SAP Crystal Reports Reviews

The most valuable features for us are its ability to provide reports on what's going on in the database and to schedule reports for end users.

It's made data more accessible to our end users in a couple of ways. First, with the ability to schedule reports, end users no longer need to run reports on demand. They're run and made available at pre-scheduled times. Second, the data is readily available to end users, as opposed to having to run queries for them.

I'd like an easier way for end users or an AD group to subscribe to reports that can be received as attachments to emails.

I've been using it for twenty years.

The configuration is cumbersome and not really clear. It would be nicer for it to be easier to configure across multiple servers.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it.

Customer support is spotty at best, and when they do get involved it has to be according to the support person's schedule. They contact you and if you are busy, it is hard for them to understand that as a customer you would like pre-notification and the ability to set some time aside.

We have always used Crystal Reports. We have enhanced our reporting by using Tableau as well for dashboards.

The initial setup is complex. They need to have clearer instructions on how to configure servers for the best performance.

We did an in-house upgrade of two systems into one. There was no vendor support onsite.

Test your installation prior to upgrading to a production environment.

Report Wizards and Sample Reports are very useful for us, and I'd say they're the most valuable features as well. I only wish there were more reports to choose from because the wizards make it easier to create a quick report.

Reporting once a month at our partners meeting with my providers, Crystal Reports ensures that I get the information directly from our SQL database so that I can combine and manipulate my reports as needed.

For me, the biggest area for improvement would definitely be the sample reports and wizards with more options and themes you can use to create more report styles.

We've used it for five years.

The software was installed prior to starting my position with this practice, so I'm not certain whether there were or were not any issues with deployment.

There are no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues with scaling it for our needs.

In my experience, technical support is good, although I haven't really had to call in for many issues.

I haven't used anything similar to Crystal Reports in the past.

It was already set up when I began my current position, so I wouldn't know whether setup was straightforward or complex.

We use the InfoView web based interface to host the enterprise reports. The Crystal Reports is a good standard reporting product from any single data source. WEBI allows us to use multiple data sources to produce one WEBI document that can have many reports. If the Universes are designed with cross data source linking in mind, the Webi documents can be used as a great tool to relate data from multiple data sources and environments.

Our reports are no longer just a static product. Our users can actually interact with the reports. Because of this, we can generate a single enterprise wide report and the users can simply navigate to see only what is pertinent to them. Prior to this, the developers maintained a lot of “one off” reports. Basically the same report for different departments.

Business objects service packs are as notoriously bad as Microsoft new products. Full of bugs, they fix one thing but break others.

SAP Business Objects Universes and WEBI - we have been using it for 3 years. It was a progression from Crystal Reports which I have been using for 14 years.

Once you get your security strategy built correctly, things go fairly smooth.

Once installed we have had to go back to Business Objects to get patches. Part of this is our own fault for going to Unix and Tomcat servers (to save licensing costs). On a Windows Environment this seems to work better. SQL Server ODBCs on the Tomcat servers are troublesome. Once it gets set, things go pretty well.

The scalability seems good. We have a large data repository. With over 23,000 users and 3,000 report. The reports are about 50/50 between WEBI and Crystal Reports

Customer Service: Customer Service from SAP is good. Not stellar and not horrendously bad. I give them 6.5 out of 10.Technical Support: Depending on who you get. Some of their Technical support people are super great, others seem pretty novice about their product.

We have been a Crystal report shop for a long time as it is a product supported by or primary data vendor. We have also tried to go to SQL Server Reporting Service but found it too limited. We have one product now using Cognos Elite. I find it very comparable but more clunky to use.

Complex if you are not using Windows Servers. There are a huge number of options that allow you to make detrimental choices that you may not be aware of. Not much different than any other enterprise wide reporting system.

In House

Unknown

We did evaluate other options, but the fact that we were already invested in the Crystal Reports and our major vendor was supporting the Business Objects platform, we really saw the most benefit going with them.

Use Windows Servers if you can afford the licensing. If not be prepared to battle ODBCs, fonts, memory issues, and more. In the end, Cognos, Informatica, Business Objects, SQL Reporting Services require someone to know and understand the database structure. Good database structure results in good performance if the developers know what they are doing. If your databases are poor, you just amplify the problems with these kind of tools. These all simply provide an interface where someone has to define the table and data relationships. Finding the right person to do that is the key. Give them the tool that best suits the needs of the company.

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.

It’s ability to connect to multiple data sources, use SQL or individual tables, views or stored procedures, data formatting options, ability to handle and display various date formats and the ability to use VB or Crystal Syntax (or both) within a report.

We were able to develop several On-Time Performance reports to assist with correcting scheduling errors and/or location errors for our buses. This has allowed us to get a much more accurate picture of where we are and how to get where we want to be.

Charts and Graphs are the only reason I don’t give the product a 10/10. Microsoft Excel is far better and Tableau is even better than that. So much so that my company now wants us to start using Tableau as a replacement for Crystal Reports, at least where graphs and charts are concerned.

I’ve used it for 18 years.

When upgrading versions of Microsoft Windows, Crystal Reports would not always work correctly. We would have to reinstall it to make it work right.

With Windows 10, our Crystal Reports XI product stopped working correctly completely, but works fine when we upgrade them to Crystal Reports 2013.

It has been able to scale for our needs.

We have not used any support from SAP that I am aware of.

Fairly straightforward, especially with 2013. With XI, some options were not checked that we needed. With 2013, they are.

We did the initial setup in-house. Make sure you have detailed step-by-step installation instructions if having a team installing it so everyone gets the exact same setup and things don’t get missed. We had that problem early on when upgrading to 2013 from XI and I had to help determine what was missed or done wrong so they could do it correctly.

The licensing is currently $500 per copy, so we are trying to limit the number of licenses we have to keep costs down.

I do not know. It was already being used corporate wide when I arrived.

Make sure you have at least one person (preferable two), who know how to use the product before implementing it corporate wide. The problem at my company is there are 100 licenses out there and we have only 1 person who is an SME (Subject Matter Expert): Me. Everyone else uses it, but they have not had any real training or don’t use it full time.

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.

It allows me to pull data from multiple data sources without coding SQL. Creating SQL code to copy is one of my favorite uses.

We have better efficiency overall and we've saved on doing data imports -- $36K so far. I can do them myself using Crystal Reports.

Also, it's essential to our ERP function.

I have an old version and there's no hyperlink function. Otherwise, everything I could wish for is probably already out there!

However, I had an issue where if I had the main application in one Window and a fly out menu on another monitor, it would crash. It was probably a hardware issue on my side.

I've been using it for nine years. We purchased it in 2007 and I was one of the first employees to be trained on it. I use it practically every day.

I had no issues deploying it.

I had the instability issues, described above, which led to the system crashing.

We've had no issues scaling it out.

I've never needed to use it as I am able to find the answers on Google.

I believe it was bundled with our Tyle/Eden solution.

We implemented it with out in-house team. Our configuration is pretty simple. We don't use any of the enterprise features.

It is essential for our ERP reporting to function, so the value is very high.

I can't live without it. I wish it could do a few more things, such as better hyperlink functionality. I have an older version, so I have no idea if a newer version has the features I would wish for.

It is quite a bit to take in at once. Just start with something that is meaningful to you.

It can gather data from many sources and consolidate that data.

It is easy to get quick results, but also allows you to create more in-depth reports.

It contains a relational database that allows you to join tables from different tables in the same report.

It can export to Excel, text files, or PDF and many other formats.

A non-IT person can create some reports, and an IT person can take it much further.

If you have Crystal Reports, it can import Excel files that were made in Excel 2003, files with a .xls file extension and file format. It does not yet recognize files with a .xlsx file extension, which would be from Excel 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016. With Access files, Crystal Reports can import databases with a .mdb format, but not the newer format if .accdb.

This was true as of Crystal Reports 2013. They may have changed it since
then.

I have used it with several clients to create complex reports that required multiple data sources and complex relationships.

They need to make it work with new file formats for Excel and Access. It also needs to be more compatible with other data sources.

I have been using Crystal Reports for over 10 years, and this version for about two years.

I have seen integration with SAP , and it seems pretty seamless. There are versions of Crystal Reports that come embedded with other software programs, like Peachtree, etc. I would recommend that you upgrade to the full version so you can take advantage of some of the features.

I've experienced no issues with performance.

I have the single user edition.

Their support is top notch, although you may have to pay for it.

I created many reports using Access. Crystal reports is similar, but more robust.

I have the single user version, and had no problems.

I installed it myself.

It's a great product that works with many data sources. I highly recommend it.