# IFS Cloud Report Designer, Quick Reports and Crystal Reports: Which to Use > Source: https://netray.co/erp-help/ifs-cloud-report-designer-quick-report-crystal-which-to-use > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: ERP Help ## Short answer IFS Cloud has several reporting routes. Use Quick Reports for fast read-only lists of data, the report designer route for formatted operational documents such as order confirmations and pick lists, legacy Crystal-based layouts only where you already have them, and the analytical tools for dashboards. Report rules then control when and how a report is produced and sent. ## Kind how-to ## System ifs ## Erp IFS Cloud ## Module Reporting ## Query ifs cloud report designer ## Alternate Queries - ifs cloud crystal reports - ifs cloud quick report - report studio ifs cloud - ifs cloud report rules ## Applies To IFS Cloud 21R1 and later. The layout technology behind formatted reports has changed across IFS releases, so check your documentation for the designer your release uses. ## Steps ### How to decide and build **Items:** - Write down who reads the output and how: a screen list for an analyst, or a formatted document sent to a customer or printed in the warehouse. - For a quick list or an export to Excel, create a Quick Report from a query over supported views and grant it to the right permission sets. - For a formatted document, start from the standard report layout, copy it and edit the copy in the report designer rather than changing the standard. - Test with real records, including long text, multiple pages, different languages and an empty result. - Set the report rules that decide printing, e-mail and archiving behavior for each customer, supplier or user group. - Move the finished layout and rules to production with your configuration transfer process. ## Sections ### The options compared **Body:** Quick Reports are the lightest: a stored query, simple parameters and export. They are ideal for analysts and administrators but are not meant for formatted customer documents. Operational reports are the formatted documents driven by the application, such as order confirmations, purchase orders, delivery notes and invoices. They are designed in the report designer for your release. Older installations used Crystal Reports layouts for these, and some still do, so treat Crystal as a legacy path to maintain, not a place to start new work unless your version requires it. ### Report rules **Body:** Report rules define what happens when a report is requested: which layout is used, whether it prints, is sent by e-mail or archived, and which language or recipient settings apply. They let one business document behave differently per customer without changing the layout. A clean setup uses one layout per document type with variants only for real needs such as a customer-specific template or language. Too many variants become a maintenance burden at every update. ### Keeping reports upgrade safe **Body:** Clone, do not edit, standard layouts. At each release compare your copies with the new standard and merge changes deliberately. Document every custom layout, its owner and the rule that uses it. Keep data access inside the supported report data sources or views, so a column rename in an update does not silently break the output. Review heavy reports for performance, since a layout that runs a query per row can slow the document run. ## Pitfalls - Editing the standard layout in place and losing the change at the next update. - Using Quick Reports for customer-facing documents that need consistent formatting. - Creating a new layout per customer instead of using one with rules. - Skipping tests with multi-page and multi-language output. - Starting new work on a legacy Crystal path without checking the supported direction for your release. ## Ai Angle An on-prem assistant can help with the discovery step: finding which reports and rules exist, who uses them and where duplicates sit, and drafting the read-only query behind a Quick Report in plain language. It runs on your own model and network, so document samples with customer data are not sent out. A person still approves the layout and the rule. ## Faq ### Is Crystal Reports still used in IFS Cloud? **Answer:** Some installations carry Crystal-based layouts forward from earlier versions, but IFS has moved formatted reporting to other designers over time. Check the documentation for your release before building new Crystal layouts. ### What is the difference between a Quick Report and a designed report? **Answer:** A Quick Report is a query with simple output and export for analysis. A designed report is a formatted document with layout, headers, pages and language handling, produced by the application during business processes. ### What are report rules in IFS Cloud? **Answer:** They control how a report is delivered: layout selection, printing, e-mail, archive and related settings, often by customer, supplier or user. They separate the delivery behavior from the layout design. ### Is Report Studio an IFS Cloud tool? **Answer:** We cannot confirm a tool by that name as the standard IFS Cloud designer. Look at the reporting section of your release documentation for the designer name that applies to your version. ## Search terms ifs cloud report designer, ifs cloud crystal reports, ifs cloud quick report, ifs cloud report rules, ifs cloud reporting, ifs cloud custom report, ifs cloud document layout, ifs report designer tutorial --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json