Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies
Chapter One
Transforming Raw Data into
Meaningful Information
In This Chapter
* Outlining the major features of Crystal Reports 2008
* Viewing an existing report
Computers can store and process enormous amounts of data, and with the
relentless advance of technology, those capabilities will soon become
even more mind-boggling. Even now, the major challenge of getting value from
computer systems isn't to make them more powerful but rather to harness the
power they already have and in a way that delivers useful information to
people.
Megabytes or gigabytes of raw data are neither meaningful nor useful to people.
Instead, you need organized information, distilled and focused on answering
specific questions. In businesses and enterprises of all kinds, organizing and
presenting information has traditionally been the job of documents called
reports. These documents generally comprise multiple pages that can include
text, numbers, charts, maps, and illustrations. The best reports convey the
facts needed t ... read full excerpt from: Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies® ebook