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.
It's a great reporting tool for your business!
A essential tool for accurate report export from SAP
SAP Crystal Report Review
SAP Crystal is excellent for report building and aggregations
Crystal Clear Formatted Reports in Secure environment with sharing/distribution capabilities.
First time caller, long time user.
Effective for financial reporting, which is accurate.
SAP Crystal overall satisfaction
Crystal Delivers Thousands of Reports Per Week
Decent reporting tool
SAP Crystal Reports review
Powerful document and report automation
SAP Crystal Review
One of my top rated reporting systems.
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
- Publish to PDF (131)10.0100%
- Report sharing and collaboration (118)10.0100%
- Report Formatting Templates (115)10.0100%
- Formatting capabilities (133)10.0100%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Upgrade Version to SAP Crystal Reports 2020
$295
SAP Crystal Reports 2020 64-Bit
$495
SAP Crystal Reports 2016 32-Bit
$495
Entry-level set up fee?
- Setup fee optional
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
Software TRAIL DEMO SAP Crystal Reports 2013
SAP Crystal Dashboard Design - Demo video
Features
BI Standard Reporting
Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.
- 8Pixel Perfect reports(111) Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports are highly-formatted reports with graphics and ability to preview the report before printing.
- 10Customizable dashboards(97) Ratings
Customizable dashboards are dashboards providing the builder some degree of control over the look and feel and display options.
- 10Report Formatting Templates(115) Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.
- 10Drill-down analysis(115) Ratings
Drill down analysis is the ability to get to a further level of detail by going deeper into the hierarchy.
- 10Formatting capabilities(133) Ratings
Ability to format output e.g. conditional formatting, lines, headers, footers.
- 8.6Integration with R or other statistical packages(63) Ratings
Integration with the open-source R predictive modeling environment.
- 10Report sharing and collaboration(118) Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration is the ability to easily share reports with others.
Report Output and Scheduling
Ability to schedule and manager report output.
- 9.2Publish to Web(89) Ratings
- 10Publish to PDF(131) Ratings
- 9Report Versioning(93) Ratings
Report versioning is the assignment of version numbers to each version of a report to help in tracking.
- 9Report Delivery Scheduling(96) Ratings
Report Delivery Schedule is the ability to have reports delivered to a destination at a specific data and time.
- 10Delivery to Remote Servers(52) Ratings
Ability to deliver reports to remote servers
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.
- 7.6Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)(51) Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats are canned visualization types that can be selected to visualize different kinds of data.
- 8.5Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization(75) Ratings
Location analytics is the visualization of geographical or spatial data.
- 7.8Predictive Analytics(41) Ratings
Predictive Analytics is the ability to build forecasting models based on existing data sets.
Access Control and Security
Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.
- 7.8Multi-User Support (named login)(79) Ratings
Named model access means that users have access based on name and password.
- 7.7Role-Based Security Model(78) Ratings
Role-based access means that access to data is determined by job or position in the corporation.
- 8.4Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)(78) Ratings
Multiple access permission levels means that different levels of users have different rights.
- 10Report-Level Access Control(1) Ratings
Report-level access control means that the type of report determines who has access to it.
- 9Single Sign-On (SSO)(38) Ratings
Allows users to use one set of login credentials to access multiple applications
Mobile Capabilities
Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
- 8.7Responsive Design for Web Access(60) Ratings
Web design aimed at producing easy-to-read sites across a range of different devices.
- 7.6Mobile Application(43) Ratings
A dedicated app for iOS and/or Android.
- 9Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile(57) Ratings
In-app dashboard reports and data visualization.
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another
- 7.4REST API(8) Ratings
REST is an architecture style for designing networked applications
- 6Javascript API(35) Ratings
A Javascript API is a type of API
- 7.1iFrames(8) Ratings
An iFrame is an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website
- 6Java API(35) Ratings
A Java application programming interface (API) is a list of all classes that are part of the Java development kit (JDK)
- 8.3Themeable User Interface (UI)(37) Ratings
A themeable user interface means that a specific visual them can be applied to it
- 7Customizable Platform (Open Source)(31) Ratings
A customizable, open source API Gateway is a fast and scalable type of API
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is SAP Crystal?
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
SAP Crystal Videos
SAP Crystal Competitors
SAP Crystal Technical Details
Deployment Types | On-premise |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Windows, Linux |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
Supported Countries | Global |
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 Downloadables
- Detailed information for SAP Crystal Server 2016’s supported platforms, such as Windows and Linux OS, browser, LDAP and hardware support
- Languages supported with SAP Crystal Reports 2016
- Product features to leverage with SAP Crystal Solutions for the small to midsize business
- Pixel-perfect reports created with SAP Crystal Solutions for small to midsize business
- Business goals to achieve with SAP Crystal Solutions for small to midsize business
- Implementation costs to consider with SAP Crystal Solutions for small to midsize business
- Comparison of features by version for SAP Crystal Reports and SAP Crystal Server software
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(558)Attribute Ratings
- 10Likelihood to Renew19 ratings
- 8Availability1 rating
- 8Performance1 rating
- 9.4Usability28 ratings
- 8.6Support Rating21 ratings
- 10In-Person Training1 rating
- 8.8Implementation Rating14 ratings
- 8Configurability1 rating
- 7Product Scalability1 rating
- 7Ease of integration1 rating
- 7Vendor pre-sale1 rating
- 8Vendor post-sale1 rating
- 7Data Visualization4 ratings
- 9.2Data Sources130 ratings
- 8.8Data Sharing and Collaboration125 ratings
- 8.5SAP Crystal Pixel-Perfect Reporting5 ratings
Reviews
(126-150 of 156)Mixed opinion
- Can consolidate multiple processes using a single report.
- Giving snapshot info.
- Can be used with many different sources of data.
- Generally static reports.
- Requires a pretty skilled worker to create and manage reports.
- Not straight-forward to integrate with other applications.
- Easy development of reports in a visual designer
- Integrates with a wide range of data sources
- Comprehensive range of features for building reports
- Distribution of Crystal Reports runtime and installation files with your own software development is not always an easy/smooth process
- SAP website is difficult to navigate for new information, support, product updates and related downloads
Crystal Reports - A Means to an End!
- I like the ability to use SQL queries as a data source.
- My users really like the cascading parameters that Crystal Reports allows.
- Crystal Reports is a fairly intuitive reporting platform.
- When moving an existing report to a different database connection the interface to do this not very user friendly.
- This may sound minor but it is a big deal for me. In the formula editor window I would like to be able to use my mouse's wheel to move up and down in the window (currently it doesn't recognize the mouse wheel).
Makes my job Crystal Clear
- Design Mode. Before Crystal Reports I would pull information then transfer it to Excel to design and organize the report how I needed it. Since Crystal Report has a design mode I am able to pull, organize, and style my report all on the same program, including graphs and charts.
- Auto Filled Letters. I have to send various letters and notices out to members and thanks to Crystal Reports I can send out these letters I've designed and have it auto fill all the member's information including their address, current balance, and more. It saves me from making mistakes I could make if I were filling in the letters myself, and is a huge time saver.
- Starting a report is the hardest thing for me because of the endless tables I'm given to choose from. I know there is a guide somewhere that specifies what information you will find in each table, but I haven't yet used it. If there was a section of most commonly used tables then it would be great.
Great platform that needs improvement
- Works well with SQL data sources. I can connect to a lot of different data sources, from MS SQL Server to MySQL and Oracle.
- Overall, Crystal Reports is a good value. You can't do it all, but if you know your way around it you can achieve your goals.
- Export to PDF functions well. This is a great function when creating reports to be emailed.
- Drawing tools need updating. For example, you can't create diagonal lines? It's 2016! Also using images is cumbersome and it does not have the best resolution.
- Would be nice to see more barcode or QR code integration out of the box.
- Saving footer space for every page regarding of the section height is challenging. Consider enabling more control for section management and print.
- Would be nice to have a section to manage global variables. Why do I need to define these every time?
- It allows for customization to continuously suit our needs over 10 years after integration.
- The API documentation was solid and allowed very easy integration by our developers.
- Compatibility with our varying Windows operating systems was no problem at all.
- The UI is a little out-dated and clunky.
- Had a hard time finding resources to answer questions that weren't very basic. Had to use a lot of third party resources.
- Would love to see better built in features for visual styles instead of relying mostly on code.
Crystal Reports as an end user is nice!
- Nice looking reports, clean and professional
- Flexibility to build reports
- None that I can think of simply because I haven't been given the ability to explore the options. Our templates are given to us from our corporate office.
Crystal Reports Review
- Crystal Reports is great for easily creating simple reports.
- Crystal Reports helps us to speed up report development.
- Crystal Reports allows non-technical users to create some of the reports they need.
- The user interface can be a bit cluttered sometimes.
- The reports are saved in a binary file format and therefore unable to be "diffed" or looked at using source control tools.
Perfect for Small to Mid Sized Businesses
- Create professional looking reports easily
- Generate invoices and estimates for clients
- Access more data in reports than previously we used
- Requires training video - Not easy to just learn by trail
- The snapping for drag and drop does not always work properly
- It can run slower at times than we would like
Crystal Reports much better than Jaspersoft Reports
- Design interface is good. Better than Jasper Reports.
- Sorting and Grouping is very easy.
- Slightly similar to old MS Office interface for choosing font types and colors, etc.
- The design studio needs to be more flexible.
- The crystal functions need to be a little bit more comprehensive.
- We should be able to build and store Crystal functions of our own for future use rather than building them per report.
Reliable, no-frills report generation
- Report scheduling - flexibility and consistency in delivery
- Report visualization - simple but effective.
- Report delivery - reliable
- Ease of set-up - engineering took a while to hook it up
- Configuration - generally, the reports were not something folks could actually go in and modify
Crystal Reports Review
- Works with many database formats
- Great web intergation
- Good support for 3rd party features
- More support and training online
- Make setup faster and easier to do
- Forumlas made easier
Looking for Some Reporting BLING? Try Crystal Reports.
- Crystal Reports is easy for the BI team to learn and use. A team can get up and running quickly, even with very little reporting experience.
- Individual application licenses are not very expensive compared to other similar tools.
- We purchased a third-party tool that allows us to schedule our Crystal Reports. There a lot of support for such tools which makes our "push" reporting concept easy to implement.
- Reports can be output to a number of formats including PDF, HTML, Word, and others. These report can then be scheduled and delivered to shared network drives and via e-mail. The schedule we use even has an encryption feature to password protect files.
- One of the greatest strengths of Crystal Reports is the formula editor which allows for deep customization of reports. Those familiar with VBA will see some resemblances to how VBA works in programs like Excel.
- Another strength is the ability to group data in a report and have those groups export as bookmarks in a PDF. For push reporting this is an ideal feature that I find hard to replicate in other tools.
- The graphics capabilities of Crystal Reports is a bit limited and dated. The program could use a visual overhaul.
- Although the program is easy to learn, mastering some of the fine details can be a bit challenging with the way SAP labels certain features. Often times I find myself scouring the Internet for solutions to problems that are very easy to solve in other reporting tools.
- Unless you make the SAP Crystal Report Viewer (a separate app) available to all users, the report remains somewhat static in the sense that users can't select different criteria and re-run the report on the fly.
- Working with stored procedures in SQL Server is a bit clunky, but it does work.
- Charting features are time consuming to develop and the intelligence built in to automatic chart layout is lacking.
Crystal Reports 2011: I see the good within but I hate it.
- Crystal Reports is extremely versatile in its ability to handle multiple data sources; it can reference any ODBC source (of course) as well as embedding SQL that returns the results of a query without exposing the data source directly (called "COMMANDS").
- Crystal Reports also excels at offering scripted/macro/automation/programming control over almost every aspect of the result-set including formatting. Sometimes it is easier to have the database do all the data manipulation (but that can require more advanced SQL skills) and sometimes it's easier to have the client programmatically iterate over the result set before the data is presented to the user. Crystal Reports essentially provides break-outs for all aspects of data manipulation and presentation.
- Crystal Reports offers two language choices for automation: Javascript-like syntax and VB-like syntax.
- The Crystal Reports designer is also very robust; not perfect, it will fail once in a while, but not very often.
- The built-in Help is reasonably helpful; you can often find the answer to a question within the supplied Help. Within the expression editor, the accuracy of the context-sensitive help is also good.
- The biggest problem with Crystal Reports comes from the complexity of the product -- not how advanced the product is, but how many moving parts there are and how many ways you can use it. For anyone other than an advanced Crystal Reports user (and even for them) you will go crazy trying to find things. It's probably fair to say that 80% of the actions you wish to perform are not intuitive or obvious. You can go *crazy* trying to find, for example, where a sub-report has been embedded within an existing report, or what override is overriding an override that's enabled but hidden (or vice versa). This means that Crystal Reports has a high learning curve and is very inefficient for casual use.
- Crystal Reports is old. OLD OLD OLD. It was already old when it was created in 1991 and has been owned by so many companies, it's hard to keep track (Crystal Services, Seagate, Fuji ?, Business Objects, and now SAP) . The report designer looks and works like an old Windows application, because it is an old Windows application. It has that nasty, pinched feel of jaggy console fonts, cramped data-entry fields, ham-fisted mouse tracking, and a lot of modal dialog-box functionality. So it's not a pleasure to use; it's a beat-up farm tractor that you know will start on cold winter morning, but you're still not looking forward to slinging yourself up onto that icy-cold metal seat. At the end-of-the-day, what this really means is that with all its changing corporate ownership, it's a neglected product that has never kept pace with the operating system that hosts it. New reporting functionality does get bolted on as vendors struggle to keep pace with trends, but don't confuse that with overall improvement in the underlying software.
- If there was one thing I could change about Crystal Reports it would be it's inability to place precise guidelines (those snap-to lines for object alignment). Crystal Reports has a grid layout measure limited to 3 decimal places, so a 1/8" grid is fine at 0.125"; but a 1/16" grid will be rounded & truncated (0.0625 => 0.063) so your column spacing will start to wander by the time you get to the right-most columns. And because Crystal Reports is using imperial measures internally, if you attempt to use metric measure, most of your values will be rounded (0.1cm becomes 0.101cm, 0.05cm becomes 0.049cm, etc.) and again your column spacing will shift across the page. Although this isn't a show-stopper for anyone, it's still really crappy functionality for a report-writer and is indicative of the kind of attention this software has received over its 24+ years of rotating-door ownership.
- As a general statement, Crystal Reports desktop designer has next-to-no capability for managing enterprise-level change control: there is no easy way to find which of your reports uses a particular data source, there are no tools for managing revisions. Unless you are very careful, when you swap out one data source for another, all of your fields will be wiped from your report unless the new data source is basically a production-ready clone of your previous data source. You can avoid a lot of problems by creating front-end expressions for all your expected data elements; but that's something the software should do for you, not something you should have to manually craft each time.
- Crystal Reports designer is very click-type-drag-click-escape-drag-right-click-double-click-type intensive. Your hands and fingers are in constant, often tedious, motion the whole time. Many layout activities should be more automated; some actions (like typing CTRL-S to Save in the Expression Editor also closes the editor window) need to be rethought.
- The same old Windows-y feel extends to their run-time viewer that gets pushed out to all users who need to view Crystal Reports via the web. It's functional but very sad.
- SAP has announced Crystal Reports 2013; it is Crystal Reports 2011 without support for XP. But since my "Check for Updates..." in Crystal Reports 2011 does nothing and the Crystal Reports 2013 evaluation setup program fails on launch, the awesomeness of this latest installment in the Crystal Reports legacy will have to be left to our imaginations.
Crystal Reports Functions Well With Our Database
- Simplifies report layouts. As a previous user of MS Query, Crystal Reports makes it easier to export information out of the database and into a usable format.
- Integrates with Microsoft Office. Exporting reports is extremely simple, and you can maintain grouping as well.
- Develops formulas without having SQL background. The filter tool makes creating formulas simple, and the formula editor tool makes editing easy.
- Tool location. Some of the tools are not easy to find, causing frustration when you cannot find what you're looking for.
- Linking. Link errors often produce a blank report and trial and error are necessary to actually obtain results. It would be nice if there was a warning that data type does not match for current database links.
Crystal Reports 2008
- Users can schedule or view the reports through a secure web portal.
- It can be used with Xcelsius (dashboard design tool).
- It can be exported to different formats.
- It needs Crystal Reports Server / Business Objects Enterprise to share reports over the web.
- Licensing fee is high for big companies.
SAP Crystal Reports a powerful standard tool
- Good for canned reports
- Powerful multiple database support
- Pretty much the standard tool
- Subreports
- Many features
- Users need better training to use
- Crystal Reports is a highly featured and flexible business intelligence tool that has been around for over 2 decades. It is database independent, meaning you can develop reports against just about any database or structured file format, from Microsoft SQL and Oracle, to flat file to text file to spreadsheets to anything for which you can access via ODBC, DAO, XML, OLE DB, JDBC and many more protocols. Crystal Reports integrates seamlessly into SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise products as well as other SAP data management products. Reports can link tables internally within the design template, or developers can build their own external SQL Queries, views, stored procedures or universes and build their reports off those data sources. Crystal also allows developers to script their custom own SQL-based query in the Database Editor. And if your data source changes, Crystal provides tools for mapping your existing report over to the new similarly structured data source. Record selection formulas can help filter out unwanted data to improve the efficiency of report performance.
- Crystal Reports has a highly flexible report design editor that features multi-pass linear data processing, allowing analysis to be performed while reading records as while printing records. Data may be grouped or sorted based on raw data or on formulas that can analyze and manipulate record data for customized processing. Crystal Reports allows developers to create virtually any kind of data-based report, from tabular column listings to data-driven letters to charts, cross-tabs, free-form and (pre-printed) form-fitting solutions. Extensive summary functions, running totals, and a rich formula programming language (Crystal also supports Basic syntax) provide unlimited opportunity to manage and manipulate raw data for analysis and presentation to the customer, be it a management report, operations report or customer-facing report. With sub-reports, it is possible to link together tangentially connected data sources, expanding the opportunities of publishing relevant information onto a single page or report. Individually formattable multi-section detail, page and group headers and footer sections allow the developer to play with suppression, paging and other formatting options and formulas.
- Crystal Reports is a WSIWYG design tool, allowing you to see what you are doing as you do it. Whether you use the the grid or guidelines with the Design Tool, or the size and alignment tools with the Preview Tool, Crystal lets you create the report as you want to see it. You can integrate external images, files, or even BI products, such as Crystal Dashboards (Xelcius). Through the use of parameters, reports can be designed to include user input in the record selection, formatting and operation of the report. Reports can be generated for printing, export to Adobe Acrobat, to Microsoft Excel or many other formats. Crystal can also be easily linked into 3rd party applications through XML, Java, Visual Studio or other APIs. Crystal Reports can also be easily delivered through the Crystal Reports Server or the Business Objects Enterprise Server, providing a hosting platform for both scheduled automation and on-demand report generation.
- For someone experienced in business intelligence, databases or programming, Crystal Reports is relatively intuitive, though it will take time and experience to learn how to fully leverage every feature. There are included tutorials that teach the basics, but real world situations often defy the simplicity of the provided solutions. There are plenty of third-party resources from Yahoo and LinkedIn groups to user support web sites and video, instructional and printed training materials. Crystal is not something that the home user can jump into. The license is relatively expensive and does not include a database server, database or other data source. Licensing for enterprise environments can get pricey quickly. While many employers hire report developers directly, there is a large community of professional report developers who work contracts, either independently or through contract employment agencies. In most cases, the employer provides the licensed Crystal Reports tool, but if a company has only infrequent report development needs, they may expect the consultant to provide their own copy of the software. SAP is really not set up for supporting the individual, however, preferring to engage the company in business-licensed products.
- Crystal Reports has incredible flexibility but their are limitations, mostly in formatting. Working with lines and boxes is not as flexible as, say, Microsoft Word. Charts and graphs have many features and options but they can be difficult to try and force your data to conform to the usage requirements. Graphics cannot be edited in-template, and some image formats are not supported (though you can easily convert an image to a supported format). The design tool can have issues with orphaned text at the bottom or the top of a page. While you can include comments in formulas, there is no ability to provide comments to the actual data, static, calculated value or other objects within the report design. Rules applied to the selection and manipulation of data can have unexpected results, leading to manual troubleshooting of report design and database queries. Like any piece of template design software, there are bound to be situations where you want to do something a certain way that is not supported by Crystal Reports, which can lead to frustration. But there are usually ways to think outside of the box to accomplish what you want.
- Crystal Reports is getting a little long in the tooth. While still one of the worlds' most popular reporting tools, It hasn't received a major update in many years, while Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting Services as well as open-source and other business intelligence competition products have grown in popularity, and it shows. The user interface and feature set hasn't significantly changed in quite a while. Of course, it was already pretty rich and complete, but it lacks the feel and finish of many current generation software products. There is also no version available for the Apple Mac, which means no support for iOS devices. Some feel that SAP doesn't see the Crystal product line as the best place for its R&D investments, pushing more data analytic based products such as Web Intelligence. I think there is room and demand for both and wish SAP would wow me with an upgrade that would transform Crystal Reports into a new generation of business intelligence reporting that sets the bar for everyone else.
Crystal Reports: A Best In Breed Reporting Tool
- Formatting.
- Ability to dynamically change the report layout via parameters.
- Handle large volumes of data.
- Provides the best connectivity with SAP datasource as well as relational datasource.
- Good stability when used in BusinessObjects publications for report bursting to end users.
- A report can connect to other BusinessObjects content via OpenDocument URLs.
- You cannot freeze panes in the Crystal Reports viewer.
- There is no lightweight web based version of the tool for development; it is a local installation application and all changes must be sent to the development team.
- The version of Crystal must stay in sync with your version of BusinessObjects otherwise flakiness and product instability may occur.
Report Creation that will get you Awards with Crystal Reports
- It is incredibly easy to design a report with minimal database experience. The system is very intuitive and it makes presenting the information you need to a breeze.
- The system has a terrific interface for linking different tables together.
- The ability to create parameters quickly and easily is a huge help. Having that sort of interactivity within a report has been received very well by our users.
- Creating subreports and having the ability to drill down on data makes the reports even more interactive and allows the designer to get creative with the types of reports they can create.
- Inserting charts into a report is very straightforward and easy to use.
- I think that the design view could be a little cleaner. Sometimes it is difficult moving some of the sections up and down
- It would be nice if the Text Objects would automatically adjust to the size of the text entered, so we do not have to manually size each text object. Very time consuming.
- A more intuitive interface for linking databases and database tables would be helpful for those that are new to databases and report writing.
Crystal Decisions
- Quickly query data from multiple tables
- Ability to drill down into the lowest level details of transactions and records
- Simple setup and UI with ability to save dictionaries, customized based on the tables being accessed
- Although it is a simple quick way to report on multiple records it doesn't have a great graphical interface for the reports. It is pretty much just the raw data you get back.
- The dictionaries are great but they need to be set up and maintained. If they are not, many times tables and fields are displayed in their code name. This is hard to work with if you are not familiar with database table structure and naming conventions
- The default language is Crystal and while it is very easy for beginners it does not apply or translate into any other reporting or coding language. There is an option to use basic SQL.
Crystal a great tool for reporting.
- Very powerful.
- Very versatile.
- Crystal Reports is the Cadillac of reporting suites. very mature very stable.
- Crystal Reports at times is like using a mac truck to deliver your solution.
- Crystal Reports very strengths are also its weaknesses it seems like its stable and see no room to grow or improve.
- There were time were it felt like you had to jump through various hoops to do very simple things, where newer suites seem to be built with simplicity in mind.
Crystal Reports Allows Your Company to Leverage Invaluable Data
- Very flexible. I can use it for a range of things, from looking at sales performance, inventory management and pulling mailing lists from various databases for print and email campaigns.
- Powerful tool for leveraging company data to improve sales performance.
- Allows me to pull hundreds of thousands of customer records at one time.
- Requires a fair amount of training to use.
- It's not intuitive at first. It takes a lot of time to get used to using.
Looking for a reporting tool? I recommend Crystal Reports
- Easy to use.
- Can embed SQL into the reports.
- Very visual.
- It doesn't have a wizard for everything - you may need coding experience.
Crystal Reports -- An Inside View
- Very easy to use, much of the functionality is self explanatory.
- Easy to train others on.
- Beautiful graphical interface.
- The users I support wish that establishing connections to the DB were a bit easier to figure out without much support.
- Error messages could be more specific.