Integrating Crystal Reports with SAP ERP

[former_member184566]

Today I attended an ASUG session where tammy.powlas was presenting on how you can integrate Crystal Reports with SAP.

tammy.powlas works for Fairfax Water and this would be a customer success story.

Figure 1: Source - ASUG

In the below slide you can see the background of the company Tammy works for,  Fairfax Water is one of the largest water utility companies in Virginia.

Figure 2: Source - ASUG

Tammy then discussed why use embedded analytics. Some convincing points are listed.

Figure 3: Source - ASUG

Tammy then discussed what is embedded analytics. The below statements came from the big red competitor of SAP.

Figure 4: Source - ASUG

Tammy then also elaborated on SAP definition of embedded analytics.

Figure 5: Source - ASUG

Tammy then discussed in that most SAP reports are displayed using ALV grid, all these reports can be displayed in Crystal Reports. Also discussing ALV as a source.

Figure 6: Source - ASUG

Tammy was discussing what software is needed on the server and client machines in order to use Crystal Reports.

Figure 7: Source - ASUG

The below demonstrates the difference between ALV and Crystal. Gives you a good feel how the ALV would look like when in crystal.

Figure 8: Source - ASUG

Tammy discussed further the output options and that no extra servers or infrastructure is needed. It becomes part of your SAP ERP. Your SAP ERP must be on EHP 5.

Figure 9: Source - ASUG

Tammy also discussed how to setup the below, also how you can customize reports easily and add extra content.

Figure 10: Source - ASUG

Tammy then demonstrated this functionality in action with several mini videos. Great stuff.

Figure 11: Source - ASUG

Tammy also discusses data sources and options.

Figure 12: Source - ASUG

As part of the data source options we can see that when connecting to SAP ERP we can use Transparent Tables and InfoSets.

Figure 13: Source - ASUG

Another option to connect to SAP ERP is by making use of the universe.

Figure 14: Source - ASUG

The above was key things that caught my eye.

For more info follow me on twitter @louisdegouveia