High Performance, Cost Effective, Plethora of Functions, Ease of Use
Updated January 15, 2018

High Performance, Cost Effective, Plethora of Functions, Ease of Use

Justin Lee | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review

Software Version

SAP Crystal Reports

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Crystal

Crystal Training Source teaches, consults, and develops Crystal Server and Crystal Reports for various companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. We help potential/current users learn all of the functions and /or features within SAP Crystal Server to greatly improve data traffic and sharing within their organisation.

It addresses the issues experienced by inferior products not being able to share, distribute, and run needed reports (high volume) on a daily basis.
  • You can easily navigate within the Central Management Console to access a plethora of very powerful functions i.e. (Security, Users, Groups, Scheduling, Distribution, Delivery Formats, Business Views, Triggers, etc.)
  • In my previous experience outside of SAP a lot of products are very difficult to learn and apply. SAP Crystal Server is laid out in a very intuitive way and it makes learning and application fluid.
  • End users can easily access the end user portal and view, schedule, run, and distribute reports with the click of a mouse. This allows data to flow much more efficiently throughout the organization.
  • SAP Crystal Server allows a seamless connection to your organizations production data which allows for a smooth transition from basic reporting to publication in a few short steps.
  • I would like to see graph features to be improved. SAP has made leaps and bounds over the years and I know they will get there.
  • I would like to see SAP products bundled for a more turn key solution.
At this point, I have never had the need to jump ship and use another product, much less evaluate another. SAP has improved year over year and added new functionality that continues to make data management easier and more cost effective.
SAP Crystal Reports

SAP Crystal Feature Ratings

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

Using SAP Crystal

10 - Administrators utilize Crystal Reports to track Classes and Instructors' continuing education.
Instructors teach Crystal Reports and utilize software to help customers develop reports over web collaboration.
Consultants utilize Crystal Reports to publish and distribute reports across various platforms and formats.
Our Accounting department utilizes information from QuickBooks to quickly deploy reports through SAP Crystal Reports and publish and distribute through SAP Crystal Server.
10 - Crystal Reports is a very powerful, productive, and novice friendly reporting tool. I have been teaching this application for over 10 years and I have seen students successfully utilize Crystal Reports from all sorts of backgrounds including, but not limited to: Help Desk, IT Support, IT, Accounting, General Staff, Administrator Levels I, II, III etc. Cashier at a grocery store to Senior Developer, it can be accomplished with formal training.
Crystal Reports can be successfully utilized by just about anyone regardless of background at an Beginner/Intermediate level. Advanced functionality i.e. (Sub-reports, cross-tab, SQL statements, and variables)do require training and application, but over 90% of my students are able regardless of background or education.
  • Continuing to process "Big Data"
  • Distribution via SAP Crystal Server (WOW) Administrator - End User
  • Dashboards
  • Training
  • Consulting
  • Development
  • Invoicing
  • Brochures
  • Projections

Evaluating SAP Crystal and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Analyst Reports
  • Third-party Reviews
The old saying:
If it isn't broke, dont fix it!

I work for one of the most reputable Crystal Report/Server training companies in the US and Canada who has been teaching this product for over 20 years. We have had to my knowledge only a handful of situations where Crystal Reports would not work to the customers specifications. At that time, I do not believe the customer had a runner up or solution waiting. I have taught in almost every industry and Crystal is the clear winner.
The biggest challenge facing companies these days with the implementation of a new product or software package is purchasing, implementation, and training staff to be productive quickly. Crystal Reports exceeds in every one of those aspects.