Introduction
With 1911, SAP introduces the seamless integration of S/4HANA Cloud with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).
Here are lists of new capabilities in SAP S/4HANA Cloud:
- Pre-delivered dashboards (aka Stories).
The dashboards are fully embedded into SAP S/4HANA Cloud user experience which, for example, allows for intent-based navigation. In addition, they offer the business user flexibility through the adjustment of filters, prompts or drill states, but also by saving navigation states in variants.
- State-of-the-art multidimensional reporting using the SAC Data Analyzer tool
- Create own custom dashboards using SAP Analytics Cloud’s rich visualisation capabilities.
- Create own custom reports using SAP Analytics Cloud’s Data Analyzer Report tool.
In this blog, I would like to focus on the creation of the custom dashboard.
Key user (aka Analytics Specialist) will able to create own dashboards directly within S/4HANA Cloud. The designtime app ‘Manage KPIs & Reports’ receives a new tab called “Stories”.
Stories in SAP Analytics Cloud are raw data that transform into powerful visualizations that help in driving business performances and help data-driven decisions about your business.
Integration of SAP Analytics Cloud with S/4HANA Cloud allows you to create stories, add data, generate powerful data visualizations, and create tiles on the Fiori Launchpad. You must include the story (datasource) to S/4HANA and the integrated SAP Analytics Cloud tool will generate the story with a wide selection of charts and tables that best display the selected measure. You can refine the objects using designer panel, change the chart type, color and add new objects.
Using SAP Analytics Cloud, you can prepare your data for analysis by defining measures and dimensions. You can arrange different visualizations such as charts, graphs, tables, and other visual elements to tell the story and use these visualizations for in-depth analysis.
From the SAP S/4HANA Cloud side, you have to select a data source. The SAP Analytics Cloud will build the story for you using built-in templates and with the selected measures and dimensions.
Creating a Story
The Create Story page lets you define SAP Analytic Cloud story for a selected data source. You can create different visualizations to the datasource. You can also add multiple data sources to the story and design interactive dashboards, create new pages, and add visualization such as charts, tables, and other graphics to visualize your data. The items on the page such as chart are arranged as tiles that you can move around, resize, and style to your liking.
Navigate to KPI Design group in the Fiori Launchpad (FLP).
Choose “Stories” tab from the Manage KPIs and Reports app page.
To create a custom story, choose + (Add).
The Create Story page appears. In the Definition tab, enter the title in the Header section and description in Business Information section.
Go to Configuration tab to define the story. A pre defined template will be loaded.
Select a query from the list to build the story.
Based on the query selection, if there are mandatory parameters and filters, “Set Variables” dialog box appears wherein you have to enter or choose the values to the input parameters of the selected datasource.
A model for selected query will be generated on the fly and attached to the Story.
From the Insert toolbar of SAC, choose either chart or table. Use the different functions from the toolbar to vary the visualization as your liking.
The chart or table visualization appears. Configure the chart using the designer toolbox.
Add all the other visualizations as per the scenario.
Click “Activate” to save the story.
On the successful save, the story will be exported to SAP Analytics Cloud Content Network (ACN) with the visibility restriction Customer ERP Number.
To create an application (aka FLP Tile) to launch the story, choose Applications > Add Tile.
Choose a Tile Type format from the various options.
Fill out all the details and click on “Save and Publish“.
After successful save of the tile, it will navigate to “Custom Catalog Extension” app to publish a tile in the desired catalog.
In “Custom Catalog Extension” App, add a catalog to publish the tile.
Publish the tile.
On successful publish, the tile will be available on the Fiori Launchpad.
Click the tile to launch the story in the Fiori Launchpad.
