Microsoft Pushes SSRS Over SAP Product for Report Writing by Dynamics Users

In order to bolster its own products, Microsoft Corp. has started steering Dynamics customers away from Crystal Reports, the reporting technology of competitor SAP, to its own reporting technology, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).

"It's a typical Microsoft sales technique, they want to monopolize everything," said Philip Wong, manager, information technology at Sekisui TA Industries in Brea, Calif. 

In an email, Fraser McKay, senior product manager, Microsoft Dynamics business intelligence, confirmed that the company is trying to get customers to use existing Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) technology whenever possible. He added that customers can still use other reporting products, including Crystal Reports.

"SQL Server Reporting Services has long been a part of our product offering and overall BI roadmap for operational reporting," McKay said. "With the significant enhancement of self-service BI capabilities within SSRS over the past several years, the report authoring and viewing experience is a perfect fit for our customer base." 

Speaking at a GP User Group Web conference last month, Bob McAdam, a manager at Tribridge in Tampa Fla., a Microsoft Partner, said Microsoft is touting SSRS as a development platform for its Dynamics products. And SSRS won't cost customers anything extra to use, he said.

"SAP bought Crystal reports [in 2007] and Microsoft has had reporting services in play for several years now and it's really starting to push that now as a development platform for GP and NAV and SL and CRM," McAdam said. "So if you have the [SQL Server] database and you don't have to pay for ...