Application Design with SAP Analytics Cloud: Overview and Road map Webcast Recap & Q&A

I wrote about this here: https://blogs.sap.com/2019/03/18/sap-application-design-biaconf-recap/ – same slides, but better notes with more detailed Q&A

If you missed it please join us for this upcoming webcast:

April 10 BI: What’s New with Application Design in SAP Analytics Cloud

If you have room in your schedule join us May 6th in Orlando for a hands-on with SAP Analytics Cloud and App Design – more information can be found here.  We have some ASUG sessions too at ASUG Annual Conference – check our schedule here.

Source: SAP

First, what is SAP Application Design?

Source: SAP

Reuse SAC table and chart

Integrate predictive functionality

Add scripting, custom widget

Enable professional designer to create professional applications and dashboards

New capability in SAC platform

Targeting professional designers

Can be accessed in SAP Analytics Hub

Will be GA Q2 this year

RTC this year

Source: SAP

Look at SAP Analytics Cloud (aka “SAC”) first.

With app design create professional apps

Lumira Designer – selected improvement

Source: SAP

With analytic app, developers can create enterprise dashboards

Enough flexibility, customize dashboard

Rich set of capabilities for professional designers

Reuse aspect; for enterprise usage

Application header and footer with reusable templates

Drives standardization

Standardization, full flexibility, extend customer widgets, rich set of

Source: SAP

Picture to understand – why need it? What is the difference

Story – go across bridge, straightforward, from authoring, creating point of view, create analytical application; no specific skills, no coding required

Analytical app – glacier climbing, no guided way, you can go your own way, absolute flexibility- theming, scripting, SDK, technical capabilities

Developers need technical and coding skills

Source: SAP

Table chart, input control, can filter a product, no coding

What if customer wants to filter with a radio button group or dropdown – if select on product, want products belong to group – this kind of specific filtering scenario can be done with App Design

Stories cover standard scenario, for business users

Application – for custom scenarios, for developers

Artifacts share similar functionality – images

At run time, user does not know if consume story or application; provide consistent user experience

Source: SAP

Which kind of functionality planning for app design

Different categories

Professional design use case

Built interactive enterprise dashboards

Provide different widgets, checkbox, rss reader, data driven widget – table chart, filter line

Will provide container widget – tab strip, popup

Dynamic layout to help adjust screen and layout

Interactions – use scripting capabilities for interactions between different widgets

Subset of JavaScript

Switch visibility at run time

Script variables and functions

Modularize coding

Source: SAP

App Design will provide a composites concept

Developer can create their own extension

First have R widget

Go to R library and code in SAP Analytics Cloud

Scripting access to R widget; to pass parameters, calculations with R widget and API access with app design

Reuse – composite for reusable parts

Custom widgets – SDK’s API’s – create your own visualization

Source: SAP

Odata Call to backend system

Get data from back end to analyze

Have planning, predict functionality

Take action – change from supply A to supply B, create sales order, purchase order

With app design, create Odata function on back end

Source: SAP

End user should not notice if using app or story

App design – consume app, navigate, explore, navigate to Smart Discovery to trigger Smart Discovery

Can pass parameters

Source: SAP

Q2 GA version

Available with standard BI license

Full flexible navigation

Enterprise capabilities

Translations

Export to CSV

Share data source concept

Developer decides where time should be spent

Theming

Source: SAP

Now in beta program

GA Q2, May timeframe

Source: SAP

Q2 – trigger Odata, translation of texts, dynamic text enhancements, see analytical application on home page

After GA go to future directions  – deliver container layout, customer widget, story features, blending support, global search

Question and Answer

Q: when will product be available?
A: Q2 this year

Q: Is there a test tenant?
A: Customer or partner – PoC tenant – can enable for program to test
Prerequisite is you need a test tenant or PoC tenant

Q: Where learn app design building?
A: will provide tutorials
Provide some posts

Q: What about CSS, can we use as Design Studio?
A: will enable you to design applications, not like CSS Design Studio
More configuration – style your applications
Cover same scenario, not CSS
Theming after GA

Q: Can theme colors be changed?
A: Theme you configure color palette

Q: will app design be available for partner demo instances?
A: If partner contact SAP to enable this

Q: Excel files will be supported?
A: Yes
BW, Universe, live connection
Support data sources that SAC supports

Q: any limit to data sources?
A: no limit, but will add performance optimization, lazy initialization – after GA

Q: SAC license?
A: standard BI license is sufficient for creating and viewing applications when it goes GA
no additional cost

Q: Does SAC have concept of template?
A: assume it means concept; plan to composite, for GA it is not included

Q: Can I reclass my current dashboard as application or create from scratch?
A: Planning for you to copy and paste objects from story to app design; can’t fully take over – technology is different
Interactions for app design uses scripting while SAC uses input control

Q: If create custom widgets in components and SAC upgrade – guarantee support?
A: Should not crash widgets, assuming you use the APIs

Q: How sign up for beta?
A: no dedicated process for that

Q: Is this product available now?
A: not today, will be QRC release in Q2

Q: Export to Excel?
A: On the future, not started to evaluate
Not supported with GA version

Q: Export to PDF, WYSIWYG
A: Haven’t started to look at export, important part, in evaluation phase

Hope to see you online April 10 BI: What’s New with Application Design in SAP Analytics Cloud or in person on May 6