On the forums, I’ve come across various posts from people asking how the different Crystal Reports products relate to each other and which products are best for different situations. I can totally understand the confusion because Crystal Reports comes in many flavors and their names may not be completely self-explanatory. In this note I’ll look at the different Crystal Reports products available and how they are used. You can also follow along using the following diagram: http://bit.ly/cNdhLa

In the diagram, I break out the products by user and give them various sample names. On the left side are the remote users and on the right side are the local users (e.g. people typically working at their office computer).

Let’s look at the on-site users first. Every company will have one or more report writers on staff (see user Frank on the diagram). He/she doesn’t need to be technically savvy, but should have an understanding of the data that they want to report on. Each report writer will have a copy of Crystal Reports 2008. This lets you create new reports, modify existing reports, and preview them. These reports can be stored on the local computer or saved to a shared network folder for everyone to view.

For the users who just want to view reports (see user Natasha on diagram), a copy of Crystal Reports Viewer is needed. It lets you open reports and customize them using report parameters. The viewer is a free download from the Business Objects site and a version is available for both Windows and the Mac. http://www.businessobjects.com/forms/crystalreports/viewer/. Another option is to export and save each report in a common format (e.g. PDF). But doing so makes the report static and doesn’t give the user the flexibility to modify the report parameters.

Medium sized businesses have more advanced reporting requirements than just creating and viewing reports. They need a central repository for managing and distributing reports. Businesses also need to manage the security of their reports and any sensitive data in them. Crystal Reports Server has tools that give you complete control over the data security.

For the off-site users, Crystal Reports Server makes it easy to view reports anywhere. It has a default portal that can be viewed from any web browser. Users can log in and view/customize reports (see user Amy). You can also facilitate automatic delivery via scheduled emails in common formats such as PDF, Excel, CSV, etc. (see user Carl Jr.)

If you can’t afford to install and maintain a full Crystal Reports Server solution, you can just put your reports “in the cloud”. The CrystalReports.com website charges a minimal fee to host your reports on their servers and give your users remote access to them. You can even use it for free for up to three users. Go to http://crystalreports.com/share/ for more information.

Hopefully, this note helps to clear up any confusion you might have about which product is best for your and your company. If you want to see how any of them work, all of the Crystal Reports products discussed in this note are available as a download for a free 30 day trial. You can find them here: http://www.sap.com/usa/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/sme/freetrials/index.epx