Why a Custom Widget Library?
SAP Analytics Cloud ships with a strong native chart library - bar, line, pie, waterfall, scatter, heatmap, funnel, Sankey, and more. For the vast majority of BI use cases, that is more than enough. But when you look at what customers are asking for, a consistent pattern emerges: the most-requested chart types cluster around specific analytical needs - hierarchy analysis, project timelines, diverging data, attainment visualisation, and multi-KPI at a glance - and the Custom Widget SDK is exactly how we address them.
SAC's custom widget SDK exists precisely for this: build any chart, package it, upload it, and it appears in the story builder alongside every native chart type. The Custom Widget Library is our effort to build that catalogue systematically, prioritised by customer demand, and make it available to every SAC customer.
Why the SDK - and not native charts?
A fair question. Native charts are deeply integrated into SAC - they benefit from years of refinement, mobile support, and the full product test cycle. But native chart development takes time, and customers were waiting. The Custom Widget SDK gives us a faster path: a new chart type can go from customer request to available-in-SAC in weeks rather than waiting for a product release cycle.
More importantly, the SDK opens SAC up to a much wider JavaScript data visualisation ecosystem. The widgets in this library are built on D3.js and ECharts - two of the most widely used open-source charting libraries in the world - but the SDK is not limited to these. Many JavaScript visualisation libraries can be bundled into a custom widget and connected to live SAC model data, opening up chart types and interaction patterns well beyond what any single vendor's native library can cover.
As the open-source ecosystem evolves, new chart types, new interaction patterns, new rendering techniques; we can incorporate them without waiting for native SAC development cycles. Most analytics platforms lock you into what the vendor ships natively. The Custom Widget SDK means SAC does not have that constraint.
What Is the Custom Widget Library?
The Custom Widget Library is a curated set of SAC custom widgets built by the SAP Analytics Cloud team. Each widget is packaged as a standard SAC custom widget zip, one upload by an administrator makes it available to every story designer on the tenant. No coding, no external tools, no separate licencing.
The library is opinionated by design: every widget ships with sensible defaults, a consistent Styling panel, and full support for story-level filters and linked analysis. The goal is not just to add chart types but to add them in a way that feels native to SAC.
What's in the Library
The Custom Charts panel in SAP Analytics Cloud, browse all available widgets, read about each one, and install with a single click.
Now Available in the Library
The first release of the Custom Widget Library includes eighteen chart types, eleven built by the SAP Analytics Cloud team and seven built by our partner HCLTech. All widgets install with a single click and are available immediately in the story builder.
All screenshots below are live widgets running in an SAC story on a real tenant.
What's Next
The library continues to grow. The following chart types are coming soon, all driven by customer demand, with no native SAC equivalent:
- Dumbbell / Dot Plot - two dots per category connected by a line; ideal for before/after, plan vs actual, and gap analysis at a glance
- Dotted / Dashed Line Chart - line chart variant with configurable solid, dotted, and dashed series; makes actual vs forecast vs plan immediately readable
- Trend Line / Forecast Overlay - dynamic trend and forecast projection lines overlaid on any time-series chart
- Org Chart - people-card hierarchy tree for HR and organisational structure analysis
- Tornado Chart - horizontal diverging bars for sensitivity analysis and ranking; shows which factors have the greatest positive and negative impact
The library will continue to grow beyond this next wave. Prioritisation is driven by customer demand, if a chart type you need is not on the list, reach out and let us know.
How It Works for Story Designers
From a story designer's perspective, using a custom widget from the library is identical to using any native SAC chart:
- An administrator receives notification requests from users to install custom widgets to the SAC tenant. This is a one-time step per tenant.
- The widget appears in the story builder's widget panel under Custom Widgets. They also appear in the Story toolbar and side panel to access and add to the canvas from either location.
- The designer inserts it onto the canvas, drags dimensions and measures into the feed slots in the Builder panel, and configures appearance in the Styling panel.
- The widget renders using the bound data and responds to story-level filters and linked analysis exactly like a native chart.
No JavaScript knowledge required. No external dependencies. No configuration outside the story builder. The widget is entirely self-contained, all libraries are bundled inside the widget package.
Once on the canvas, custom widgets behave exactly like native charts. Story-level filters apply automatically. Linked analysis works, click a node in a Decomposition Tree and connected charts filter in real time. The Styling panel gives designers control over colours, fonts, labels, and chart-specific geometry without touching any code.
Requesting a Widget Installation
Not every story designer has administrator access to upload widgets directly. To handle this, a request process is built into the library, designers can browse the available widgets and submit an installation request to their SAC administrator from within the same interface. The administrator receives a notification, reviews the request, and installs the widget. Once installed, the designer is notified automatically and the widget becomes available in their story builder.
No chasing required. The notification loop is handled automatically, designers know when their request is received, and when the widget is ready to use. No tickets, no follow-up emails.
One thing custom widgets cannot do (by design). Custom widgets run in an isolated shadow DOM and do not automatically inherit the story theme palette. Colours must be set manually in the widget's Styling panel. All widgets ship with SAP Fiori chart defaults that align with the standard SAC theme, for most tenants no colour changes are needed.
Built on the Custom Widget SDK - Stable and Supported
Every widget in the library is built on SAC's documented Custom Widget SDK, using only the stable public API surface. The data binding API, the styling panel interface, the linked analysis integration, and the widget lifecycle callbacks are all part of the documented SDK.
SAC upgrades through regular release cycles. The Custom Widget SDK team maintains backward compatibility across release boundaries - when SAC introduces new native chart features, the SDK is updated in parallel to expose equivalent capabilities to custom widgets. We work closely with that team to ensure library widgets are validated against each release before publication.
The practical implication for customers: widgets from the library continue to work after a SAC upgrade. You do not need to re-upload or rebuild widgets when your tenant moves to a new release. This is the same stability guarantee that applies to all SAC content.
Getting Involved - Feedback and Community Contributions
The Custom Widget Library is not a closed catalogue. The longer-term vision is a community where SAP customers, partners, and the SAP development team all contribute. An SAP partner who has built a specialised chart for their industry vertical should be able to publish it for the whole community to benefit from. A customer who has built something on top of the SDK should have a path to share it.
We are currently in the early stages of defining what that contribution model looks like - governance, quality standards, supported vs community designations. If you want to be part of shaping that, or have feedback on the widgets already available, reach out.
We want to hear from you. If you are using any of the widgets already available or have tried building your own custom widgets on the SDK, your feedback directly shapes the roadmap. Drop a comment below, reach out via SAP Community, or contact me directly.
What This Means for SAC Stories
Closing the visualisation gap - from the inside
The most common feedback we hear from SAC customers is not about data connectivity or governance, it is about chart variety. There are hundreds of chart types used across the industry. SAC's native library is strong but finite.
The Custom Widget Library addresses this directly and does so without the trade-offs of a third-party marketplace, these widgets bind to SAC's governed data models, respect story filters and linked analysis, and are built by the SAP Analytics Cloud team and our partner HCLTech. The platform experience remains consistent. The chart palette expands.
This is the start, not the ceiling.
If you have questions about the library, want to discuss a specific widget use case, or are interested in contributing, drop a comment below or reach out directly. I read every reply.
Further reading
- Building a Production-Ready SAC Custom Widget with Claude AI — From Zero to Four Widgets - how the Decomposition Tree suite was built, end to end
- For the SAP Custom Widget SDK hands-on guide, see: SAP Analytics Cloud Custom Widget – Hands-On Guide
Bluesky
