Bulk PDF Generation [thousands of unique customer statements every month]

[procedemis]

Has anybody figured out how to quickly/efficiently generate thousands of unique 'customer statements' every month [or something similar] using some sort of scalable method [besides looping on a single machine or two] - like an Azure Web Service that can scale up with demand?

Generating PDFs 'serially' takes forever and uses a lot of resources.  We use the exact same RPT file, but have to programmatically run it once for each customer in our database [changing the customer id in the parameter].  Is there a better way, I mean doing the looping works but pegs the CPU and takes forever.

 I would want to do it in Azure, but I don't think the Crystal dlls can be referenced from an Azure web service, can it?  Can referencing the runtime dlls and adding them to the bin folder of the web service - on a machine where the runtime installer has not been run, work?  Has anybody done that?  It would let me load balance and scale it up.

[ido_millet]

There are several 3rd-party tools that can handle single-pass report bursting. But since you are focused on speed, here are two candidates that start with exporting a report with all statements to a single pdf. Then, the PDF gets split into individual, dynamically named, statements.  You can optionally email the split pdf files to dynamic destinations with dynamic messages. 

PDF-eXPLODE: see info here. 

Visual CUT: see video demo of the splitting process. 
disclosure: I'm the developer of Visual CUT.

[procedemis]

ok thank you, I will check them out... so basically it seems that is the 'strat' - to generate the giant all-in-one PDF and split it up....

[pgrill]

We have worked with many Crystal Reports customers to solve this exact issue using the InfoBurst third party tool which is SAP Certified. Alternatively, you could use the SDK to build this yourself but it will take some time and effort.

[ido_millet]

Could you share with us the approximate cost for licensing InfoBurst?

[pgrill]

InfoBurst is available on an annual subscription basis and is based on your BusinessObjects deploy - EDGE or Enterprise. If you follow the link in the earlier response and fill out the conact us info, I would be happy to share with you. Thanks

[LGCA]

Hi, procedemis.

I agree that a 3rd-party tool may be your best bet and would recommend InfoSol's InfoBurst tool: https://www.infosol.com/solutions/infoburst/

For Crystal Reports, it can do the job you described. If your current report returns your thousands of customers in a single refresh, InfoBurst can then split the output into their individual PDF files and can send each to a unique delivery target. It will do the work serially, but you can split the work into as many parallel threads as you like by creating and running distinct "bursts."

Cheers!
Luis

[ido_millet]

Hi Luis,

The two alternatives I mentioned are inexpensive. They range from $300 to $595 for a single-user license. And those licenses don't expire. 
 
Given that infoburst doesn't disclose the licensing cost, it might be significantly higher. 
Would you mind sharing with us the licensing cost range for that option?