Skip to main content
TrustRadius
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.

Read more
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 …
Continue reading

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 …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

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
JM
Jenny Miranda
Executive Services Administrator
Proulx Manufacturing Inc. (Executive Office, 11-50 employees)
Return to navigation

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
Return to navigation

Product Demos

Software TRAIL DEMO SAP Crystal Reports 2013

YouTube

SAP Crystal Dashboard Design - Demo video

YouTube
Return to navigation

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
Return to navigation

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 Competitors

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

SAP Crystal Downloadables

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, 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).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

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

Deploy and be amazed

Jeff Hieber | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jeff Hieber
Director Information Systems
J Hieber Consulting (Medical Practice, 11-50 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
January 08, 2018

Crystal Reports - your Real-Time SAP ERP Reporting Solution

Verified User
Analyst in Finance and Accounting
Utilities Company, 201-500 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
December 20, 2017

SAP Crystal Reports - a better way to get personalized reports.

Chandrabhan Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Chandrabhan Singh
Assistant General Manager
Airports Authority of India (Airlines/Aviation, 10,001+ employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.

December 19, 2017

SAP Crystal Reports - Best in formatting, sharing BI reports

Himanshu Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Himanshu Singh
Product Manager
ANS Commerce - E-commerce Solutions for India (Internet, 11-50 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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
Sumit Jain
Graduate Engineering Trainee
Larsen & Toubro (Construction, 10,001+ employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
December 06, 2017

Crystal- Mostly great! A few issues and glitches that drive me bananas...

Keri Schneider | TrustRadius Reviewer
Keri Schneider
Senior Clarity Reporting Analyst
Kettering Health Network (Hospital & Health Care, 10,001+ employees)
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
December 06, 2017

SAP Crystal Reports - easy for the end user

Verified User
Administrator in Corporate
Construction Company, 51-200 employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
October 06, 2017

SAP Crystal Server – Collaborative reports

Vasco Mendes | TrustRadius Reviewer
Vasco Mendes
Senior Consultant
SoftINSA (Telecommunications, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
August 17, 2017

Newbie Review of Crystal Reports

Philip Kazzi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Philip Kazzi
Epic Reports Analyst
Kettering Health Network (Hospital & Health Care, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.

July 26, 2017

Crystal Reports: A Future Contender?

Richard Bird | TrustRadius Reviewer
Richard Bird
ERP Administrator
Aligned Solutions Consulting, LLC (Plastics, 201-500 employees)
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
May 08, 2017

Crystal Reports - An Older Tool that is Still a Great Choice for Non-Bleeding Edge Environments

Larry Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Larry Jones
I.T. Black Knight
Wagstaff, Inc. (Machinery, 201-500 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend

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).

April 18, 2017

SAP Crystal Reports is great (if you're forced to edit Crystal Reports)

Jeremiah Alexander | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jeremiah Alexander
Systems Manager
Alexander Screw Products, Inc. (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees)
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
April 18, 2017

Crystal Reports - A Premium Flexible Report Development Tool

Thomas Harty | TrustRadius Reviewer
Thomas Harty
Accounting Manager
Health Resources in Action (Non-Profit Organization Management, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
March 29, 2017

Crystal Reports - As useful as your builder is knowledgable

Charleigh E. Parker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Charleigh E. Parker
Advancement Systems Administrator
The Nightingale-Bamford School (Primary/Secondary Education, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
March 28, 2017

Crisp, clean, and efficient. Crystal Reports gets the job done, beautifully.

Sam Shannon, CAPM | TrustRadius Reviewer
Sam Shannon, CAPM
LMI Data Analyst and ERP Systems Manager
LMI Systems, Inc. (Telecommunications, 201-500 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
February 17, 2017

Crystal Reports offers a variety of reporting options for your organization.

Josel Harrison | TrustRadius Reviewer
Josel Harrison
Accreditation and Reporting Administrator
McKinney Police Department (Law Enforcement, 201-500 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
January 09, 2017

Better Reporting, Less Effort

Claason Schulz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Claason Schulz
Advisory Manager
EY (Accounting, 10,001+ employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
December 20, 2016

Answeing your reporting business needs the right way

Jaap Maartens | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jaap Maartens
Senior Consultant Financial Services
PwC (Financial Services, 10,001+ employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
November 15, 2016

Get it done with SAP Crystal Server

SB
Sofia Boiesan
AP Specialist & Payroll Practitioner
William Kelly & Sons Group of Companies (Construction, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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

Verified User
Manager in Marketing
Cosmetics Company, 11-50 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
November 08, 2016

Great results if you have the knowledge

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Medical Devices Company, 11-50 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Return to navigation