What Is in This Book

This book is broken down into several sections to address the varied and evolving requirements of the different users in a BI deployment.

The entire first half of the book (Parts I through IV) is exclusively focused on content creation. Through use of hands-on step-by-step examples and detailed descriptions of key product functionality, you will be able to leverage the powerful report creation capabilities of Crystal Reports V.XI, Web Intelligence, OLAP Intelligence V.XI, Business Views and Universes, the Web-based Crystal Reports Explorer, and the LiveOffice Ad Hoc add-in. Some profiles of people who will find these sections of particular relevance:

• New and mature Crystal Reports designers

• Professional Crystal Reports designers upgrading to V.XI

• Existing and new OLAP Intelligence, Web Intelligence, and Desktop Intelligence (formerly Business Objects) designers and analysts

• Existing and new BusinessObjects Enterprise (formerly Crystal Enterprise) administrators

• New Crystal Reports Server administrators

The second half of the book (Parts V through VII) is geared toward the distribution or delivery of the valuable content created in the first half. Detailed functionality overviews are provided for all the different distribution mechanisms available in the Business Objects suite of products. Additionally, detailed and instructive code samples are provided for all the Software Development Kits (SDKs) that are provided with Crystal Reports, BusinessObjects Enterprise, and the Crystal Reports Server. Some profiles of people who will find these sections of high value:

• New or existing BusinessObjects Enterprise (formerly Crystal Enterprise) administrators

• New or existing BusinessObjects Enterprise (formerly Crystal Enterprise) users

• .NET-based application developers

• Java/J2EE-based application developers

• Application developers looking to integrate report design or modification into their applications

• Application developers looking to integrate report scheduling, security, alerting, viewing, and so on into their applications

Part I: Crystal Reports Design

Part I should familiarize you with the foundations of Crystal Reports and get you up and running as quickly as possible. It is critical for someone who is new to Crystal Reports and includes the fundamental report-design concepts that even experienced users will be able to use for the rest of their Crystal Reports writing career. This section also provides powerful exercises and real-world usage tips and tricks that will enable even seasoned reporting experts to become more productive.

Part II: Formatting Crystal Reports

Part II focuses on some of the more subtle nuances of Crystal Report design: effective report formatting and data visualization through charting and mapping. Improper formatting and incorrect use of visualization techniques can make reports confusing and not user-friendly. This section also provides powerful exercises and real-world usage tips and tricks enabling mature reporting experts to become more productive.

Part III: Advanced Crystal Reports Design

Part III presents a host of advanced Crystal Report design concepts that involve features such as subreports, cross-tabs, report templates, and alerts. This part also touches on advanced data access methods such as Javabeans, XML objects, SAP, and Peoplesoft systems. This section also provides powerful exercises and real-world usage tips and tricks enabling mature reporting experts to become more effective in their report-design work.

Part IV: Enterprise Report DesignAnalytic, Web-Based, and Excel Report Design

Part IV focuses on a the powerful Web Intelligence and OLAP Intelligence design tools for ad hoc querying and analysis against both relational and OLAP data sources. Chapter 18 also covers the semantic layer (Business Views and Universes), the reporting Repository, and both the Web- and Office-based Crystal ad-hoc reporting capabilities.

Part V: Web Report DistributionUsing BusinessObjects Enterprise Professional and Crystal Reports Server

Part V presents the powerful functionality of the turnkey BI and Enterprise reporting productBusinessObjects Enterprise (and Crystal Reports Server). In addition to covering the many business benefits of these systems, this part also provides extensive coverage of the end-user interface for end-user training. Extensive architecture, administration, and management best practices are provided for system administrators.

Part VI: Customized Report DistributionUsing Crystal Reports Components

Part VI focuses on the Customizable Report Distribution Components that are provided for Crystal Reports Delivery in both the .NET and Java/J2EE worlds. Code samples are provided to help jumpstart your development work.

Part VII: Customized Report DistributionUsing BusinessObjects Enterprise and Crystal Reports Server

Part VII provides a detailed look into the object model of the BusinessObjects Enterprise and Crystal Reports Server systems through Java code samples and tutorials (.NET samples also available). All the functionality described in Parts V and VII is included in this rich object model and allows developers to quickly include the powerful functionality of BusinessObjects Enterprise, Crystal Reports Server and Crystal Reports in their custom applications.