Good Day all:bigwave:

We are using Visual Enterprise for our Purchasing System and inventory control. Within Visual Enterprise, there is something called Visual "EIS" (Executive Information Systems) which is used to download data and create reports for Visual. I asked our IT dept. if we had the EIS module (we do) and told him what I was looking for. He went on a forum for Visual and got quite a lot of feedback stating that the EIS system was not reliable and one individual suggest Crystal Reports. Does anyone use this system?

I am looking to use our existing data to track Vendor On-time Shipping info (through a "canned" report) and also looking to track incoming part quality vs. incoming inspection (accepted vs. rejected parts). All this info is in Visual, but we don't have a convenient way to extract the data.

Is there anyone out there using Visual Enterprise and Crystal Reports that would be willing to share a Crystal Report that extracts Vendor On-Time Delivery and/or Incoming Acceptance of parts delivered? ...or does anyone have any additional feedback/experience with the EIS system in Visual?

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide!

-Steve

Steve, I have spent some time in Crystal Reports, but for another application.

Sorry I cannot provide assistance with your Visual Enterprise application.

Steve, I have spent some time in Crystal Reports, but for another application.

Sorry I cannot provide assistance with your Visual Enterprise application.

Thanks Brad - I appreciate the response.:) I'm just groping in the dark here hoping to get lucky and find some help. We have the option to create our own, but I'm all for not reinventing the wheel if it's already out there!

-Steve

I used to work for a place that had Crystal Reports but it was in conjunction with an ERP program. I don't think my experiences would be applicable to what you are looking for - sorry.

I've only had limited experience with Crystal, but one of the main complaints I had with it was the licensing cost. It's very expensive. Before you commit to using it you may want to double check this.

That said, most people I know who do enterprise development have switched to the new SQL Server 2005 Reporting Tools. Of course, that only applies if you're running SQL Server 2005, but it it's worth a shot.

Thought I'd give this thread a few days and then bump it back up.

Thanks Little-Cee and Nickh for your input. Anyone else out there who may be using Crystal Reports? I'm resigning myself to sitting down with our IT Dept. and starting from scratch but thought I'd give you all one last chance to "Save me"!:truce:

-Steve

Steve,

We have Visual Manufacturing as our system and I have to say in general, not too many people like it for various reasons. I have tried for years to get an answer as far as their Visual Quality Module (which was bought with the main package but never officially installed) interfacing with Visual Manufacturing. Much to my surprise, it seems the 2 packages do not talk to each other. Even though I seem off track for your question, in reality Visual Quality has many "Canned" Crystal reports that I could see when a "practice" set up of Visual Quality was put on my computer. I would not be surprised if Visual Quality had one of these reports that would do what you wanted, but again for some strange reason, you can't seem to extract the needed data from Visual Manufacturing (which has all our supplier and purchasing info) into Visual Quality. I have now been given the go ahead to pursue a new QMS software package so that I can do what I had hoped to do in Visual Quality.

I guess I just wanted to bring this to your attention in case somebody tries to convince you to pick up the Visual Quality Module to help you with what you are looking to do. Hopefully your IT folk can help you get the job done with Crystal Reports. As far as you using the Visual Enterprise suite - you have my sympathy!

Good Luck

Larry

Larry:

Thanks! And thank you for confirming what we've been saying for quite some time around here!!! We also have the Visual Quality Module and it was never officially installed here either. Before I arrived here, we had some folks go to training for VQ and when I started here, access was give to me to "explore". On "paper" and in the manual, it looks wonderful - but as you have confirmed, the two (VE & VQ) don't talk to each other. I had wondered if this was because our VQ Module wasn't "live", but I'm assuming maybe not.:(

VQ seems extremely cumbersome to use. It appears that you have to spend an awful lot of time "preparing" to use it, as opposed to just populating the database and "taking off". We're not a large company, so I'm sure it would take an awful lot of convincing to get to the point where you are at - buying a new QMS system - but "hat's off" for getting to that point! :applause:

There's also a module that we have called "Executive Information Systems", which seems to have exactly what we need for vendor delivery peformance tracking, but it was never installed either. Our IT guy has solicited the Visual forums and got a "less than stellar" endorsement - saying the data isn't accurate and it doesn't work either...sigh...

IT tells me that we can query the database using Access or Excel, so it looks like that will be my track for now. But thanks for the feedback - misery loves company!!!:frust:

I've had clients who used Crystal Reports, and it is a very simple and effective report-designing-generating package. You will likely need to partner with your IT group to get the report designed, but the software is very flexible. Likely best to design your own, focused on what YOU want/need, rather than copy what others are doing.

I've had clients who used Crystal Reports, and it is a very simple and effective report-designing-generating package. You will likely need to partner with your IT group to get the report designed, but the software is very flexible. Likely best to design your own, focused on what YOU want/need, rather than copy what others are doing.

Yeah, you're probably right. I was trying to be "lazy", but it's not working out for me!:rolleyes: In discussing with IT, my initial approach (at this point) will be to get the data from an Access query and then if I need to "pretty it up", go to Crystal Reports and add the formatting. So much for the easy road...

Thanks Duke. -Steve

There is a reporting function within Access. While it is a bit rubbish it does do the job and the report can be exported to word so it can be tidied up.

If your going to be producing lots of different reports then Crystal is probably worth the investment, if your only doing 1 or 2 reports then Crystal is overkill and you will be better of just setting up Access reports.

chergh,

nice succinct reply. :applause:

I concur.

chergh,

nice succinct reply. :applause:

I concur.

...and good advice. I'm thinking it will probably depend on the eventual audience for the reports, but I don't expect to be generating a whole host of them, ...yet. :thanks: