SAP Crystal Reports Reviews

• You can write very complex formulas
• Field conditional formatting
• Subreports
• Specific formatting for report sections (headers, footers, etc.)
• Crosstab reports
• Coders can write their own custom SQL statement

Users have learned to write their own reports, reducing the load on our IT department.

• Easier to use crosstab interface so beginners create reports faster
• Allow for customization of crosstab row/column labels
• Installation takes more than 15 minutes on our workstations

I've been using it for seven years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.

I have never contacted tech support for help.

This product was recommended by our banking system vendor.

The setup is pretty straightforward. You can install all options to make it easier.

We installed it using our IT team. I would recommend scripting for a large deployment because it takes about 15 minutes per workstation to install.

Saberlogic Logicity provides free Crystal Viewer software. Users who only need to run reports can use this free of charge, so you can save on license costs.

• Document views or report models to make it easy for users to choose their data sources.
• Point novice users to the crosstab report. It is fairly easy to use.
• For moderate to heavy users, you should send them for training.
• Users with programming or scripting skills can create really complex reports.
• Saberlogic Logicity provides free Crystal Viewer software. Users who only need to run reports can use this free of charge, so you can save license costs.

The ability to able to write your own SQL commands, parameterizing reports and putting them online.

Being able to produce online parameterized reports, so the end users can do their own reports, increases productivity.

Crystal 2008 - the export functionality could be improved, right now it will only export approximately 65K into one spreadsheet tab. When it reaches the max rows, it will continue on the next tab. This is really only an issue when users are exporting in Business Object. Currently, known larger files need to eported into txt or csv, the end users generally aren't as familiar with bring in this type of file into excel workbook.

Also, charts and mapping functionality could be much improved.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

I wasn't involved in the implementation.

It was implemented in-house.

In general, Crystal Reports 2008 is a very robust reporting tool. It is definitely geared toward the professional user. There is a learning curve and I would definitely take a class to learn all the functionalities.

I appreciate the ability to connect to just about any structured data source. This makes it very flexible. We can use it in any Windows-based technical environment, but now we specialize with reports for just one data source, QuickBooks via QQube. Since we have Crystal Reports viewers available for our customers to use, they don't need to purchase the product, but can run the reports that we build for them.

We use it as a tool to build custom designed reports that our customers can run at a single click against their own data. It's the foundation of our company's existence.

We would like to see a Crystal Reports desktop version with built-in functionality to edit a single reference that exists in multiple formulas. This would be a big time saver. We would also like to select multiple detail area fields and insert the same summary field for all of them instead of having to do it one at a time.

We have used it for 20 years.

We haven't had deployment issue per se, as much as part of a greater stability worry.

It's always been known to crash unexpectedly, so get in the habit of frequent saving. I never liked the auto-save feature, though because it ends up saving things I didn't intend to retain. Since version 2008 it's been much more stable.

We have never encountered scalability issues.

I never use it because those folks don't even know as much about it as I do. However, if I encounter a bug, I will go to the SAP SDN to check it out or to report it.

No other solution has been used. I've been working with it since I worked in Tech Support for Seagate Software when they owned and supported the application.

It was simple and easy to install. The hard part was knowing/learning the structure of your data source and what you want to do with that data. Like any skill, it takes a long time to master. I have done incredible, innovative things with Crystal Reports, but only because I knew it so well and could synthesize breakthrough ideas on how to give the customer what they wanted.

Hire experts for a fixed period of time while longer term employees shadow until they learn how to use it. Otherwise a new reporting endeavour will take too long. The end users need their reports.

Great Flexibility - the limitations in how or what the report will look & feel is really limited by the developer. Formulas can be placed on virtually any field or level. Data can be conditionally suppressed, fonts changed, splashes of color added all dependent on the data provided.Data sources options - whether you're connecting via DB2, MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, a WebService, or any other number of connection types - there are tons of inherent connections to the tool. Configuring a connection is done easily with a wizard, and changing the connection (say during an upgrade of the source system or a server change) can be done very easily as well while retaining the report fields.Sub-Reports - many times a complex report may report on many different aspects of the data, tethering tying together lots of different data together into a nice little report. Using sub-reports allows the different reports and their SQL to be compartmentalized, while still allowing the reports fields and the variables to be shared between the main report and the sub-report(s).Formulas - Once you get the hang of the formulas in Crystal Reports, they are very powerful. Different flags and indicators can be constructed, suppression based on the formula fields, or formula fields based on other formula fields in conjunction with the source data. Creative formula construction is just one of the many tools in Crystal Reports that allows this tool to be so flexible and robust.

All the options - These same options that allow Crystal Reports to be so customizable and really achieve the report your customers desire can be a burden. If you have "inherited" an existing report, there are a number of different ways that the "Look and Feel" of the report may have been achieved - and sometimes figuring out how something was done in Crystal Reports can be like solving a Hardy Boys mystery!Syntax constructs - the syntax used in Crystal Reports (formulas) is slightly different than most other languages, using a combination of curly brackets and pipes with some traditional syntax. When constructed incorrectly, there isn't much assistance in what steps you need to take to correct your formula - only something telling you it is wrong!

The ability to connect to IDAPI files. I have to use Paradox (Borland) as my database and this version of Crystal Reports is the latest one that still works with IDAPI files. I also rely heavily on the ability to run the reports in the viewer.

The reports can be viewed within our custom software product using the CR Viewer and can additionally be exported to various formats, such as Excel, for further processing. This gives the users the ability to do additional data processing in various ways without having to run a separate report for each variation.

I would like to be able to summarize formulas.

I've been using it in total for thirteen years. This version for five years, and previous ones for eight years.

This product basically works right out of the box. Except for an upgrade to SP3, we have not had any problems.

We've experienced no issues with performance.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

I haven’t used the customer service or technical support options other than searching for documentation on syntax. Searching for help on syntax has been successful. There is a lot of information on the internet for Crystal Reports.

I have used other versions in another workplace. At my current workplace, Crystal Reports 8 was previously used. This version was selected because of its ability to work with the IDAPI files.

The setup is very straightforward. We experienced no difficulty installing the product on our systems.

Our in-house technicians installed the product.

It is an excellent product. Having used other report writers, the only one that comes close is the one in MS Access but that is not a stand-alone product and can only be used with MS Access. Crystal Reports has a great deal of flexibility in how you display your company data. The designer has the ability to create formulas or conditions for almost every feature of the report including suppression and formatting.

I like that Crystal Reports can easily connect to a multitude of datasource types, handling all with aplomb. It has a feature-rich toolset that allows me to shape and present the data to suit any report requirement thrown my way. Enterprise is simply the best report delivery product on the market.

I single handedly manage delivery of over 3,000 reports per month, a figure that would be unattainable without such a robust and dependable product.

I would like to see improvement in charts and metadata extraction. Reporting against the actual MDB database is cumbersome at best.

I've been using it for over 10 years.

I had minor issues with deployment, but the support was tremendous.

It’s an extremely stable platform. My reports run at around 99.94% on schedule yearly.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

As I mentioned above, the support is very, very good, especially so when working directly with the service reps. The website is a little cluttered and difficult to navigate, but I’ve found a lot of help through sites such as ITCentralStation.com and other online communities.

I started out with Crystal Reports and Enterprise. I have used a few others in a limited capacity since then, but was disappointed in all.

The architecture/setup was handled by someone before me, so I can’t speak firsthand to any difficulties. However, from my conversations with that individual, there were no serious hang ups or difficulties with the initial setup.

I believe we did use a vendor team, and once again, not having first hand knowledge, I can’t really speak to this.

Buy it! I’ve seen the alternatives and they pale in comparison. There are third-party add-ins that have helped, but nothing else comes close out-of-the-box.

• Version 2008 – SQL & report scheduling
• Version 2013 – XLSX workbooks

It quickly delivers consumer-focused prototypes and delivers results and code to R&D.

• It needs better graphical visualizations.
• It needs a better Crystal Viewer.

I've been using it for about 16 yers

Often at the end of a heavy Crystal Reports/Excel day, both Crystal Reports and Excel will crash with various memory issues. Crystal Reports sometimes has problems emailing and you get a MAPI error. You will get “corrupt” reports after running successfully for a couple of years, and then have to recreate. Sometimes, for no known detectable reason, 2008 will just “vanish” and I will have to restart it.

I am the only person using it, so I haven't had to scale.

For installing, upgrading and billing issues, support is great. But for “how do you do this” type of questions, Ken Hamady on LinkedIn is wonderful.

We have a product built on the Business Objects environment and also offer Crystal Reports instructions to connect to another product via JDBC. In-house analytics is primarily Microstrategy with Tableau scattered about.

I use Crystal Reports because Business Objects, MicroStrategy, and Tableau are too limiting for me. I analyze data and processes using real-time data.

The last install was a few years ago, and if I don’t remember much about the upgrade (to a new laptop), then the upgrade is pretty much straightforward.

I haven't evaluated any other solution, and I have no intention of switching.

It's the most reasonable solution available. If you are looking for a SQL-only product, then this one is not it – go look at SQL Analyzer, or Squirrel. If you want a full package of collecting, analyzing and presenting, then this is the package for you. However, you do need to have a programming angle to really understand the capabilities and power.

The most valuable feature is the ability to create reports easily. End users and non-technical users can learn the product with ease.

Crystal Reports enables end users to create reports. This in turn, enables business analysts to perform analytics without interaction from our IT teams.

From our experience with it, we would like the ability to change reports en masse in case of backend changes. It would also be nice if it enabled object orientation.

I've used it for two years.

I've had no issues with deploying it.

There have been no issues with its performance.

It's scaled for our needs.

Customer Service:

We've had very good customer support.

Technical Support:

Technical support has been very good.

We worked with other solutions concurrently. SSRS was another reporting solution we used.

Initial setup needed to be performed by an IT administrator. Data connectivity was also a function reserved for IT.

The solution was implemented in-house using our local system admin.

Our ROI with the solution was being able to jump onto loans that were delinquent before they became junk loans.

This is a good product with good visuals.