Efficient reporting tool with endless possibilities
June 11, 2019

Efficient reporting tool with endless possibilities

Frank Hunt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

SAP Crystal Reports

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Crystal

Crystal reports help us to pull automatic reports out of various databases directly (without importing into Excel first and running pivot tables) and display relations in the data. As long as there is a common data field (a campaign ID, for example), the reports are done in seconds across all the connected data sources. This exact process used to take at least an hour when done manually.

Pros

  • Seamless parsing of data across different data sources.
  • Ability to create sub-records and drill-down feature for granular data analysis.
  • Complex queries or SQl statements are done in seconds.

Cons

  • The export of reports to Excel is very cumbersome and the results are difficult to format.
  • The design of reports and the graphical features (e.g. charts) feel quite rigid.
  • The learning curve for a non-programmer is incredibly steep, making Crystal a specialty tool.
  • Time and cost savings achieved by automation of report creating across many data sources we maintain.
  • The ability to drill down into granular details of the data leads to a better understanding of the business procedures.
  • Well-presented reports are invaluable for getting new clients on board.
Crystal offered a more straightforward implementation for our situation. While Tableau offers well-designed reports, the overall functionality regarding data manipulation and analysis is behind Crystal.

Compared to MS Excel, the possibilities of Crystal are virtually endless, providing a completely new and fresh view over the performance of the company as a whole.
Crystal reports is a great Business Intelligence tool for any midsize business that prefers to keep its data in-house instead of in the cloud. The learning curve for parsing data source and creating first reports could be a bit steep at the beginning, but then the cost savings are invaluable. The reports generated by Crystal are easily manipulated according to different requirements and further analyzed by the recipients.

SAP Crystal Feature Ratings

Pixel Perfect reports
8
Customizable dashboards
9
Report Formatting Templates
7
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
8
Integration with R or other statistical packages
8
Report sharing and collaboration
9
Publish to Web
9
Publish to PDF
9
Report Versioning
9
Report Delivery Scheduling
8
Delivery to Remote Servers
8
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
Not Rated
Multi-User Support (named login)
9
Role-Based Security Model
9
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
7
Single Sign-On (SSO)
8
Responsive Design for Web Access
7
Mobile Application
8
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
8
Javascript API
8
Java API
8
Themeable User Interface (UI)
9
Customizable Platform (Open Source)
9

Comments

More Reviews of SAP Crystal