What’s New in SAP Analytics Cloud (formerly BusinessObjects Cloud) and SAP Digital Boardroom Release 2017.10
This blog covers some of the latest new features and enhancements in SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Digital Boardroom release 2017.10.
SAP Analytics Cloud agent version required for data acquisition with this release:
- Version 1.0.59 for SAP Business Warehouse (BW)
- Version 1.0.57 for SAP ERP / SQL databases
- Version 1.0.51 for all other data source types
For more information, see System Requirements and Technical Prerequisites.
Highlights of this release:
- A brand new mobile experience for iOS
- Use Analytics Cloud as a client for SAP BPC
- Enable currency conversion for models created from imported data
- Update Model button moved to the Scheduling options page
- Data import from SAP BW/4HANA
- Dimension settings for models based on live data connections
- New enhancements for responsive pages and table column resizing
- Pass any dimension from a model to an external URL
- Copy and paste a full lane of a responsive page
- Explorer: New facet filter indicator and options to clear filters
- Digital Boardroom Explorer: Measure and dimension configuration
- Drive measure bindings in charts via a blended table cell selection
- Dynamic text for chart and table filters
- Improved performance in planning workflows
Our next #askSAP Analytics Community Call will be on June 15!
The topic is “Delivering the Intelligent Enterprise with Machine Learning” – register here.
Learn with our latest video tutorials
- Use Smart Discovery and Smart Insights in a story
- Create a calculated measure based on linked models
- Work with formulas and variables
- Full tutorial playlist >
Mobile
A brand new mobile experience for iOS
We’re excited about the upcoming release of our brand-new iOS app, which attendees at SAPPHIRE NOW got a preview of last month. It unifies the experience for SAP Analytics Cloud users and allows you to consume analytics while you’re about and about.
UPDATE: The app has just been released in the app store! Get more details about installation and setup here.
Data Integration
Use Analytics Cloud as a client for SAP BPC
Do you use SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (BPC)? If so, you can now enjoy the best of both worlds using Analytics Cloud as a client and writing back to SAP BPC/4HANA and SAP BPC for SAP NetWeaver (BPC for NW).
- When you import a model from BPC, select the option “Users can write back to BPC” to enable this feature.
- In the version management dialog, you can use the refresh icon (shown below on the right) to synchronize your data and write back to BPC.
- If your BPC model contains multiple currencies, you will need to enable currency conversion in Analytics Cloud so that changes made in currencies other than the local one can be written back.
- For BPC/4HANA, only the changes made since the data import will be written back (delta import), whereas for BPC for NW, the full set of data is written back to the system.
- Learn how to create an import data connection to an SAP BPC system
- Learn more about importing data from SAP BPC
Enable currency conversion for models created from imported data
Previously, currency conversion could only be enabled for models created directly in the Modeler (i.e. models created without data). Now with this release, you can enable currency conversion for a model containing data. You will find the toggle for currency conversion in the Preferences for the model.
- Two requirements must be met before you can enable currency conversion for a model containing data:
- Your model must have an Organization dimension
- You must also have an existing conversion table
- Learn more about currency tables
Update Model button moved to the Scheduling options page
The “Update Model” functionality allows you to refresh your model with a new set of data. As this action removes all existing data from the model, we tweaked the user interface and moved the button from the Schedule Status listing page to the individual scheduling options page when you select a scheduling job. In addition, you will be given a warning (and the option to cancel) if you click the Update Model button.
Data import from SAP BW/4HANA
Importing data from SAP BW/4HANA is now supported.
Modeling
Dimension settings for models based on live data connections
In the Modeler, you can now choose which dimensions you want to include from a model based on a live data connection. This is handy for reducing the available options and thereby simplifying things when you’re working with the data in your stories.
We also took the enhancements one step further – you can now group dimensions in the Dimension Settings.
Data Analysis, Stories, and Tables
New enhancements for responsive pages and table column resizing
Whether you’re using a mobile phone or a giant touchscreen, we want you to have the best possible viewing and content creation experience. In this release, we bring you more enhancements to improve page responsiveness:
- Automatic chart optimization for small viewing screen sizes
When you change from a large viewing screen to a much smaller one, or vice versa, your charts will now automatically show or hide certain options depending on the chart type and container size. Axis labels will likewise be distributed, hidden, or truncated based on the container size. In the example shown below, the legend was automatically hidden when the chart container was made narrower.
- First/Last/High/Low Labels option
For line chart types (Line, Combined Column & Line, etc.) specifically, you now have a new First/Last/High/Low Labels option to help you declutter your chart – as the name implies, this allows you to only show the first, last, highest, and lowest data points. Please note that data labels may be hidden regardless of user settings if data label collisions are detected.
- Responsive tables
Tables added to a canvas or responsive page will now automatically adjust to fit content, without scroll bars and empty space if possible. You can still manually add rows and columns outside the data region – simply hover over the last row or column to find the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons. Please note this feature will be enabled for newly created tables only; tables created prior to this release will not have this feature.
- Multi-column resizing
You can now select multiple columns in a table and drag to resize them at once. You can also select multiple columns and use the table toolbar to auto-resize columns to fit the content.
Pass any dimension from a model to an external URL
Previously, you could create an external URL and pass in a specific dimension to be considered when you’re opening an external website, but you could only choose from dimensions that were used in the visualization.
In this release, this limitation is removed so you are now free to pass in any dimension from your model to an external URL, whether it is included in the visualization or not. The dimension can be used within the URL itself as well as in the label.
- Note: This feature is currently not supported for blended tables.
- Existing hyperlink limitations are still applicable.
- Learn how to link to an external URL
Copy and paste a full lane of a responsive page
You can now copy lanes from a responsive page and paste them with all their contents to other canvas or responsive pages.
- Note: Only the contents of a lane can be copied; the lane title itself is not copied. Lanes without any visualizations cannot be copied over to a canvas page.
- Learn how to create a page that is responsive to a viewer’s screen size (video tutorial)
- Learn more about responsive lanes
Explorer: New facet filter indicator and options to clear filters
In the Explorer, it can be hard to see how many filters have been selected for each facet when you have many dimension members. Now, without having to scroll down, you can quickly see how many filters are selected in each facet with the new filter icons.
Toggle the filter icons to see only the dimension members that you are filtering on, and that is where you will also find a handy new “Clear Selection” option. Another way to quickly remove filters is via the Builder panel.
- This feature is supported for both the Story and Digital Boardroom Explorer.
- Learn how to explore data in a story (video tutorial)
- Learn more about exploring your data
Digital Boardroom Explorer: Measure and dimension configuration
Do you have a large number of dimensions and measures in your model? As a user, you may not need to see all of them, or perhaps you only want to focus on a few items.
In this release, you can use a new Measure and Dimension Configuration dialog for remote HANA models to restrict the measures and dimensions that are visible when users open stories or tables in the Explorer from the Digital Boardroom.
- Note: Dimensions and measures used within a visualization are selected by default and cannot be removed. The same applies to measures with required dimensions.
- Learn how to prepare stories for the Digital Boardroom
- Learn more about exploring your data
Drive measure bindings in charts via a blended table cell selection
Remember how we introduced the ability for you to drive measures in charts by interacting with non-blended tables in the previous release? Now in this release, you can do the same with blended tables.
Dynamic text for chart and table filters
You can now create dynamic text within a text widget to display chart and table filters.
Planning
See “Write back to SAP BPC from Analytics Cloud” in the Data Integration section above.
Improved performance in planning workflows
We’ve improved the performance of planning operations on private versions with changes in how we do auto backups. In case of unexpected system downtime, private version data is automatically restored to a backup from within ten minutes before the downtime.
Additional resources:
- Video tutorials
- Events and recordings
- SAP BusinessObjects help resources
- Official roadmap contains more info on future plans, subject to change.
BPC/4HANA
I am confused with naming...
Do you mean that very product, also labelled BPC 11.0?
https://blogs.sap.com/2017/05/30/what-is-sap-business-planning-and-consolidation-11.0-version-for-sap-bw4hana/
Hi Clemens,
You are correct. BPC 11 is BPC for BW/4HANA, which is the release being referred too here.
Scott
As per the above for BPC writeback, with the latest SAC release supporting S/4 integration, will this enable writeback for BPC For S4 Cloud (and soon to be On Premise when this is delivered in the next month or so)?
Hi Jay,
There is no BPC for S/4 Cloud. There is BPC Optimized for S/4 for on-premise, but Analytics Cloud does not currently support integrated planning with the BPC optimized or embedded variants.
Thanks,
Scott G.
I see regarding BPC for S/4 Cloud thanks for that clarification.
However, given what I heard in the SAC roadmap presentation I heard that BPC Embedded (including S4) will be supported for integrated scenarios within the next month.
Hi Jay,
At present SAC only supports standard models of BPC. We are evaluating possible support of Embedded/Optimized BPC, but nothing is imminent in this regard.
What I think you are referring too is planned support for live connections (for reporting scenarios) against S/4 on-prem, however the schema of BPC is different and will not be supported in this context.
Thanks,
Scott G.