
I used SAP Crystal for report visualization. The graphs in the tool are outstanding with strong information telling ability combining with …
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SAP Crystal Review

7 out of 10
January 08, 2020
Incentivized
Crystal is used enterprise-wide for pixel-perfect reporting. We have both on-demand reporting use cases, and scheduled reporting via email …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 29 features
  • Publish to PDF (131)
    10.0
    100%
  • Report sharing and collaboration (118)
    10.0
    100%
  • Report Formatting Templates (115)
    10.0
    100%
  • Formatting capabilities (133)
    10.0
    100%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
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Pricing

View all pricing

Upgrade Version to SAP Crystal Reports 2020

$295

On Premise
per single user license

SAP Crystal Reports 2020 64-Bit

$495

On Premise
per single user license

SAP Crystal Reports 2016 32-Bit

$495

On Premise
per single user license

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttp://www.sapstore.com/solutions/99013…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Software TRAIL DEMO SAP Crystal Reports 2013

YouTube

SAP Crystal Dashboard Design - Demo video

YouTube
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

9.3
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

9.6
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

9.4
Avg 8.4

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

8
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

8.6
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8.4
Avg 7.9

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

7
Avg 7.9
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Product Details

What is 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. SAP Crystal Reports is a production reporting tool designed to turn 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.

SAP Crystal Features

BI Platform Features

  • Supported: Administration via Web Interface
  • Supported: Live Connection to External Data
  • Supported: Snapshot of External Data
  • Supported: OLAP (Pre-processed cube representation)
  • Supported: ROLAP (SQL-layer querying)
  • Supported: Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
  • Supported: Data warehouse / dictionary layer

Supported Data Sources Features

  • Supported: MS Excel Workbooks
  • Supported: Text Files (CSV, etc)
  • Supported: Oracle
  • Supported: MS SQL Server
  • Supported: IBM DB2
  • Supported: Postgres
  • Supported: MySQL
  • Supported: ODBC
  • Supported: EMC Greenplum
  • Supported: HP Vertica
  • Supported: SAP Hana
  • Supported: Teradata
  • Supported: Salesforce
  • Supported: SAP

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Pixel Perfect reports
  • Supported: Customizable dashboards
  • Supported: Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages
  • Supported: Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

  • Supported: Publish to Web
  • Supported: Publish to PDF
  • Supported: Output Raw Supporting Data
  • Supported: Report Versioning
  • Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling
  • Supported: Delivery to Remote Servers

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

  • Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization

Access Control and Security Features

  • Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
  • Supported: Role-Based Security Model
  • Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
  • Supported: Report-Level Access Control
  • Supported: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Single Sign-On (SSO)

Mobile Capabilities Features

  • Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
  • Supported: Mobile Application
  • Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding Features

  • Supported: Javascript API
  • Supported: Java API
  • Supported: Themeable User Interface (UI)
  • Supported: Customizable Platform (Open Source)

SAP Crystal Screenshots

Screenshot of Pixel-perfect reporting solutionScreenshot of Refresh with a clickScreenshot of Build pixel-perfect documentsScreenshot of Connect to all data sourcesScreenshot of Use drag and dropScreenshot of Build interactive reportsScreenshot of Export to popular formats

SAP Crystal Videos

SAP Crystal Solutions: The Mobile Worker Use Case
SAP Crystal Solutions: Identify and Eliminate Clutter in Your Visualizations
SAP Crystal Solutions: How to Buy SAP Crystal Reports Digitally

SAP Crystal Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android
Supported CountriesGlobal
Supported LanguagesEnglish, 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

Frequently Asked Questions

SAP Crystal is an analytics and reporting software solution for SMBs. SAP Crystal comprises Crystal Reports for pixel-perfect reporting, and SAP Crystal Server for automated distribution and self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration.

Windward Core, TIBCO Jaspersoft, and Jet Reports are common alternatives for SAP Crystal.

Reviewers rate Customizable dashboards and Report Formatting Templates and Drill-down analysis highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of SAP Crystal are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(558)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(101-125 of 156)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 27, 2016

Great Reporting Tool

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The entire company is using Crystal Reports to make reports that track progress and performance in the various departments. A few different business problems are addressed by Crystal Reports, mainly tied to how we are performing versus our KPIs and we address issues based on the reports that we create.
  • possibilities for reports are endless because everything can be customized
  • data integration
  • scheduled reports
  • user interface could be improved
  • new users need a lot of training
  • can make changes, but it's not as straight forward as it should be
SAP Crystal Reports is great for creating reports for pretty much anything. You can customize the reports or use templates already provided to create whatever you need for your department or organization. But the program might be a little less suited for very small company without large data to sort through.
Joal Kieboam | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Server is used by me personally as I am currently the only person working at my company. This product allows me to easily find and organize my files and information. Reports are easy to generate and understand. I no longer have to generate multiple reports as with software I've used in the past. SAP Crystal Server does it all in one.
  • Generates reports
  • Organizes files and information.
  • Easy to use and intuitive.
  • Affordable.
  • Feature rich.
  • Easy to use but slight learning curve which could be improved.
  • Updates create delays sometimes.
  • Some features have limitations such as graphs.
  • Incorporating into websites could be made smoother.
SAP Crystal Server is highly recommended by me for anyone looking to improve their business by easily organizing their information, generating quality reports, charts, graphs, presentations and much more. If you wish to remain on the cutting edge of technology, save time, money, and stress, this may also be for you. On the other hand I would not recommend it to those with very little computer or technical experience or those brand new to business.
September 09, 2016

SAP Crystal Server Review

Calvin Harris | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SAP Crystal Server to make reports that we need to track a multitude of things and we also use it for reports that we discuss with clients.
  • Creates some great reports
  • Helps you communicate your points visually
  • Simplifies a great deal of data into something that's simple to understand
  • Not always easy to work with
  • Cannot export directly into PowerPoint
  • Problems with security levels for different people
SAP Crystal Server is well suited for complicated reports, especially when you have to take a lot of data and make it accessible. It can be a bit of a hassle when more than one person has to work with the same report and you need to change the security levels for them.
September 08, 2016

Trusty reports, easy to use

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it in the engineering department to run standard reports for projects (i.e. to track if we are on schedule, budget, etc.). I know the program is also used by more departments, but not by the whole organization, and not in all of our global offices at the moment.
  • Clear reports
  • Great integration with our other programs
  • Reliable
  • Can't fix the header in a table - very frustrating
  • Time-consuming to alter reports
It's very well suited to keep track of progress for projects. We have repetitive reporting needs and SAP Crystal Server is great for helping us produce the reports we need, but if you have to alter reports then you might become a bit frustrated because that can be very time consuming with this program.
September 08, 2016

Crystal Server Overview

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Select departments use SAP Crystal Server. It is used for creating reports, mainly to track how efficient customer orders are being filled, prepared, and shipped. Reports are also produced that track if any material is wasted in the factory during production. Corporate produces reports to track how efficient each location is with the other.
  • Quick to produce reports once you learn how to use the program
  • No limitations to the types of reports you can produce
  • Simple to share reports with others
  • It's a pain dealing with security levels for the reports when not everyone has the same rights
  • Not always intuitive
For us it's not suited for the entire organization because of the issues with the security levels. Not everyone has the same clearance and it is a pain to adjust the rights for each person in part. But otherwise for the most part everyone has been happy with it because you can create whatever report you want.
September 05, 2016

Crystal Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Server is used throughout the whole organization. It provides pixel perfect reporting bringing together data from disparate data sources and allows users specific content based on dynamic parameters.
  • SAP Crystal Server can be connected to numerous data sources via numerous types of connections.
  • SAP Crystal Server has a wide range of options to group, sort, and filter data in almost any way requested by the business. The limit seems to only be the imagination of the developer.
  • Pixel perfect control of object placement within the canvas.
  • We constantly get requests to be able to export to PowerPoint. The same holds true for other SAP BI Tools.
  • Ability to scroll within a document and keep the page header in the same place. This would be comparable to 'Freeze panes' in Excel.
SAP Crystal Server delivers a much better developer experience than its main competitor, Microsoft Reporting Services. Having it integrated into the BI platform provides a one stop shop for users' BI needs and allows users to build pixel perfect content from the same universes they used to create a Webi document as their mock up.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Reports is being used to generate reports from our Viewpoint Database. Viewpoint stores information related to human resources, payroll, accounting and project management.
  • Crystal Reports makes it easy to pull records from multiple databases.
  • It is relatively user friendly once you learn a few basic techniques in terms of formatting and organizing the reports.
  • Help menus with functions could be improved, for example, providing a glossary of common functions and their syntax.
  • Functionality can be tedious sometime;, with multiple mouse clicks required to make a single change, specifically for editing formulas or parameters.
Crystal Reports, when used in conjunction with the Viewpoint software, is useful in generating one report that will be run over and over again at different times by different people. I don't believe it is intended to create and run a report a single time to mine data, which some people may think it is.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized

SAP Crystal Reports is used for users and roles mapping. This is easy to use, from basic reports to the more complex. It's easy for a manager to know what to request as access for particular transaction codes and roles for the required position.

It is also used for reporting segregation of duties (SOD) at intra roles and the user level. We also use reports for analyzing these reports for audits.

  • Its ability to create great reports from a vast range of data sources, makes this a very good and easy way to create meaningful reports.
  • Crystal Reports has managed to create every report I have tried to do without having to resort to using third party reporting tools, making it easier to maintain report projects.
  • It has easily consumable reports which enable business users to make decisions quickly and instantly.
  • User Interface can be bit slow at times.
  • Debugging complex reports can be difficult.
  • Syntax constructs - the syntax used in Crystal Reports (formulas) is slightly different than most other languages, using a combination of curly brackets and pipes with some traditional syntax.

Well suited for:

Advanced reporting

Flexibility - the limitations in how or what the report will look and feel is really limited by the developer. Formulas can be placed on virtually any field or level.

Formulas - Once you get the hang of the formulas in Crystal Reports, they are very powerful. Different flags and indicators can be constructed, suppression can be based on the formula fields, or formula fields based on other formula fields in conjunction with the source data.

August 12, 2016

Great for SQL

Ken Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We install and support Crystal Reports across multiple clients. It's mainly used to pull data out of SQL Server into customized reports. Usually the canned reports out of database driven software are inadequate and clients need to access data with custom reports.
  • Pulling data and manipulating that data
  • It takes a bit to get used to the interface
In my experience we only use it when pulling data out of SQL, it works great for those scenarios.
Craig Nash | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal reports was being used to create reports pertaining to how many hours the staff were dedicating to specific duties within the company. As this company was a high-frequency trading firm, finding alternative ways of automating different employee tasks helped to reduce down the total overhead while allowing the staff to devote more time to the more important aspects of the business. The intelligence that Crystal Reports generated provided a lot of insight into just how much time was really being wasted in areas of the business that really did not need a person performing, yet were never automated with software as it was perceived that much less time was being used up by these tasks.
  • Tracking and generating detailed reports that can have profound impacts on the way businesses operate
  • Allows businesses to drill down through data in order to identify issues normally overlooked
  • Lets you connect data from a wide range of sources that normally aren't compatable
  • A lack of 3rd party tools
  • Not user friendly in regards to the target audience
  • Confusing costs, confusing security procedures, and confusing licensing terms
Crystal Reports is affordable and a very useful Business Intelligence application that can produce very good looking reports that perfectly formatted, and is a great option if you have access to someone that is very experienced with CR. If you plan on purchasing it due to the cost and company backing with the hopes of figuring it out yourself, or having someone else in the business learn how to use it, you will be very disappointed, as it is very difficult and confusing to use for the average business oriented user.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it to prepare customized reports with data from our CRM database. It is currently only used by one department and it addresses the limitations with the canned reports that exist in the database we use.
  • The ability to create customized formulas is wonderful and makes it easier to only include the data needed in the report.
  • The design interface makes it easy to design reports and place information where needed.
  • Editing allows information to be suppressed which helps to eliminate duplicate information.
  • It is not easy to use if you are looking to include advanced information like formulas. Some of the more advanced functions require some research into how to do them.
  • It would be nice to be able to add additional detail sections and be able to prevent them from duplicating on every single page. It was difficult to work with this and I ended up creating a separate report in order to have it look the way I needed it to.
  • The entire edit interface needs to be easier to use. When editing sections or text boxes, it takes some knowledge to know and understand how the options affect the outcome.
It is less appropriate if there is not a regular need to use it because Crystal Reports is an expensive tool.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Reports is being used to create all business reporting across all functions of the business. We use it to make a physical schedule, measure KPIs, and track sales. In addition, all labels that are applied to products are printed with reports built in Crystal Reports. Each function has its own reports that have been created to show what materials are required when, where they need to go, and what needs to be done to them. Crystal Reports has greatly increased the visibility of the process and has increased efficiency on the shop floor.
  • Crystal Reports is very intuitive. For a first time user with no formal training on the software, I was able to create and edit reports without much difficulty.
  • Crystal Reports is very robust. The complicated reports we run that pull data from all over our MRP and then perform calculations. The formatting of the data is done very quickly, without much wait time for the compilation of the information.
  • The users manual is comprehensive. Again, I had no training with the software before using it, but the manual answered questions very well without having to go out and search online for answers on forums that may or may not have helped.
  • Making charts can be a little tricky. The information is not displayed as well as I'd like without a lot of massaging/manipulating fields to make them display properly.
  • Compiling running totals is also tough. A report I am working on will not calculate averages correctly, and I've tried all suggested ways. It will average three columns each with a "1" in them and output something that makes no sense - 5.67 or some other random number.
  • The automatic tabs that are put in each time a field is added to the report are a little clunky and distracting. They don't line up next to fields and are just busy work to move/remove.
  • Exporting to Microsoft 2003 (no versions higher than that) needs to be updated to more current versions of Excel.
SAP Crystal Reports is well suited to every day summary reports. It can handle everything you would do in Excel without having to format it every time. I am looking into projecting reports in the break room and having the report refresh periodically, so that functionality will be appreciated and effective for our business.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Infor VISUAL Enterprise software. It has a fairly limited report writer. Crystal Reports allows us to retrieve any information we need easily and effectively. Due to the cost of Crystal Reports, we have 4 stations where reports can be created. Crystal Reports allows us to use Visual in a slightly different way than it was designed. We can focus on teams of people rather than machines.
  • No limit on what data can be retrieved.
  • Easy to create new reports from an old report with different focus.
  • Wonderfully robust sorting capabilities.
  • If a reports has a problem the whole program shuts down. This is a pain if you have several reports queued up.
  • Maybe I'm missing something but it's a hassle to create a report on one computer and move it to another without requiring a password on the new machine.
  • I would like a longer list of resent reports you can open.
May 10, 2016

Crystal Reports

Cody Martin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports as a cross-division software platform that is used for reporting purposes. Crystal Reports is used to visualize transactional data that was formerly only presented in a CSV format.
  • Ease Of Use
  • Minimal Change Between Version (no need to relearn each release)
  • Fast processing
  • No ability to cancel report through code
  • Hangs on slow db connections
  • Oracle odbc randomly crashes app
SAP Crystal Reports works well for our support teams as they can create a report and upload/map parameters in the software. You don't have to be a developer to use it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports allows us to mine a wide variety of data from our accounting system and other data bases and turn it into valuable reports. If you know a little bit about data it's relatively easy to pick out the data you want, sort it, relate it to other data, run all sorts of calculations on it and turn it into a nicely formatted report. We even have a couple of reports that makes graphs out of the data. We use the reports for inventory control, sales analysis, all kinds of accounting reports, etc.
  • Our accounting system has details of each invoice. We take that data and manipulate it to produce a report for each of our sales reps each month that summarizes the activity for each of their customers for the current month and the previous 12 months so they can see trends. Also every quarter we send the reps a report with a product by product listing of what each customer has bought.
  • Actually all of the printouts in our accounting system are generated by Crystal Reports - invoices, checks, financial reports, etc.
  • Crystal Reports is so widely used that when you run into something you don't know how to do there are all sorts of answers available on the internet. Last week I learned how to make a report for a running 12 month period based on the current date without having to input start and end dates.
  • Our sales reports are done in one run for all sales reps and then I pass them through some third party software to burst them for each rep and email them to the reps. It takes less than 1 minute to run, burst and email about 40 reports. It might be nice if that capability was built into Crystal Reports.
Data mining is the big thing these days. If you've got a logically constructed data base Crystal Reports is an easy way to mine the data.
Katalin Sankowich | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently use SAP Crystal Reports in conjunction with our CRM database to create more customized, user friendly reports.
  • SAP Crystal Reports is incredibly straightforward to use.
  • SAP Crystal Reports allows me to customize very complex sets of data.
  • When creating very complex reports, the processing time can sometimes be very slow.
I believe that SAP Crystal Reports is very well suited to any organization that currently has a relatively un-customizable CRM system. If you take the time to input data, you should be able to export it into a usable, user-friendly format.
Chris Jensen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports in the custom software applications we write for our clients as well as for our internal software development projects. We also have clients which we'll go on-site at their office and help with report modifications and/or training if needed.
  • It can connect to just about any database. Most of the time we connect to SQL Server, but we do have clients that connect to other databases such as Progress SQL. We originally started using it way back in the FoxPro days. Yes it connected to that too!
  • Crystal is great at adding sub-reports. You will come across a time where data just does not relate well with other data. A sub-report comes in handy in those situations and can be inserted pretty much anywhere in your main report.
  • Calculated fields are another big plus. They can be very simple or as complex as you need them to be. I really haven't found anything that Crystal Reports cannot do as far as formulas go and there is a "Crystal" syntax or VB syntax which you can pick from.
  • When you're in the formula editor, the way it displays the syntax for the different formals could be better. They're a little cryptic. Maybe adding an example or two would help there.
  • Sometimes I find myself Googling quite a bit to find out how to do some of the more complicated things. So I actually started using OneNote to track examples of how to do some of the things that are not very intuitive such as shared variables.
  • One thing that could be much better is cancelling out of a long running report. There should be a way just to "kill" it instantly without having to wait. On some of my longer running reports, you can try to stop it, but it still ends up taking a long time to return control to the user.
  • Crystal tries to use indexes where it can, but it would be nice if it could tell you exactly which indexes it uses. On some long running reports, you kind of have to "play" around with different things to get a report to run faster. If it had a feature where it could tell you what's slowing down the report, that would be helpful.
I have never found anything that Crystal Reports couldn't accomplish. Depending on your skill level, you can make very simple reports or if you're more advanced, very complicated ones. It will do just about anything as far as reporting goes and it can export out to Excel, PDF or other file formats.
May 06, 2016

Normal Review

Matthew Narolewski | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SAP Crystal reports for our custom build ERP system to provide analytics and insight into our business.
  • Organize information
  • Present in a useful way
  • Easy to use
  • Not very executive friendly for design
  • Price for small operations
I think it can be used in any situation as long as you have a clear understand of the KPI and goals you plan to achieve with SAP Crystal reports.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports allows us to customize our invoicing and statements which means we do not have to get special forms printed, resulting in a great cost savings to our company. We are able to have reports built to suit our reporting requirements specifically, as well as use the ones within our accounting software easily. We are able to make financial statements easily in house, and make changes without having to go to an outside source. It is relatively easy to use with a little bit of learning.
  • Report building
  • Getting specific information from databases
  • The help feature for on the go help could be better
  • Well suited to financial statements
  • Less suited to pulling net vs. gross numbers
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is being used across the sales department; mostly for proposals and integrated with Tigerpaw Software that we use daily for quotes. We use SAP Crystal Reports to write up the formulas for our monthly leasing charges and to put in materials that go into a quote.
We can easily adjust the formulas for quotes, so that each template is different. It's very easy to save the template and create a new one if needed. We do phone systems, cabling, security systems, etc., so we do not use the same quote template each time. It's very easy to use.
  • Easy access to tools. I can easily find what I'm looking for in the software without even having to ask a question.
  • Calculations and formulas are easy to use. If I need to adjust a formula or change a formula completely for quoting, I can easily do so. It's very straight-forward and easy to use.
  • Clean software - the software looks very clean, and it is not scattered all over the place like some applications are. It's right to the point and it doesn't hurt my eyes when I use it! I am very happy with it.
  • I honestly can't find anything where it would need improvement. I feel as though it's very easy to use and super helpful. It gets the job done, especially for quotes. Our business uses it primarily for quotes, and I have had no issues.
It is well-suited for quotes. For example, if I am making up a phone system quote and I need to adjust the pricing for the leasing (if the customer wants to lease their phone system instead of buying it outright), it's easy to use. I can go into formulas and adjust the proper tab (let's say a 60-month lease), and it's that simple. I can save the template, and then go into my Tigerpaw software where it is implemented, and continue to write up the quote.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used by my department. It helps show sales history, trends and comparison reports and helps us track conversion ratios and growth. It also helps us see how we do in sales by vendor along with quantities and costs. I really like the line charting and linear regression features.
  • Linear Regression
  • Reporting on Date Ranges
  • Charting
  • Command line parameters to run reports
  • Small scale web use for small organizations
  • Better web services integration and reporting and updating
Large datasets with lots of date analysis are really good for it.
Marie Rodriguez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports to access data within our legacy system. Since Crystal Reports can access data from multiple data sources, we are able to combine data from dbase, along with access, MS SQL, and mySQL databases. I extract data from the databases to provide to our bookkeeper, executives, and team members for ad-hoc reports and financial accounting. Our dbase databases are difficult to read. I am able to pull the data out with simple queries easily. The one thing that I have a problem with is getting the data at the same time from multiple data types. Frequently, if I need to get data from dbase and Access, I must create sub-reports and append them. But, I would expect that since dbase is so old.
  • Simple queries. I am able to use SQL queries even when pulling from non-SQL databases.
  • I am able to easily modify reports and change them to meet my needs. That allows me to save them.
  • Crystal Reports will link to several different data types.
  • There is a lot of help available for Crystal Reports. If I get stuck on something, I am able to find it easily.
  • I want to be able to export to a more updated version of Microsoft Office.
  • There should be a better way to ensure that everything is lined up correctly when exporting to Excel.
  • Bring back the user application. I am the developer and I would like to create canned reports for users to allow them to just change the parameter fields and update the data.
Since Crystal Reports works with all data types, I think it is well suited for all users and all reporting. Ultimately, it comes down to the developer knowing the data source and what data needs to be extracted from them. I use it mainly on reporting, but I also use it for professional internal forms, invoices, communication to customers, etc.
Cory Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal reports to pull data from all of our databases. We use it across the whole organization. We produce reports for analysis, massage data to be able to pull out meaningful trends and export data in various formats for our partners.
  • Producing reports is intuitive.
  • In its most used form, the software is easy to use and understand.
  • It seems that we can change and manipulate data very quickly.
  • It seems hard for us to figure out how to automate report generation.
  • A "walk through, visually of how to use the software would be helpful for new users.
We use it to pull data out of databases and we find that it is a powerful tool in that regard. In some cases, we use it as a reporting tool and in this facet, it also works very well.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports is being used for consolidation of reports across multiple companies from different data sources.
  • Easy access to information across various tables.
  • One time set up that can be refreshed as needed.
  • It required additional programming to pull the same information from various sources because it would not recognize different data with the same column headings.
  • Learning curve for the first time was challenging.
Having all the info in one or two reports to review rather than 15+ makes for faster decision making.
Joey McDonald | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports to help with various month end procedures, ad hoc reports as well as provide other departments with reports that they can access using a Crystal Reports viewer. It helps provide a lot of insight into the company that the canned reports of our accounting system does not offer.
  • Accuracy
  • Customization
  • Visualization of data
  • Drill down
  • Larger reports take a little while to populate
  • Assist in creating the correct relationship between tables.
Through the years we have been able to cut our monthly close process time down by nearly half thanks to Crystal Reports. We are able to customize reports and email out directly to the different departments so it eliminates a lot of the manual work load. One improvement I would like to see is allowing us to view the fields within a table prior to selecting it to add to the report.
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