Review of Crystal Reports: A Beginner’s Guide by David McAmis. Published by Osborne/McGraw Hill. Berkely, CA 2002. ISBN 0-07-219326-3
Crystal Reports is the leading business intelligence software tool on the market. A large majority of its 8 million users are non-programmers in need of guidance in the art of turning data into information. David McAmis, an experienced Crystal Reports instructor from Australia, attempts to serve these users with his new book. Unfortunately, the book falls short of its goal.
The book has 15 chapters each one devoted to a major feature of Crystal Reports. Within each chapter is a lengthy discussion of every option, radio button and check box in every dialog box. As a result, the often-used and basic features are mixed with the little used and advanced features. This makes it hard to follow the flow of the chapter. The reader is left with the feeling, “why did I need to know that?”
Each chapter has several “One-minute Drills” that test the reader’s memory of a topic that has been discussed. Sometimes these are useful. Often, they are simply rote repetition of words that were printed on a previous page. For example, a drill on page 50 asks, “Which toolbars are shown by default when you start Crystal Report?” I fail to understand how this will help the reader design a useful report.
The last page in every chapter is a “Mastery Check” that reviews basic facts that were covered in the previous pages. At times these are useful, but they often focus on trivial information.
More helpful are the “Ask the Expert” boxes scattered throughout the book. These are presented in a question and answer format and undoubtedly draw on the author’s teaching experience. Tip boxes scattered throughout the text also provide helpful ways to accomplish something in Crystal.
The biggest failing of the book is that the author decided to discuss every check box and every option in every pull-down menu in Crystal. Rather than focusing on the features needed to accomplish a goal, the chapters become a catalog of everything you could ever do in the program without a focus on why one would want to do it.
The book does not come with a CD-ROM containing example file. Instead the author refers to a zip file posted on the publisher’s web site. A through examination of could not find the file. When one clicks on the link for the book itself, the “page not found” message is displayed.
In his first chapter McAmis tells us to “begin with the end in mind”. Yet in all the subsequent chapters there are few examples of the end product that the chapter is trying to produce. This is a major drawback of the book.
A teaching manual for a software product has to be something different than the software’s help screens on the one hand and a reference manual on the other hand. It should focus on the steps needed to get to a goal including useful shortcuts to get there. Insights from the author’s experience are especially welcome. Since there are almost always several ways to get from the beginning to the end, we want guidance as to the recommended way. These insights are scattered through McAmis’s book. However they are mingled within dreary descriptions of every option on every screen.
The growing body of literature about Crystal Reports evidences its popularity. There are several excellent training manuals, video tapes and CBT programs that allow the user to learn on his/her own. This book is not one of them.
Reviewed by Howard Hammerman, Ph.D.
Hammerman Associates, Inc.
Salisbury, MD USA
Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Reports training, consulting, books, training material, software, and support. Scheduled training in 8 cities.
howard@hammerman.com
800-783-2269
Crystal Reports is the leading business intelligence software tool on the market. A large majority of its 8 million users are non-programmers in need of guidance in the art of turning data into information. David McAmis, an experienced Crystal Reports instructor from Australia, attempts to serve these users with his new book. Unfortunately, the book falls short of its goal.
The book has 15 chapters each one devoted to a major feature of Crystal Reports. Within each chapter is a lengthy discussion of every option, radio button and check box in every dialog box. As a result, the often-used and basic features are mixed with the little used and advanced features. This makes it hard to follow the flow of the chapter. The reader is left with the feeling, “why did I need to know that?”
Each chapter has several “One-minute Drills” that test the reader’s memory of a topic that has been discussed. Sometimes these are useful. Often, they are simply rote repetition of words that were printed on a previous page. For example, a drill on page 50 asks, “Which toolbars are shown by default when you start Crystal Report?” I fail to understand how this will help the reader design a useful report.
The last page in every chapter is a “Mastery Check” that reviews basic facts that were covered in the previous pages. At times these are useful, but they often focus on trivial information.
More helpful are the “Ask the Expert” boxes scattered throughout the book. These are presented in a question and answer format and undoubtedly draw on the author’s teaching experience. Tip boxes scattered throughout the text also provide helpful ways to accomplish something in Crystal.
The biggest failing of the book is that the author decided to discuss every check box and every option in every pull-down menu in Crystal. Rather than focusing on the features needed to accomplish a goal, the chapters become a catalog of everything you could ever do in the program without a focus on why one would want to do it.
The book does not come with a CD-ROM containing example file. Instead the author refers to a zip file posted on the publisher’s web site. A through examination of could not find the file. When one clicks on the link for the book itself, the “page not found” message is displayed.
In his first chapter McAmis tells us to “begin with the end in mind”. Yet in all the subsequent chapters there are few examples of the end product that the chapter is trying to produce. This is a major drawback of the book.
A teaching manual for a software product has to be something different than the software’s help screens on the one hand and a reference manual on the other hand. It should focus on the steps needed to get to a goal including useful shortcuts to get there. Insights from the author’s experience are especially welcome. Since there are almost always several ways to get from the beginning to the end, we want guidance as to the recommended way. These insights are scattered through McAmis’s book. However they are mingled within dreary descriptions of every option on every screen.
The growing body of literature about Crystal Reports evidences its popularity. There are several excellent training manuals, video tapes and CBT programs that allow the user to learn on his/her own. This book is not one of them.
Reviewed by Howard Hammerman, Ph.D.
Hammerman Associates, Inc.
Salisbury, MD USA
Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Reports training, consulting, books, training material, software, and support. Scheduled training in 8 cities.
howard@hammerman.com
800-783-2269
