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mandylyn23
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Quote mandylyn23 Replybullet Topic: Lock report from changes
     Posted: 23 Aug 2012 at 7:00am
I have a number of reports that team members run on their own. How can I lock the reports so that team members cannot make changes to the report design, code, etc.? I only want them to be able to run/refresh the reports.

Thanks.

They will be using the latest version of Crystal.
Currently I am using Crystal 9; is it possible in this version as well?

Edited by mandylyn23 - 23 Aug 2012 at 7:04am
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kevlray
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Quote kevlray Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2012 at 7:59am
With CR 2011 (not Enterprise) you can write protect the templates.  I have not used this feature yet.
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mandylyn23
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Quote mandylyn23 Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2012 at 8:36am
kevlray, thanks for your response. Is this the same as making the report read-only? I chatted with an SAP support operator about this. He mentioned read-only not "write protect" but also stated that if the user has CR on their computer they can still get around the read-only by saving the report in a different format.

The issue is that the reports are employee reports, meaning in one formula field is a an employee's initials. So for each employee that is the only field in the report design that is different. Employees have figured out how to change this formula and put in someone else's initials to see their report results. We want to figure out a way to prevent this.

I have done some reading on other forums and one response I have seen consistently about protecting the file and not allowing changes is using a 3rd party viewer that allows the users to refresh the report but does not give them access to the design because it is not in Crystal. So this would mean the employees would not have Crystal on their PCs.

Are you aware any other security features in CR 2011 that would help a situation like this?

I also read a user's rights can be restricted so that they do not have CR designer rights.
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kevlray
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Quote kevlray Replybullet Posted: 23 Aug 2012 at 10:23am
In our situation we only have four developers.  No one but us four have the CR developer software.  Also most of the reports we develop end up on the SAP Business Objects product which provides us a level of security, plus the ability to schedule reports and do auditing.  Unfortunately it is very pricey option.  I have heard a lot of people using viewers.  The ones I looked into did not allow updating from the database (static data).

I hope this helps.
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DaBoujibo
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Quote DaBoujibo Replybullet Posted: 24 Aug 2012 at 8:50am
We use a viewer for our employees that need to run the reports but not modify the format or create a report.  We use Jeff Net.  If there are parameters in the report, it will prompt the user for the parameters.  It's a cheap option.  http://www.jeff-net.com/  They also offer a batching software.  I haven't been able to play with it too much, but it is similar to batching and scheduling reports that kevlray was talking about.  Although I am not sure if it has auditing capabilities.
 
However, with CR 2011 and CR 2008, if you have CR Server, SAP offers a free viewer that can refresh only when used with the server.  If you do not have the server, then it only offers viewing of the static report without refresh capabilities.
 
I hope this helps.
 
Christy
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