Set Up Intuitive and Automated Reporting Functionality with Crystal Reports

by Raj Behera, Manager, Regional Implementation Group (RIG), SAP GRC (November 2009)

Discover a strategy for configuring and developing Crystal Reports for your organization’s SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions, such as SAP BusinessObjects Process Control. Walk through key installation requirements and configuration steps for your SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions related to the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise server, and identify key configuration settings that need to be put into place. Know the other aspects of developing new Crystal Reports to meet your additional needs for SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions.

Categories: Compliance, Crystal Reports, SAP BusinessObjects Process Control

Key Concept

SAP BusinessObjects Process Control’s reporting features include comprehensive reporting, greater transparency, improved usability, and enhanced decision making. You can integrate the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise server with SAP BusinessObjects Process Control for simplified configurable steps to meet the compliance needs for all corporate organizations.

Crystal Reports is a business intelligence application used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources. SAP BusinessObjects Process Control uses Crystal Reports for generating reports. Crystal Reports offers several benefits not available in core SAP reporting technologies, such as a more intuitive report formatting and the ability to schedule reports to automatically run and be distributed. The GRC user community, including analysts, managers, and executives, needs to perform tasks such as monitoring controls and risks, certifying financial statements, and understanding the risk landscape of an enterprise, so reporting is a key part of the business process for GRC.

Analysts, managers, and executives have different reporting requirements and SAP BusinessObjects Process Control provides numerous standard reports that cover the following categories of compliance-specific reporting:

Structure and setup reports: pertain to all master data objects in SAP BusinessObjects Process Control configuration and maintenance
Roles and authorizations reports: pertain to authorization analysis
Evaluation reports: pertain to all design assessments and tests of effectiveness activities
Monitoring reports: pertain to automated control monitoring
Audit and analysis reports: pertain to audit investigations and change control
Reports and analytics: provide a dashboard for selecting different types of metrics
Datasheets: provide access to the information related to a control or subprocess

I’ll show you the prerequisites, configuration, and post-installation steps involved to take advantage of the Crystal Reports features with SAP BusinessObjects Process Control. Beforehand, you might want to start with a look at the underlying architecture and some of the important terms and pieces of functionality involved, which I cover in the sidebar “Integrated Architecture.”

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