SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports -- Where does the data source come from?

Question

I'm flummoxed with (what I believe is) a seemingly-simple theoretical question about SAP BusinessObjects / Crystal Reports store their data sources, to help me change them to integrate with our new upgrade of Maximo.

One Sentence Summary: I can't find where SAP BusinessObjects or Crystal Reports cache their datasource information so I can change it; all I can see is a datasource name and nothing about its server/port, etc.

Brief background:

• I'm new to Crystal Reports and Maximo, but not enterprise systems, development, or reporting in general
• I came in to a company that uses crystal reports to integrate with IBM Maximo asset management (on an Oracle database)
• The only guy who set it up is gone, with little or no documentation
• I'm essentially cleaning up the mess but we're going through an upgrade and I have to understand this system to make it work post-upgrade.
• I can't guarantee that anything about our setup is "standard" or anywhere near a best practice.

The Problem:

• We are upgrading our Maximo system (5.2) to a new version (7.1).
• We have ~150 Crystal reports querying these (older) systems that I need to point to the new database to test
• When I look at the data source for an individual crystal report (opened from the file system), the data source seems to be cached (only the data source name "Maximo", username and PW are there).
• I can't find where this elusive "Maximo" data source is located. Nothing I can find in the Crystal Report file, in the SAP BusinessObjects web site, or on the server really points me to the actual location of the DB so I can change it.

Places I've Searched:

• For an ODBC Connection on the server: This could be promising so I'm leading with it, but I didn't start here. There is an ODBC connection on the server for oracle, called "MAXPROD", but it too doesn't indicate the server information; it just says that the server is "MAXPROD", with a username and password field. No indication of anything else about the connection.
• In the Crystal Reports (.rpt) file: On the data source selection screen, the initial option is select data source, but none of the data sources listed are related to Oracle or Maximo (makes sense as my machine doesn't have any local DSNs). However, if I click "Next", I see cached server information with the SID ("MAXPROD") and a field for user ID and password. No mention of the server name, port, driver, DB type, etc. It appears to be cached ODBC information but I can't tell where it's stored.
• In the source of the .rpt file: No luck, as it's not a text file. I was hoping it might be pure XML.
• In a tnsnames file: I figured since it's an Oracle DB, it might be stored in a tnsnames.ora file which is where the ODBC and Crystal might be looking. But the only tnsnames files I found were samples or were specifically for unrelated datasources (different servers, etc.)
• In the BussinesObjects XI CMC web site configuration section: Again, here I am able to find a database connection, where it allows me to select an ODBC connection, but appears to have one cached called "MAXIMO" that I can't edit.

I'm at my wits end. Can anyone think of anywhere I haven't looked, or is the problem actually how I'm looking at the situation? any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this answer has more to do with our Enterprise architecture than Crystal Reports & BIRT.

Due to the lack of documentation and general reliance on memory, I was not informed until today that all database servers are registered in the org's LDAP, and are looked up that way. Explains why I never saw a tnsnames.ora, and why no configuration information wasn't displayed anywhere and yet didn't seem to be cached.

The world makes sense again.