part of the release states

. Since all of the reports in the Management Report section of the Report Menu are Crystal Reports, the entire section will be eliminated. As well, the Overdue Receipt (with Customer Name and Phone Number) Crystal Reports report will be removed from the Microsoft Office Report section of the Report Menu

it would be nice to know the tables/fields used to create these reports, so that they could be recreated using another reporting tool

Hi Smithco and Crbookkeeping

Please note the information in the support article as to the details as per this link:

http://goo.gl/ELqIcd

It gives some guidelines for your questions now. There should be more information coming.

Software Coach

your link also suggests that management reports will disappear, not replaced with custom Sage forms

so if my clients still need the functionality, forms using a new tool (ie ms-access, crystal report designer, etc) will be required

Sage already knows what tables/queries produce the forms - I'm just asking if that can be made available so that everyone who needs the info doesn't have to reinvent the wheel

I think there may be a way to just install a print engine. I believe the CSV are still going to be avaliable. So if the print engine can be installed and the CSV file are still active the client can click the form on the desktop and print. I will testing out the mechanics over the next few weeks... but is just speculation at this point.

GWG

Business Innovations Tech

There may be a solution but their email certainly did not suggest it that way. It could have been worded much much better. That  was very poor way of informing those that do use CR.

GwG, drilling down through the document links provided with the announcement, I found this

Option IV: Use an alternative to Crystal Reports for my form

   Turn on the option for creating the form data (CSV) files:

       To turn on the option to create the form data (CSV) files, click Setup, Reports & Forms, Export Form CSV.

       On the right side, select Export form CSV.

       Click OK.

   In Sage 50, set up a dummy printer for the form.

   Use Excel, Word or another program to read the form data (CSV) files and create the form.

   Print the form within Sage 50.

       Nothing will print because it is going to the dummy printer.

   Print the form with the alternative program.

but I can't find 'export form csv' under 'reports and forms' - is only in some sage50 2014 versions ?

I have Sage 50 Accountant Edition Release 2014.2 and also do not show the 'export form csv' as an available option under Reports and Forms.

The option for turning on the printing of the csv files will be introduced in the 2014.3 release.  It is not in the current program because when you use Crystal Reports templates for printing, it does the export to csv files automatically.  Moving forward not everyone will need that so it will be an option to turn it on.

You do need to look at your options now and make sure you keep a backup of your company file, if you are going to upgrade to Sage 50 2014.3.  Once the upgrade starts, it is my understanding that you will not be able to determine the types of forms you were using afterwards without going to a backup of your file.

All you can do right now is determine 1) if you are using any Crystal Reports templates and 2) look at features of the printed form to determine if you need to use Crystal Templates or not.  See the image below for #1.  If the Form Type under the Printer Form Settings or the E-mail Form Settings says Sage 50 form, you do not have an issue.  Make sure you look at all the forms on the left of the image below, both printer and email if applicable.

If you can switch back to the forms designer in the program (*.sfm) files called the Sage 50 Form, then it's ok to do so, but you may need to make some customisations of those forms.  Many people are still using Crystal templates because they needed customisations back before 2005 and Crystal was the only designer option back then.  If you only added a logo and changed the column widths, for example, then the internal forms designer does a good job of that.

If your form design was designed under the concepts of "Sometimes I want...", "I need to calculate...", "I need to group...", etc. then the internal forms designer may not work for your current design because it does not calculate or allow for custom groupings.  It also always shows things even if it is not used (eg. the text Re: Order No.).

I am only talking about the forms above, but anyone using the MS Office Documents program to run their custom Crystal Reports will not be able to either.  I've done some preliminary testing and it looks like the version from 2013 will still function on a 2014 file, so people with that version still on their computers may still be able to run their custom Crystal Reports.  We are still working on determining some options.

I have sent in 'Feedback' that Sage 50 should allow setting up a custom print engine command line, that runs off the 'print' button on invoice / order / quote forms.

Without that... 

I'm pretty sure my clients aren't going to be OK with some funky three-step "click here", "switch to the desktop", "click there" process. 

If there are no significant CRA payroll changes, then I guess there's a reprieve until December. 

I have sent in 'Feedback' that Sage 50 should allow setting up a custom print engine command line, that runs off the 'print' button on invoice / order / quote forms.

Without that... 

I'm pretty sure my clients aren't going to be OK with some funky three-step "click here", "switch to the desktop", "click there" process. 

If there are no significant CRA payroll changes, then I guess there's a reprieve until December. 

We at Business Innovations Technologies do have a crystal utility that will run and print a crystal report. Clients can put a report on their desktop.... double click and print