Need help suggesting PHP/Open source over off the shelf solution.

After working here for years I finally discovered this website and am happy there is a PHP users group. I hope I can make it to meetings but I don't currently drive and am somewhat disabled so it may be infrequent for awhile.  I have a great job working for a company as a Sr. Software Engineer/PHP Programmer/General Network Guy/Problem Solver/etc... We have made a strong move towards PHP development but still maintain many other applications. We do a great deal of reporting with Microsoft Excel. By the time they are done these reports must look extremely professional for clients. Recently my manager and others have decided to look towards different options for reporting. I am proposing a web based PHP solution using ChartDirector extensions for charting/graphing etc. I have successfully demonstrated this to them, and although well received, there are many who seem sold on the idea of using Crystal Reports. I believe I have made the best case I can so far but feel like I am missing something. They keep emphasizing they want to rely less on the expertise of programmers and that the users should be able to build professional looking reports in less time with less programmer/specialist intervention. This hasn’t been my experience.I would like as much feedback as possible, and am also looking for someone who perhaps has a more skilled ability to advocate this type of solution professionally that might be able to help me present the best case possible for an in house PHP solution as opposed to Crystal Reports. Any ideas? 

 P.S. Lines and breaks do not seem to be formatting automatically. I tried html tags with no success.