Crystal better than Excel? Trying to upgrade 2

[Jason2121]

Hello,

I really enjoy using Crystal Reports XI and the Clients I am working with want to know what is better about Crystal than Excel when it comes to Reports and Graphs.

Is there a way I can explain rather than just saying it is easier for all users and for report design.

Thanks

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Excel is a spreadsheet tool that can do reports, but it is really designed for math computational capabilities and the spreadsheet's unique functionality ..

Crystal Reports is a dedicated report generator and, as such, is much more efficient at accessing remote data and giving you the power to create very complex reports.

It may or may not be easier for all users, depending on the nature and complexity of the reporting needs but it is, by design, a better tool for generating reports.

( Similarly, Wordpad can produce text documents but MS Word is better at it for serious writing and layout)







To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[elsenorjose]

I think it all depends on what the users need.

I find Excel to be much better and easier to create charts in, plus the ability to create and modify pivot tables and reports 'on the fly' is a great bonus. The Analysis Toolpak allows for complex statistical analysis that is just plain hard or impossible to do in Crystal. And you can easily use Excel to connect to ODBC data sources to use a query tool in an environment familiar to many users.

Crystal is a great tool for static reports that don't require much interactivity and which need to be distributed across an organization.

Like I said, I think it all depends on what the end users need.

 

[Jason2121]

Thanks for your opinion(s). I like them both, but feel Crystal is more benevicial to the client because they are not database conscious. I can Audit their numbers and keep it in the same format and then design Reports for them based on Excel which they enter into everyday and I upload, CSV afterward.

 

[Madawc]

With the report wizard, you can have a passible report in less than an hour. Maybe just a few minutes, if it's simple.

You can also get neat output, even fancy output if the business want it. Not in Excel, as far as I know.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Crystal 10 & 11.5 with Windows XP

 

[Madawc]

You can get examples of fancy reports using the 'templates' they supply.

Another advantage, you can export a Crystal report as PDF, meaning it can go to people without Crystal on their machine. And it does export decent Excel.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Crystal 10 & 11.5 with Windows XP

 

[Jason2121]

I appreciate all this input - I am currently writing my proposal and have my final Meeting this afternoon where I present this option, which I think going to Crystal for Reports and Graphs for presentations or printed proposals is best for Managerial aspects.

If there are any other opinions, feel free, I have until 4 pm (EST).

Thanks again to all

 

[chelseatech]

Biggest benefit of a dedicated report writer like Crystal rather than Excel is that it is data driven: The same formulas apply to each record. There is no guarantee this is the case with any spreadsheet.

Also can handle a larger volume of data (although later versions of Excel now improve this). I've still seen spreadsheets that use all the columns available.

Crystal is better where multiple levels of grouping are needed and there is some business logic that is just very hard in a spreadsheet.

Editor and Publisher of Crystal Clear

http://www.chelseatech.co.nz/pubs.htm