I have written once before about using the “Order Links” feature of the database expert. In that article I used “Order Links” to help me prevent a SQL error in the pervasive database engine. This past week I used the same feature to improve the performance of a report.

This report had many tables but there was one, the Dept table, that provide the primary filter for the report. The user would select a specific department each time they refreshed. But when I looked at the SQL generated by CR, I noticed that the Dept table was the last table joined into the data set. In my mind, that meant that Crystal was bringing in thousands of linked records that would eventually be discarded because they were linked to the wrong department. If the SQL could apply the filter up front we would greatly reduce the number of linked records we would generate, and that would speeds things up.

So I suggested to the user that they go into the “Links” tab of the Database Expert and right-click to find the “Order Links” option. I had them move the Dept join to the top of the joins list and they immediately saw a dramatic improvement in performance. It may not work in every report or with every database (this report was Oracle based), but when there are lots of tables and the report is slow, it is another option to try.