SAP Crystal Reporting in Plastic Injection Molding
May 12, 2016
SAP Crystal Reporting in Plastic Injection Molding
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with SAP Crystal Reports
SAP Crystal Reports is being used to create all business reporting across all functions of the business. We use it to make a physical schedule, measure KPIs, and track sales. In addition, all labels that are applied to products are printed with reports built in Crystal Reports. Each function has its own reports that have been created to show what materials are required when, where they need to go, and what needs to be done to them. Crystal Reports has greatly increased the visibility of the process and has increased efficiency on the shop floor.
- Crystal Reports is very intuitive. For a first time user with no formal training on the software, I was able to create and edit reports without much difficulty.
- Crystal Reports is very robust. The complicated reports we run that pull data from all over our MRP and then perform calculations. The formatting of the data is done very quickly, without much wait time for the compilation of the information.
- The users manual is comprehensive. Again, I had no training with the software before using it, but the manual answered questions very well without having to go out and search online for answers on forums that may or may not have helped.
- Making charts can be a little tricky. The information is not displayed as well as I'd like without a lot of massaging/manipulating fields to make them display properly.
- Compiling running totals is also tough. A report I am working on will not calculate averages correctly, and I've tried all suggested ways. It will average three columns each with a "1" in them and output something that makes no sense - 5.67 or some other random number.
- The automatic tabs that are put in each time a field is added to the report are a little clunky and distracting. They don't line up next to fields and are just busy work to move/remove.
- Exporting to Microsoft 2003 (no versions higher than that) needs to be updated to more current versions of Excel.
SAP Crystal Feature Ratings
SAP Crystal Reports Training
- Self-taught
I spent some time going over the basics by reading the user manual. For issues I came across that were not addressed in the user guide, I went out to the internet and looked around at forums where other users had come across the same issue. This approach worked for me because most of our reports were pre-built, and I was only modifying them. If you are going to be doing all reports from scratch, it would be easier and worth the time for formal training.