Getting Familiar with Cloud for Analytics Tutorial
SAP’s Jane Fu provides a nice tutorial here SAP BusinessObjects Cloud Tutorial Walkthrough
I asked SAP if I could share my experience, and the response was I could.
Below is my own experience, after having followed the tutorial a few times. The trial environment is Chrome only, as Jane states, and you can’t use geo-enabled dimensions. The trial offers two models (which means you cannot connect your own data).
What I liked best:
No installation on my desktop; this is nice and you cannot underestimate this.
You can create a discussion (such as the one below) but with the trial it will be only with yourself.
There is an option to Share stories, but again, since it is only yourself in the tutorial, you will be sharing with yourself.
Below is the result of sharing one of the stories, on Chrome only:
You can also interact with the shared stories, as shown below – top 5, bottom 5, etc.
When I went searching for something, I happened upon the “Modeler”, as shown below:
Reports provide an “Excel” like pivot interface where you can add or remove dimensions and measures to the display.
You can also add charts to the Reports, as shown below
It was fairly easy to “build my own story” as shown below.
You can also export the story to a PDF:
Here is the view of the PDF:
You can also upload your pictograms and your own images
Recommendations when trying the product
I recommend following Jane’s tutorial a few times. At least this is what helped me the most.
Based on ASUG webcasts I have attended, there is a new release every 2 weeks (and you don’t have to patch it yourself) so hopefully there will be a fast turn around on suggestions.
What I am looking forward to
I am looking forward to the capability of connecting my own data, especially to the SAP back ends.
I am also looking forward to trying it on a mobile device.
I expect more chart types to be added in the future; I was looking for a funnel type chart and couldn’t locate it.
Here’s what happens when you try it on a non-Chrome environment:
If you haven’t applied for the trial you can apply at http://sapcloudanalytics.com/
Hi Tammy,
Thank you for your blog-post. Can you tell me if the (predictive)"Analytics" part is also available? As I haven't received any CFA logon credentials, it's impossible for me to find out and most blog-posts I've read so far do not cover the (predictive) Analytics part..
Or doesn't CFA contain a predictive element and do I need to use Lumira for this?
Grt
Sven
Hi Sven - Predictive is planned for the future, based on some ASUG webcasts I attended - will try to post notes from those webcasts when I can.
GRC and Predictive are part of the future plans - today BI and Planning are available.
Tammy
Hi Tammy
Thank you for your quick response. I thought I'd already seen slideware passing by explaining GRC and the predictive part.....but was wondering if it was already embedded in the current version of CFA.
Thanks for 'lifting the smog'
gr
Sven
Thanks for sharing, Tammy! Looks quite similar to Lumira. I agree that "not having to install on your PC" is a good thing, although wish it ran in the "corporate choice" IE or at least Firefox. Oh well...
Nice blog, Tammy, and congrats on it getting picked for the featured blog thingamajiggy* on the home page!
* Yes, that is a highly technical term.
By the way, I put in the invite request last Tuesday and am still waiting for a response. Wish there was some ETA provided, sigh...
Last week? I put my request in... well, let's just say patience is required 🙂
Steve.
Thanks! informative for me.