Introduction to Seagate Crystal Reports

The amount of data being generated in worldwide business activities is growing at a staggering rate. Making business decisions based on this data can be extremely valuable, but the data must first be filtered into meaningful information—a daunting task. Without powerful query and reporting tools, it’s difficult to organize, analyze, or present this information effectively. Seagate Crystal Reports was designed to address these challenges. Seagate Crystal Reports is a desktop query and reporting tool; it accesses more than 30 different data sources, has powerful data analysis capabilities, and produces a virtually unlimited variety of presentation-quality reports with an ease that its users rave about. Because of its modular design, the Crystal Report Engine can be used to integrate reporting into database applications with free runtime licensing. Users can also perform ad-hoc query and report viewing over the Web using the advanced web reporting capabilities of Seagate Crystal Reports 7. Seagate Crystal Reports is used by business professionals who need of easy-to-create reports, IT professionals who create reports for their users, and software developers integrating powerful reporting into their database applications.

The Reporting Tool of Choice

Seagate Crystal Reports has been chosen by over 160 of the industry’s leading software vendors including Microsoft«, Informix«, and PeopleSoft« for inclusion in their shrink-wrapped applications. It is also the world’s most widely used reporting tool, available in seven languages, with over 3 million licenses shipped around the world (IDC, 1997). The Crystal Reports file format (*.RPT) has become an industry standard for reporting—many Global 2000 companies rely on the *.RPT format for their reports. Implemented extensively in both horizontal and vertical markets, Seagate Crystal Reports has been adopted by many major accounting and help desk vendors in their respective industries.

Technology Leadership

In addition to being the first Windows-based query and reporting tool, Seagate Crystal Reports has led the way in reporting innovation since its introduction:

• First Report Engine DLL, complete with a free runtime
• First report writer to include integrated e-mail
• First report writer with VBX / OCX / ActiveX controls
• First report writer with compiled reports—executable versions of reports
• First 32-bit Windows-based report writer
• First report writer with HTML exporting and web-based ActiveX Viewer Control
• First report writer to report from special data sources such as Microsoft Internet Information Server Web Logs, Microsoft Exchange Folders, and Windows NT Event Logs
• First OLAP-aware report writer

True to form, Seagate Crystal Reports 7 continues this tradition of innovation by offering new ways to analyze data including the ability to perform ad-hoc reporting over the Web, new visualization tools and the most requested improvements to existing features. Want more details? Click here to find out more.

For the latest information about this product, please visit the web site at www.seagatesoftware.com/crystalreports.

Copyright ⌐ 1998 Seagate Software Inc. All rights reserved. Click here for additional information.