How to Send Each Customer or Branch the Right Crystal Report

Imagine sending monthly account statements to forty customers. The RPT file is the same, but the customer parameter and email address change each time. One misplaced address or unchanged parameter can send a statement to the wrong company.

The useful unit of work is therefore more than an address. It is the approved customer, their reporting values, the intended output and its destination. Keeping those instructions together reduces the repeated copying that makes a manual run fragile.

For this example, begin with two customers whose transactions are easy to distinguish. You will use them to check that separate files really contain separate data before expanding the audience.

In a grouped report, bursting can separate group output into individual files. CRD’s Bursting Schedule is designed for that requirement. It is different from Excel Group Bursting, which creates worksheets within a workbook.

A data-driven schedule takes instructions from database tables or a query at run time. One returned row can supply the customer parameter, email address and output choice. That is useful when the audience or delivery requirements change regularly.

SAP’s BusinessObjects publishing facilities also support personalization and dynamic recipients in applicable deployments. Compare the capabilities you already have with the complete statement workflow rather than assuming that every Crystal installation has the same publishing features.

CRD’s data-driven scheduling guide shows how query results can supply parameters and destinations.

Prepare a query that returns only customers approved for the statement run. Include a stable customer identifier, the parameter value used by the report, the destination and the output format. Keep a missing address visible for correction rather than silently routing it to a default customer.

Map the returned customer value into the report parameter and the address into the Email destination. CRD can also use driver values for the message, filename and delivery type. That allows an agreed folder or printer workflow where email is not appropriate, provided the required destination is configured.

Run the two sample customers to controlled destinations. Check that each statement contains only its own transactions and that the reporting period is correct. Then change one approved delivery instruction in the source and verify the next test uses it.

When finance adds a new customer, the driver query should make the intended reporting assignment clear. Access to the driver data matters because changing a row may change where confidential reports go.

If an application maintains that table, it still needs its own approval and authorization checks. A data-driven schedule reads instructions; it does not decide who is entitled to receive a statement.

The intended result is straightforward: each customer receives their own statement in the agreed format, while finance maintains one understandable set of reporting instructions.

Use Crystal Reports personalized distribution to compare the CRD approaches with your report structure and changing audience.