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Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath

Simplified navigation with the new SAP Analytics Cloud view mode toolbar in Stories and Analytic Applications

Welcome to my blog post. My name is Wendy McGrath, Senior UA Designer for SAP HANA Database and Analytics, and I’m going to take you through the five main changes to the SAP Analytics Cloud view mode toolbar in the QRC 1 release 2021.

Ever felt the frustration of walking into your regular supermarket, to find they’ve moved items around? You’d grown accustomed to taking those extra steps to your bread rolls. Why have they done this to me, you wonder. And then, you notice how much more intuitively positioned the items are. In no time, you’ve bought into the change.

Well, let’s look now at the five main changes to the SAP Analytics Cloud view mode toolbar, that will make viewing your stories and analytic applications a more streamlined and intuitive experience. Fewer extra steps for you!

The five main changes are:

  1. Easier navigation through multiple story pages
  2. Grouped functions, fewer icons, and quick access to important functions
  3. Prominent Publish data function
  4. More space for your content
  5. A more a role-based experience

 

 

  1. Easier navigation through multiple story pages

It’s not unusual to build up many story pages as you prepare your analysis. Navigating horizontally through all that valuable content was quite challenging.

Figure 1. The previous view mode toolbar – horizontal scrolling.

 

To alleviate the need to endlessly scroll sideways, we enhanced the page navigation to give you an overview of all page tabs as a drop-down menu. This drop-down menu approach makes it much easier to jump from page to page in your story. But don’t worry if you want to keep your current page view. It’s still possible to choose your preferred navigation settings.

 Figure 2. The new view mode toolbar – new page navigation.

 

2. Grouped functions, fewer icons, and quick access to important functions

When looking at icons on a toolbar, it should be instantly clear to you what functions are behind each one. This wasn’t always the case with the previous view mode toolbar.
We all notice that extra mouse-click where there just shouldn’t be one. When going through your normal workflow, your most used functions should be easy to access, with priority given to the most important ones, like filters and bookmarks.

 

Figure 3. The previous view mode toolbar – multiple icons.

 

In the new view mode toolbar, we’ve grouped functions together into sections. You can now more easily find the functions by name. Single buttons and drop-downs are rearranged to make them more consistent, and to give you a more intuitive overview of your options.

 

 

Figure 4. The new view mode toolbar – functions grouped into sections.

 

The new view mode toolbar sections are File, Edit, Tools and Display, as you can see from the screenshots below.


Figure 5. New File section.

 

 
Figure 6.
New Edit section.

 

Figure 7. New Tools section.

 

Figure 8. New Display section.

 

Figure 9. New Edit section for analytic applications.

 

Figure 10. New Display section for analytic applications.

 


Figure 11. New Tools section for analytic applications.

 


(Note: From Figure 12. below, you can see that when working with analytic applications there’s no File section in view mode.)

Figure 12. The new view mode toolbar in analytic applications – functions grouped into sections.

 

The new quick access buttons shown in Figure 13. below make it easier for you to reach the functions you use most often, whether you’re a planner or BI analyst viewing stories or analytic applications. Only quick access buttons that are relevant to your workflow are displayed.
(Note: When working with analytic applications specifically, there’s also a Prompt quick access button.)


Figure 13. New Quick Access Buttons.

 

 

3. Prominent Publish data function

Important functions like data publishing in planning were quite hidden in the previous SAP Analytics Cloud view mode toolbar. When you’re ready to publish your story, you just want to get on with it, right?

With the new, front-and-center Publish Data button, you can quickly publish, or revert your edits to public versions. The overall publishing workflow was also improved to make your publishing life much easier.

Figure 14. The previous view mode toolbar – hidden functions.

 

As a planner, you’ll also see that common planning functions like Version Management and Allocate now appear more prominently in view mode.

Figure 15. New view mode – Publish Data.

 

4. More space for your content

Like an inconsiderate fellow passenger on a train, the previous view mode toolbar just took up too much vertical space. Even in full screen mode, the ever-present tab bar also took away valuable real estate from your content. This was particularly noticeable on smaller screens.

 

Figure 16. The previous view mode toolbar- distracting tab bar.

 

Figure 17. The previous view mode toolbar – too much vertical space.

 

To reduce the visual clutter and the vertical space, we hid the tab bar by default. This leaves more room for you to dedicate to the analytical content in your story.

 

Figure 18. The new view mode toolbar – hidden tab bar.

 

To reduce the visual clutter even further, you can completely hide the toolbar in view mode, and of course, bring it back again when you need it!

 

Figure 19. The new view mode toolbar – fully hidden.

 

To see a condensed version of the toolbar again, just hover over the top of the screen.

Figure 20. The new view mode toolbar – the toolbar functions returned.

 

5. A more role-based experience

If you’re a planner or a BI analyst working on a story or analytical application, you only want to see the functions tailored to your specific workflow requirements. You’ve enough to think about, without having to scan through menu items that are irrelevant to your workflow.

 

The new view mode toolbar distinguishes between different SAP Analytics Cloud users, and displays the toolbar functions relevant to you, according to the role with which you’ve logged in. For example, when logged in as a BI analyst, no planning functions are visible, as they aren’t relevant to your workflow.

 

Summary

In summary, the new toolbar from SAP Analytics Cloud aims to make your life easier while navigating stories and analytic applications in view mode. You can quickly get to the most commonly used functions in your workflow with quick access buttons, and move more easily through stories with a lot of pages. The new full screen mode completely hides the toolbar, so you can focus more on your content. But, if you want to see a condensed version of the toolbar again, just hover over the top of the screen. The streamlined toolbar makes it easier to work with planning model data. Common functions like Version Management and Allocate are more prominent, and the new Publish Data button lets you quickly publish or revert your edits to public versions.

This blog post is also published on the SAP HANA Journey page here: https://saphanajourney.com/sap-analytics-cloud/resources/simplifying-navigation-updated-sap-analytics-cloud-toolbar/

Feel free to share your feedback, by adding a comment.
Or ask questions in the Q&A tag area here: https://answers.sap.com/tags/67838200100800006884

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

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      14 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Debjit Singha
      Debjit Singha

      Thanks Wendy McGrath for sharing this update. Certainty these changes will help with user experience.

      Wanted to check if there are plans to allow tab bar as default for stories. Say we want our stories to always open with tab bar set (under display).

      Seems like a missing feature/ setting at this moment.

      Thanks,

      Debjit

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      Thank you Debjit for reading my blog post, and for leaving your excellent comment.

      To alleviate the need to continuously scroll sideways, we enhanced page navigation to give you an overview of all page tabs as a drop-down menu.

      This approach makes it much easier to jump from page to page in your story.

      A viewer has the ability to swap back to the tab view, but it's not presented at this point.

      Based on your feedback we understand that there is a desire to have the preference setting for the default view.

      We encourage you to vote on this requirement in this influence item:

      https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/260454

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      Author's profile photo Glenn Gregory
      Glenn Gregory

      Agree Debjit Singha

      I would also like the tab bar set as default, but am now assuming this can't be done Wendy McGrath  ?

      Regards,

      Glenn

       

       

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      Hi there Glenn,

      Thanks for reading, and getting back to me.

      I see you have a similar comment to Debjit.
      I hope you don't mind that again I offer you the same response I offered Debjit.

      I'm not a robot, I promise 🙂

      To alleviate the need to continuously scroll sideways, we enhanced page navigation to give you an overview of all page tabs as a drop-down menu.

      This approach makes it much easier to jump from page to page in your story.

      A viewer has the ability to swap back to the tab view, but it's not presented at this point.

      Based on your feedback we understand that there is a desire to have the preference setting for the default view.

      We encourage you to vote on this requirement in this influence item:

      https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/260454

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      Author's profile photo Simon Deutschl
      Simon Deutschl

      We'd also like to know whether it's possible to restore the tab view as the default view. Wo do not have many tabs, and for clarity, we'd prefer to have the tabs as default. Currently, it's necessary to switch to the tabbed view every time we open a story manually. Are there any plans to enable the tabbed view as default?

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      Hello there Simon,

      Great to hear from you, and thank you for your comment. I've given this response previously, but would also like to reply to you directly.

      To alleviate the need to continuously scroll sideways, we enhanced page navigation to give you an overview of all page tabs as a drop-down menu.

      This approach makes it much easier to jump from page to page in your story.

      A viewer has the ability to swap back to the tab view, but it's not presented at this point.

      Based on your feedback we understand that there is a desire to have the preference setting for the default view, especially as you typically don't have many tabs.

      We encourage you to vote on this requirement in this influence item:

      https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/260454

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      Author's profile photo Simon Deutschl
      Simon Deutschl

      Thanks for your reply, Wendy! I've just voted for the SAP influence entry.

      BR,
      Simon

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      You're welcome Simon! Thanks for voting.

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      Author's profile photo Sayed Zubair D
      Sayed Zubair D

      Hi Wendy McGrath

      The blog gives a quick view of the new changes and is very helpful.

      I would like to know, is there a way to get notified when this upgrade takes place? (As in

      https://blogs.sap.com/2021/02/15/when-sap-analytics-cloud-tenants-on-quarterly-release-cycle-qrc-will-be-updated-in-2021/

      ) Do we receive any notification before upgrades? If so I dint get it, any way to get notified?

       

      Thank You

      Sayed Zubair

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      Hi there Sayed Zubair,

      I reached out to @hanna_mazurkevich, who wrote the blog you referenced in your question.

      She told me that customers receive email notifications a few days before quarterly updates.

      Customers can also check the Product Update page for upcoming features: https://saphanajourney.com/sap-analytics-cloud/product-updates/

      The notification center in the top right-hand corner of SAP Analytics Cloud also lets users know of new features.

      It seems from your question however, that you didn't receive an email.

      Hanna tells me that to receive these notifications you should have a system owner or an administration role assigned.

      Or change it under System - Administration to have more people receiving those emails.

      Here is more info: https://saphanajourney.com/sap-analytics-cloud/learning-article/recipients-system-notification-emails/

      I hope this helps.

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      P.S. Thank you @hanna_mazurkevich very much for your help answering Sayed Zubair's question.

      Author's profile photo Sayed Zubair D
      Sayed Zubair D

      Thank You Wendy McGrath , @hanna_mazurkevich for quick update. Will discuss with administrator to get this done.

       

      Regards,

      Sayed Zubair

       

      Author's profile photo Wendy McGrath
      Wendy McGrath
      Blog Post Author

      You're very welcome Sayed Zubair!

      Best regards,

      Wendy

      Author's profile photo Giovanni Leggio
      Giovanni Leggio

      Hi Sayed,

      Please see https://apps.support.sap.com/sap/support/knowledge/en/2728183

      Please work with your system owner on getting these changes communicated with yourself and others.

      Also review this community page as well: https://community.sap.com/topics/cloud-analytics

      Thx,

      John

      Author's profile photo Sayed Zubair D
      Sayed Zubair D

      Thanks John Leggio   I have this SAP Note. Wanted to know how we get notified before the upgrade.  Wendy McGrath , @hanna_mazurkevich have shared the details and I have checked/informed the system admin to add our user ids in the notification list.

       

      Regards,

      Sayed Zubair