Ad Hoc V2.0

[Hypermommy]

Hi all,

We're considering purchase of the newest version of "Ad Hoc" -- the product from Crystal that works in conjunction with RAS and Enterprise (whatever version we have) that allows our users to create their ornw reports based upon whatever datasources the administrators set up. At this point I'm not very impressed. For something that costs what this does, I expect to be able to drop it in and it work without problems, but that's not what's happened.

So let me ask you this.... if I've got RAS and a SQL server database I could probably write pages that allow our administrators to set up datasources and then other pages that allow our users to manipulate these datasources to produce their own reports, shouldn't I? Anyone doing anything like that?

Thanks.

-= Hypermommy =-

 

[synapsevampire]

Manipulating datasources to produce reports types a whole lot easier than it implements...

I agree that the product is not ready for prime time, but given the nature of CR/CE, it's probably cheaper to purchase it than try to rewrite it.

-k

 

[rptQueen]

We are also testing Smart Reporting and Ad Hoc, and are interested in finding out how others are progressing with either or both of these.

Hypermommy, How is your evaluation going? Have you decided on either of these options?

rptQueen

 

[Hypermommy]

I'm not incredibly impressed. Crystal's salesman is supposed to be emailing me to set up another Ad Hoc demo. What they showed me via a previous demo looked great (for Ad Hoc). But I haven't been able to get it to work with my data yet and until I do, I'm not believing a think of it.

BTW, be aware that Smart Reporting is a technology, not a product. They represented it at one point as a product but what we're finding out and what we were told the other day is that it's a technology that enables stuff. ePortfolio's "modify" and "new report" options run off of SR. I think AH might as well, but I'm not 100% sure.

How's your evaluation going?


-= Hypermommy =-

 

[rptQueen]

Your experience sounds oh too familiar.

We were shown a demo for Smart Reporting a while back. We started setting up/testing CE 8.5 this summer, then upgraded to CE 9. Tested the modify/new report, which is RAS and Smart Reporting. Now, it appears what we were shown in the demo is called Ad Hoc! Ad Hoc will appear as an additional button similar to the new report button. It will run off reports, but not off instances, which is what we need.

We really just want the Selection Expert from Seagate Info back - this year we trained users on this feature, and now it doesn't appear there is anything as simple as this in CE 9.0.

We also tested the Excel Add-In, and it requires view time security, which is not possible for us due to large datasets. (We'd prefer not to make data subsets or views.)

We just keep hoping that the next version will have the parts we need.

rptQueen

 

[Hypermommy]

The new Ad Hoc seems pretty neat (if it works right) -- it will allow you to set up data sources that can be based on a particular report or on a view of a database. It will also allow you to create/work with OLAP worksheets, which sounds like it'd be useful, but I must admit I don't know much about them.

How did you implement View Time Security? Our sales rep made it sound like it was something native to CE9 but their KB article (c2011766) says "View Time Security for Crystal Enterprise available from one of our partner organizations, APOS Systems Inc." Which did you find it to be -- native or 3d party?

Thanks.


-= Hypermommy =-

 

[icytrue]

VTS is native to CE9 - if you can create the necessary C++ DLL to utilize it!!
Much simpler to go with APOS who have created the DLLS and a simple management system for you - as long as what you wanted to do with VTS matches what APOS have done (i.e. the most obvious usage of filterin a report at runtime or viewtime based on user or user group).

HTH

Icytrue

icytrue@hotmail.com