Information tool provider Crystal Decisions has unveiled the newest
version of its reporting solution, designed for use in Java and
.net development environments, to provide tight integration of
reporting into enterprise Web applications.
Crystal Reports 9 delivers reports to wireless devices and portals
while providing dynamic end-user access, interaction, and
modification, according to company officials. New features include
a Report Application Server designed to allow Web developers to
tightly integrate reporting into enterprise Web applications to
allow end-users to view, interact with, and modify at run time
without increasing overhead, said Tony Wind, chief technical
officer of Crystal Decisions.
"You can create an ad hoc application and then talk to our middle
tier report application Web server and create that object on the
fly," Wind said.
Another new feature is designed to allow developers to integrate
parts of report content into business workflow so end-users can
access information via wireless devices, portals and Microsoft
Office documents, Wind added.
"They can take any object in a report like a chart or a grid of
data or a map and they can just seamlessly put that in their Web
page and write text around it," he said.
With the new release, developers can share and reuse existing
reporting components across multiple reports for single-point
updating and more productive report development and integration.
Developers also can incorporate Crystal Reports to Crystal
Enterprise for the delivery of information in a highly scalable
environment with inherent system manageability, scheduling, and
security, Wind added.
The new features in Crystal Reports 9 will improve enterprise data
access and analysis processes, said Dan Vesset, an analyst with
IDC. The ability to easily integrate reporting into enterprise Web
applications, combined with ease-of-use capabilities for end-user
report interaction and modification, will help free up developers'
time and increase overall productivity, Vesset added.