Distributing Impromptu Reports

[Amanda24]

We have 4 people that will not have Impromptu installed on their PC. There are 8 - 10 Impromptu reports that they need to view. They currently have a connection to the database the reports access. They would like to view all reports with the most current data. Is there a way to allow them this view only access without having to install Impromptu on their PC? We have used other report writers that have this capability.

 

[griffindm]

Amanda,

The best that Impromptu can do is to save the reports as another file format (Excel, PDF, HTML) and then share these with the users without Impromptu on their desktops. Even Crystal is moving away from the free run-time viewer. The push seems to be toward licensed web reports, such as Impromptu Web Reports, which adds a portal and security features.

Regards,

Dave Griffin
The Decision Support Group
Reporting Consulting with Cognos BI Tools
"Magic with Data"

http://www.decisionsupportgroup.com

 

[nagrajm]

Dave is right. Impromptu Web Reports (IWR) has the functionality to access and run report on the web/intranet using only a web brower. The user doesn't need Impromptu client.

If you do not have IWR installed or don't have any plans to install one, you may schedule your reports to run on a predetermined interval, automatically export it to EXCEL, PDF etc. and make it available on a shared drive. The reports can be secured using your specific O/S file security. For example, if you are on Windows NT, you can user NT Access Control to secure access.

I have heard some people use generic XML programs to run impromptu report on the web. In which case, one doesn't need IWR.