These full-feature Crystal Reports viewers let you share your Crystal Reports with users who don't have a Crystal Reports license. You save money in multiple ways:
Low-cost per user license with no hidden fees and no annual fees.
User licenses are transferable.
One-time purchase, no annual contract or renewal fees required.
Free 30-day trial.
What is a Crystal Reports viewer?
A Crystal Reports viewer is an inexpensive rpt file reader. It resides on the desktop. A Crystal Reports viewer allows someone who doesn't have a Crystal Reports license to read your Crystal Report. But "read" has many shades of gray. If you want users to be able to read that report with full drilldown and data refresh, you need something much better than the native report reader in Business Objects.
Our Crystal Reports viewers give you the options and functionality you need and can't get from free readers such as the native reader in Business Objects. Step up to one of our Crystal Reports viewers, and you'll see the difference. We offer a free trial to help you with that. Why not try it?
What if you send .rpt files to customers or vendors, and they don't have a Crystal Reports license? With our Crystal Reports viewers, you truly make use of the investment you made in your reporting system and in the reports you've developed.
With a full-function Crystal Reports viewer, users have the same access to information that you'd be able to provide with the "full monte" Business Objects system but at a fraction of the cost. What about a report on demand function? Well, that's not there per se but the user gets the same effect by simply refreshing the data. If you use a Crystal Reports scheduler to send new reports periodically, the users have the latest report and just need the latest data via refresh. The report itself should seldom change. The data change constantly.
Advantages
What are some advantages and benefits of using the Crystal Reports viewers we offer?
Data refresh. Users can refresh against live data. Users don't need to demand new reports; they can just update existing ones with fresh data.
Ease of security. You can set the report viewer to handle database access, so users don't need to log in to view reports.
The right features. Our developers work in the field and listen to the clients. These Crystal Reports viewers have features that users actually need.
Easy installation and use. This reduces implementation costs and lowers total cost of ownership.
Compatibility. You can use these viewers with Citrix systems and similar arrangements.
Flexibility. If you need to share .rpt files with customers or vendors who don't have a Crystal Reports license, this is how you do it. Yes, it is approved by Crystal Reports and Business Objects. People don't need an expensive CR system or even a Crystal Reports seat to fully utilize your .rpt files.
Cost-savings. You can save considerable money with the viewer approach over the BO Enterprise model. If you haven't priced this lately, take a look. It's an eye-opener.
Simplification. The viewer approach is simple and easy to implement. And the sys admin has less workload.
Scalability. You can add new users incrementally. We're happy to consolidate previous licenses, to simplify your license administration.
Does .NET matter?
You'll notice that three of these viewers are built on .NET. This difference would matter if your system uses the .Net authentication and encryption and you want to be consistent with that.
A Catch?
If you buy one of our Crystal Reports viewers, you're going to save money. Probably a ton of it.
But is there a catch? Yes, there is. You lose the ability for users to get reports sent upon demand. Sounds bad, right? A closer look shows that's not a problem.
Why? There are two key factors, here. First, these Crystal Reports viewers allow users to refresh against live data. Second, your Crystal Report itself should not have to change frequently. Usually what changes is the data behind the report, if you've designed things correctly. Yes, even a perfect report design may need to be updated as circumstances change. Just not very often.
If the report changes, you can use a Crystal Reports scheduler (which we also sell) to send a new one. The scheduler will send your Crystal Report as often you want, so you can send the report even if it didn't change just so people look at the information regularly. But what about the data? The refresh ability of our Crystal Reports viewers solves that problem.
So the idea that users will be lost if they can't get a report sent upon demand just isn't true. You are still giving them what they need. Which is, of course, a report with current data. You're just doing it a way that costs a lot less money.
How Many Licenses?
Crystal Reports viewers aid in the distribution to clients, customers, or vendors. These viewers are why people don't need a Crystal Reports license to read your reports. The viewer approach works especially well when people get full drill-down and can refresh against live data. Which is what our viewers give them the power to do. So, whether to buy a Crystal Reports viewer is really a no-brainer. The hard part is deciding which license quantity. Here's a little help with that.
Choose from the 5-user, 10-user, or 20-user license pack for:
Small-scale distribution; e.g., it doesn't justify BO Enterprise.
Small additions to the rpt distribution list.
Small to medium-sized Crystal Reports training classes. You can transfer licenses as students graduate.
Choose from the 50-user license-pack or the site license for:
