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cchoy
Participant


We've heard from many of you, our eager SAP BusinessObjects Cloud and Digital Boardroom adopters, that you’d like to be informed about the latest features and enhancements in each wave release as early as possible.

 

Thank you for this feedback – we completely agree! So starting with the release of 2016.18, we will be doing just that – giving you a heads-up on what’s new in each release, right here in this blog.

 

Core: Data Acquisition & Integration


Choose your own separator / delimiter when uploading CSV files


By default, SAP BusinessObjects Cloud will auto-detect a delimiter for you when you upload a new CSV file to the system. Now, you have the option to choose a different one from a predefined list or specify your own.

 



 

Simplified model creation


Models are the basis for everything we do in SAP BusinessObjects Cloud, so we’re implementing some new features to help you create new models more quickly and easily:

  • By default, dimensions will have auto-generated IDs

  • You can now update the description, properties, and hierarchies directly within the dimension itself

  • If a description is added to a dimension, it automatically becomes an ID and relevant business rules are applied

  • Note: For you BI users out there we know that sometimes the need for you to explicitly create a model seems like an unnecessary step. We hear you! We’re looking at ways to make model creation something that is transient and happens in the background for BI only use cases. Stay tuned!


 

 

Import data from file based on matching dimension description


Wouldn’t life be easier if you could map dimensions based on descriptions as well as IDs? Well now you can – SAP BusinessObjects Cloud will automatically map to the best matching attribute of the dimension, whether it’s the ID or the Description. If there’s a conflict, no problem. Just choose the one you wish to map to.

 


 

Support for data append when scheduling data import from file


Now, you have the option to either replace or append the dataset when you’re scheduling a refresh of a model from a file server. The option to append a dataset is especially useful when you have a large file to upload (greater than 40MB, which is the supported limit) and need to chunk it up into smaller pieces. Please note this is only available for files from declared file servers.

 

 

 

New progress dialog when uploading a file


Get a better sense of how long you will be waiting for files to be uploaded to the system with our new Loading dialog.

 




Other improvements



  • All of the icons, terminology, and workflows are now more consistent between the “Build a Query” dialogs for SucessFactors and Universes (UNX).



 


Core: Data Analysis, Stories, and Tables


Stories: Advanced calculation support on acquired data


Aggregation functions are now at your fingertips as you are working within a Story, including: SUM, COUNT, COUNT DIMENSIONS, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX. You can also get the difference between measures for two time periods using the Difference From calculation type, and calculations can be driven by calculation input controls.

 


 

Tables: Hyperlinks based on data context


Enhance your tables by adding hyperlinks based on data context to other pages within the Story, other Stories, or external URLs. For external URLs, you can show the hyperlink directly in the table.

 



 

Tables: Update scale by measure or for the whole data region


Let’s say you want to display a particular measure in millions and another in thousands. This is now possible as a setting inside the Formatting panel (under Display As) that you apply to either a single measure or to all measures in the table. The scale will be displayed directly in the cell if it is different from other measures in the table. Please note that percentages are always shown in the cell.

 



 

Other improvements



  • Standard paper sizes are here! Set a fixed canvas size from a predetermined list (Letter, Legal, Tabloid, A3, A4, B4, B5) or enter custom dimensions, and choose between landscape and portrait orientation.

  • Dynamic text is a handy way to add meaningful information to your Stories. In this wave, you can use the basic Story properties such as Current User, Current Time, Last Modified Date, Last Modified Date/Time, Last Modifier, Creator, and Page Number in your dynamic text.





  • The experience across workflows for creating charts, tables, and location analytics is now more consistent.

  • You can show and hide the grid and column headers for grid pages, for a cleaner look and feel on your tables.





  • Here’s a time-saver for you. You can now select multiple charts and apply show/hide quick actions to them at the same time.





Core: Location Analytics


Better design panels


We’ve updated our design panels! Now, you can minimize/expand each section within the builder panel, and reorder layers simply by dragging the tokens for each layer.


 

Style theme packs


New Light and Dark theme packs are available to help you style your geo maps in a flash. You can access these options from the formatting panel under Map Controls.

 



 

 


Predictive


Key influencers


Key influencers help you get a better understanding of what factors are impacting your data. Within a story’s Discovery tab, you can choose a target to inspect, like Opportunity Value for example.

 


 

When you run the Discovery, predictive algorithms are used to automatically generate new charts and present you with new insights on your data, like showing you which customer segment is the biggest contributor to your company’s opportunity value.

 


 

 

Recovery of unsaved discoveries


Did your current session closed unexpectedly? Don’t worry – a recovery prompt will appear for any unsaved Discoveries from the last session when you re-enter a Story, allowing you to either keep or delete the discoveries. Once you retrieve a Discovery via this prompt, you must save the Discovery in order for the recovery to take effect.

 


 

 

Planning


 

IF function allows you to check for Boolean conditions


Now, you can create formulas to check for Boolean conditions using the IF function:

 

IF(boolean condition, trueValue, falseValue)


 

This is a great way to handle unbooked cells, as you can use it to treat NULL values as 0. The IF function can be used in combination with other existing functions too.

 



 




 

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