Crystal Reports is a
business intelligence
Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...
application marketed to small- and medium-sized businesses by
SAP
Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...
.
History
Terry Cunningham and the Cunningham Group originated the software in 1984. Crystal Services Inc. marketed the product (originally called "Quik Reports") when they could not find a suitable commercial report writer for an accounting software they developed add-on products for, which was
ACCPAC Plus for DOS (later acquired by
Sage). After producing versions 1.0 through 3.0, Crystal Services was acquired by
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology Holdings plc is an American Computer data storage, data storage company. It was incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology and commenced business in 1979. Since 2010, the company has been incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, with ...
in 1994. Crystal Services was combined with
Holistic Systems to form the Information Management Group of
Seagate Software, which later rebranded as
Crystal Decisions
Crystal Decisions (previously known as '' Seagate Software Information Management Group'') was a company that was known for its business intelligence products.
The company was formed when hard disk drive manufacturer Seagate Technology acquired ...
and produced versions 4.0 through 9.0. Crystal Decisions was acquired in December 2003 by
BusinessObjects, which produced versions 10, 11 (XI) and version 12 (2008).
SAP
Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...
acquired BusinessObjects on October 8, 2007, and released Crystal Reports 2011 (version 14) on May 3, 2011. The latest version released is Crystal Reports 2025 (14.4.x) on March 12, 2025.
The file extension for Crystal Reports' proprietary file format is .rpt. The design file can be saved without data, or with data for later viewing or sharing. Introduced with the release of Crystal Reports 2011 (version 14.0), the read-only .rptr file extension option allows for viewing, but cannot be modified once exported.
Several other applications, including
Microsoft Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms ...
versions 2003 through 2008, and
Borland Delphi
Delphi is a general-purpose programming language and a software product that uses the Delphi dialect of the Object Pascal programming language and provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development of desktop, ...
, at one time bundled an
OEM version of Crystal Reports as a general purpose reporting tool. Microsoft discontinued this practice and later released their own competing reporting tool,
SQL Server Reporting Services
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a server-based report generating software system from Microsoft. It is part of a suite of Microsoft SQL Server services, including SSAS ( SQL Server Analysis Services) and SSIS ( SQL Server Integration Servic ...
(SSRS).
Versions and editions
* A=Advanced Developer, D=Developer, P=Professional, S=Standard
See also
*
Dashboard (business)
In computer information systems, a dashboard is a type of graphical user interface which often provides at-a-glance views of data relevant to a particular objective or process through a combination of Visualization (graphics), visualizations a ...
*
List of reporting software
The following is a list of notable report generator software. Reporting software is used to generate human-readable reports from various data sources.
Commercial software
* ActiveReports
* Actuate Corporation
* BOARD
* Business Objects
* ...
*
Jasper Reports
Jasper, an Aggregate (geology), aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an Opacity (optics), opaque, impure variety of Silicon dioxide, silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in co ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
* {{Official website, http://www.crystalreports.com
SAP.com Product Page
Reporting software