BO Reports

[ravi_chandra3]

Hi all,

Can anybody tell me the difference between the reports in BO like the WEBI,CRYSTAL REPORT , XCELCIUS REPORT ? what is the main difference between these repots? Plz explain what difference we find in these report and why there is need to have this much report ?

Plz explain in detail.

Thanx & Regards,

RaviChandra

[former_member188080]

WebI reports has an advantage when the report is of Ad-hoc variety. WebI is intuitive and allows for users to drag and drop fields to create quick reports. Most of the logic in WebI is handled in the universe, so reports can be quickly developed. Further fields are defined in business terms, as opposed to to database/IT terms, so the report developer only needs to understand his/her business and not the details of the structure of the database.

Crystal Reports has an advantage when the presentation and formatting of the report is of the highest concern. Crystal allows for pixel perfect, high fidelity reports, and allows the report developer more control of the presentation and data access. Crystal reports take a bit longer to develop, and require a higher understanding of database design and logic.

WebI reports is the better solution when the report needs to be developed quickly and will be developed by a Business User. Crystal Reports is the better solution when the report presentation is of the highest concern, and the report can be developed by an IT Developer of Business Power User.

Also refer following links

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/70b9650d-aa1f-2b10-a489-b50642dac26d

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/30c67dac-473f-2b10-0a82-a32560f590bd

Thanks and regards

Kiran

[former_member210615]

hi ravi,

all the 3 are important tools in BO suite, major difference among the three is xcelcius is a dynamic dashboard tool where it can be used for prediction of KPIs to the end user while incase of webi and CR they are mere reporting tools,outputs to webi and CR can be in pdf or in .doc(word formats) but for xcelcius it can give report in all the above formats plus also in flash file format(.swf) and thus output generated with have colors and features thus it giving a Look and Feel attribute to the end user reports.

but problem with xcelcius reports is that it shows a degradation of performance when you are doing a bulk data load inspite of buffering the data which helps in reducing unnecassary hits on the server but still we have to optimize the performance of the reports and also for xcelcius the source file has to excel(preferred) though we can use live office and qaas as well.

for webi we use universe as source file and for CR it can be excel,view,universe.

one point is worth mentioning is that xcelcius can have data from webi and CR both; selection of the tool depends on the user requirements generally webi is preferred over xcelcius

hope this will clarify your doubt

regards

laksh

[ravi_chandra3]

Hi laksh,

can u tell me the meaning of group expert in crystal report ?

Thanx & Regards,

Ravichandra

[former_member210615]

hi ravi,

group expert tab in CR are generally used as to how you want to group fields in your report, when you select that option you will have to give the group condition after that header and footer by default group name will added there in the report, you can also select a summary from summary dialog box for a particular field.

after the doing all the necessary setting you will be able to see the report in different groups and a group tree will also be displayed in the side bar

hope this might help you

regards

laksh

[former_member225306]

Hi,

Use the Group Expert to specify how fields will be grouped on your report. You can also use the dialog box to reposition groups and to edit the criteria used for triggering and sorting groups. This dialog box appears when you right-click a Group Header in the Report Designer or Group Name in the Field Explorer and select Group Expert, or when you right-click in the Report Designer, point to Report and choose Group Expert.

Available Fields

This list displays all of the fields available for use in grouping. The list is based on the report fields you chose in the Field Explorer and the tables you selected on the Data tab of the Database Expert.

Browse Data

Click this button to browse the data of the field that is selected in the Available Fields list.

Find Field

Click this button to enter the name of a field you'd like to locate in the Available Fields list.

Add or remove arrow buttons

Use the > arrow adjacent to the Group By list to add fields from the Available Fields list. Use the < arrows to remove fields you've already added. Double arrows add or remove all fields.

Group By

This list displays all of the fields you've selected for grouping. As you add fields, they are added in a hierarchy. This hierarchy establishes the order the groups will appear in the report.

When you enter a group, that group appears directly above and below the Details section. When you add a second group, it appears between the Details section and the first group. The third group is between the Details section and the second group, and so on. Thus, when you look at the Report Designer, the Group Header for the first group is the top group header, and the Group Footer for the first group is the bottom group footer.

This Group By list reflects the group footer order of groups; the bottom group in the list is the first group, the group next to the bottom is the second group, and so forth.

When you select a group in this list, the program activates those buttons that apply to the selected group.

Up or down arrow buttons

Use the up and down arrows adjacent to the Group By list to change the order of fields you've added from the Available Fields list.

Options

When you click this button the Change Group Options dialog box appears. Use this dialog box to edit the criteria used for triggering and sorting groups.

Thanks,

Venkat