News in Analysis Office 2.5 #ASUG Webcast Recap

[TammyPowlas]

SAP provided this webcast earlier in the month.  As always items covered are subject to change:



Source: SAP



Source: SAP

This is the "big" slide of news for 2.5.  EAC means Early Adopter Care

With Analysis Office 2.5, you can integrate with SAP Analytics Cloud: strengthen hybrid strategy; invest in cloud and integrate with on-premise tools
SAP kept investing in table design; now support formulas that reference the key area (if cost center is 123, show this value, refer to member in key area)

Now you can reapply table design rules after reset of data source

With Planning, the keep formula was added

BW has supported grouping since 2.4, and now can support editing

Native HANA supports list calculations, exception aggregation for your own calculations

Now you can launch an Analysis workbook stored NetWeaver via URL and handing over parameters

Configuration browser to set options in tools

S_RS_FOLD – old Bex authorization to hide InfoAreas in the open dialog



Source: SAP

In webcast, SAP mostly discussed the second column, what is planned for the rest of 2018
SAP will continue investing in SAP Analytics Cloud; will be able to launch a workbook from the Cloud
SAP is looking at connecting to a new Comments framework that BW/4HANA team is developing

SAP is planning butterfly axis sharing; members in middle

For the BI Platform SAP is planning to develop publications in addition to scheduling
Reporting: working with BW team to enhance set and get data handling and performance optimization

For 2018 product direction, SAP is looking at asymmetric reporting, easier way to create restricted measure and universe support planned



Source: SAP

In release 2.4/2.5 EVDRE support is there
For planned innovations, SAP plans to continue to improve EPM plug-in, such as work status for BPC
SAP plans to improve connectivity, keep the history of logon connection

SAP plans to enhance planning formula which already exists

SAP plans to remove limitation compare EPM add-in and plug-in (MS Word limitation), focus on integration with SAP Analytics Cloud, and reporting on SAP Analytics Cloud by end of this year

For the 2018 product direction SAP will continue to improve product, improve existing formula, support planning for BAPI connectivity and entering data into SAP Analytics Cloud

For the 2019 product vision SAP plans to continue to invest on EPM plug in, user experience, make it simpler and modernize it



Source: SAP

The purpose of the customize user interface is to offer user what needs

This was already possible in 2.4
SAP added in 2.5 the capability to customize interface in PowerPoint & EPM plug-in and to set and define new menu of context menu



Source: SAP

There is a new capability to publish and share profile when you set your own profile

In 2.5 SAP focused on profile; you can create different types of profiles, you can have user business profiles, company profiles (defined by administrator), default profiles for when you open the workbook
Administrator can change specific location

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In case you missed this and are interested also in SAP Analytics Cloud, please register for this webcast tomorrow:

• June 22: BW Connection in BusinessObjects Cloud vs. Lumira 2.0

Question and Answer

Question	Response
Scheduling of AO-reports is possible today, but: 1. When will it be possible to change an existing AO-schedule? (e.g. to add an extra email receiver)	this is also planned and I hope we can do it for bi 4.2 sp5.
Scheduling of AO-reports is possible today, but: 2. When will it be possible to set up an AO-schedule to wait for a signal (e.g. from BW) before it runs? (Scheduling in WEBI supports this)	it's planned, will be part of one of the next BI SP's.
Scheduling of AO-reports is possible today, but: 3. When we setup an AO-schedule and we need to assign values to the BEx-query variables used, we need to key in the technical name of the query variable. When will this change to something we can explain to our AO-users (current setup is hopeless!)	as of bi 4.2 sp4, you can store variants on BIP and use These variants for scheduling. That simplifies it ... (you Need AO 2.4 or later)
When can we use BO-Universes or sources as Data Sources in Analysis for Office? (So we can use AO more broadly)	tentatively planned for a 2018 release.
Will you please brief about embedded BPC?	Covering in the slides
Are the customer options set in 'Customize User Interface' stored in the ao_app.config file?	hello please see admin guidehttps://help.sap.com/viewer/df90d3701aba42b9a4351caa387bd672/2.5.0.0/en-US/38a1a4e373944bc4a0d8e8f7c... you have all détails about profile and storage
Can we get the slides?	Slides are posted at https://discuss.asug.com/docs/DOC-47818
Where do we need to save workbook for user accessibility that is embedded within a custom menu ?. Demo shows within local machine.	you can store it anywhere you access ( share directory)
Can AO 2.5 be used on Non-HANA system?	Yes, it works on BW systems too that aren't on HANA
what are the prerequiste for installing AO 2.5	See the SAP Help athttps://help.sap.com/viewer/df90d3701aba42b9a4351caa387bd672/2.5.0.0/en-US/f26ed1166c9b1014bf2c9a7eb...
How can we get mass copy/paste of new planning lines work? Any setting changes? As when i tried it did not keep lines beyond the 5 default in the design panel...or is the EAC version Patch 0 and it is not available yet?	looks like it is fixed in SP1 per the current slide
Any problems running AO client version 2.4 SP3, Patch0 against BO Platform installation BIP 2.4 SP2 (Analysis only, no EPM stuff)	there shouldn't be an issue
"Pasting many lines (SP1)" in AO, is that available in the EAC or is that only available in Patch 1?	EAC is SP0
can these ribbon profiles be assigned to individual workbooks (meaning everybody who would open this workbook would have the same profile) and can they be transported?	Hello to answer to your first point :to be assigned to individual workbooks : yes that's the purpose of the workbook profile publication feature
AO 2.5  is supporting flat file upload planning function  from excel?	Data Manager - end of year
When is Bo Analysis 2.5 available to download	It's in Early Adopter Care now (formerly known as Ramp-up) - as soon as SAP meets their KPI's - not a definite time.
can ribbon profiles be assigned to individual workbooks separately (all users same role for this workbook) and can they be then transported?	I think have already answer right?
can profiles be then transported? meaning if you transport the workbook is the profile transported with it?	yes the profile is embedded in the workbook
Hi Team, really when you are going to present AO as a tool for BO Universes? It could be very easy replacement of LiveOffice.	covered on slide 10, part of the 2018 product direction
the life of the calcluation will be limited to the session ??	If you save the workbook, it should stay with the workbook
Is SAP planning to enable asymmetric reporting in Analysis plugin anytime soon? This is a big limitation with Analysis Plugin compared to EPM Plugin for BPC.	part of the 2019 product direction (see slide 11) of the slide deckhttps://discuss.asug.com/docs/DOC-47818
Is "Grouping" is available in 2.4 SP3 patch0 ??	looks like only in 2.5 if you are in BW75 SP6
Thanks for previous answer. Hmm what about with Word integration? Any chances?	coming with EPM plug in, see slide 11
Where can I find describtions on has been introduced in the 2.4 SP3 version?	should be in "What's new" with the SAP Help: http://help.sap.com/boao24
Is there such a thing such as "Book Publication" producing PDF reports from Analysis reports automatically (changing variables to produce muitple) such as with EPM?	only XLSX on BI platform; PDF - check
Any news on File Upload interface?	planned for 2017 later this year https://discuss.asug.com/docs/DOC-47818
Which month are you planning for next AO release in 2017?	Q4 - November
When will I be able to mix measures and dimensions?   I.E. have measures in the middle of dimensions	Maybe with Axis Sharing...butterfly; will need to use Formulas
Any plan for "member recognition" in AO plugin? Such as is available for EPM (local and active member recognition)?	extended value help - either restrict or auto fill - already there; only for master data

Follow up questions that SAP's Alex Peter answered after the webcast:

Are there any limitations for prompts that are filtered by member in AO 2.5?

[Alex:] no

Has there been development to complete the Planning Function for File Upload interface in either the new SP release for 2.4 or in  2.5?

[Alex:] planned for Q4 2017

Can we generate a document link for analysis 2.5 ?. Let's say you have a dashboard on sharepoint & you put a URL which will trigger or jump tothe analysis tool for detailed report

[Alex:] yes, you can call a workbook (currently: stored in BW – it is also planned from BIP) via URL (including variables)

When you have  Measure structure with children measures under the main figure, you cannot rearrange the display of the measures. Is this fixed in Analysis 2.5?

[Alex:] yes, as of SP1 … one of the smaller things we have developed.

Where can I see a demo on launch analysis via URL with parameters

[Alex:] this is how the URL could look like:



using Hierarchies, you can define if the child nodes will be above or below, so one option is to have the Root at the bottom of the hierarchy.  Using the Compact Display feature - the Root node is always above.  Is there a plan of giving  users control of how the hierarchy is displayed?

[Alex:] not on the backlog. Please open idea on Idea Place.

Is there more standard style sets it way?

[Alex:] there are 4 standard style sets. But you can easily change or add own style sets.

when will you be able to select multiple measures and scale all

[Alex:] already possible. Use the properties view of design panel to multi-select measures.