At face value this may look like a BOBJ marketing play on words. It is true that by implementing Edge, you can accomplish some of what will be discussed in this article. This is no sales pitch and that is not the point of the title. By taking Crystal reporting to the Edge, we mean:
- Empowering report users to manipulate and store parameter sets.
- Eliminating the need to leave applications to get reporting.
- Delivering reports via web applications to people within and outside an organization.
Let’s address these points one at a time.
Parameter manipulation is one of the more tedious and essential parts of examining data. If you are still delivering reports in a static format, it is time to move to a viewer. Many report viewers including BOBJ’s free viewer allow for parameter sorts and drill downs. This frees up report designers to focus on bigger things than a slight change in product sets or financial categories that as they add up take days out of the year. Another critical thing to look for is the report viewer’s ability to manage complex and dynamic cascading parameter sets.
Once you deliver parameter manipulation prepare for the next expectation. If usually comes within days if not minutes of new empowerment. Users are going to want to store these parameters so they can pull them up on demand. Quickly they learn what it takes for a report to me changed to meet their needs, and just as quickly it is forgotten that someone else used to do it for them. Make sure that any report viewer you deliver allows users to store their parameter sets quickly and easily.
The next point is one of the most challenging both strategically and financially. Users want their reports on demand and in the same program that they use for day to day activity. Sure, most systems have their own reporting, but it is in a silo and, well, what did you buy Crystal for in the first place?
The complication is that you have to develop integration into the application. This can be a costly and complicated process as you struggle to manage the development of a secure connection. There are some third party tools that will work. The Crystal Developer Advantage team did a presentation in February with McManus Software. Their Report Launch product puts Crystal reports in any web application with a single line of HTML code. This eliminates the need to develop and they seem to have a low price.
This brings us to the final point; internet access to reporting is critical as more companies and more consumers expect to have on demand access to detailed business intelligence. To empower external viewers to view data from within systems, security is essential. Either upgrading to CR server or a BOE product will answer these requirements, but often this limits you to licensing within the tools. If you are using 3rd party security or want to use a system that manages permissions at an application level, you will need to develop or find a 3rd party tool like McManus Launch.
As you start moving your reports to the Edge and really begin to enable on demand report consumption, think about these three points. Proper execution will make every report more effective. Missteps will cost you your most valuable commodity…time.
