Extending the reach of SAP Analytics Cloud data wi...

bigonnet · ‎02-23-2021

This blog has been updated in another blog in July 2023

Finance people love Microsoft Excel – it's a big part of their working day. With SAP Analysis for Office and SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Office, we provide to our customers two different solutions to explore an extended playground in the familiar Microsoft interface.

Let's review the current available options, road map and positioning.

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office

Analysis Office 2.8 has been delivered more than one year ago.
With this version, we mainly target to stabilize existing features and improve quality for our traditional installed base. In addition, we also aimed to better support our BW or HANA customers in their SAP Analytics Cloud journey, so we have introduced the capability to connect Hana live views or BW live queries from SAP Analytics Cloud.
It’s the latest version of the product on the market and it is available with 2 different editions/installers, depending on the licensing and systems in use and customer's scenario:

The two editions of the product get similar feature set but they are differences ( updated Nov 2022) :

As consequence Bex migration to Analysis office workbooks, BW and BI platform direct access are fully supported in both SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office editions.

SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Office

This new Add-in brings an integration of Microsoft Excel Office web-based and desktop versions in SAP Analytics Cloud. It is providing the flexibility of further Analysis and Planning on native SAP Analytics Cloud models with Microsoft Office Excel 365. The Add in is provided via Microsoft store. Updates, fixes and new features are then delivered automatically to customers.

It is a great match for large-scale deployment of SAC where MS Office (Excel) remains an essential component for simple visualizations or data-entry. You can select a model, create a report, retrieve versions and write- back/revert data.

See SAP Analytics Cloud add- in for MS office – See it in action!

Road Map

How do we position the two Add- ins?

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office (also known as AO) continues to be an important add-in for multiple data sources like SAP BW, BPC, S/4, Group Reporting. It is designed for financial analysts who require analytical capabilities in Microsoft Excel. It can also be used with SAP Analytics Cloud with limitations ( see note ) and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud.

However, most enhancements will be delivered in SAP Analytics Cloud, add-in for Microsoft Office, which is not a successor to SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office but a brand-new solution, built on top of Microsoft Office 365.