One of the questions that we’re often asked surrounds how to automatically extract data from Sage 100 / Sage 100cloud on a regular basis without needing to manually run a program or report.

While there are a few ways to do this ( Visual Integrator, ODBC ), the typical way many consultants approach this is with Crystal Reports.

Crystal Reports is a report writer included with Sage 100 and the starting point they use for creating a report which can export data.

However, standard Crystal Reports usually rely on someone manually starting the report and running it on a regular basis.

Thankfully, there are numerous scheduling tools that work to automatically run a Crystal Reports at a preset time on a regular schedule.

In some cases you also use Windows Task scheduler to create the automation. The degree with which you manually create this task schedule varies based on the product used.

The two products that I’ve used the most are Visual Cut and Logicity. Both are affordable ( under $500 ) and support most of the recent versions of Crystal Reports.

The website Crystal Reports Underground has a review of both desktop and server-based scheduler programs.

Desktop Crystal Report scheduling tools reviewed include:

• Crystal Delivery by Groff Automation
• Smart Report Organizer 2018 by DataZimmerman
• Logicity Pro by Saber Logic
• Report Commander by Arcana Development
• cViewMANAGER by Chelsea Technologies
• Softline Crystal Scheduler by Softline Solutions France
• R-Tag Crystal Scheduler Light by R-Tag
• Visual CUT by Millet Software

Server Crystal Report Scheduling tools reviewed include:

• ReportServer by InfoFabrik GmbH
• R-Tag Crystal Scheduler by R-Tag:
• Navarre Report Scheduler by PCS Programming
• cViewSERVER by Chelsea Technologies
• CrystalKiwi Scheduler by CrystalKiwi Ltd
• Softline Crystal Scheduler by Softline Solutions France
• Liaison Messenger EDD by Liaison Software Corp
• rePORTAL SCR by rePORTAL Software
• Report Runner Batch Enterprise by Jeff-Net

The next time you are wondering if there is a better way to automatically run a Crystal Report at a preset time – consider using one of the report schedulers reviewed above. And remember that Crystal Reports can be set to print a report as well as export data which can be handy if paired up with an FTP service scheduled to automatically upload a file on a set schedule.