SAP Crystal Reports Reviews

• 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 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.

• Rapid report development, since the design interface makes coding easier.
• We can extend it to complicated reports with interactive charts and enhance the understanding of business models.
• Exposes a report object model that can interact with other controls on the ASP.NET Web form.
• It can be programmed to export the reports into widely used formats such as PDF, Word, Excel, HTML, and RTF.

We are using it for pixel perfect reporting, and that is why it is better than other reporting tools.

It needs better integration with Hadoop as well as enhancements for more analytical usage.

Also, a secured end user cannot modify data if the report is generated via Crystal Reports. It can only be done if the data is in HTML format.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

We have had no issues with its stability.

There have been no issues scaling it for our needs.

Analyze it first as to whether it is a good fit for your needs. There are other good products available for analytical needs, which Crystal Reports doesn't yet provide.

What I like about it is that it's easy to use and it provides good connectivity to various databases.

We use it for all of our operational and tabular reports.

The visualization needs work as the look is not very appealing. The UI definitely needs some updating.

Also, SAP charges an annual maintenance fee. Be careful, too, with the license model. I'd suggest that because Crystal Reports is for tabular reports, use another product for true BI.

I've used it for 10 years.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

Some reports take a while to be generated.

We've had no issues scaling it.

In my experience, the level of technical support is not good. They are, however, able to resolve issues in a timely fashion.

The initial setup was easy and straightforward.

Some reports come out-of-the-box within our applications and we built some others. So you could say that implementation was a combination of SAP's product as well as our in-house team's efforts.

Be careful with the annual maintenance fee, and get CPU based report access. Be careful with the license model. This product is for tabular reports, but for true BI reporting, use another product.

We are retiring Crystal Reports soon, and it will be replaced by IBI WebFOCUS and SQL Server Reporting Services.

The ability to set parameters, especially the cascading parameters, is the most valuable features for us.

We provide solutions to other organizations, so invariably the end reports save our clients time and, of course, money.

The example that comes to mind was where a medical client had a monthly utilization report that took 14 days to complete manually as it involved using MS Access and Excel. After the report was created in Crystal Reports, it took less than 30 seconds to run and it also highlighted data entry errors that could be fixed more efficiently, so a suite of error/exception reports had to be created also.

The linking feature between tables has always been a bit buggy, which is not good because it is really the core of ensuring that the returned data is correct. If one tries to enforce the links created as per the underlying data source, invariably it falls over and results in an error message.

The cascade parameters limit of 1000 records, which although can be increased via the registry, if you have admin rights, can result in report performance issues. Isn't there a better way of doing this?

Being able to have formulas that make up the description for value parameters, potentially on the fly, and then being able to display the parameter value and/or description selected by the user on the report, would be great also

I actually wrote a blog post of the things I wished Crystal Reports could do here: http://maximumimpactsolutions.co.uk/blog/comments.asp?bd=110. Some of the things may have ready been implemented.

I've been using it for four years.

We have had no issues with deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it.

I've never needed to use customer service/technical support.

I've been using this since v7.

It's straightforward.

Implemented it in-house, and there was nothing complex about it.

Our ROI on Crystal Reports is well over 1000%, as we offer both training and consultancy solutions to our clients.

Crystal Reports is a great little reporting tool for a myriad of data sources that provides the user a nice user-friendly GUI, which means that your report creation can be achieved quickly.

One of the most valuable features is the ability to precisely place data fields and labels on the report canvas either in Design Mode or Preview Mode. This is a great feature because when a report page requires many data fields, each item needs to be as close as possible.

Another valuable feature is the ability to select and format or align multiple data fields and labels because there are times when a group of fields needs a smaller font or to be moved together across the page.

There are two items that would improve the product. One is a simple text search across all formulas, and the other is a debug mode that would allow the developer to step line-by-line through long or complicated formulas.

I've been using it for 17 years.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues scaling it for our needs.

For the most part, technical support is responsive and helpful. However, the majority of technical support is in another country which can cause problems scheduling a contact time and can hamper verbal communication.

The initial setup is straightforward. However, on a couple of occasions the licensing was corrupted and required uninstalling and reinstalling the software.

Implementation was done by our in-house team.

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.

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.