Organization data can be seen from multiple perspective. SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports is one of these solutions which take the reporting onto a completely new level of performance and - therefore - everyday usability.

Collecting and organizing data never is a goal itself. Even though all today's companies require volumes of data to survive the growing challenges of market competition, the most efficient it would be to reduce the meaning of all the processes which don't actually lead to decision making directly. In a wider perspective, the point is to allow business employees focus on business tasks. SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports is an intuitive environment which lets meet the reporting capabilities, create interactive reports as easy and quick as possible. Then, the reports might be connected to a wide range of data sources and finally sorted and filtered on demand.

It's not a matter of accident that BusinessObjects Crystal Reports by SAP is considered quite an interesting among other vendors' solutions. Its functionalities definitely are competitive and include - for instance - significant leverages of professional reporting. What's worth mentioning, it's for a price which isn't difficult to accept. However, that obviously isn't everything - Crystal Reports with numerous report exploration capabilities, including sorting according to chosen parameters, ordering, etc.. On the other hand, quite a meaningful strength of Crystal Reports is the fact that it marginalizes the role of IT departments and solution developers. If the external specialists were needed to anything, it would be data mashups

Along the resignation from external involvement in business processes comes the acceleration of the report design time. With Crystal Reports the reports are more timely just because their preparation lasts shorter. All in all, the life cycle of each report isn't finished on preparation stage. With the SAP solution, the reports may be easily embedded in .NET and Java applications. Hereby, one doesn't need to worry about the quality decreases - the embedded reports keep their top quality! And the last but not the least, SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports help with extending organization Business Intelligence systems. It supplies them with comprehensive and powerful report management and viewing tools which are indispensable in case of any more demanding appliances.

SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports features and functionalities

Crystal Reports by SAP definitely is a comprehensive solution which is worth all the compliments it receives. Nevertheless, some its features and functionalities are especially worth pointing out. These are:

• interactive report viewing - each report preparation lasts, thereupon the best it would be to solve all the business problems with only one report. Even though it hardly ever is possible in such an extreme form, interactive report viewing capability contributes to reducing the number of reports maintained in an organization.
• parameter panel - is an interesting add-on which allows changing the parameter values without refreshing the data. It's visible in .NET Winform and .NET Webform viewers.
• integration with Flash - thank to Flash integration capability, more attention may be paid to reports visual aspect. Now, they can be supplied with dynamic charts, videos, graphics and other elements which base on Flash files.
• crosstabs capabilities - used for many financial reporting issues.
• flexibility of pagination - differentiated pagination options allow report creators to change almost all options of pages within a report.
• Web services data driver - advanced technological solutions enable a better access to diverse data over the Web.
• included barcode support - only one click barcode generation allows to save time and reduce the cost.
• improved designer features - duplicate formula, global formula search, auto complete field names, duplicate running total, and the 'find in field explorer'. These are the features which allow report creators to improve their productivity.
• reporting in multiple languages - multicultural environment which is common in today's organizations requires IT systems to support multiple languages. Crystal Reports allows users on each stage of work to choose their own language (each for IT specialist, each for report designer, and yet another one for report recipient).
• hyperlinking wizard - thank to automated hyperlinking report designers save time on manual linking.
• included salesforce.com (SFDC) driver - this integration facilitates access to complete customer data (which is - therefore - turned into consumable business information).
• enhanced XML exporting - supports report saving in almost any chosen format.

SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports resources:

http://www.sap.com/solutions/sap-crystal-solutions/query-reporting-analysis/sapcrystalreports/index.epx - in a very few words, here is everything what one would like to know about the Crystal Reports product. A part of SAP company official website provides quite a comprehensive introduction to the product and supplies the information with features and function, technical details, licensing, and customer references sections. Additionally, a few interesting brochures and white papers are accessible.

http://download.sap.com/solutions/sap-crystal-solutions/query-reporting-analysis/sapcrystalreports/brochures/... - SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports isn't anything new. It's a solution with quite a long history, nonetheless it still is expanded. Thereupon, it may be worth to check what's new in the newest release - Crystal Reports 2008. Here is a data sheet provided by the SAP specialists, telling about all novelties and - additionally - about the product as a whole.