SAP Business One: Crystal Reports Design Overview for Consultants

If you have SAP B1 ERP implemented in your organization, you are probably already familiar with internal reports, queries, XL Reporter and in this little post we would like to highlight Crystal Reports. Each reporting tool has its own pros and cons, and you should try multiple tools if your reporting needs are broad: from financial reports (trial balance, balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow statement) to operational reports (Sales by Regions and Items, Sales Commission Report, Project Profitability to name a few examples), plus if you need industry forms such as Bill of Lading, Agent Settlement Report:

Reporter 1.XL. This reporting tool is very user friendly for the end user and if you are an accountant and are not comfortable or familiar with SQL scripting then this report should meet your needs. This report implements Microsoft Excel tools and has a VBA extension for MS Excel. However, this report design tool works with predefined SB1 objects: business partner, account, item, price list, and the like, and is limited in creating custom links. And this is understandable: if you need advanced bindings in your report, you’ll need an SQL view or stored procedure as the base of the report; You can achieve this goal in Crystal Report.

2. Crystal reports. If you are discovering the design of Crystal Reports through the report creation wizard, you must listen to the SAP BO training class, either online or face to face. However, if you are a report developer and work in the IT department, you should go to the SQL view or stored procedure scripting. The stored procedure is the most powerful tool and its parameters must be translated to the Crystal Report parameter. The stored procedure allows you to create temporary tables within its bounds; this should resolve the complex join and create staging tables if necessary. The stored procedure should be able to generate a very complex report – try designing something like sales project profitability, based on the cost incurred in purchasing order processing, production (working hours and possible overhead).

3. SQL Server or SRS reporting services. This tool is web-based, which should give you certain advantages if your organization has regional offices and an international presence. SRS in its suitability is quite similar to Crystal Reports and bases its reports on SQL views or SQL stored procedures.

4. Forms of the Industry. If you are thinking about which reporting tool to implement and how, the suggestion is simple: these reports should show only one document: Sales Invoice, Purchase Order, Vendor Invoice in the format required by your industry regulation. You can use Crystal Report (which could be integrated into your SAP B1 interface) as well as SRS (if you want to web-enable these reports).