5 Reasons Why Yurbi is a Great Alternative to SAP Crystal Reports Server

At 5000fish, our first priority is to make things easier for the business user. That’s why we decided to make Yurbi an agile business intelligence solution versus a traditional solution. Over the years we’ve discovered that many customers who seek out Yurbi have been using traditional business intelligence solutions and are searching for an agile alternate. The most frequent customers who reach out to us and are using traditional business intelligence solutions are Crystal Reports customers.

Crystal Reports is a traditional business intelligence solution and is primarily a desktop tool. With its regular license, Crystal Reports requires engineers or developers to build report files, which Crystal Reports then turns into readable files that can be viewed on a desktop report reader. The developer is responsible for distributing the report, adding to the manual nature of the Crystal Reports building and distribution process. Crystal Reports users can upgrade to a full Crystal Reports Server license that has additional features, but the solution is not completely self-service and business user-friendly.

Crystal Reports customers who seek out Yurbi often come to us because they’re searching for a business intelligence (BI) solution that is easier to use and is web-based. If you’re wondering whether you should stick with or switch over to SAP Crystal Reports, here are five reasons why Yurbi might be a better alternative for your company.

1. You want to provide web-based reporting access to your users. Web-based report access provides a more centralized and easy way to distribute reports and view dashboards. Unlike Crystal Reports, which is a desktop-based solution, Yurbi is one hundred percent web-based (but installed on-premise, you never have to copy your data into the cloud) and doesn’t require companies to sacrifice security for accessibility. Yurbi’s reports and dashboards are securely accessible via major web browsers and mobile browsers.
2. You want a more secure reporting solution. Crystal Reports developers must distribute reports and data via email that can then be read on viewers’ desktops, which makes the data vulnerable to security threats. Though Crystal Reports has security features, its security is limited to who is viewing or accessing a report. Yurbi offers deeper, multi-level security that not only offers report viewing security, but security at the field and user levels.
3. You want to code less. When Crystal Reports environments don’t have a Crystal Reports Server license, report writers are required to create reports from scratch via SQL code. When users upgrade to the Crystal Reports Server, there is a semantic layer called Crystal Universe (which is similar to our Yurbi App) that helps to smooth out writing all report from scratch. But you still pretty much have to be an SQL expert to write SAP Business Objects or Crystal Reports.
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4. You want to embed reports into other applications. A basic Crystal Reports license does not allow users to embed reports, but a Crystal Reports Server license does. This is one motivation for Crystal Reports users to transition to the Crystal Reports Server. Users can embed reports into applications such as internal and external web pages, Microsoft Sharepoint, or an internal portal. However, Yurbi also offers dynamic embedded reporting that retains its security and can be updated in real-time.
5. You want to schedule and automatically deliver reports. If Crystal Reports users want a centralized hub to generate and distribute reports, they must upgrade to the full Crystal Reports Server. However, for Crystal Reports users whose primary need is an easier way to distribute reports, it often doesn’t make financial sense to upgrade to the full Crystal Reports Server license. This is why Crystal Reports users will sometimes use a third-party software vendor, ChristianSteven Software, to distribute SQL-RD® and CRD® reports. Unlike Crystal Reports, Yurbi allows users with any license to easily create, share, and distribute reports in once place with dynamic security so less reports need to be created.

The Bottom Line

One thing to consider when deciding between Yurbi and the Crystal Reports Server is that Yurbi does not leverage all of the RPT files that a company has created and those reports must be recreated within Yurbi during the migration process. However, Yurbi still offers all of the features that the full Crystal Reports Server license offers, with the added benefit of being easily accessible via the web and on mobile devices (plus more security features).

Additionally, Yurbi is an agile self-service BI tool, which means that the business user is able to leverage reports and dashboards much more than with a traditional BI solution because Yurbi is completely codeless. Crystal Reports Server customers must still leverage a developer to build reports, which increases overall costs for companies. Because Yurbi is codeless and easier for the business user to leverage, your company’s BI adoption rates will be much higher.

Want to know more about Yurbi’s features to see if Yurbi would be a good fit for your business intelligence needs? Contact us or Request a Demo and see it live today.

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