Crystal report datasource "excel or universe" which one will be good?

[Former Member]

Hello everyone,

We have gotten a requirement for creating crystal reports. Some of the reports are partially completed already.

The methodology which they have followed already is writing the sql query and copy the result in excel sheet and using the excel as a datasource.

Why can not we create universe for this for avoiding manual works?

What is the difference? Which one will give good performance and reliability?

Regards,

Santhanaa

[former_member292966 · Accepted solution]

Hi Santhanna,

The original method to create the report is very inefficient. If they have a database they can create the query against, I would have just reported directly off the database. I'm sure there is a good reason they decided to use Excel, possibly because the report designer may not have had access to the database directly.

If you have access to the data through tables or a Universe then that is always more efficient than how these reports were generated. There is the time required to develop and maintain the Universe but you would have more control of the data and making sure the data integrity is correct.

So yes, if you can, use the Universe. Excel is great for many things but a datasource isn't necessarily one of them.

Good luck,

Brian