Business Objects Crystal Reports 2008

Crystal Reports 2008 is a powerful, dynamic, actionable reporting solution that helps you design, explore, visualize, and deliver reports via the web or embedded in enterprise applications. It enables end users to consume reports with stunning visualizations, conduct on-report business modeling, and execute decisions instantly from the report itself-reducing dependency on IT and developers.

Xcelsius Integration
Visualize the potential outcome of your business decisions with what-if scenario models built in your report file. Import Xcelsius-generated SWF files into your report and benefit from improved design-time integration. IT and developers will design fewer reports to support the decision making process. Please note: Xcelsius design tool is not included in Crystal Reports 2008.

Parameter Panel
The report designer and the .NET Winform, and .NET Webform viewers have a parameter panel so that parameter values can be set without refreshing data. Parameters used are displayed on the panel so that report consumers can easily see them, make changes, and have the new values applied directly to the saved data. Another solution to reduce report count and IT/Dev support cost.

Interactive Report Viewing
Users can answer more business questions with fewer, more flexible reports - significantly reducing Developer and IT support dependency. On-report sorting, filtering, and report reformatting with the .NET Winform, and .NET Webform viewers allows users to explore information interactively without re-querying the database. New optional parameters provide for complex user-driven filtering scenarios.

Powerful Crosstabs
Add business-critical information to your reports without coding. Summary, variance, and any other customer calculations can be inserted into a crosstab row or a column - especially useful for reports that benefit from a table structure such as financial reports. The crosstab table structure makes reports much faster to build and maintain. This feature also provides powerful benefits to crosstab-based charts since custom formulas in the crosstab can be visualized within the charts.

Single Edition
A simple solution for all your design needs. Crystal Reports 2008 comes in a single edition that is the feature equivalent of the previous Developer Edition. This single offering provides customers with quick access to the features they need to meet any application and user requirement. Report samples and developer documentation are now a free, optional download.

Crystal Reports 2008 is a single edition that meets the broadest range of user and application requirements. It replaces three Crystal Reports XI editions: Standard, Professional and Developer, and includes the equivalent of the Developer edition feature set.

Multilingual Reporting
Provides flexible implementation. Choose the working language you prefer by simply selecting the language packs you wish to use during product installation. Then switch the report designer UI to use any of the installed language packs. The report content locale can also be explicitly set for each report file. This setting controls sorting, grouping and formatting that matches the local language customs and conventions.

Improved XML Exporting
Render reports in almost any format and enjoy faster and easier integration with your industry-specific business processes-without any custom coding. The XSLT transformations are embedded into the report file and will be triggered by users from within the viewer when exporting to XML. This provides a powerful, flexible hook for transforming Crystal Reports data and integrating it into other applications.

Advanced Report Publishing
Expand your IT capability and deliver a better customer experience. Also known as report bursting, advanced report publishing is a platform for the mass distribution of personalized content. Multiple reports can be created based on different data sources, combined into one desired file format (such as PDF), loaded with personalized content, and then sent to a dynamic list of recipients-with a single action. The content can be archived, printed, or emailed in separate actions, or simultaneously. This makes scheduling much faster and easier, with the ability to conduct cost effective one-on-one marketing campaigns and other personalized high-volume reporting.