Create Reports with SAP Data in SAP Crystal Reports


Use the Report Wizard to design a report based on up-to-date SAP data.

Crystal Reports has many options for offloading data processing to remote data; this enables real-time reporting. The CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP brings this capability to Crystal Reports. This article shows how to create a report on SAP data that refreshes when you run the report.

About SAP Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from SAP. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Access every edition of SAP, including SAP R/3, SAP NetWeaver, SAP ERP / ECC 6.0, and SAP S/4 HANA on premises data that is exposed by the RFC.
  • Perform actions like sending IDoc or IDoc XML files to the server and creating schemas for functions or queries through SQL stored procedures.
  • Connect optimally depending on where a customer's SAP instance is hosted.

While most users leverage our tools to replicate SAP data to databases or data warehouses, many also integrate live SAP data with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel.


Getting Started


Refer to the given table for the tools and versions used for this article:

Application NameVersion
SAP Crystal Reports 2020SP3
ODBC Driver23.0.8565

Connect to SAP Data

If you have not already, specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

You can connect to SAP systems using either librfc32.dll, librfc32u.dll, NetWeaver, or Web Services (SOAP). Set the ConnectionType connection property to CLASSIC (librfc32.dll), CLASSIC_UNICODE (librfc32u.dll), NETWEAVER, or SOAP.

If you are using the SOAP interface, set the Client, RFCUrl, SystemNumber, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section.

Otherwise, set Host, User, Password, Client, and SystemNumber.

Note: We do not distribute the librfc32.dll or other SAP assemblies. You must find them from your SAP installation and install them on your machine.

For more information, see this guide on obtaining the connection properties needed to connect to any SAP system.

Create the ODBC DSN connection.

When configuring the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Design a Report in SAP Crystal Reports

Follow the procedure below to use the SAP Crystal Reports tool to create the SAP connection and Design a Report.

  1. File -> New -> Standard Report. Create a standard report.
  2. Expand the ODBC (RDO) node under Create New Connection and double-click on "Make a New Connection". Select CData SAP Sys or any other source to prepare the report. Click on NEXT and FINISH. Data Source Selection
  3. Configure the data source by selecting the tables needed in the report and clicking NEXT. Add the table.
  4. You can also link tables from the SAP data in SAP Crystal Reports. Click on NEXT after adding the links between tables. Add multiple tables. Link the tables.
  5. After the tables are selected, select the fields you want displayed in the report from the selected table, followed by NEXT. Add the fields to display.
  6. Select the "Group By" field to group the information on the report. Add the Group By field.
  7. Sort the groups based on summarised totals and click on NEXT. Group Sorting

Create a Chart

After selecting a column to group by, the Standard Report Creation Wizard presents the option to create a chart. Follow the steps below to create a chart aggregating the MANDT column's values.

  1. In the Standard Report Creation Wizard, select the Bar Chart option and select the column you grouped by in the "On change of" menu.
  2. In the Show Summary menu, select the summary you created.
  3. Select filters and a template, as needed, to finish the wizard. Select a chart type.

Select a template for the report to preview the finished report and view the chart populated with your data.

Select a template type.

The Final Report

You can now see that the report contains all the fields specified.

The final report.

Working with Remote Data

To ensure that you see updates to data, click File and clear the "Save Data with Report" option. As you interact with the report, for example, drilling down to hidden details, Crystal Reports executes SQL queries to retrieve the data needed to display the report. To reload data you have already retrieved, refresh or rerun the report.

You can offload processing onto the driver by hiding details elements and enabling server-side grouping. To do this, you need to select a column to group by in the report creation wizard.

  1. Click File -> Report Options and select the "Perform Grouping On Server" option. Perform Grouping On Server option.
  2. Click Report -> Section Expert and select the Details section of your report. Select the "Hide (Drill-Down OK)" option. Hide (Drill-Down OK) option.

When you preview your report with the hidden details, Crystal Reports executes a GROUP BY query. When you double-click a column in the chart to drill down to details, Crystal Reports executes a SELECT WHERE query that decreases load times by retrieving only the data needed.

At this point, you have created a SAP Crystal report built on top of live SAP data using SAP Crystal Reports and CData ODBC driver. Learn more about the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP and download a free trial from the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP page. Let our Support Team know if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SAP ERP ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

SAP ERP Icon SAP ERP ODBC Driver

The SAP ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live SAP ERP, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

With the SAP ODBC Driver, accessing SAP R/3 and SAP ERP is as easy as querying a database.

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