Lost in SAP Support

[Former Member]

I am a .Net Developer who is trying to upgrade (eg spend money on Crystal Reports) from the developer version in Studio 2008 to a full blown tool.

To reiterate, I want to give you money.

I regularly use the net to get support answers. However, I find your site to be so complex as to be almost useless. I want to know about upgrading from the basic version of Crystal to the full version. I am sure the specific information I need is out here somewhere.

So far I have had no luck in finding anything relevant to such a simple question.

I would be willing to purchase access to online support, but there does not appear to be any way to do this.

lost in sap support,

Joe Rich

Rich Solutions

[former_member181921]

Hi Joseph,

Did you have specific questions about the upgrade to the full version or are you looking for more general information? I'd be happy to help answer your questions or put you in contact with someone else who could.

With thanks,

Kirby

[Former Member]

Hello Joseph,

I can understand your frustration of not being able to find what you are after but you need to understand a clear fact that the forums here are voluntary contributions from forum members and should NOT be assumed as default support source. Professionals and freshers meet here regularly on different issues where experienced professionals share their valuable experience using SAP which can't be found in books or other resources and freshers like myself use the source to upgrade my understanding.

What you require is a Consultant to look your issue and therefore be a gentleman and stop complaining about this site.

[Former Member]

Thank you for the support - proof that there is such a thing on SDN after all. I guess it is a cultural thing in how you go about asking for it and what you put back (and get back).

Personally I do not have any problems with pigs and am rather fond of the animals infact - so I have not taken offense to Joseph's attempts to make hurtfull statements.

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

According to Wikipedia, the expression "root hog, or die" dates from much earlier than the great depression. I appears to have originated prior to the U. S. Civil war.

And rather than being hurtful, it is meant to encourage one to be resourcful and self-reliant.

I think we could use more of that attitude in the forums

Rob

[Former Member]

> To reiterate, I want to give you money.

Are there any strings attached? Any limits?

This (sdn.sap.com) is a voluntary community of contributors. We do not systematically document upgrades, but the chances of finding an upgrade guru are fairly good.

If it is support, then you need to go to service.sap.com and login with your customer account. That is part of the maintenance fees you already paid.

If you want more than standard support of the software and it's documentation, then you can hire a consultant for that. The job board on SDN is http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/careers

Please do not disturb the sanctity of the forums with job offer posts ...

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

I am going to be honest. I found your response useless. I am a real customer looking for some help on Crystal Reports.

Your postion appears to be. Keep looking...you will probably find some help. Not a very predictable process.

I would think SAP's support site could direct a user to a specific solution to a problem. If you cannot do this, what is the point of the site?

So far my support experience with Crystal reports is the poorest in my professional career. I have sought support from small companies and large companies. I have never been left in the postion that I could not find someone who could at least provide some direction.

You should adopt a saying from the deep south during the great depression. Farmer's who could not provide feed for their pigs would say, "Root hog, or die!".

I will continue to "root" for some information. What a waste of resources this site is....

Joseph Rich

[Former Member]

You missed Julius' point. This is not the SAP support site.

Rob

[Former Member]

>This is not the SAP support site.

This is true but SAP has created an ambigious situation.

When you are about to open a support message on service.sap.com, you can read the following :

>I have a "How to" question

>In this case, the SAP Discussion Forums allow you to quickly locate information. Organized by topics in an easy-to-follow >format, they are designed so you can share ideas, opinions and information, find other knowledgeable users and participate in >conversations.

A lot of people will understand that these "SAP Discussion forums" are part of the official support site....

Olivier

[JPReyes]

I am going to be honest. I found your response useless. I am a real customer looking for some help on Crystal Reports.

Seems like you don't want to help yourself.

So far my support experience with Crystal reports is the poorest in my professional career. I have sought support from small companies and large companies. I have never been left in the postion that I could not find someone who could at least provide some direction.

The resources are there you just need to know how to use them..

http://help.sap.com -> SAP BusinessObjects

Did you try asking on /community [original link is broken]

ultimately, http://service.sap.com

What a waste of resources this site is....

I don't think the problem is on this site

Hope you find your way around

regards

Juan

[marilyn_pratt]

In regards to Crystal, the forums actually ARE the support context.

Crystal Reports, Xcelsius and Interactive Analysis Support
[|]
Where Crystal Reports, Xcelsius and Interactive Analysis customers without a maintenance agreement find technical support content and interactive forums.

So one can understand frustration in not finding the links. I had trouble finding them as well, for the record. But people from the BOBJ team are on it and supportive and I'm sure willing to improve the user experience.

Thanks guys too for trying to be quality gates.

As Oliver says, there is a bit of ambiguity which we will need to resolve to prevent frustration.

Anyway, with Kirby's help here's hoping Joe's questions get resolved.

[andreas_mann3]

hau ab Jupp! you Forum-troll!

A.

[Former Member]

Hi Marylin,

Thank you for that insight. I was not aware of that and after reading Rob's explanation for the "hog" comment I understand that it is dependent on how high up you are sitting when you start to flame a vendor and expected support when you have no contractual support agreements. We are used to that on SDN and it is a nice aspect of the community - with a small exception of the points system for those who misuse it.

I guess it is the same for any freeware when it does not work as well. It reminds me of what Winston Churchill had to say about the animals:

> A cat looks down upon a man, and a dog looks up to a man, but a pig will look a man in the eye and see his equal.

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

I faintly suspect that there are some cultural differences here as well, located somewhere between the deep south and upper bavaria...

Cheers and enjoy the weekend,

Julius