Question: Can you analyze and compare the reporting tools in Sage 300 cloud – Financial Reporter, SAP Crystal Reports and Intelligence Reporting?
Answer by William:
Sage 300 cloud now offer many reporting tools that allow access to the data contained in its database. In this blog I will focus on the three most widely used of these reporting tools: Financial Reporter, SAP Crystal Reports and Sage Intelligence reports. I will first analyze the pros and cons of each on the reporting tool and then summarize with a comparison of the tools.
Financial Reporter
Pros
- The Financial Reporter (FR) is great for quickly and easily accessing General Ledger data
- Drill-down available to source documents
- No additional purchase required
- Over 20 financial sample reports are available
Cons
- With FR you can only access to General Ledger data
- Drill down is only available from FR Statement Designer
- You require a Sage license
Costs
- FR is included with General ledger
- Training cost is relatively low as very little training required. You can get up and running, creating new financial report if you attend our one-day training session ($425 per attendee).
Crystal Reports
Pros
- Can interrogate any data, will work with any ODBC compliant data.
- Can run reports inside or outside of Sage 300
- No Sage license is used
Cons
- Crystal Reports has a stepper learning curve that FR or Sage Intelligence
- Knowledge of Sage 300 database schema required
- Additional software, the SAP Crystal Reports, needs to be purchase
Costs
- In order to create new or modify existing Crystal report you must purchase SAP Crystal Reports ($495 per named user license)
- You will need to learn how to use Crystal Report programs
Sage Intelligence Reports
Pros
- It is easy to use and access report templates.
- You can access all modules, you are not just restricted to General Ledger.
- You can consolidate data from multiple Sage companies or connect external data from other sources via ODBC (only if you own a report connector license) e.g. Sage CRM database.
- Using the Analysis add-on, you can create OLAP cubes that enable multi-dimensional analysis of large volumes of data, and overcome Excel row limitations (additional purchase). The program comes with ready-to-use data cubes that enable multi-dimensional analysis of your data.
- When creating reports, you are only limited by your imagination and what you can do in Excel.
- You can use the Security Manager to specify which user can get access to specific reports.
- Allows you to report on Database Tables, Views, Stored Procedures and SQL Query Statements.
- Scheduling of reports via email or saving to specified folders.
- The report designer license makes creating financial statements a breeze.
Cons
- You will need connector license to order to create new containers.
- License seat is workstation specific.
- Intermediate to advanced excel skill would be advantageous to creating new reports in Sage 300 – Intelligence Reporting.
Costs
- One Report manager license in included with Sage 300 cloud.
- Training cost is low as some training required. You can get up and running, creating new financial report if you attend our one-day training session.
Below is a table that compares the Financial Reporter, Crystal Reports and Sage 300 – Intelligence Reporting.
