Introduction: In this blog post I’ll try to explain the basics of the business analytics usage giving essential information that are valid for all of them.
My knowledge is still insufficient and I’m sorry if I wrote something wrong and for my English grammar mistakes. I hope you like it and, if necessary, please leave a post to correct me, so we can learn together.
Data Source: An object containing key figures and characteristics, which provides a multidimensional, analytical view of business data.
When you start the report creation process with the Report Wizard the first step is to select a data source. The solution ships with several pre-defined data sources. You can create and edit your own data sources to suit your business requirements and processes and use your data sources for reporting.
Key Figure: A field according to which values are selected. Key figures are data items with numeric values and have an associated unit of measure or currency assigned. Some examples are pipeline value, Invoice Net Value, Purchase Order Quantity or tickets in queue.
Key Figure Grid: A group consisting of a key figure structure and a characteristic structure for reporting on two axes.
Key Figure Structure: A group of predefined key figures for reporting on one axis. Key figures in the structure can be calculated or restricted.
You can define the data appearing in key figures by setting up restricted or calculated key figures.
- A restricted key figure is a key figure restricted to a specified characteristic value, and is often created for comparison metrics.
- A calculated key figure is a key figure determined using calculation rules or formulas. You can create a calculated key figure from existing key figures in the selected data source.
Characteristic: A field according to which values are selected. Characteristics are alphanumeric, numeric, or text values. Examples include Product ID, Supplier, and Purchase Order Status. Variables are often associated with specified characteristics. Variables restrict characteristics to one or more specified value selections.
Characteristic Structure: A group of predefined characteristic elements in a key figure grid.
Characteristic elements are characteristics that can be
calculated or
restricted.
Select characteristics for restricted key figures, for example: account, opportunity, country/region, or industry. You can also set properties to define additional behavior for a specific characteristic.
- Display Settings: Define how the characteristic appears and is used in the report.
- Value Selections: Add restrictions to the characteristic values that appears in the report.
- Hierarchy Settings: Define how any hierarchical data associated with the characteristic is used in the report. For example, display the customer characteristic by location.
Report: A compilation of data for analysis. Reports show values derived from key figures and characteristics in data sources, key figure structures, and key figure grids.
Views: Views enable you to set up one or more variations on which key figures and characteristics appear in the report, and the type of chart that appears for the report.
When you create a view you can also define conditions and exceptions for key figures that alter how your data is presented based on rules and thresholds.
- Conditions: Create a condition to limit the data shown to that which fits the defined rules.
- Exceptions: Set a threshold beyond which the data display is altered to display an alert indicator.
Scope and Configure Analytics
Configure Settings for Analytics Administrator: Configure settings so that administrators can assign browser-based reports and Microsoft Excel® workbooks to work center views.
- To find this activity, go to the Business Configuration - Implementation Projects Select your implementation project and click Open Activity List. Select the Fine-Tune phase, then select the activity from the activity list.
- By default, the Allow Extended Access indicator is not set. If you set the indicator, you have to put other controls for your administrator for Analytics in place to ensure controlled read access of data.
- By default, the Show Real Data indicator is not set. If you set the indicator, administrators for Analytics can view real data when they preview data sources in the Design Data Sources work center view.
- By default, the Allow Assignment indicator is not set. If you set the indicator, administrators for Analytics can assign business roles to analytical objects.
- By default, the Select E-mail Address dropdown is set to System. This means that when you send a report, the receiver will get an e-mail from the default e-mail ID that is set up by the administrators. However, if you select the option as Logged-in User, you can e-mail a report using the e-mail ID that you are logged-in with. The receiver will be able to respond back to you on the same e-mail address.
Configure E-Mail Encryption and Signature Check: Configure e-mail encryption and signature check for different e-mail scenarios.
- To find this activity, go to the Business Configuration - Implementation Projects Select your implementation project and click Open Activity List. Select the Fine-Tune phase, then select the activity from the activity list.
- In your solution, you can increase security in e-mails by decrypting incoming e-mails and checking them for trustworthy signatures, as well as by encrypting and signing outgoing e-mails.
- Outgoing e-mails are encrypted using the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) standard.
Load Certificates and Activate Signing and Encryption for E-Mails: SAP solution enables you to encrypt outgoing e-mails and check the signature of incoming e-mails by using the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) standard.
Enable Reporting on Fiscal Year: This configuring activity contains all settings for a fiscal year, such as the number of accounting periods.
Note: According to
SAP,
financial accounting
year is referred as “
Fiscal Year”. In
SAP fiscal year contains total 16 posting periods, out of these 12 are normal posting periods and 4 are special posting periods. Indian companies follow
fiscal year from April to March with 12 normal posting periods and 4 special periods.
For reference: https://help.sap.com/viewer/2754875d2d2a403f95e58a41a9c7d6de/2102/en-US/2be6c92f722d1014aa88b0416623...
The detailed information involves the creation of reports I'll be posting in the upcoming blog post.
Best regards,
ichu1234
