CRYSTAL REPORTS

I.	What it does

Crystal Reports is the branch of the Crystal Decisions family that is concerned with report writing. It enables users to extract information from databases and other data resources in the form of reports that are interactive and professional. These reports can then be integrated with Windows applications or be shared via the Internet and report processing can be added as a part of the database applications (e.g., the Report Managing System  (RMS) in AZUL.)

Crystal Analysis allows analysis and interpretation of business information and along with Crystal Reports, acts as the groundwork for Crystal Enterprise, which is a reporting, analysis and information delivery platform. Together, these three components form the Crystal Decisions Solutions, that aim at improving business performance by understanding business data and putting it to the best use.

II.	Environment

The Crystal 9 user interface is similar to Microsoft Office- easy to use and with familiar icons (new, open, save, etc.) and menus. The report development environment has two tabs, the design tab and the preview tab. The Design tab is where most of the work is done while the Preview tab enables fine-tuning of the report once the skeleton report has been created.
-	For a more detailed description of the Design and Preview tabs, please refer to sub-paper attached.

III.	How it does

Crystal Reports allows users to easily and conveniently create simple, everyday reports like Customer Lists and so on. The Online Help framework is very useful with an in depth User Guide that outlines not only Crystal 9 concepts but gives an overview on Reporting in general—Report Design Concepts, Repositories, Record Selection as well as more complicated tasks like mapping, charting, report-sharing and so on.

The Online Help section also includes sample reports; report creation wizards as well as quick start guides for both new and advanced users and is in the form of tutorials. These tutorials walk you through the basic concepts like inserting and moving database fields, moving objects, grouping and sorting data, inserting pictures and finally, previewing and printing of reports. 

It also explains how reports can be shared between applications like Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel and Crystal, as well as what syntax should be used to write formulas, create cross-tabs and how sub-reports and dependencies can be set up.
-	For a more detailed description of report creating, please refer to sub-paper attached.