Hi,
If you haven't committed yourself to either reporting tool, consider the following before making a choice. Creating reports using Oracle Reports will take a reasonably experienced programmer much more time than creating the same report using Crystal Reports. The Oracle Reporting package is very 'powerful' but not straightforward and it's formatting functions are overly complex and confusing and bogs the programmer down. An end-user would never be able to use this tool by itself.
Crystal on the other hand is programmer friendly,(even end users can learn how to use this tool). Formatting takes a fraction of the time spent attempting the same in Oracle and it has all the functionality you will ever need while creating reports. Of note, Oracle has provided Crystal with it's direct database drivers so Crystal can query Oracle db's directly, bypassing ODBC layers. One less area to troubleshoot when issues arise. Microsoft has provided the same for their SQL Server & Access. CR employs this 'native communication' for accessing other well known databases as well. If you prefer ODBC that is also available.
Try the tool hands on. Find someone who uses Oracle Reports and watch. Do the same with CR.
Lastly and telling of which is the reporting tool of choice 'out there', look at the number of user's inquiries in the Crystal Reports forums on Tek-Tips, and observe how many have answers to their inquiry. Compare that with the number of user inquiries in the Oracle Report forums and make note of the number without a reply.
Our own experience as an large Oracle platform user: We started using their reporting tool at the onset. We also took their training. Now, having recognized the time saved designing reports in Crystal, we are migrating to that reporting tool department by department with no regrets and no issues. Hope this is of help.
Q
