Blair Wheadon

June 20, 2011 Less than a 1 minute read

SAP Crystal Server 2011 – Update #7

SAP Crystal Server 2011 – Update #6

With the recent announcement of both SAP Crystal Server 2011 and SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI 4.0, there’s lots of interest in clarifying the differences between the 2 products.

This image provides a summary of the differences.

In general, SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI 4.0 differs from SAP Crystal Server in 2 main ways: functionality, and capacity.

From a functionality standpoint, Edge BI 4.0 standard edition adds:

Ahoc analysis with Webi
OLAP analysis
BI widgets
SAP integration
Mobile BI
Dashboards viewing and Explorer in CAL licenses.

From a capacity standpoint, Edge BI provides for either CAL or NUL licenses for all advanced BI content (Webi, Dashboard viewing, Explorer, BI Workspace) while SAP Crystal Server only allows NUL licenses to access Dashboards, Explorer, and BI Workspaces to a maximum of 100 NULs.

On the other hand, SAP Crystal Server reflects its reporting roots by supporting report viewing to a maximum of 250 CALs.

I hope this summary helps you understand the differences between SAP Crystal Server and the Edge BI editions, and SAP BusinessObjects BI/EIM 4.0.

Regards, Blair

11 Comments

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Former Member

June 21, 2011 at 5:43 am

Hi Blair,

Thanks for the quick turnaround in getting this post out. As a consulting partner and reseller with a lot of Tier 2/3 companies wanting BI, I can assure you that the new offerings in CR Server 2011 definitely open up a lot more doors for organisations wanting to improve their BI.

Kind regards,

Joshua Fletcher

Blair Wheadon

Blog Post Author

June 21, 2011 at 8:30 pm

Thanks Joshua. You're right - Crystal Server is designed for exactly that situation - small firms with 100 users or less that want to take that first step with BI.

Former Member

June 21, 2011 at 9:15 am

Hi Blair,
I see CAL listed for each product stack except EIM. Are there plans to offer CAL for BusinessObjects Enterprise?

Blair Wheadon

Blog Post Author

June 21, 2011 at 8:31 pm

Hi Jennifer. We aren't in a position to make any announcements about CALs for BusinessObjects Enterprise at this time. I'll be sure to blog about it if and when we do make that change.

Thanks, Blair

Andrew Baines

June 22, 2011 at 12:25 am

Is that right - 100 NUL, 250 CAL? Surely it should be the other way round?

Blair Wheadon

Blog Post Author

June 22, 2011 at 5:35 am

No- that's correct. Crystal Server supports up to 250 CAL for report viewing only. The rationale is that reporting is different from the other BI tools. It's more commoditized, and therefore we support higher capacities in Crystal Server than the BI tools.

Former Member

August 8, 2011 at 7:04 am

Hi Blair,

Thanks for the great comparison chart. We have what used to be called Business Objects Enterprise Premium. Am I right to think it is now called SAP Business Objects BI 4.0? With all the changes I haven't been able to keep up with exactly what "bells and whistles" are included. Is there a new white paper on it? Also, when is v4.0 going to be ready?

Thanks,
Dianne

Blair Wheadon

Blog Post Author

August 9, 2011 at 11:45 am

Hi Dianne,

Yes, your upgrade path is to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0. You should watch the Business Analytics blog for more information on availability of BI 4.0: http://blogs.sap.com/analytics/

This post has the latest information: http://blogs.sap.com/analytics/2011/07/15/update-on-bi-4-0-availability/

There are many great posts on SCN covering whats new in BI 4.0. Here's a few:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/70882af8-4f84-2e10-24a9-d8bf3c11402e

Intriguing features of BI 4

Start learning BusinessObjects BI 4.0 now!

Hope this helps. Blair.

Former Member

August 11, 2011 at 1:59 pm

Hi Dianne,

A couple of resources for you:

BI 4.0 Innovations Summary on SCN to jumpstart your 4.0 knowledge: Innovations in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0

What's New in BI Suite 4.0 for more in-depth information: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_whats_new_en.pdf

Thank you,
Pierre Leroux
SAP Business Analytics

Former Member

October 4, 2011 at 9:00 pm

When will SQL Server 2008 R2 be supported for Crystal Server 2011 (or even Crystal Reports Server 2008)? for both data sources or CMS repository.

Former Member

July 31, 2013 at 9:42 pm

Thanks for this. More clearer now.

Regards,

SAP Crystal Server 2011 – Update #7

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