SAP Analytics Cloud Q3 2024: Key Innovations and Enhancements

SAP Analytics Cloud Q3 2024: Key Innovations and Enhancements

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) continues to evolve with significant innovations aimed at enhancing user experience, improving performance, and expanding integration capabilities. In the Q3 2024 (2024.09 - 2024.15) release, several updates focus on AI for planning and analytics, data acquisition, API enhancements, and more, designed to support a seamless experience for both business and technical users.

AI for Planning & Analytics

1. Comparisons in Just Ask Questions:

Users can now compare two measures (e.g., sales vs. expenses), two measures with dimensions (e.g., sales vs. expenses by location), or perform time comparisons (e.g., current-year sales vs. expenses by location). The addition of complex comparisons—such as combining version dimensions with measure comparisons (e.g., actual vs. forecast in Canada)—greatly enhances query capabilities.

2. Viewing Dimension Attributes in Just Ask:

Dimension attributes are now more visible in the model overview and explore data tabs. Users can access attributes more easily, streamlining data exploration and model management.

3. Prompt Guide Support:

A new prompt guide provides users with optimized tips for using the Just Ask feature, with examples and best practices to enhance query precision and usability.

Data Acquisition, Live Data Connections & Integration

1. Support for X.509 Certificates in OData Connections:

SAC now supports Client Certificate authentication using X.509 certificates for OData connections. This applies to SAP Business ByDesign Analytics and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, adding a more secure and streamlined data connection method.

2. Salesforce Connection Deprecation:

Salesforce connections are no longer supported directly. Users are encouraged to utilize SQL Database connections or APOS Live Data Gateway for acquiring data. This shift highlights SAP's focus on broader, more adaptable data acquisition strategies.

3. Filtering on Time and Parent-Child Hierarchies:

The SAC URL API now enables filtering on time and parent-child hierarchies for BW live data connections, enhancing hierarchical data filtering options for users.

Calendar & API Enhancements

1. Daily Summary Emails with Calendar Notifications:

Administrators can now configure daily summary emails for calendar notifications. This feature allows organizations to manage communication more effectively by consolidating notifications into a single daily digest, ensuring smoother operational flows.

2. Reviewer Support for APIs:

The decline and canUserDecline APIs now support reviewers in addition to assignees, improving flexibility in managing approval processes within SAP Analytics Cloud.

Data Analyzer Enhancements

1. Enhanced Calculation Dialog with Tokenization:

The Create Calculation dialog has been upgraded to support tokenization, which allows users to manipulate each object (e.g., dimensions, hierarchies, or measures) as individual tokens, improving clarity and usability in creating complex calculations.

2. Customizable Data Analyzer Settings:

Users can now preserve the last saved values, including the default display of filter lines, expanded/collapsed panels, and the settings of the data source browser. This feature reduces the need for repetitive configuration and optimizes user workflows.

3. Mathematical and Conversion Functions:

New functions like LOG, CEIL, ROUND, and conversion functions (DECFLOAT, DOUBLE, INT) have been added, providing users with greater flexibility in creating calculations. These functions cater to a broad range of data analysis needs, from simple rounding to advanced logarithmic calculations.

4. Report-to-Report Interface (RRI) for SAP BW Live Connections:

The integration of RRI allows users to move between reports in SAP BW live connections, supporting seamless transitions between queries, transactions, and web addresses.

General Enhancements

1. Deleting Data Changes Based on Filters:

Users can now delete data changes more precisely by applying filters based on dimensions, audit time, user, or action, helping manage data logs efficiently and reduce storage overhead.

Conclusion

The Q3 2024 release of SAP Analytics Cloud introduces a host of enhancements across analytics, data acquisition, and system integration, all aimed at improving the platform's usability, security, and performance. The introduction of advanced querying with "Just Ask," secure OData connections with X.509 certificates, and numerous user experience improvements in Data Analyzer set the stage for a more powerful and intuitive analytics experience.