Crystal Reports vs SSRS vs Bold

Epicor ERP 10
1

We currently have some Crystal Reports and some SSRS reports and are getting ready to upgrade from 10.2.400 to 24.x - 25.2(not sure version). We plan to host on prem, can we still run Crystal reports on 24.x - 25.2? I understand SSRS is being sunsetted so it doesn’t seem like there is a clear path forward?

Honestly we don’t understand why we can’t just use HTML, as we don’t use many of the fancy features. Point being is there some simple solution that gets us off the upgrade treadmill(Crystal > SSRS > Bold > what’s next?)?

1 Like
2

Bold Reports will use the same RDL format.

Your path forward is SSRS.

3 Likes
3

Eddie,

It may be best to understand the intention of the report itself and then choose the best tool.

This is from AI, but it’s decent. I was trying to find an academic article, but I don’t have one bookmarked right now.

:white_check_mark: 1. Built-in ERP Reporting

  • Examples: SAP Reports, Oracle ERP Reports, Microsoft Dynamics Reports
  • When to Use:
    • For transactional data directly from your ERP system
    • When you need standard reports like financial statements, inventory levels, or purchase orders
    • Ideal for compliance and audit purposes

:white_check_mark: 2. Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

  • Examples: Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, Looker
  • When to Use:
    • For interactive dashboards and visual analytics
    • When you need to combine ERP data with other sources (CRM, HR, etc.)
    • Great for trend analysis, KPIs, and executive reporting

:white_check_mark: 3. Data Warehousing + ETL Tools

  • Examples: Snowflake, Azure Synapse, AWS Redshift
  • When to Use:
    • For large-scale data consolidation across multiple systems
    • When you need historical analysis or complex queries
    • Best for organizations with high data volume and advanced analytics needs

:white_check_mark: 4. Excel / Spreadsheet Reporting

  • When to Use:
    • For quick ad-hoc reports or custom calculations
    • When you need flexibility and manual adjustments
    • Good for small teams or one-off analysis

:white_check_mark: 5. Real-Time Monitoring Tools

  • Examples: Grafana, Kibana
  • When to Use:
    • For live operational dashboards
    • When monitoring system performance, uptime, or IoT data
    • Ideal for IT and operations teams
4

Also SSRS isn’t being sunset by microsoft for how many years… like 10?

2 Likes
5

I think it’s 2032 so not 10 years more like 7.

1 Like
6

Thanks a ton Randy for jumping in and giving us a more precise timeline. I was trying to help @embedded see that it’s still some years out, but didn’t want to grossly overstate.

-Utah

7

What @klincecum said, Bold Reports will use SSRS RDL files so upgrading your Crystal reports to SSRS will get you ready for the move to Bold Reports. Epicor will introduce Bold Reports long before the sunset of SSRS.

3 Likes
8

Hi Eddie,

We are on-premise 2025.1, upgraded from 2022 a month ago. We are still able to use our Crystal reports. Our users are 100% on browser. I am not sure about 2025.2.

Side note, for us it came down to “do we want to go live at the end of October” or “do we want to have all reports converted to SSRS”. We decided to stick with the go live planned date. With needing to migrate all customizations and dashboards and then the occasional bpm fix / baq fix in there to get to 2025 browser only, it just wasn’t feasible to also migrate all of our Crystal reports. Some could say well why didn’t you migrate them when you knew Epicor was moving away from them.. IDK, maybe because SSRS sucks. :rofl:

Beware the Crystal runtime needs to be different for the 2025 vs your older version of Epicor and you cannot have both on your computer at same time. This makes it necessary to have test pcs that actually can run the Crystal reports via edge agent and not bash people’s ability to run reports for production live. Also, training users that the Crystal report will print differently via edge agent and show up as an icon at the bottom, different from reports printing from SSRS which will render to another browser window was fun for all as well.

That said, I absolutely agree with all of the others here that if you have time to migrate to SSRS, do it. Then let’s hold Epicor accountable to their promise of easy migration from SSRS to bold reports. If not, hopefully this post helps you use your Crystal.

Nancy

2 Likes
9

Well said Nancy! Great points to make and experience to share there.

1 Like