Introduction to SAP Analytics

Cloud
Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2

What is SAP? 3

What is SAP Analytics Cloud? 3

Benefits of SAP Analytics Cloud 3

Viewing Content 4

Trusted Data 5

Visualization Tools 5

Augmented Analytics 7

Financial and Operational Planning 7

Get Around SAP Analytics Cloud 8

Getting to Know SAP Analytics Cloud 8
Using the Side Navigation 10
Simple Access 10
Flexible Display Options 11
Easily Move Between Applications 12
Using the Shell Bar 17
Navigating the Start Page 21
Optimizing Your Workflow 23
Suggested Shortcuts for Content Creation 23
Faster Access to Your Files 24

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What is ?

SAP stands for an German name: Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung,

which translates to System Analysis Program Development.

SAP is one of the world’s leading producers of software for the management
of business processes, developing solutions that facilitate effective data
processing and information flow across organizations.

What is Analytics Cloud?

The SAP Analytics Cloud solution combines BI, augmented and predictive
analytics, and planning capabilities into one cloud environment. As the
analytics layer of SAP's Business Technology Platform, it supports advanced
analytics enterprise-wide.

SaaS-based product. It covers the needs of data visualization, budget

planning, and predictive analytics. Its main function is the creation of data
reports.

Benefits of Analytics Cloud

The main benefits of SAP Analytics Cloud include ease of viewing content,
connectivity to trusted data, access to various visualization tools, augmented
analytic capabilities, and financial planning features. In a single cloud system
you can analyze, ask, predict, plan, and report.

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Viewing Content
Increase your work efficiency by personalizing your home screen to display
recent stories, files, and analytic applications. Organize your view between
four tabs on the home screen:

■ Today: default view.

■ Catalog: single access point for content published for users.
■ Favorites: list of resources you have saved.
■ Shared with me: list of resources shared from other users.

Easily find the information you need. The catalog makes it simple for content
creators to publish stories and share with the right users. In this way, even
casual users (those with read permission) can quickly browse and access the
content they need.

Additionally, SAP Analytics Cloud is available on mobile view so you can

access stories and analytic reports while on the move.

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Trusted Data
Rest assured that content is built from the right data since you can directly
view the source. Securely connect to data from various spreadsheets,
databases, and other applications in the cloud or on-site to make accurate
data-driven decisions. Avoid the hassle of data replication by setting up live
data connections. Data is "live" when a user works on a story and the
changes are reflected instantly in the source system. This is convenient since
in certain cases data can't be moved into the cloud due to security and
privacy reasons.

Experience the seamless process of authenticating access to connected data

systems and SAP Analytics Cloud by enabling Single Sign-On (SSO). You no
longer need to remember multiple sign in details and service providers can
now easily manage user identities.

Furthermore, keep confidential information secure by customizing access to

certain folders with the access and privacy settings.

Visualization Tools
With the connected data tell a story and visualize your findings. Data
visualization aids the analysis process by making data easy to understand.
Use the powerful visualization tools provided by SAP Analytics Cloud to
design and present your data effectively to users.

Core Visual Applications and Features

Feature Description

Story Designer Explore, analyze and visualize data

to get actionable insights for
decision making. Create stories by

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 visualizing data with charts, tables,
Geo-mapping and pictogram
diagrams.

Modeler Represent data of an organization or

business segment in a model. You
can use a model as the basis for
your story.

Business Content Use analytic templates created by

SAP and SAP Partners to start
building stories right away.

Analytic Applications Create custom applications and

show the relationship of different UI
elements.

Digital Boardroom Create and present real-time

interactive executive meetings for
fluid exchange of ideas.

Data Analyzer Query data directly in a pivot-table

style view.

MS Office Integration Analyze models built in SAP Analytics

Cloud and datasets by connecting
and importing to Microsoft Excel.

Augmented Analytics
When you're analyzing a report you may wonder what influenced the
variance in your data. SAP Analytics Cloud uses artificial intelligence and
machine learning to provide answers to your questions.

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Augmented analytic capabilities are called "smart features" and empower
you to:

■ Ask questions conversationally and receive instant results explained in

a way you can understand without prior technical knowledge.
■ Automatically discover meaningful insights and jump-start the creation
of a dashboard.
■ Use machine learning algorithms to reveal relationships in data, hidden
patterns, and outliers in your data.
■ Forecast and predict potential outcomes, then populate a table or
graph from the results into your plan.

Financial and Operational Planning

While the executive board and finance department heads are the main
contributors in business planning, an effective plan requires the input of the
whole organization. The planning features aid in setting goals and strategic
plans that are accurate and aligned with your business. In addition, allow you
to analyze budgets, forecasts and share plans across departments.

Features include:

■ Abilities to plan, budget, and forecast

■ Insight into analytic findings
■ Predictions
■ Scenario planning
■ Collaboration
■ Process management

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Get Around SAP Analytics Cloud

SAP Analytics Cloud offers fast and simple ways to navigate to your tools and
applications. Take a tour of the one-click menu navigation, the quick access
product-wide features, and learn how to use common shortcuts to increase
your productivity and do your work efficiently.

Getting to Know SAP Analytics Cloud

After signing into SAP Analytics Cloud, you'll be able to see tools and applications
that you can use to increase your work efficiency and productivity. These tools and
applications are divided into three main parts.

1. The side navigation is the leftmost section and is made up of

single-click entry points, allowing you access to features such as
viewing and creating content. You can collapse or expand the
navigation menu, or enter full-screen display for viewing certain
content.
2. The shell bar is the uppermost horizontal section and consists of a
breadcrumb navigation, allowing you to know where you are in your
workspace and let’s you easily navigate to any part of the folder path

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 for your current file, and universal actions such as search and
notifications.
3. The single-entry start pages lets you browse your recent files or create
new ones, providing a consistent experience across all content creation
applications. You can flexibly move through the product as you're
creating content, without breaking your flow during tasks.

Using the Side Navigation

The side navigation lets you easily move around and interact with different
features, so you can be productive and maintain focus on your tasks. In this
section, we'll focus on three key side navigation features that will help you
use SAP Analytics Cloud efficiently.

Simple Access
The side navigation is a flattened list on the left side of the product, making it
quick and easy for you to switch between different applications.

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So for example, whether you want to create a new story or continue working
on an existing story, in either case click on Stories to get working.

The options that you see in your side navigation are dependent on your
standard application role and permission access. For example, an
administrator or content creator who builds models and stories will have
different side navigation options from a content viewer who only consumes
stories and dashboards.

Flexible Display Options

You can collapse menu options to gain more screen space to work with and
expand the menu options when you want to see all the menu options.

Click the main menu to see the full menu option name.

If you want to present stories, agendas, or Digital Boardroom dashboards,

the side navigation will be hidden for a full-screen experience.

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Use full-screen mode to increase the amount of screen space for
presentations and personal viewings.

Easily Move Between Applications

The side navigation lets you easily move between applications, allowing you
to navigate between product applications quickly.

Application Pages

Page Description

Home (screen) Access your recent stories and

visualizations as tiles. See Customize
Your Home Screen.

Files Browse and organize stories, input forms,

boardroom agendas, analytic
applications, and other content such as
uploaded files. See Manage Files and
Folders.

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Product Applications

Application Description

Stories Create stories using charts,

visualizations, text, images, and
pictograms to describe data. See
Data Visualization (Stories).

Analytic Applications Design and create highly

customized analytic and planning
applications. See Analytic
Application Design (Analytics
Designer).

Data Analyzer Analyze your data based on SAP BW

queries, SAP HANA live views and
SAP Analytics Cloud models. See
Data Analyzer.

Digital Boardroom Design a real-time, interactive

boardroom presentation. See Digital
Boardroom Presentation.

Datasets Access your raw datasets, which are

used for presenting data in stories.
See About Datasets and Dataset
Types.

Modeler Create, maintain, and load data into

models. See Learn About Models.

Data Actions Create a sequence of data actions

for making structured changes to
model data. See Get Started with

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 Data Actions for Planning.

Allocations Set up driver-based allocations that

take data from source dimensions
and split it among the members of
target dimensions based on a driver
value. See Learn About Allocations.

Value Driver Trees Use value driver trees (VDTs) to

visualize the entire value chain of
your business, instead of looking at
isolated KPIs. See Set Up Value
Driver Trees for Planning.

Predictive Scenarios Create and compare predictive

models to find the best one to bring
the best predictions to address the
business question. See Smart
Predict – Using Predictive Scenarios.

Multi Actions Create multi actions that link

together a sequence of steps such
as data actions, version
management steps, and predictive
steps, which all run from a single
planning trigger. See Automate a
Planning and Predictive Workflow
Using Multi Actions.

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 Calendar Organize your workflows with
calendar events. See Workflow
Organization (Calendar).

Administration Tools

Tool Description

Workspace Management Share, manage, and collaborate on

content within a workspace. See
Configure Workspaces.

Content Network Get SAP business content, 3rd party

business content, and samples to
add to your system from within SAP
Analytics Cloud.The type of content
available includes technical samples
and templates, as well as
end-to-end sample business
scenarios for specific industries and
lines of business. See Get Business
Content and Samples from the
Content Network.

Translation View the source and the translated

text. See Learn About the
Translation Process.

Security Set up authentication for your

users, and how to securely manage
access to SAP Analytics Cloud using
licenses, roles, and teams. You can
also view auditing activity for
requests, data changes, and user
activities. See Security
Administration.

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 ■ Users - See Create Users.
■ Teams - See Create Teams.
■ Roles - See Create Roles.
■ Requests - See Approve
Role Requests for Your Users.
■ Data Changes - See Track
Data Changes.
■ Activities - See Track User
Activities.

Transport Move content privately and share it

with other systems through SAP
Analytics Cloud. See Transport Your
Content Through Content Network
Storage and Transport Your Content
Through File System.

■ Export
■ Import

Connections View live data connections from

on-premise and cloud data sources
to SAP Analytics Cloud. See Data
Connections.

System Understand system requirements

and learn how to configure and
monitor your SAP Analytics Cloud
tenant. See System Administration.

■ Monitor - See Monitor

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 System Usage.
■ Administration - See
Configure System Settings.
■ Synonym Definitions - See
Defining and Working with
Synonyms.
■ Performance - See Analyze
System Performance.
■ About

Using the Shell Bar

The shell bar lets you see the breadcrumb navigation and actions relating to
the active screen. It also contains universal features including search
notifications, discussions, help, user profile settings, and the product switch.
With the shell bar, you'll have a consistent experience across all SAP Analytics
Cloud products.

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The Shell Bar

Shell Bar Functionalities

Number Feature Description

1 Back button Lets you navigate to

the previous screen
you were in.

2a Application or Tool Lets you see where you

Name are when working on
your data, content, or
configurations.

2b File Name and Folder Lets you see file

Path details, including the
description of the file,
and the folder path.
Tip:
Click any folder in the
breadcrumb to jump
directly to that file
location in the Files
area.

3a and 3b File Actions Note:

If you see different file

actions, it's because file
actions are dependent
on the file you're in.

Lets you use the

shortcuts in the

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 Actions menu to create
something new based
on the file that's
currently opened. The
Close button lets you
close the current file
that's opened and
returns you to the
appropriate start page.

Note:

Additional actions will

appear for different file
types, such as marking
the current file as a
favorite.

4 Search Lets you search for

content across the
whole product.

5 Search to Insight Lets you ask questions

about your data and
immediately see your
answers as
visualizations.

6 Notifications Lets you see your

notifications such as
system messages
informing you of files
that have been shared
with you, comments
added to your story,
when you've been
added to a discussion,

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 calendar tasks and
processes, and other
administrative
reminders.

7 Discussion Lets you send

messages and
collaborate with other
users

8 Help Lets you find

contextual help
articles, and links to
videos and additional
learning resources.

9 Profile Lets you change your

user profile
preferences, customize
your Home Screen
appearance, request
additional roles, and
sign out.

10 Product Switch Lets you quickly

navigate between your
SAP Analytics Cloud,
SAP Data Warehouse
Cloud, and SAP
Analytics Hub tenants.

Navigating the Start Page

The start pages optimize your workflow through a frictionless experience for
multi-application scenarios. With the start pages, you'll be able to seamlessly

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create new content, view recent files, and filter results in your recent files
table.

The Start Page

Central Start Page Functionalities

Number Feature Description

1 Welcome Message Lets you see a

welcome message
stating the purpose
and value of each tool.
You can select Learn
More... to open the
help and ask questions
and access additional
learning materials.

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2 Create New Options Lets you create new
content, from a new
blank file, or from
other starting options.
Note:
Analytic Applications,
Digital Boardroom,
Datasets, Modeler,
Data Actions,
Allocations, Value
Driver Trees, and
Smart Predict have
their own unique
create new options
displayed in the same
design.

3 Recent Files Lets you easily re-open

previous files so you
can continue with your
work.

Note:
You can only see the
last 25 files you
recently worked on.

4 Search Filter Lets you filter the

results in the Recent
Files table.

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Optimizing Your Workflow

In this section, we'll focus on two key features that will optimize how you use
SAP Analytics Cloud.

Suggested Shortcuts for Content Creation

When creating content, you might want to jump between different content
creation workflows. For example, you may want to edit a model and then go
to the story designer to consume that model in a new story. There are
different sets of contextual file actions accessible from the shell bar.

File actions are placed next to the file name in the Actions menu and allow
you to directly jump to other workflows based on the selected file.

Create new content based on your currently opened file, then jump directly
to it and continue working.

These shortcuts allow you to open or create a new file in another application
quickly without breaking flow.

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Faster Access to Your Files
The Files area preserves the state of where you left off, by showing you the
folder path you had, when you navigate away to another part of the product.

Your files and folders can be accessed directly from several places, including
the new start pages and the new breadcrumb in the shell bar.

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