Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise Business Intelligence

Transcription

1 Alan H. Tiedrich Product Report 16 December 2003 Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise Business Intelligence Summary Version 9 of CE supports Crystal Reports 9 and Crystal Analysis Professional 9. It improves usability, offering several Web viewers that offer different levels of user reporting and analysis functionality. Note On 18 July 2003, Business Objects announced the acquisition of Crystal Decisions for $820 million in cash and stock. Business Objects will hold a meeting of its shareholders on 11 December 2003, for the purpose of approving the acquisition. Table of Contents Overview Analysis Pricing Competitors Strengths Limitations Recommended Gartner Research Insight List Of Tables Table 1: Overview: Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise 9 Table 2: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Table 3: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Servers Table 4: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Administrative Functionality and Tools Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Table 6: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Developer Tools Table 7: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Reporting and Analysis Products Table 8: Price List: Crystal Enterprise 9 Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 Corporate Headquarters Crystal Decisions Inc. 840 Cambie Street Vancouver, BC, V6B 4J2 Canada Tel: ; Fax: sales@crystaldecisions.com Internet: Overview Table 1: Overview: Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise 9 Product Type CE 9 Editions User Interface Crystal Enterprise (CE) is a Web-based enterprise business intelligence suite (EBIS) which supports Web users in creating, viewing and distributing reports and business intelligence platforms for creating and deploying business intelligence applications. Crystal Enterprise Report Application Server (RAS): For building applications that require a reporting component (Smart Reporting is now a licensing option for CE Professional, providing access to the CE report modification and creation software development kit [SDK]). Designed for smaller reports and datasets. Crystal Enterprise Standard: For integrating formatted reports into Web applications where security is not a requirement. Comes with the same reporting tools as Professional. Crystal Enterprise Professional: For securely distributing complex and interactive reports via the intranet, extranet, Internet and corporate portal application. Includes one license of Crystal Reports (CR) 9. Includes one license of Crystal Analysis Professional. Crystal Enterprise Premium: Provides integrated Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis. For utilizing all of Crystal Decisions report design and developer interfaces. In addition to the functionality provided by CE Professional, CE Premium includes ad hoc reporting and interactive analysis (with the new Ad Hoc Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language [DHTML] client). Web-based, fully customizable Microsoft Windows-based report designer (Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis Professional) Web-based, ad hoc report creation (Smart Reporting Technology) Zero-client DHTML interface 16 December

3 Table 1: Overview: Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise 9 Platforms Security Support Firewall Support Base Price (US$) Web clients: Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6 (Windows) Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 (Windows) Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 (Macintosh) Netscape (Windows) Processing Servers: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3 Microsoft Windows NT4 Server SP6a Microsoft Windows 2000 SP3, Advanced Server Edition Microsoft Windows 2000 SP3, Data Center Version Sun Solaris SPARC 7 and 8 (v.8.5 only CE9 is a Windows-only release, CE 10 will be a cross-platform release) Linux Red Hat 7.1 (Apache Web connector only) Linux Red Hat 6.2 (Apache Web connector only) Linux SuSE 7.2 (Apache Web connector only) Linux SuSE 6.4 (Apache Web connector only) WebServers: Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 (Internet Server Application Programming Interface [ISAPI] and Common Gateway Interface [CGI] for Windows) Microsoft IIS 4.0 (ISAPI and CGI for Windows) iplanet 6.0 SP3 (Netscape Application Programming Interface [NSAPI] and CGI for Windows and Solaris) iplanet 4.1 SP10 (NSAPI and CGI for Windows and Solaris) Domino (DSAPI and CGI for Windows and CGI only for Solaris) Apache (ASAPI and CGI for Solaris and Linux) IBM HTTP (ASAPI for Advanced Interactive Executive [AIX] only and CGI Windows and AIX) Java Application Servers: BEA WebLogic Web application server (with Crystal Java SDK) IBM WebSphere Web application server (with Crystal Java SDK) Security options include: Microsoft Windows NT Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) iplanet Directory Server 5.1 SP1 iplanet Directory Server 4.13 Novell Directory Services (NDS) edirectory Lotus Domino IBM SecureWay Directory Custom security via API Crystal Enterprise supports firewalls that use IP filtering or Socks proxy servers (v.4 and v.5): Checkpoint Firewall Microsoft Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) Server NEC eborder 1.2 Crystal Enterprise Professional 595 per named user; 3,495 for concurrent; 55,000 per processor. Includes one copy of each of Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis Professional. 16 December

4 Table 1: Overview: Crystal Decisions Crystal Enterprise 9 Date Announced and Delivered Number of Users/Installations Database Support Relational Databases Desktop Databases Other Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Servers (Crystal Analysis Professional 9) Crystal Enterprise 9 (Report Application Server, Standard, Professional) January 2003 Crystal Reports 9 August 2002 Crystal Analysis Professional 9 April 2003 Crystal Enterprise 9 Premium April 2003 Greater than 15 million licenses shipped (all products) Microsoft SQL Server 7 SP4 Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP2 Oracle9i Oracle8i (8.1.7) IBM DB2 UDB 8.1 IBM DB2 UDB 7.2 IBM DB2 UDB 6.1 IBM DB2 UDB 8.1 on OS 390 (via Native client only) IBM DB2 UDB 7.2 on OS 390 (via Native client only) IBM DB2 UDB 6.1 on OS 390 (via Native client only) Sybase Adaptive Server 12.5 Sybase Adaptive Server 12.0 Informix Dynamic Server 2000 v.9.21 Lotus Domino Lotus Notes 4.6 Microsoft Access 2000 (for reporting on Windows through Open Database Connectivity [ODBC] only) Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 (for reporting on Windows only) Microsoft IIS 5.0 (for reporting on Windows only) Microsoft IIS 4.0 (for reporting on Windows only) iplanet Enterprise Server 6.0 (for reporting on Windows only) iplanet Enterprise Server 4.1 SP7 (for reporting on Windows only) Database is generally accessed via ODBC, although Crystal provides a set of native drivers as well. In addition, a Component Object Model (COM) driver is available, which allows access to any data capable of being exposed as an ActiveX Data Object (ADO) record set. Btrieve, Microsoft Access, Paradox, Extensible Markup Language (XML) Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, COM data sources, XML, SAP, Baan Crystal Analysis Holos 8.5 and 9 Microsoft SQL Server 7 OLAP Services (SP2, SP3) Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services (SP1, SP2) SAP BW 2.0B and SAP BW 3.0: Contact Crystal Decisions for more information about support for SAP IBM DB2 OLAP 7.1 and 8.1 Hyperion Essbase 6.1 and December

5 Table 2: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Editions Crystal Enterprise Professional Crystal Enterprise Standard Reporting Included With CE Professional and Standard Multitier Architecture The full edition of Crystal Enterprise for Microsoft NT and Unix operating environments. A limited version of Crystal Enterprise for Microsoft NT operating environment only that ships with Crystal Reports and with Crystal Analysis Pro included. Supports five concurrent users out of the box (can be scaled to additional users, involving additional licensing fees) and only one server, so it can t be used for a multiserver environment. Does not have the role-based security of Professional. Crystal Reports: object-oriented query and report-building tool for business users, IS professionals and developers. Crystal Analysis Professional: graphical tool for developing interactive OLAP reports. Crystal Smart Reporting Technology: enables developers to push simple report manipulation and reformatting to end users, essentially providing an ad hoc reporting interface. Tiers Client Middle Data Modularity CE s modular design allows additional features such as Ad Hoc (new in CE 9 Premium) to Crystal Enterprise to be added without having to re-release the entire suite. Client Tier The client tier is the only part of the Crystal Enterprise system that administrators and end users interact with to administer, publish and view reports. The client components include: Crystal Management Console Crystal Publishing Wizard Crystal Configuration Manager Crystal Import Wizard eportfolio DHTML viewer User Interface The Crystal Enterprise eportfolio, an out-of-the-box user interface, is a customizable zero-client environment that integrates into portals or Web-based applications. Crystal Enterprise ships with a number of additional sample desktops that can be utilized immediately or modified to meet the needs. Development of user interfaces is accomplished using Active Server Pages (ASP), ASPx (file format for Visual Studio.NET, which is basically the Web services version of ASP pages), or JavaServer Pages (JSP) pages: Crystal also provides an extended version of ASP called CSP. Zero-client DHTML interface for report authoring, ad hoc querying and interactive OLAP analysis. 16 December

6 Table 2: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Editions Middle Tier Clustering Technology Data Tier Components in this tier manage the Crystal Enterprise system, access data and generate reports: Crystal Web Connector Crystal Web Component Server(s) Crystal Automated Process Scheduler(s) (APS) Crystal Cache Server(s) Crystal Input File Repository Crystal Output File Repository Crystal Page Server(s) Crystal Job Server(s) Crystal Event Server Crystal Report Application Server (Smart Reporting Technology) At least one of each is required in every Crystal Enterprise configuration (except Smart Reporting Technology). The Page, Job and Report Application Servers are the only components that interact with the databases containing the report data. The other middle-tier servers maintain the security information, send requests to the appropriate servers and store report instances. These servers can be deployed on one or more machines. Crystal Enterprise Professional is available for multiserver implementations. Crystal Enterprise Standard requires all of the components, except for the Web connector, to be installed on one machine. Adds load balancing, scalability, reliability (fault-tolerant no single point of failure), high availability and performance to the system architecture via APS server clustering. The last tier is the data tier that contains an enterprise s relational and OLAP data. Table 3: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Servers Crystal Enterprise Server Components Crystal Web Component Server (WCS) Acts as the gateway to the Crystal Enterprise environment, that is, between the Web server and the rest of the components on the Crystal ebusiness Framework. (Can be replaced with IIS or a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition [J2EE] application server to handle most system functionality; Crystal Analysis and administration currently require the Crystal WCS.) Responsible for processing user requests. Responsible for processing Crystal Server Pages (.csp), a server-side scripting language used for customizing and interacting with the Crystal Enterprise environment. Provides DHTML/HTML translation of report pages for thin-client viewers. Communicates with Crystal APS for object interaction and administration. Supports NT Single sign-on, LDAP and custom security systems. Can be replaced by a J2EE-standard-compliant or Microsoft Web application server for custom application development. 16 December

7 Table 3: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Servers Crystal Enterprise Server Components Crystal Web Connector Web Farms Crystal Automated Process Scheduler (APS) Crystal APS System Database Used to communicate between the physical Web Server and the Web Component Server. Acts as a redirector for requests to the Crystal Web Component Server or other supported Web application server. Available on three different platforms to allow integration with established Web server infrastructure. Crystal Enterprise supports Web farms (two or more Web servers working together to handle browser requests). Web Connectors that reside on each of the Web servers are configured so they are aware of the Web Component Servers which with they should communicate. After the connectors have been configured, they can load balance requests between the Web Component Servers. When a Web server establishes a connection with a Web Component Server, it usually uses a round-robin algorithm to identify the next available Web Component Server; however, in some cases, a random algorithm is used instead of a roundrobin algorithm; that is, when the connector doesn t have knowledge of the last Web Component Server with which it communicated. Acts as Repository for Crystal Enterprise environment. Maintains Crystal Enterprise objects folders, reports and historical report instances. Maintains system security by enforcing what users can interact with in the Crystal Enterprise system. Manages servers that are in the Crystal Enterprise deployment stays in frequent contact with the servers in the system and maintains a list of server status. Maintains the scheduling information for report objects. By communicating with the Job Server, the APS ensures that scheduled jobs are run. Can be clustered for fault-tolerant, 24 7 operation. Stores its information in the APS System database. The Crystal Enterprise APS maintains all the information concerning the system, and this information is stored in the Crystal Enterprise system database. By default, this database is created in Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), which allows for out-of-the-box clustering capability. By default, Crystal Enterprise uses Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Access as the default APS database type; however, Informix, Oracle, IBM DB2 or Sybase can be used. 16 December

8 Table 3: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Servers Crystal Enterprise Server Components Crystal APS Cluster An APS cluster is a system that consists of a collection of interconnected APS machines employed as a single, unified computing resource. For a large implementation of Crystal Enterprise, it may be advisable to create an APS cluster two or more APS servers working together. If one machine fails, the machine with the other APS will continue to operate. Users connect to a Web Component Server, which then makes requests to the APS cluster. These requests are load-balanced to the available nodes of the APS cluster, invisible to the end user. All the nodes of the APS communicate with each other so that information is synchronized between the different nodes. Crystal Enterprise Processing Servers Crystal Cache Server Crystal Page Server Crystal Job Server Stores report pages that are generated by the Page Server. Contains the logic to reuse pages where security permits. Multiple Cache Servers can be run on a single machine (Scale Up) or on multiple machines (Scale Out) or both. Receives Crystal Reports page requests from the Cache Server and generates Encapsulated Page Format (EPF) pages. Creates page-on-demand files (.epf). Performs conversion of.epf files to various formats, including Word, Adobe Acrobat (Portable Document Format [PDF]), Excel, Rich Text Format (RTF) and Text (TXT). Communicates directly with Input File Repository to access report template (RPT) files. Communicates with database to create report for viewing in the case of On- Demand report processing. Optimized for real-time report processing content is streamed back through the Cache Server and Web Component Server to the user s browser as the report processes. Communicates with Output File Repository to build report pages from established report instances (recurring reports). Multiple Page Servers can be run on a single machine (Scale Up) or on multiple machines (Scale Out) or both. Processes scheduled reports as requested by Crystal APS to create report Instances. Job Server communicates with Input File Repository to access report template. Job Server communicates with database to build report instances (report template with saved data). Communicates with Output File Repository to store the successful report instances. Multiple Job Servers can be run on a single machine (Scale Up) or on multiple machines (Scale Out) or both. 16 December

9 Table 3: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Servers Crystal Enterprise Server Components Crystal Event Server Manages file, schedule and custom events. Manages a variety of internal and external event triggers. Monitors the specified directory to check when the appropriate file appears in the monitored directory and then triggers a file-based event by notifying the APS that the file-based event has occurred: The APS then starts any jobs that are dependent on the file-based event. The Event Server resets itself and again monitors the directory. Monitors scheduling tasks that trigger events. Interacts through the API with custom code to intercept and dispatch events. Crystal Report An add-on licensing option for Crystal Enterprise Professional (included in Application Server Premium) that integrates with CE and provides additional reporting flexibility and (Smart Reporting interactivity to end users in a zero-client Web interface, enabling seamless Technology) integration of ad hoc reporting functionality directly into a specific Web report application. Ships with an open COM-based SDK that enables developers to create custom user interfaces that will allow users to do whatever they need to do and are authorized to do; for example, change the data source on the fly. It enables authorized end users from within any Web application, on either side of the firewall to customize an established report or create a new one using the established report as the data source. End users can then save those new/modified views. Crystal s Smart Reporting Technology also ships with a set of wizards, built with the SDK, which lets end users create and modify reports. Developers can choose what functionality they want to provide to users and build custom Web interfaces to deliver any combination of Smart Reporting Technology features, such as field addition/removal, charting and sorting, to end users. Enables development of complex applications, which offer varying levels of functionality based on user authorization. All the features and functions of Smart Reporting Technology are delivered through a Web-based COM object model. Smart Reporting Technology is fully server-based, so there is no client software or applet to install, and functionality can be delivered via any standard Web browser. Many design and query operations that can be done manually in Crystal Reports can be automated with Smart Reporting Technology: Popular scripting languages, like VB Script or Java Script, may be used in addition to Java. Crystal File Repository Services Input File Repository Service Output File Repository Service Globally definable location for the storage of report objects within the Crystal Enterprise environment. Contains all of the report objects that have been added by the administrator or end users. Globally definable location for the storage of report instances. Contains all of the report instances generated by the Job Server. 16 December

10 Table 4: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Administrative Functionality and Tools Overview CE 9 Enhancements Server Management Crystal Management Console (CMC) Content Management Server Management Usage Management Key Administrator features include the following: Server management Content management of folders and objects Viewing system metrics Publishing reports Administration SDK Migrating reports from test to production environments new functionality to help administrators by allowing them to override a report s database location at schedule time. Internationalization CE 9 supports multilingual environments and is Unicodecompliant. Report Application Server Crystal Reports customers can migrate applications from the RAS Edition of CE to the Professional Edition, as the RAS component is now part of the standard install for CE. To manage servers, Crystal Enterprise includes: The Crystal Management Console. The Crystal Configuration Manager. A Web-based administration tool accessible from any machine within the network for viewing and modifying server settings remotely. Used by administrators to perform administrative tasks; for example, to change the status of a server, change server settings, access server metrics or create server groups. As the Crystal Management Console is a Web application, it can be accessed using any machine in the network. Functions include: User/Group Management. Content Management (Reports/Instances). Server Management. Usage Management/License Management. Used to administer Report objects and instances and Folder structures created within the Crystal Enterprise Environment: Provides control over how many instances of an object are retained in the system. Provides control over object history and storage limits. Deletion policies can be based on number of instances, number of instances per user or age of instance. View and manage all servers in Crystal Enterprise Environment. Perform server optimization. Set server-processing characteristics. View server metrics. View user account metrics. View APS cluster metrics. Set Instance. Cleanup properties. 16 December

11 Table 4: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Administrative Functionality and Tools License Management Security View license key metrics. Add/Remove license keys. Set global password settings disable after N failed logon attempts, enforce mixed-case passwords, passwords must be N characters long, cannot reuse N most recent passwords. View currently mapped NT, LDAP or custom groups. Set default NT, LDAP or custom domain. There are four default groups included with Crystal Enterprise: Administrators Everyone (each user is a member of the Everyone group by default) New Sign-Up Accounts (have created their own accounts through the sign-up feature in eportfolio) Crystal Users Security levels: No Access View the user or group can view the folders and reports. Schedule the user or group can view the folders and reports: In addition, the user or group can set parameters and database logons and generate report instances by running reports against the specified database. View on Demand in addition to the Schedule access-level rights, the user gains the right to refresh data on demand : Allows users to run on-demand reports that display the latest data in the database. Full Control in addition to the Schedule rights, allows users to schedule, run and set default parameters for reports and delete objects (folders, reports, instances). Advanced Rights to provide full control over object security, the CMC allows the administrator to make Advanced object rights settings for any user or group: Enable the administrator to choose from a complete set of granular object rights. Allows administrators to customize object security levels outside of the five standard levels provided in the system. LDAP server support: iplanet Directory Server Novell Directory Server Domino Directory Server IBM SecureWay. An LDAP interface is also provided to support other LDAP servers that conform to the v.3 specification. 16 December

12 Table 4: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Administrative Functionality and Tools Custom Security Processing Extensions Crystal Configuration Manager Crystal Import Wizard Administration SDK Processing Extensions offers the ability to further secure the reporting environment through the use of customized processing extensions: Provides support for view-time security implementations (filtering report data based on user credentials). For example, an application could look the user up in an entitlement database and add a filter to the report request to return only the data the user is entitled to see. Implemented as dynamically loaded libraries of code that apply business logic to particular CE view or schedule requests before they are processed by the system. Using the Administration Software Development Kit (SDK), the developer writes a dynamically loaded library that intercepts view or schedule requests for a report (before or after the requests are processed by the Page Server or the Job Server) and modifies them before they are dispatched for processing or after they return from processing: The developer s code first determines the user who owns the processing job; then it looks up the user s data-access privileges in a third-party system (for example, an LDAP entitlement database). The code then generates and appends a record selection formula to the report in order to limit the data returned from the database. A locally installed thick-client administration application that enables administrators to stop, start and configure local and remote servers. The Crystal Configuration Manager is used when administrators are performing configuration tasks and would like to add a new server, migrate APS data or configure Web connectors. Functions include the following: Monitoring of Crystal Enterprise Server Components. Remote monitoring of different servers. Stop/start/restart services. Specify port information for services. Add new processing services. Administrator tool to import users, groups, reports and folders from established Seagate Info v.6 and v.7 and Crystal Enterprise implementations. Can import either all or a subset as specified by administrator. Provides full logging of all actions. Complements the Client SDK to enable the automation or customization of common administrative tasks. Allows organizations to build their own specialized administrative interfaces and tools. Sample applications provide examples of specialized administration tools, based on the new Administration SDK, which show how to: Implement delegated administration interfaces (for example, a password change utility for help-desk personnel). Make batch updates or changes to objects in Crystal Enterprise. Apply custom filters to objects to speed administration. 16 December

13 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components CE 9 User Enhancements Overview eportfolio eportfolio Views Scheduling Reports A major area of enhancement in CE 9 is the range of interactive reporting and analysis interfaces available to end users. Improved viewing and interaction functionality available to CE users and includes specific features for more technical end users and for IT: New zero-client viewer controls give end users expanded interaction with reports. Searching, data export, and collaboration features. Enhanced alerting and notification functionality to enable more proactive monitoring of key information. Developers can still build custom interfaces, but CE 9 provides a wider range of out-of-the-box tools for deployment. Deeper Excel integration. A portal to Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis Pro files on a company s intranet or Internet site from which end users view, schedule and track published reports. Helps organize users reports into logical groups using folders and allows them to search for, preview and interact with reports. eportfolio views are made up of the reports and folders that users can see when logged on. Views are controlled by user accounts the views allowed determine what users can see and do in eportfolio. eportfolio offers report viewers with printing and exporting capabilities. Users can use the eportfolio Web client as shipped, modify it or design their own Web client. Developers can create a custom interface for their end users with the SDK or develop their own Web application. There are three kinds of views: The Guest view is eportfolio s default view, which users get when they first access eportfolio. A Public view can offer more options and control over reports depending on the rights assigned by the administrator. The Favorites view is a user s personalized version of eportfolio (displays selected folders and reports). For flexible design options and ideas for CE s Web client, the product ships with five additional sample Web clients. Supports running reports automatically at specified times. When a scheduled report runs successfully, an instance is created, which contains thedataavailableatthetimeitwasrun. 16 December

14 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Scheduling Features Report Viewers Schedule to specified destination direct to printer, file system (disk destination), (via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [SMTP]) and FTP servers: To printer To To unmanaged disk: *ToFTP * To the Crystal Enterprise repository Schedule to format reports can now be automatically output to selected formats (RPT, Excel, Word, PDF, RTF and plaintext) at schedule time: Word Excel PDF RTF RPT Event-based scheduling CE supports file-based events (triggers based on a physical file being written), schedule-based events (triggers based on another scheduled report s completion) and custom events (triggers fired from within the CMC or other applications through actual code): Schedule on an external event. Business calendar scheduling (custom scheduling to the enterprise s calendar) is provided by a partner as a plug-in, using the CE API. As this is available, Crystal Decisions does not intend to do its own implementation of this feature in the next version of CE. Job Server control CE allows administrators to assign particular objects to specific processing servers (Job Servers). Scheduling options include: Runtime parameters specify a time for running a scheduled report. Database Logon some reports require the user to log on to a database before scheduling. Crystal Reports parameters feature provides parameters that prompt the user to enter information that governs what data appears in the report. Selection Formula if a report includes a record or group selection formula that helps determine what data appears in a report, the user can modify it before scheduling the report. (CE 9) The base report viewers (for both Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis files) have been enhanced to provide more intuitive search mechanisms. When users access a report, they launch a Crystal Report Viewer that works within their browser. Viewers for Java and HTML can be used on any platform, while the Navigator Plug-In and the ActiveX viewer are made specifically for Windows environments. CE 9 report viewers: Crystal Reports Viewer Interactive Viewer CrystalAdHoc Crystal Analysis Viewer 16 December

15 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Crystal Reports Viewer (Enhanced in CE 9) Interactive Viewer (New in CE 9) Crystal Ad Hoc (New in CE 9 Premium) DHTML interface that also is available in both Java and ActiveX form. The most basic interface that supports data refresh, viewing, drill-down and report navigation. Printing and exporting integrated functionality (reports are automatically output to PDF format) that allows users to specify page ranges before starting the export and print operations. Higher resolution graphics and zoom the new DHTML viewer also delivers higher resolution images (including charts) and provides zoom controls. Zero-client DHTML interface. Provides a higher level of functionality than the Crystal Reports Viewer with report searching and basic interactivity: Provides experienced users with more flexibility in searching larger reports (filtering) and extracting relevant information. Search results are displayed in a grid, and users can click specific rows to locate that information in the report. Exporting and collaboration search grid results can be exported to Excel or Word tables for use in other documents, which can be annotated and sent to colleagues: The search grid retains its links back to the original report, allowing any consumer of the grid to view the information in its original context. Zero-client DHTML interface for report authoring, ad hoc querying and interactive OLAP analysis. Most comprehensive viewer, including more Crystal Reports functions and supporting business analysts and power users. Enables users to create reports, modify the layout or data of existing formatted reports and perform OLAP analysis on relational data sources over the Web, using a zero-client DHTML interface. Report design users can: start with an existing report as the basis for a new report (and use the report query) or start directly from database tables (access via ODBC) build a query format the report conduct multidimensional analysis on the underlying data Available as part of CE 9 Premium or as an option to CE 9 RAS. 16 December

16 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Usability Web interface to create, modify and analyze reports: Zero-client (DHTML) Web interface. Interface enables business users to create their own reports. Simplified data access: Administrators can create data sources for business users with meaningful field name aliases, filters, table joins and formula fields, abstracting the complexities of thedatafrombusinessusers. Users refer to the pre-defined data sources. Viewing, Analysis and Reporting Grid view for straightforward viewing: An alternative to the formatted report view, the grid view allows users to page through the data. Integrated analysis of relational data: Transition from formatted reporting to OLAP analysis within the same tool. Cubes are built automatically for business users. Cube-building wizard helps power users to build customized cubes. Graphical layout and formatting: Drag and drop metaphor. Flexible object positioning. Formatting of both objects and report sections including font and color selection. Report templates facilitate creation of format-rich reports. View, modify and analyze existing Crystal Reports: Ad Hoc supports interacting with existing Crystal Reports, including viewing, modification and analysis. Existing Crystal Reports can be leveraged to create new ones. Integration and Control Customization: Ad Hoc can be customized to the individual user level. Ad Hoc can be embedded into applications, including business intelligence (BI) applications. Ad Hoc has been designed for customization to fit with existing applications. Types of customization: Functions can be turned on or off and secured for specific users or groups of users. This includes broad-based function areas such as report creation, modification and analysis features, as well as more finely tuned capabilities such as the ability to add or remove fields, sort and filter the data, add new calculations and change the layout of a report. Administration module for security at the individual user level: Granular security model allows administrators to control access to features such as adding groups, calculations, sorts and data fields at the individual user level. Administrators can control the viewer options available to individual users and groups of users, adapting the interface and functionality to the user s abilities. Built on Crystal Enterprise: Ad Hoc is a component of the Crystal Enterprise information delivery infrastructure. 16 December

17 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Crystal Analysis Viewer Crystal Offline Viewer Report Wizard (CE 9) Report Functions Available as DHTML (for extranet) and ActiveX for better performance (requires applet download). Similar level of functionality to Crystal Reports Viewer, but with OLAP-orientation, that is, essential OLAP viewing and interaction. Allows users to view reports, when not connected to Crystal Enterprise, with the following functions: Print or export a report. Select the data wanted to view. Drill down for more detail in the report. Sort the data in the report. View multiple reports. Enhanced to increase usability and the overall quality of formatting in the end report. Report viewing formats include these: Crystal Reports Microsoft Excel MicrosoftWord Adobe Acrobat Rich Text Format Text XML Report functions include the following: Preview reports Schedule reports Review the scheduling history of reports Launch reports in one of the Crystal Report Viewers 16 December

18 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Microsoft Excel Add- In (to CE 9 Premium) Other Microsoft Office Integration New Excel functionality for CE: With this Microsoft Office integration feature; that is, Add-In, business users can customize, format and connect to and refresh live data from within Excel: Crystal Enterprise Add-In appears as a menu item on Excel toolbar, enabling access to CE functionality. A link to the original report source is maintained for automatic refreshing. Live report data can be combined with information stored in spreadsheets and other data sources. The resulting spreadsheets can be delivered and securely shared over the Web using the delivery platform of Crystal Enterprise. Enables IT users to create and deploy spreadsheet reports as an optional format for their users to access and analyze corporate information. Data in spreadsheets can be updated on demand or whenever the underlying report is scheduled. By enabling the automatic refreshing of report data from within Excel, the process of manually gathering information into spreadsheets and updating it on a regular basis is eliminated. A workbook can be created with data from multiple reports, spreadsheets and databases. Data can be manually or automatically refreshed within Excel based on events, schedules, and the like, while retaining all Excel formatting, thus eliminating the need to perform this task manually: Excel calculations based on report data are also automatically updated. Excel s functions can be used, including formatting, calculations, charts, pivot tables, columns and rows: All Excel formatting and calculations are preserved when report data is updated. Users can access, filter, sort, group and refresh report data right from within Excel. Any Excel spreadsheet can be published to CE from the Excel client with the CE Spreadsheet Publishing wizard. With Crystal Enterprise, users can: Export fully formatted reports or raw data to Microsoft Excel, Word and other popular formats. Search for data in a report; share these results in a Word, Excel or document; and retain links from the data to the original report. Create presentation-quality Crystal Reports in Microsoft Excel or Access. Use Smart Tags for Microsoft Office XP to copy report content into an Office XP document. Refresh the content in the document and open the original report in a Web browser (this only works in the thick Windows-client Crystal Reports designer). 16 December

19 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Report Design Enhancements in CE 9 Alert Notification Report Distribution Report Publishing Crystal Decisions Report Versions Supported CE 9 includes enhanced versions of Crystal Reports 9 and Crystal Analysis 9 designers for building reports, providing more control over data access, formatting and user interaction. Key CR 9 productivity features are included with CE 9, including: The Crystal Repository, which enables reuse and central updating of report components. Custom functions for building re-usable business logic. Free-form editing of report Structured Query Language (SQL) for query tuning and multiple data sources (you can build a command object to write custom SQL that supplies the query for your report, but you can t directly modify SQL that is automatically generated by the report designer). Crystal Reports content can be updated from the Crystal Repository when the report is published or manually refreshed from the CMC. Alerts are custom messages created in Crystal Reports that appear when certain conditions are met by report data. (CE 9) Alerts delivered to users Administrators can specify individuals or distribution lists. Administrators can configure notification to provide a link back to the report, along with a set number of records from the report. eportfolio tracks report instances that trigger Alerts: Increased visibility of alerts in eportfolio in CE 9. Using the Crystal Report Viewers, users can distribute reports using one of two methods: printing or exporting (note: additional licensing applies for external distribution). Report format types include these: Crystal Reports 7, 8, 8.5 and 9 Microsoft Excel MicrosoftWord Rich Text Format Adobe Acrobat Report publishing adds established reports to the Crystal Enterprise environment and makes them available to authorized users. Reports can be published using the Crystal Publishing Wizard or the Crystal Management Console. Users can determine which reports are added, where they should be located, who should be able to access them and how often the data should be updated. The reports that are added to Crystal Enterprise reside on the File Repository Server. As an alternative to adding multiple reports individually, publishing a directory enables adding a group of reports. Crystal Enterprise supports reports created in versions 6 through 8 of Crystal Reports and Crystal Analysis 9. Crystal Reports are automatically updated to a version 9 file format when they are uploaded to Crystal Enterprise. 16 December

20 Table 5: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 User Interface Components Publishing Options Crystal Publishing Wizard Publishing With Crystal Management Console One can choose to force users to see specific instances based on a determined schedule (recurring users see the same report of static data). Choose to let users set the schedule themselves (on demand for smaller reports that use parameters and selection formulas, require separate database logons or have frequent data changes). The Crystal Publishing Wizard guides users through the process of publishing reports to eportfolio. Lets users: Add reports to the desktop. Create folders. Set report parameters. Set default database logon information. Schedule report updates. The process of publishing a report or folder is made up of eight parts: Specifying the report. Changing report property information. Creating an instance. Defining access to the report. Specifying default database logon information. Setting default parameters. Changing record and group selection formulas. Scheduling report processing. Depending on the report or folder, not all of these parts need to be completed. Table 6: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Developer Tools Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Native CE Web Application Development.NET, Java and COM APIs support cross-platform deployment. Based on an open object model, CE provides open COM and Java interfaces for interaction with the system, enabling developers to integrate CE functionality into Web applications (in any COM- or Java-enabled language/environment, including VBScript, JavaScript, Visual Basic and Visual C++). CE Web applications are written as ASP, JSP or CSP applications to build a Web page to display reports, folders and report instances. CE facilitates this via Crystal Server Pages (.csp) and JavaScript. The CSP scripting language is very similar to ASP and allows CE to support Windows and Unix/Linux Web servers. Like ASP, CSP is a server-side scripting environment in which you can combine HTML pages, scripting languages and COM components to create interactive Web applications. Crystal Server Pages offer the same flexibility as Microsoft ASPs. Crystal Enterprise Web applications can be developed in any environment that supports ASP, CSP or JSP. 16 December

21 Table 6: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Developer Tools Crystal Server Pages (CSPs) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) CE 9 Enhancements CSPs are used to provide dynamic response to a user browsing the Web. Pages contain a mixture of HTML code and scripting code, such as VBScript or JavaScript. CSP pages are simple text files that can be developed with a text editor or an application, such as Microsoft FrontPage or Microsoft Visual InterDev. Functionality of the CE platform is exposed through developer APIs to enable application design and assembly in.net (new in CE 9), Java or COM environments. APIs support cross-platform deployment. CE 9 enhancements broaden support for Java and.net development and provide more seamless report integration capabilities, including support for portal integration and development of.net and JSP applications that leverage Crystal Enterprise functionality: Report Parts CE 9 provides support for embedding reports or pieces of reports into portals or other Web applications: The new zero-client, server-side viewer renders specified segments of a report, without the user interface and size restrictions imposed by the standard DHTML report viewer. A special Report Part viewer provides a stripped-down user interface that can be readily embedded without frames, but still supports the interactivity of the base viewers (for example, drill down). New viewing architecture together with zero-client viewer gives developers more control over the viewing and interaction process: The base CR viewer is now exposed as a component in the CE Object model, giving developers greater control over the look, feel and functionality of the viewer in their custom applications. Allows developers to toggle specific viewer features on and off (for example, the group tree, toolbar, export button and so on) Allows developers to integrate the viewer into existing Web applications (the viewer no longer uses frames to display output). Full.NET and Java SDKs..NET assemblies The new.net SDK provides full access to the CE client and administration interfaces from.net development environments. New sample applications CE now includes the eportfolio Mobile sample, allowing end users to navigate the CE system and view alerts and report parts on wireless devices. 16 December

22 Table 6: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Developer Tools Crystal Enterprise SDK Crystal Enterprise Java SDK Crystal Enterprise Plug-In The Crystal Enterprise SDK provides the tools for building Web applications that support report viewing, exporting and delivery across the company s intranet or Internet. It supports all major technologies and standards, including DHTML, Java, HTML, Active Server Pages (ASP), JavaServer Pages (JSP), JavaScript and VBScript. The Crystal Enterprise SDK gives developers extensive control over the creation, design and customization of enterprise-class Web applications. The Crystal Enterprise SDK includes the Crystal Enterprise Web Wizard, which installs a sample Web application or creates a custom Web project. This wizard is also available in Microsoft FrontPage. A developer can choose to create a Web application from scratch or build or install an application using the Crystal Enterprise Web Wizard. Can be used to customize eportfolio or the sample Web clients to be your default desktop: These desktops are designed to be data driven, allowing connection to databases, application of complex business logic to the data, and then control over how the resulting information is displayed. They provide report viewing through the supported viewers. The Crystal Enterprise SDK provides the tools and components to design a desktop with the following functionality: Logging on to a database Navigating through folders Previewing reports using thumbnails Viewing reports Searching for reports Scheduling reports Other functionality The Java SDK is a set of Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) and Java-class libraries that provide the interface between client components and servers. These SDKs support building Web applications for viewing and delivering reports via an intranet or the Internet. The Java SDK supports integration of Crystal Enterprise into J2EE Web application servers from BEA (WebLogic), IBM (WebSphere) and Apache on Windows 2000/NT, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX. A Crystal Enterprise plug-in is a COM Dynamic Link Library (DLL) that plugs in to the Crystal Enterprise system. While the main Crystal Enterprise objects handle all user functionality, server functionality and functionality relating to the objects contained within the system, the plug-ins control the behavior of the objects themselves. 16 December

23 Table 7: Features and Functions: Crystal Enterprise 9 Reporting and Analysis Products CR and Crystal Analysis Pro Technology Integration (Crystal Enterprise 9 Premium) Crystal Reports 9 Crystal Analysis Professional 9 Enables creation of interactive reports against enterprise data sources. Designers can establish linkages between formatted reports and interactive, analytic views of information. Crystal Reports supports report design and report generation against relational data sources and OLAP servers. Microsoft Windows (thick) client. CR 9 Enhancements: Crystal Reports 9 enhancements enable reuse of pieces of data access, business and formatting logic: The new report component repository allows designers to store and access shared components for report development and maintenance. New Command Objects enable report designers to write custom SQL and reuse these Command Objects across multiple reports. Custom Functions enable building and reusing formulas, calculations and formatting commands. Templates provide an efficient mechanism for maintaining a standard look and feel across a large set of reports. A set of formatted OLAP reporting capabilities allow designers to manipulate OLAP data and produce highly formatted reports for end users. Integration with Crystal Enterprise: Interacts with the Crystal Enterprise environment (Open files from, save files to) via.rpt files. CR can be called from within CE and vice versa. Reports can be delivered in real time with Crystal Enterprise s Report Streaming technology, or delivery with respect to formats and destinations can be automated with the scheduling feature. Enhanced DHTML viewer lets users view reports, drill down on charts, link to ondemand sub-reports or export data. To view a Crystal Report report, one must send a Crystal Web Request (CWR) to the Web Component Server. Crystal Enterprise Standard replaces the previous version of the Crystal Web Component Server and provides complete support for scripting. Report alerts user-defined messages, which appear when certain conditions are met by data in a report, cause Crystal Enterprise to take predictable actions. Design tool for developers that create OLAP applications user interfaces and reports allowing end users to view and analyze data from OLAP data sources. Microsoft Windows (thick) client. Delivers interactive analytic reports with different cube views on each page, and Analysis Buttons guide users intuitively through various views of the data. Data sources supported currently include Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services (SP2), Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, SAP BW (2.0 and 3.0), IBM DB2 OLAP 7.1 and 8.1, Hyperion Essbase and Crystal Analysis Holos v.8 and v December