In this post, I will share the process of converting Crystal Reports 10 to Crystal Reports 2011, Crystal reports 2008 to Crystal reports 2013 and Crystal Reports 2013 to Crystal Reports Enterprise.
CR – Crystal Reports
CE – Crystal Enterprise
CRE – Crystal Reports Enterprise
Crystal Reports 10 to Crystal report 2011 (XI R2)
To migrate from Crystal Enterprise 10 to Crystal Reports 2011, first you have migrate the reports to Crystal report server XI R2 / Crystal report 2008 and then upgrade them into Crystal reports 2011.
Below diagram explain you the process flow for older CR version to latest CR 2011 version migration / upgrade.
Migrate all your CR 10 reports to Crystal reports XI / Crystal reports 2008 using Import wizard and then upgrade your CR reports to Crystal Report 2011 using Upgrade Management Tool.
Before you migrate the Crystal reports 10 to Crystal Reports 2011, you would need to migrate them to CR XI R2 first. Which means you might need an XI R2 Enterprise Server to publish all these reports at once.
Once all the reports are in the XI R2 format, you can use the Upgrade Management Tool available in BI 4.0 to convert all these reports to Crystal Reports 2011. There is no guarantee that these older reports might work just like the way they used to and you would need to troubleshoot the report in CR 2011.
If you try to migrate from Crystal Enterprise 10 to SAP Crystal Server 2011 using upgrade manager tool, then your migrated CR 2011 reports won’t supported, because enterprise server architecture are changed from older version to new CR 2011 versions.
Note: Since XI R2 is no longer available for download, you would need to install XI 3.1 on a separate server or install side-by-side on your DEV/ TEST environment of CR Server 2011. You can request for a Trial Key for XI 3.1 from SAP.
Upgrade from XI3.1 to BI4.x (From Crystal Reports 2008 to SAP Crystal Reports 2013)
If your reports are in the BI platform, all Crystal Reports 2008 are automatically upgraded to SAP Crystal Reports 2013 format when you use the BI4.x Upgrade Manager Tool (UMT).
If your reports are saved locally on your PC, you can use SAP Crystal Reports 2013 (Designer) to upgrade a report to SAP Crystal Reports 2013 format.
Crystal Reports 2013 is an incremental update will have all the features that are familiar to Crystal Reports 2008/2011 users.
Upgrade within BI4.x (From Crystal Reports 2013 to SAP Crystal Reports Enterprise)
• SAP Crystal Reports 2013 and SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise will co-exist in BI 4.x
• SAP Crystal Reports 2013 fully support for the life of BI4.x
• SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise is the platform for future innovation
In BI4.x when you open a SAP Crystal Reports 2013 report in SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise, a conversion wizard appears to help you change the database connection to a Universe (unx) or BICS (BI Consumer Services) (BW connectivity).
Crystal Reports for Enterprise focuses on the BI platform and connecting to data from SAP BW. Crystal Reports for Enterprise does not include some features that are present in Crystal Reports 2013. Crystal Reports for Enterprise will not have all the functionality from Crystal Reports 2013.
Note: It is possible to convert from SAP Crystal Reports 2013 (format) into SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise (format). It is not possible to convert back form SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise (format) into SAP Crystal Reports 2013 (format). Please make sure that you take backup copies before conversion.
CR for Enterprise reports saved to BI Platform use Relational Connection objects to hold connection info. CR 2013 reports continue to store connection info in each report.
SAP Crystal Reports 2013 and SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise can run side by side on the same desktop client. Below table explains you in detail, which tool to use to meet your end user requirement?
Data sources vs recommended versions:
Data connectivity – SAP Crystal Reports 2013 vs. SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise
BI 4.x Platform check – SAP Crystal Reports 2013 vs. SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise
Servers can be run side by side on the same server. SAP Business Objects BI4.x server install package installs both set of servers by default. Reports created in SAP Crystal Reports 2013 will processed on the 32 bit servers, reports created in Crystal Reports for Enterprise will be processed by the 64 bit servers.
NetWeaver integration – SAP Crystal Reports 2013 vs. SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise
New Features – SAP Crystal Reports 2013
SAP Crystal Reports 2013 is an updated version of SAP Crystal Reports 2008 with additional features such as
• Read-Only Report Format
• Export to XSLX from the report designer and viewer
• Integration with Visual Studio 2013. This is provided by a separate product download.
New Feature -SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise
SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise is the newly designed version of the Crystal Reports designer. This version is focused on streamlined report design, reporting against the BI 4.x semantic layer and SAP BW data. SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise is the foundation for all future releases of Crystal Reports.
• Redesigned user interface allows for easier report creation
• Improved semantic layer support. With SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise you can create reports against the BI 4.x common semantic layer.
• Direction connection from Crystal Reports for Enterprise to a SAP BEx query using SAP BICS connectivity.
• Native 64-bit processing servers in BI 4.x are supported.
• All text-based elements are translatable, and all translations can be managed and scheduled at the platform level with the Translation Management tool.
• Users can self-manage alert subscriptions; the BI platform alerting framework can make use of alerts created in SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise.
Please share your thoughts on the Crystal Reports migration.Thanks!
DWBI castle 
Hi , Can please explain me how to Migrate Crystal reports(.rpt files- before SAP acquire BO) to SAP BO crystal reports 4.0
Hi, Move all your .rpt files to BOXI r2 server ( I think u can get that from SAP SITE) and them upgrade to SAP 4.0 using upgrade management tool. The diagram would explain process clearly.
Hi Madhes,
Thanks for the response , can you please let me know how to move the reports to BOXI r2 server?
Hi, Try to open ur report in BOXIR2 and save to the repository.
Hi,
Let me try that and do we have another options Madhes?????
how do migrate from crystal reports XI to version to 2013. any common challenges we need to address
Hi Siraj,
You can migrate all your Crystal reports XI to Crystal reports 2013 using Upgrade Management Tool and common issues like cosmetic changes required after your upgrade.
Thanks
MadhesDDWBI
Hi can any one tell me major migration issues while migrating crystal reports
Hi Friends, Please let me know asap what are the major issues while migrating crystal reports
Hi Srinivas, you read the below article to get to know about your queries
http://scn.sap.com/community/crystal-reports-for-visual-studio/blog/2008/11/24/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-get-the-fastest-issue-resolution
Thanks
MadhesDWBI
Hi Madesh,
Thanks for u r reply.
Can you please list out some 10 or 15 Major challenges while migrating crystal reports.
Regards
srinivas
Currently have Crystal Enterprise 10. In order to migrate to Crystal Server 2013 do I have to install Crystal Server 2008? or is this only needed for report upgrade which mean installing Crystal Reports 2008?
Since the existing reports reside in CE10 repository as part of ther Crystal Server upgrade do the reports get converted along the way? How are the existing report links maintained if the reports are in the old CR10 format?
you can create a BIAR file of the reports etc and use the Import Wizard ( The Import Wizard in XI 3.1 (CR 2008) can be used to connect to the CE 10 Environment for creating the BIAR) to move all the contents to the interim (XI R2 or CR 2008) Server. Since XI R2 is no longer available for download, you would need to install XI 3.1 (CR 2008) on a separate server or install side-by-side on the DEV environment of BI 4.0.
You can request for a Trial Key if you have an S-user ID.
In BI 4.1 (CR 2013), you can then use the Upgrade Management Tool to migrate content from XI 3.1 (CR 2008).
Note: You can also open each report in BI 4.1 and save to the repository if you have that much amount of time and resources at hand!
Once the reports are migrated to CR 2013, you have to validate the reports to make sure all the functions / data properly migrated.
Thanks
MadhesDWBI
Currently have Crystal Enterprise 10. In order to migrate to Crystal Server 2013 do I have to install Crystal Server 2008? or is this only needed for report upgrade which mean installing Crystal Reports 2008?
Since the existing reports reside in CE10 repository as part of ther Crystal Server upgrade do the reports get converted along the way? How are the existing report links maintained if the reports are in the old CR10 format?
you can create a BIAR file of the reports etc and use the Import Wizard ( The Import Wizard in XI 3.1 (CR 2008) can be used to connect to the CE 10 Environment for creating the BIAR) to move all the contents to the interim (XI R2 or CR 2008) Server. Since XI R2 is no longer available for download, you would need to install XI 3.1 (CR 2008) on a separate server or install side-by-side on the DEV environment of BI 4.0.
You can request for a Trial Key if you have an S-user ID.
In BI 4.1 (CR 2013), you can then use the Upgrade Management Tool to migrate content from XI 3.1 (CR 2008).
Note: You can also open each report in BI 4.1 and save to the repository if you have that much amount of time and resources at hand!
Once the reports are migrated to CR 2013, you have to validate the reports to make sure all the functions / data properly migrated.
Thanks
MadhesDWBI
how do migrate from crystal reports version X to version 13 or 16. any common challenges we need to address? Please help
hi Madhes we want to upgrade the crystal report XI R1 to crystal report 2016 latest version could you please let know what are the steps need to follow
Hi there, all the time i used to check web site posts here early in the daylight, since i like to gain knowledge of more and more.