Crystal Review
Updated January 08, 2018

Crystal Review

Ercole Lugari | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Crystal

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 has a long service experience and is graphically superior.
SAP Crystal Reports is well suited for canned reporting and for us is less appropriate for exploring type of reporting.

SAP Crystal Feature Ratings

Pixel Perfect reports
9
Customizable dashboards
2
Report Formatting Templates
9
Drill-down analysis
1
Formatting capabilities
4
Integration with R or other statistical packages
2
Report sharing and collaboration
5
Publish to Web
7
Publish to PDF
9
Report Versioning
8
Report Delivery Scheduling
9
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
1
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
1
Predictive Analytics
2
Multi-User Support (named login)
4
Role-Based Security Model
5
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
4
Responsive Design for Web Access
5
Mobile Application
2
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
2

Using SAP Crystal

2025 - Finance, Sales and Marketing
2 - You need to be confident with SAP BusinessObjects related version and also SQL or Oracle SQL, or datasorce databse language related to the data source SAP Crystal is connecting to
  • Will a future implementation to HR nad Product development
  • Reporting Tool that need specific invoice type of reporting output
  • Reporting Tool that need some scheduling capability
  • Reporting tool that need a solid solution for template
  • We have been able to use Crystal in combination with Dashboard tool in InfoView, creating objects for Dashboarding
  • SAP Crystal have been implemented with a .net application which run report pushing parameters and output the report results into FTP location

Evaluating SAP Crystal and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Reputation
  • Analyst Reports
Adding more POC example included in the evaluation process

SAP Crystal Implementation

Make sure the version compatibility before starting the implementation project
Change management was minimal
  • Integration with SAP BusinessObjects version anticipated

SAP Crystal Support

The support is slow and very difficult to get hold to

Much better is the knowledge base and SAP forum to get an initial answer

ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
Kept well informed
Support understands my problem
Slow Resolution
Problems left unsolved
Slow Initial Response
No - Not good value for money and there are many article and materials online to be able to solve issues yourself
Yes - Usually bug are fixed in future release and in general fascion and not in direct logging base

SAP did provide a great support during the evaluation of the product with a direct call from an expert technical support agent

It also suggest to include in the upgrade project some additional consulting hours free of charge

Using SAP Crystal

The reporting tool is easy to use for user population and easy to train new stuff

Also is well integrated in the SAP BusinessObjects platform

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Report pixel detail in Reporting developing
  • Scheduling report are extremely easy to use
  • Integration with SMTP servers and Microsft AD single sign on very useful
  • Reporting development with graphs and dashboards
  • Reporting development with need of excel exporting functions
Yes - It complicated and difficult to apply to OS operating system