Why should I change from CR XI to CR 2008

[derHans]

My companie creates alot of reports for other companies and often we get the question why we are not using CR 2008. Our answer in the past was: "Never change a running system". But it would be better to know what is better in CR 2008 than in XI?

From my point of view the comunity of XI is mutch larger and so it is easier to get help if I have a problem. But otherwise the GUI is sometimes realy bad (properties of diagrams are devided on four different contextmenus and dialogs) and the reports of 2008 look realy cool.

I know I could download the trial version and play a bit but unfortuneatly I have no time for that.

Thank you for your answers.

 

[lbass]

Take a look at Ken Hamady's newsletter, starting with v.2007.11:

http://www.kenhamady.com/news0711.shtml

for reviews of various features.

-LB

 

[IdoMillet]

I think the key improvement is the dynamic parameter panel. Two secondary items are the more powerful CrossTabs and the ability to click to sort.

If you are in the business of providing reports to client organizations, my bias is that your time could be leveraged better by identifying & addressing opportunities to improve the use of reports at these organizations.

hth,
- Ido

view, email, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[MJRBIM]

Also, keep in mind that CR-XI (R2) has a Tech Support End-of-Life of 30-Jun-2010.

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/c018fb0e-8724-2b10-c489-9b8333e5e0f9

Therefore, you are less than a year away from having your customers on a non-patched / non-supported product.

From the amount of Crystal 6 and 7 I run into on some client-sites this may not be a big issue, but for anyone in the Risk / Compliance world it is a HUGE issue.

I would suggest that you plan to move all clients over to CR-2008 in the next 12 months.


Senior Business Intelligence Consultant
Toronto, Canada

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