Crystal reporting in IFS Cloud: how to keep reporting moving while planning what comes next

For many organisations using IFS, Crystal reporting is much more than a legacy reporting tool.

Over the years, businesses have built large libraries of Crystal reports covering invoices, order confirmations, operational reporting, financial information and other business-critical processes. These reports are often deeply embedded into day-to-day operations.

That makes the transition away from native Crystal Reports support in IFS Cloud an important consideration.

The challenge is not simply deciding what reporting technology to use next. Organisations need to work out how they can continue using the reports they depend on today while creating a practical path towards their future reporting environment.

Platned helps organisations manage this transition through Liquid Crystal, providing a bridge between existing Crystal reporting requirements and longer-term reporting modernisation.

 

What is changing with Crystal reporting in IFS Cloud?

 

As IFS Cloud continues to evolve, organisations need to consider how existing reporting requirements fit into their future environment.

For businesses with established Crystal reporting estates, this can be particularly important when planning an IFS Cloud upgrade.

For organisations with a small number of relatively simple reports, transitioning may be straightforward. For those with tens, hundreds or even more Crystal reports, the situation can be considerably more complicated.

Reports may contain years of development, customisation and business logic. Some may be used every day, while others support specific monthly, quarterly or operational processes.

Trying to replace everything at once can therefore create unnecessary cost, workload and risk.

 

Crystal reporting should not hold back your IFS Cloud roadmap

 

The reporting question can quickly become part of a much bigger technology decision.

An organisation may be ready to move forward with its IFS Cloud roadmap but still have a significant estate of Crystal reports that needs to be addressed.

That can create competing priorities.

Do you delay progress while reports are rebuilt? Do you dedicate resources to converting everything immediately? Or do you find a way to maintain existing reporting while transitioning at a more manageable pace?

Platned believes reporting should not become the reason an organisation delays its wider IFS Cloud plans.

This is the thinking behind Liquid Crystal.

 

What is Platned Liquid Crystal?

 

Liquid Crystal is designed to provide continuity for organisations that want to keep using their existing Crystal reports while they plan their longer-term reporting strategy.

Rather than forcing an immediate rebuild of the entire Crystal reporting estate, Liquid Crystal provides a bridge.

Existing reports can continue to operate while the organisation determines which reports need to be migrated, redesigned, replaced or potentially retired.

The objective is simple: keep business-critical reporting running without allowing it to become a barrier to progress.

Liquid Crystal provides:

Liquid Crystal is not intended to avoid reporting modernisation indefinitely. It is designed as a bridge that gives organisations greater control over when and how that modernisation takes place.

 

Why a phased approach to Crystal reporting makes sense

 

Not every Crystal report has the same importance.

Within a large reporting estate, organisations will often find reports that fall into very different categories. Some are business-critical and used every day. Others are required occasionally. Some contain significant customisation that will require careful redevelopment, while others may no longer be necessary at all.

Treating every report in exactly the same way can create unnecessary work, cost and complexity.

A more practical approach starts by understanding the existing reporting estate and establishing clear priorities. Rather than viewing every Crystal report as an individual migration task, organisations can assess reports according to their business value, usage, complexity and future relevance.

 

Report assessment and migration priority

Assessment area	What to consider	Typical priority
Business criticality	Is the report essential to daily operations, compliance, financial reporting or key business processes?	High. Prioritise reports that the business depends on.
Frequency of use	How often is the report accessed? Is it used daily, weekly, occasionally or rarely?	High. Frequently used reports generally warrant earlier attention.
Complexity	Does the report contain complex logic, customisations, integrations or formatting that may require redevelopment?	Assess carefully. Complex reports may need more planning and testing.
Future relevance	Is the report still required, or could the business achieve the same outcome through a newer reporting approach?	Review first. Retire reports that are no longer needed.
Migration priority	Should the report move immediately, later in the programme, or temporarily remain in the existing Crystal reporting environment?	Prioritise based on business value and effort.

 

This assessment helps turn Crystal reporting migration from a single large project into a controlled programme of work.

For example, a frequently used financial report that is essential to month-end processes may warrant early migration. A complex operational report may need additional planning and testing, while a report that has not been accessed for several years could potentially be retired rather than migrated.

The result is a more considered migration strategy, with effort directed towards the reports that matter most to the business.

It can also form part of a wider review of your IFS environment. Platned provides a range of IFS services covering upgrades, migrations, consulting, support and optimisation.

 

Liquid Crystal and migration work together

 

Keeping existing Crystal reports running and moving towards native IFS Cloud reporting do not have to be competing strategies.

Platned provides two complementary approaches.

Liquid Crystal provides continuity. It allows organisations to keep existing Crystal reports operational while removing the pressure to rebuild everything immediately.

Platned’s Crystal migration services provide the path forward. When an organisation is ready to modernise individual reports, Platned can support the transition towards native IFS Cloud reporting, including IFS Report Studio.

This creates a practical transition model.

Instead of making reporting migration a prerequisite for moving forward, organisations can separate the two timelines. The wider IFS Cloud roadmap can continue while reporting is modernised in controlled stages.

This is particularly valuable for organisations already planning an upgrade to IFS Cloud, where reporting is one of several areas that need to be assessed alongside integrations, customisations, data and business processes.

 

Start by understanding your Crystal reporting estate

 

Before deciding on a migration strategy, it is worth asking a few straightforward questions.

How many Crystal reports does your organisation actually have? Which are still being used? Which are business-critical? Which contain complex customisations? Which could be replaced by standard functionality? And which may no longer be needed at all?

Answering these questions can significantly change the scale of the project.

An organisation with 500 existing reports, for example, may discover that only a proportion require priority attention. Instead of treating the challenge as 500 simultaneous migrations, it can focus resources on the reports that deliver the greatest operational value.

Liquid Crystal provides the breathing room to carry out that assessment without putting existing reporting at risk.

Organisations that require additional support around their wider IFS environment can also use Platned Gateway, which provides access to Platned expertise across support, consulting, updates, upgrades and other IFS requirements.

 

Frequently asked questions about Crystal reporting migration

 

How can I migrate from Crystal Reports?

Migrating from Crystal Reports should start with an assessment of your existing reporting estate rather than immediately attempting to rebuild every report.

The first step is to identify which reports are actively used and understand their business criticality, frequency of use, complexity and future relevance. Reports can then be prioritised for migration, redevelopment, replacement or retirement.

For organisations using IFS Cloud, Platned can support the migration of Crystal reports towards native IFS Cloud reporting approaches, including IFS Report Studio.

Where migrating every report immediately is not practical, Liquid Crystal can provide continuity by allowing existing Crystal reports to remain operational while migration takes place in phases.

This means organisations can create a structured Crystal reporting migration roadmap without making the entire reporting estate a dependency for wider IFS Cloud progress.

What are the alternatives to Crystal Reports?

The right alternative to Crystal Reports depends on what the report is designed to achieve and how it is used within the business.

For organisations using IFS Cloud, native reporting capabilities such as IFS Report Studio can form part of the longer-term reporting strategy. However, moving to a new reporting approach does not necessarily mean every existing Crystal report needs to be recreated immediately.

Some reports may be replaced by standard functionality, some may need to be redesigned, and others may no longer be required. Business-critical reports that cannot yet be migrated can continue to operate through Liquid Crystal while the organisation works through its reporting roadmap.

This phased approach provides organisations with a choice between maintaining, migrating, redesigning, replacing or retiring individual reports based on business requirements rather than applying the same approach to the entire reporting estate.

 

Turn a reporting deadline into a planned transition

 

Changes to Crystal reporting in IFS Cloud create a clear reason to review your reporting strategy, but they do not have to force a rushed transformation.

The goal should be to maintain continuity today while creating a sensible route towards tomorrow’s reporting environment.

With Liquid Crystal, organisations can keep existing reports running, continue progressing with IFS Cloud and migrate reporting at a pace that reflects their own business priorities.

That means less pressure to choose between maintaining critical reporting and moving forward with IFS Cloud.

Keep reporting running. Keep moving forward.

Explore Liquid Crystal and Crystal reporting migration with Platned.