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Forums Performance Management Lawson Business Intelligence/Reporting/Crystal

Microsoft Reporting Services vs. LRS on LBI

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Joe O'Toole
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4/19/2013 8:33 PM
We have LBI running a number of Crystal reports but the bulk of our corporate reporting outside of Lawson is done with Microsoft Reporting Services. Because this is a company standard and reports are easier to deploy, schedule and maintain in MSRS we are considering moving new Lawson report development to MSRS. Has anyone used both MS RS and Crystal with Lawson that could offer their experiences? We are curious about any limitations encountered with Crystal and MS RS accessing both Lawson and non Lawson data as well as the ability to deploy MS RS reports on an LBI dashboard.
John Henley
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4/19/2013 9:11 PM
I have used both, and they both have their pros and cons. I think simple report development is actually easier/faster with Crystal because the designer is better, and built-in formulas are pretty comprehensive. Where SSRS shines is more robust data sources (i.e. you can report against SharePoint lists, etc.) and since it's .NET, anything can be customized (need a formula, write some code; yes, you can do same in Crystal, but not really...) Deployment in LBI is fairly easy for Crystal, although you can't use data-driven parameters without removing the LBI UI for the report (I know there is a proper term, but I can't remember off the top of my head...). I haven't tried deploying SSRS within LBI, but I'm guessing it's just going to be a dashboard over an IFRAME One thing to remember: Infor has their own BI tools, and LBI uses Crystal, which is owned by SAP. Don't expect Crystal to be the reporting engine for LBI, or for LBI to be the end-game product. Also, when you get to Infor 10, you're working in SharePoint, so you have SSRS option there as well. Given the unknowns, and the costs associated with Crystal and LBI, clients were looking to preserve their existing Crystal investment, so I developed and sell a product (DecisionPoint) that hosts both Crystal and SSRS within the same site, and integrates with Lawson and SharePoint for parameters.
Thanks for using the LawsonGuru.com forums!
John
John Henley
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4/21/2013 1:52 PM
http://kenhamady.com/cru/archives/2449
Thanks for using the LawsonGuru.com forums!
John
Adam Jacobson
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4/23/2013 10:14 PM
We have experience writing reports in both tools and we've put together a comparison chart which I can send you separately (adam@redthree.com)
Here's my quick answer: Crystal is better for non-technical people, SSRS is better for developers and SSRS is cheaper.

Crystal was always sold as a way for users to be independent from IT - "you'll write your own reports". In my experience, this is only true (and sometimes not even then) when you have a dedicated reporting function (think director of financial reporting or HRIS). For the vast majority of customers, while the tool isn't complex the data is.
So, Crystal's promise isnt' realized.

While you don't want to give SSRS over to an end user, it can get you almost everything you can get in Crystal. And you don't pay a fortune to create a web site for it - it's already part of SQL Server.

Hope to see you at the next MRLUG.
Adam