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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

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Pricing

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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 8.0

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

(76-100 of 156)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
January 08, 2018

Crystal Review

Ercole Lugari | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Reports is used in my organisation as a reporting tool mainly in the operational team across different markets. It is usually used for external reporting and invoicing. SAP Crystal Reports is used for the good degree of customisation and elegance in the finished report product. For invoicing, it helps us to have professional external reporting.
  • Invoicing report
  • External reporting for client members
  • Reports that don't need a great degree of changes
  • Making changes in SAP Crystal Reports is hard
  • Friendly connections wizard
SAP Crystal Reports is well suited for canned reporting and for us is less appropriate for exploring type of reporting.
January 08, 2018

Deploy and be amazed

Jeff Hieber | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Server is used company wide to distribute data to internal and external users. It allows the organization to automate its reporting and distribution processes, elevating the stress these process put on internal staff and allowing the company to be much more efficient in delivering on both external and internal demands for information.
  • Allows scheduled distribution of reports. This allows our team to capture data and deliver it when it is desired by the team without forcing an internal staff member to have to manually gather the data and distribute it on time.
  • Flexibility in destinations. Crystal server allows us several convenient options for delivering our reports and data. This means we have no wasted time by internal staff emailing or sending data to clients or other internal staff, allowing them to focus on more demanding tasks.
  • Our biggest complaint is that if a report has to be modified, our experience is that the entire schedule has to be redone for these changes to effectively be delivered to our end users.
If you're looking for a tool to take your reporting to the next level, this is it! [It's well suited for] eliminating all of your work once development of the report is done. This tool works 24/7/365 to deliver the details you need to both internal and external staff.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports is used as a foundation for our external financial reporting, including balance sheets, income statements, and other special reports. We have used it to create inventory reports out of SAP ERP, operational reporting, and master data governance. For our EAM group, it has reduced backlogs, provided real-time visibility into our ERP system, and ensure good data governance
  • Good integration with SAP ERP
  • Provides great embedded analytics with SAP ERP
  • It's the "Swiss Army" knife of reporting
  • Much easier to use than coding an ABAP report
  • Crystal for Enterprise could provide better integration with SAP ERP
  • Provide more ease of use/learning and reporting
If you are on enhancement pack 5 or higher, I highly recommend using Crystal Reports with SAP ERP, if your data volume is small. It is excellent for highly formatted reporting such as external financial statements and inventory forms.
Chandrabhan Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I found SAP Crystal Reports to be better in formatting. Inter-team functionality got a structured form of data sharing. There is an interactive UI also on the mobile version. I found it useful since it comes with huge handling capacity and with very simple functionality. SAP always does wonder with their products. It has a great foundation in technology.
  • Generally if we connect the SAP databases - it is good to have
  • Inter-team communication has improved a lot. With many structured ways of formats, it helped
  • There is an additional feature which is fine - scheduling
  • The authority of security lies with the developer, which is a drawback
  • Client Support needs improvement
  • The pricing of the server product is high
Crystal Reports gives you advantages in large teams with cross-team communication. With organizations needing a huge set of support features, Crystal Report takes the cake. The advanced formatting gives your documentation an edge. If you have a developer dedicated to CR, or you can afford a CR developer, then CR will be a very good tool for your company but with pricing and complexities, it won't be good.

Himanshu Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use SAP Crystal reports for my BI Reporting tool. My organization is hugely data dependent. I needed a tool to support the reports and accurate data. In SAP Crystal Reports, I found a good product to use for my BI team. The support is very good, being a product from SAP. I enjoyed using it.
  • The support of SAP is hands down one of the best.
  • The easy report handling feature is good.
  • Being a SAP product, chances of getting an error is significantly lower.
  • It needs great expertise to properly operate this product.
  • Too many updates are not good for an average user.
  • There are many features that are too confusing.
When your organization is huge and you need efficient reports with very well defined formats, and you do have an expert dedicated employee for handling this huge product. But, if you don't have enough resources, you will struggle operating it. Although SAP support is excellent, one needs an expert in all the functionalities.
December 12, 2017

Analysing SAP CR.

Sumit Jain | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Report always helped me to create the best report of daily work, track data, create best graph representation etc. Connecting it with databases make it more helpful to get data, represent it, analyze it easily as a graphical representation. One can create customized design report using it. If you're an expert in it, you can use its abundant feature also.
  • Rich in features and support system is also good.
  • Support various databases and sources like Oracle, MS SQL server, Excel etc.
  • Sharing report with SAP Crystal is easy with good security
  • More complex reports are time intensive.
  • New user finds a lot of difficulties in creating reports.
  • Sharing a report in an organisation is very important, and only a single person can edit in one time. Mailing the report is not a good idea, there should be a option of using cloud-based sharing.
If one wants to analyze its data deeply and manipulate it in a variety of different ways, this is the best tool to use.
1) Reports look clean and professional.
2) Integration with databases helps a lot.
3) The customized template as a user wants, easy to create and make an attractive look.
4) Visualisation of data in different ways - graphical or in simple words.
Keri Schneider | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports to pull data and reports. It is used across the organization and it allows the business to evaluate the current state, then we can work on improving it over time. We also use it to graph and come up with visual displays for data instead of using Excel or something less visually impactful.
  • Groups Easily
  • Displays graphs and statistical info easily
  • Allows for formatting
  • De-Duplicating data can be done through groups easily
  • Can use with SQL query/subqueries to improve performance
  • Shuts down in the middle of work often
  • Can lose work if you don't save constantly
  • Does not allow for subqueries within Crystal, must use SQL and combine with Crystal
Well Suited - summarizing a lot of data into a graphical representation instead of going through Excel details or doing additional manipulation.

Less appropriate - when a lot of subqueries/data are used, it doesn't allow you to pull segments of data, only doing regular joins. If you have huge databases it can shut down.

Shuts down out of the blue with no notice. Often results in losing work. Very frustrating.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports to pull data from our ERP software and create easy to use manufacturing orders for our production and warehouse teams. These reports are used in several parts of our organization but not the entire company. Using Crystal Reports helps our production and warehouse teams with their day to day tasks of creating batches and filling off containers. It also helps our production control team with inventory tracking through our ERP system.
  • Pulls data from existing ERP to create an easy to use and helpful report for manufacturing orders.
  • Can pull data from a variety of data sources without a lot of code.
  • They make our life easier by providing us with an option for building legible, useful and good-looking reports!
  • Not easy to use for the average user - it requires a developer to create the reports.
  • They can be slow to load sometimes (this may not be indicative of the actual Crystal Reports, but in my experience, they can load pretty slowly).
Crystal Reports are great when you print out a report - you can create really easy to read custom reports for your business. The look and feel of the report can be a big benefit to users and by creating something nice to look at for your users by making it a Crystal Report, you give the user a better experience.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports is being used as our ERP system. The reports have been used by the finance, procurement and logistics departments only. I designed and customized the reports in the way my customers wanted [them].
  • Built-in functions
  • Report formatting
  • Solutions
  • Don't really have anything for improvement yet as some of the challenges were with the ERP's database design
It is suited for financial and operational transaction listings.
Vasco Mendes | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Server is the perfect solution to share advanced BI reports across the organization, and all that from a single point of deploy. We can design simple yet powerful reports. As a senior consultant, I was responsible for making many proposals for customers to acquire SAP Crystal Server. It was successfully deployed in a company where Excel was the main source of reports, and where files needed to be shared across multiple users in order to make a final report.
  • It is great to generate reports that can be shared with many users, who can also collaborate on them.
  • The reports are easy to develop and deploy. There are lots of customizable options that can enrich your reports. The ability to generate scheduled reports is also a very good feature as it allows you to have complex and high demanding reports generated at a specific time.
  • As an SAP product, it is very affordable, making it a good value for the money product. Other products with same features can be more expensive.
  • Graph generation has some limitations that can be a bit frustrating sometimes.
  • The customer expects to create business presentations from their reports, which could be a simpler process if they could export reports and graphs directly to PowerPoint.
  • Customers always ask for a way to geta a feature like freeze panes in Excel. In large reports where scroll down is needed this feature is very important for the users.
  • As a selling point of view, the UI of SAP Crystal Server could be improved with more modern layouts and themes. SAP have been improving this important part on products like SAP Fiori, but need to widen the range of products where layout is important.
It is the perfect product for those who need to produce collaborative reports in a regularly scheduled way. Different reports can share common data sources, therefore it is easier to maintain consistent reports, reducing duplication of data entry. Although SAP is giving more importance to user experience, SAP Crystal Server still has a long way to go. It can have a long learning curve for users with minimal experience with similar programs, so you should guarantee that proper formation is planned.
Philip Kazzi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports as part of our report writing. It connects well with our EMR database, and acts as a great tool to pull, filter, and analyze data. Whether you're an experienced SQL-guru or have no experience in it, Crystal Reports has a solution for you to help you pull data and analyze it.
  • Pulls data via SQL or their own interface
  • Provides useful parameters to filter through your queries
  • Provides style options to template with
  • Could provide more design options.
  • It's not quite pixel perfect, and lining up fields can sometimes be tedious.
It's a great tool to both provide and summarize data with, which is needed for report writing. Whether a user just wants a general idea of what's going on, or if they want to see exact variables on what's affecting the results, Crystal Reports can help with that.

August 11, 2017

Review the stars

Katy Wilk | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The whole company used Crystal. We use it as a system to work in tandem with databases, and to provide users with data to allow for thorough and detailed analysis and interpretation. We use it to create detailed and clear reports and presentations, and also use it to generate reports based on information that is collected from virtually any data source.
  • Create highly formatted reports
  • Connects to an array of data sources
  • Integrates with a range of applications
  • Not Business User-Friendly
  • Licensing Model is Confusing- and Costly
Crystal Reports offers a vast assortment of advanced formatting and presentation options that give a skilled developer the power to create professional, highly formatted and complex query reports
Richard Bird | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports was the primary reporting tool for Epicor Vantage 8.03 and Epicor ERP 9. With the release of Epicor 10 while the software still supported Crystal Reports, officially Epicor's primary reporting tool became Microsoft SSRS. Anyone who generated reports out of Epicor did so with the Crystal Reports Runtime. A few power users used Crystal Reports Developer to design or change new or existing reports. Crystal Reports provides one of the primary methods to generate reports out of Epicor.
  • Layout & Formatting
  • Grouping
  • Sorting
  • Aggregates
  • Custom Calculations
  • The ability to rotate images
  • Export to Excel
  • Some versions attempted to 'intelligently' auto rotate on print preview & printing
Crystal Reports is great as a reporting tool against various data sources, including, MS Access, MS Excel, ACT!, XML files, ODBC, Exchange/Outlook, Salesforce.com and various Web Services. With Epicor (which use the XML connectivity) it was possible to schedule reports, auto print and manually print reports directly from the Epicor client. Crystal Reports is great for generating reports that need to be printed. As a rule, I prefer dashboards over reporting software and if it doesn't have to be printed then reporting software, like Crystal Reports, should not be used. While Crystal Reports can be used for printing standard reports and even custom labels, there are better suited applications for label printing, such as BarTender.
Larry Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized

At my company (Engineer to Order Manufacturing/Capital Equipment) we use Crystal Reports as our primary tool for operational reporting and some executive dashboarding. This is in combination with SAP's Business Objects platform which provides on-demand web delivery as well as batch scheduling of the reports.

Primary resources for report development/maintenance reside in IT (two developers) but there is also a cadre of power users who have been trained to use Crystal. These power users are seeded throughout the organization and are backed up by the IT staff.

Our organization utilizes an overall ERP solution (Oracle's JD Edwards/EnterpriseOne) as well as other packages such as Microsoft's Dynamics CRM, EtQ's Reliance Quality Management system, etc.

Rather than have a separate reporting mechanism native to each application we have chosen to follow a path of using one tool (Crystal) that is capable of working with the data from all of our applications and that can integrate data across applications/databases.

With Crystal/BusinessObjects we deliver information to internal staff as well as deliver information to customers and suppliers.

It provides a means of crafting pixel-perfect forms and reports that support the professional image we strive to convey.

  • Combine data from multiple data sources.
  • Truly database agnostic - SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, Access, Teradata, Essbase, Excel files, etc.
  • Formatting allows very detailed control of how data is presented on the screen/page.
  • Extremely flexible in data selection.
  • Complex requirements can be met/satisfied (depending on knowledge/capability of the designer).
  • Drill down capability.
  • Multiple delivery options/formats (native, PDF, Excel, Word, CSV, etc.).
  • Needs easier means to access Cloud Data.
  • Current version still only has partial support for reading/exporting to Microsoft Office's latest formats.
  • Current owner of Crystal Reports has not improved its feature set significantly for some years now. It's actually in a "maintenance mode" in my opinion.

Well suited for operational reports and static analytics.

If looking for the type of dashboards where a user can play what if games by sliding a slider control, etc., this is not the tool.

Also if your company's applications are in the cloud or heading that direction Crystal is probably not your tool (although I don't know what one would be at that point).

Jeremiah Alexander | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use SAP Crystal Reports primarily with Exact JobBoss as the report writer. All of our custom reporting is done in SAP Crystal Reports. We also utilize it to run reports from MS SQL databases instead of Microsoft's built-in reporting tool. While none of these are heavy duty custom reports we have several customers that require specialized packing slips/invoices that required moderate editing of the standard reports.
  • Once you know how to use it, it is an incredibly powerful report editor.
  • Makes custom database reports easy compared to Excel and other tools.
  • Setting up rows in the reports to match the rows in the linked database is amazing when you're making list reports.
  • The documentation is poor. Unless you are willing to pay for training don't expect to be able to write an amazing report just using the built-in docs.
  • The design looks old. Everything feels like your working in 2007 not 2017. It has almost an identical feel and flow to Visual Studio 2008.
  • Crystal Reports in general feels like an outdated technology, but we use it because no one has made anything better. Why there isn't a similar business oriented markup/html product I don't know. But since they are really the only good option and most ERP/Finance software already has it built in we use it.
  • It's expensive for what it is.
If you're writing a custom report for software that already has Crystal Reports as its reporting tool then you almost have to use it. In this case it is the most cost/time effective way to get your report written and you can use the standard templates you already have. I would say if you are not "locked in" and writing a report from scratch then you would be better off using some free web technology like AngularJS and a templating engine.
Thomas Harty | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently use Crystal Reports to develop many ad-hoc reports for executive management analytical and reporting purposes with the administration and finance department. I also use it to develop customized transactional data and trial balance reports that are specifically tailored for the data I want to see and the manner in which I want to see it (customized grouping) which isn't as easily provided for from the accounting system we use.
  • Provides the flexibility to choose the data you want to include from any table in your database and better enables you to understand the structure of it.
  • Allows for the customization of grouping of data records through development of formulas through a built-in programming interface.
  • Through the creation of sub-reports with parameter links you can combine separate customized data reports into one report file.
  • Through the programming interface, you can create formulas to summarize data from a subreport and include that value in the main report body, thus, developing a summary report from data of a variety of different subreports.
  • It would be nice to have sometime of functionality that would better detect an improper linking of two or more tables. Sometimes I don't know that I have an improper link until after I run a report and realize data records are repeating.
  • Sometimes the pass through of formula values from multiple sub reports to a main report can be in error based on the placement of the sub reports in relation to each other. It would be great to have functionality that warns you about those issues.
  • There should be more intellisense provided in the formula interface when creating conditional statements.
Crystal Reports is great in providing an individual with the capability of creating customized reports that serve his or her particular informational needs. So, if the reporting capabilities of your database system limit what fields of data you can report on and how the report can be designed and formatted, then Crystal Reports is the perfect tool to deploy. It is also a great tool for anyone interested in gaining greater familiarity with the structure of your entity's database system and learning the different querying and grouping statements that can be created to get subsets of your organizations transactional data. Crystal Reports only drawback is that it takes time to familiarize yourself with your organizations database structure and a lot of time may need to be spent verifying the content of your developed report is accurate by running comparison reports built into the database system or through database views made available in your system.
Charleigh E. Parker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Crystal Reports with Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge; I am the only user, and it is currently only used in the Institutional Advancement office. RE's canned reports are rather limited, and even NXT's analytics are view-only, so the only way to slice and dice our data is outside of the database using Crystal Reports. I've built Solicitor reports showing various information on their assignees, participation reports for various constituencies, financial overviews, and solicitor performance reports. We basically use Crystal Report for almost all of our fundraising reporting needs.
  • Crystal Reports is really only limited by the creativity and knowledge of the report builder.
  • It's versatile, and can work with any database or data set that can export into Access or something similar.
  • It's a great way to get people to generate their own reports. Sure they can be intense to build, but once that's done, anyone can use them.
  • It's not something you can just pick up and start using, you'll need someone who knows what they're doing to build your reports.
  • I wish it were possible to use formulas in parameters.
  • I also wish there were a way to automatically link all tables at once, instead of having to set the join for each table individually. This can get quite tedious when you're working with a lot of tables.
It all depends on what you need. Crystal Reports is best used to condense and display lots of data; if all you need are rows of detail and a grand total, this would be overkill. If, however, you'd like to see variable results based on parameters of your choosing or visualize complex analytics using hundreds/thousands points of data, this might be your tool.
Sam Shannon, CAPM | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Crystal Reports is used across our organization to interpret data into customized reports. In conjunction with a timer and an odbc I am able to pull data from our ERP softwares and automate their delivery. This allows control down to the smallest detail and data point. Our main ERP software actually comes with a report writing software, but it is insufficient and unwieldy and Crystal allows me to supplement that writer with reports that function and look even better.
  • Very flexible with different inputs. Can work with any ODBC connection.
  • Extremely customizable and powerful. With sub-reports I can create any report I desire even they are somewhat time intensive.
  • Beautiful. The reports I am able to produce from Crystal Reports are clean and professional. I receive complements on them all the time.
  • The learning curve can be steep. A background in Excel formulas is helpful. Crystal's possibilities are limited really only by the user.
  • More complex reports are time intensive. This is, however, to be expected.
  • The programming language is unique to Crystal and though similar to Excel still requires learning and is easily confused with Excel when you shift from one back to another or take a break from Crystal.
Crystal's main use is database interpretation. It is not meant to be used to create reports from scratch, but from data from a database. I have not, however, encountered a software better for creating reports out of a database. It's ability to bend and mold data is unparalleled. Working in Crystal does, however, require a specific type of thinking and some simple tasks will require elaborate workarounds or customer SQl Queries because data extraction from a database simply works like that.
Sheila Seal | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is being used across the organization to access and disseminate data to end users. It is used for routine reports.
  • Can make a report very visually appealing
  • Can access data from different sources
  • Can write SQL directly for data pulls
  • Writes inefficient SQL
  • Needs more robust cross tabs
  • Slow
It is good for basic data and to make pretty reports. It is also preferred for users with limited SQL skills. I prefer SSRS because it is more efficient in terms of gathering and publishing the data.
Josel Harrison | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Crystal Reports on a daily basis to extract data from various databases. This is required for the assignments within my position. I am the statistician for my department so I produce statistical reports monthly, quarterly and annually. I also extract data specific to open records requests received by my agency as well as specific data for offenses that occur. I use Crystal Reports for various other reports within the agency as requested.
  • Extracts data which can be compiled and analyzed.
  • Combines various data sets into useful reports on demand.
  • Writes the SQL statement for the user making building reports simpler.
  • I honestly cannot think of a single recommendation I can make to improve this product.
This software is very useful for users who have one or more databases utilized by their organization which need specific reports created in order to pull data out. Crystal Reports is a complicated software product that does require training for use. Once the program is fully understood it is very powerful and useful for extracting data as needed.
Claason Schulz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Server is used throughout our organization, to varying degrees, by all the departments. It is used to generate reports, both ad-hoc reports and scheduled recurring reports, and the information we are able to get from the reports we run with SAP Crystal Server is very important to our decision making.
  • Generates professional looking reports
  • Scheduled reporting
  • Can choose destination of reports
  • Dashboard needs updating
  • We have had some security issues for different users
  • Difficult to use for new users
SAP Crystal Server is a very good option to use for scheduled reports because it is very straight forward (once you familiarise yourself with the program) to set this up and choose the delivery destination. We have also been happy with the ad-hoc reports we have created using SAP Crystal Server because it provides professional looking reports, that are easy to read and interpret.
Jaap Maartens | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Reports is used within our company to design and generate interactive reports from many data sources in a short time and generally knowledge of coding isn't required. The application produces smart reporting that supports making financial decisions within our department.
  • The product has been around for a while and there is enough literature out there for learning and mastering its capabilities
  • Intuitive graphical user interface
  • Fast customization options and powerful formula tool
  • Great web integration features
  • Might take awhile to master and programming knowledge may allow bringing the product to the next level
  • Some graphic elements could be improved
  • Prone to bugs
The product might be considered on the expensive side for smaller businesses, but it does the job just right and should be a departure point for businesses when making decisions about answering their reporting needs. The product offers something for less experienced and more advanced, but best reports are created with learning to master SAP Crystal Reports.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In my organisation, we use SAP Crystal Server in the finance and accounting departments to put together reports, and SAP Crystal Server is also used in the logistics and human resources departments to put together reports. The business problem SAP Crystal Server addresses is our need for recurring reports in the various departments.
  • Report generation
  • Scheduled reports
  • Great report templates
  • Fair amount of training required for new users
  • Glitches with importing data at times
  • Training given was inadequate for some users
SAP Crystal Server is great for scheduled and recurring reporting, and very useful when multiple departments use the programs for reporting purposes because it utilises some of the same data for different reports, and reduces duplication of data entry. It is not well suited for users with minimal experience with similar programs because it is not the most intuitive reporting program to use.
November 14, 2016

Crystal Clear Reports

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The marketing department in my organization uses SAP Crystal Server to run scheduled reports and we are currently working on expending its use to other departments, also to run scheduled reports. The business problems it addresses is our need for recurring reports, especially ones that have real-time data.
  • Schedule reports
  • Real-time reporting
  • Clear reports that are easy to interpret
  • Less user-friendly than other reporting software - that's why we use it for scheduled reports instead of switching over to only use SAP Crystal Server
  • Integration issues
SAP Crystal Server is perfect for recurring reports (scheduled reports), especially when you want to use real-time data. We use SAP Crystal Server in the marketing department to track if the campaigns we are running are meeting our expectations or if we need to make any changes to the approach we have chosen.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SAP Crystal Server is used in many departments in our company. I specifically use it in the Engineering department to make sure that our project deadlines are going to be met. I run several reports that help me analyse the progress of the projects, and also to track that the materials that we need to manufacture the projects.
  • Very easy to create customised reports
  • Great for running weekly progress reports
  • Mobile integration
  • The UI could be improved
  • We had a few problems with importing data
Very good for running regularly scheduled reports and using the program to track the status of projects. Because you can customise the reports, SAP Crystal Server can be used for any variety of reporting needs. But to really get everything out of this program, I think you need to be very familiar with how it functions.
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