SAP Business One and Crystal Reports Installation Pitfalls and Design Notes

Sep 9
16:45

2011

Andrew Karasev

Andrew Karasev

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Each Small Business ERP knowledge base is precious collection of known issues and their fixes. Some issues are pretty unique but others are common and we would like to share one of them with your today as well as give you some Crystal Report design recommendations

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There are multiple posts in web forum where Crystal Report 2008 installation produces error 1904 and in popup dialog there is message that WebIntelligence.dll failed to register.  If you keep ignoring the error the installation will finally report that it was successful however when you are trying to launch Report Designer it doesn’t start.  We figured out how to get CR 2008 installed successfully and we would like to share with you.  Be ready to get some side effects:

1. Search for WebIntelligence.dll on your computer.  Chances are high that you find the older one which is holding the priority and doesn’t want to be superseded.  It might be associated with older version of Crystal for example 11.  Nicely through control panel uninstall the old Crystal and then uninstall Crystal 2008.  This is not all however.  Now in Program Files delete Business Object folder (which is still hosting ghost files from XI and 2008 uninstalled) and restart your computer (server if this is your application server)

2. When your Server or computer is back and running try install 2008 version of Crystal one more time and chances are high that it will be successful.  And this is what we got in our case without dangerous job to open Regedit and clean up whatever is associated with Business Object settings there.  Now we got unexpected side effect however and here is what it was and how it could be fixed

3. SAP Business One 8.81 has integrated Crystal Report Viewer and by actions described above it was destroyed.  The symptoms were as followings – all earlier imported reports were in but when you are trying to run one of them you get error message on the bottom section of SB1 screen.  One of us believed that if we just install generic Crystal Report Viewer downloaded from Business Object web site and this is free version the problem should be resolved.  However we realized that this is not the one which is integrated in SAP B1 user workstation interface

4. The fix was to uninstall and reinstall SAP BO client interface from installation media.  We recommend you to handle this job to certified SAP Business One consultant.  Do not uninstall until you write down your version and patch level

5. Additional notes.   Recommended Crystal Report flavor.  If you decided to design custom Crystal Reports in-house please do not rush to the software market place to purchase Crystal Report professional license.  Check with your VAR as chances are high that you have one user license for special edition named SAP Business One Crystal Reports 2008.  You consulting firm could download this edition from SAP Channel Partner Portal and deploy it one your server or user workstation.  To our knowledge you should be on version 2007A/B or 8.8X

6. Some tips on Crystal Report design.  It is possible to link table directly in Crystal and program complex formulae there but we rather recommend basing report on SQL Stored procedure or View.  By doing so you are abstracting presentation tool from SQL record set.  It is easier to test selection results in SQL Server Management Studio query and when you are satisfied with results finish the job in Report Designer

7. Please call us 1-866-304-3265,SAP Business One and Crystal Reports Installation Pitfalls and Design Notes Articles 1-269-605-4904 (for international customers, where our representatives pick up the phone in Naperville and St. Joseph, MI call centers).  help@efaru.com.  We have local presence in Atlanta, Chicago, Southern California, South West Michigan, Houston and Dallas areas of Texas. We serve customers USA, Canada, Mexico and Brazil nationwide and internationally via web sessions and phone conferences (Skype is welcomed). Our consultants speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.  One of our experiences is international Corporate ERP and Consolidated Financial reporting