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Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 25 Sep 07 9:08 AM
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We have a client running Slx 7.0.1 with Crystal 11R2 who is reporting slow report initialization times. Are there any methods we can use to improve performance/start up speed?
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 25 Sep 07 1:05 PM
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If the user is a Network user try putting them on a remote database (or even Citrix), so all data is passed locally instead of over the network. As we all know SalesLogix is a "heavy" application.
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 25 Sep 07 1:56 PM
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Originally posted by Robert Levine
We have a client running Slx 7.0.1 with Crystal 11R2 who is reporting slow report initialization times. Are there any methods we can use to improve performance/start up speed?
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I don't know of any way to speed it up. The Crystal runtimes will delay in the initial load, usually after that they do load faster. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 27 Sep 07 7:52 AM
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When you say "slow report initialization times" you are referring to the time it takes to load up the data to the report - right?
If its people waiting around for the report to appear, then most likely the issue is the client is waiting for a huge dataset to be sent from the server to the client for processing. You'll have to observe how the clients are running reports. If they are running them without any added parameters (like adding a date range) from the get go and the tables involved in the report are huge (like the HISTORY table will most likely be) this will cause performance issues because the client is going to have to wait for all the data from the server to be returned to the client.
Its kind of hard to pinpoint the issue and be able to help without knowing what the reports are and how they were designed. Are these OOTB reports? Custom? Are they using views? Stored Procedures?
John G. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 27 Sep 07 8:54 AM
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Good responses and questions. The report that the concerned users are "waiting" for only reports data for a single account and the subordinate data is contained in a narrow range of custom tables. The real problem seems to be the loading of the Crystal Reports viewer and associated (dll) modules. I think. And yes, when I time things, the longest times are always the first time a report is requested during a user session. I'm now trying to see if I can pre-load some of the Crystal stuff as a way of gaining some time. But I'm open to any suggestions.
Bob |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 27 Sep 07 1:53 PM
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I'm still wondering if the report is waiting for a response from the database. What is pointing you to it being the loading of the Crystal Reports viewer and associated dll modules?
John G. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 27 Sep 07 2:16 PM
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I timed the report. When it is tried for the first time, it takes about 10 to 15 seconds longer than secondary runs during the same client session.
I've already used the "Do grouping on the server" option which does save some time. And the report is using a selectively narrow range of table values.
Bob
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 5:55 AM
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Is this a custom report?
If this is a custom report, are there many tables in it? Reason I ask is it might be easier and faster to create a view on the server of exactly the data required for the report.
If there are custom tables involved, were they created through the SLX DB manager? Do they have indices?
John G. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 8:25 AM
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Now that's a very good suggestion. There are four custom tables involved which, indeed, were create via DB manager and do have indexes on the fields being tested for selection. And I've created view before, but not for a SalesLogix application. My only worry is that this client has Remote Users. If I create a custom view which is done via the SQL Server rather than Slx's DB Manager, will the view sync out to the remotes? Or how to I get the view to the remotes?
Bob  |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 9:33 AM
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Good question on syncing the view out to remotes. I've done it manually by using Query Analyzer but at the time the number of remotes requiring the view was few. Today we have no remotes. With that said, I am not sure how a SQL view can be synced to remotes.
Does anyone know if you can sync SQL Server views to remote clients?
Thanks,
John G. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 10:08 AM
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John,
From what I can see, there is not project/bundle or Remote DB Creation method available to install a custom view on a remote database. I might consider developing two versions of the report. One based on a view for the network users, and another based on the traditional CRW data linking method. But I'm still thinging 'bout this.
Thanks,
Bob
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 10:49 AM
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Bob,
I'm going through our plug-ins to upgrade to 7.2 and I noticed there is a SQL Script plug-in. I am wondering if this is what has to be used to create views on the remotes. I haven't tried it but looks promising.
John G. |
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 28 Sep 07 12:12 PM
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Yeah, I saw that too. You can use such plugins as stored procedures (sort of), but not views. Those SQL Scripts, from what I see (but could be wrong), are simply sent to the server each time they are invoked via a normal form or VBA script. And as such, Crystal won't be able to use them as a view or select statement. But I'll give it a try just to see what happens.
Bob
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Re: Can Crystal Reports performance be improved.
Posted: 03 Dec 07 10:45 AM
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Hi Robert,
I have worked with Crystal Reports since version 2.0. The initial load of Crystal files can be a pain on some client’s depending on software that may be present. My biggest peeve with Crystal and SLX is the inability to use stored procs and views or other data sources.
We are in the process of upgrading SLX to 7.2. For this release we are for the most part bypassing Crystal Reports altogether. We have created an SSRS site on our Intranet. I have replaced the 'Reports' icon in SalesLogix with one that directs the user to a form that loads our SSRS site.
Using SSRS allows us to use stored procs, views on the SLX Database as well as accessing our data warehouse.
If you are familiar with SSRS, consider giving it a try for your SLX reporting.
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