Data Change Insights (SAP Analytics Cloud)

[avsalynin]

INTRODUCTION

What is Data Change Insights?

With Data Change Insights, you, as an analytic application user, can subscribe to a chart’s top N data change insights of an application on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to intelligently auto-discover significant data changes of your dashboard application within a particular period. You receive the data change insights as a notification via any combination of the following channels: SAC notification, email, or mobile app notification.
In addition, you, as an application developer, can use the Data Change Insights APIs to build a Data Change Insights-related application according to your needs. (source: Analytics Designer Handbook)

 

BASIC STEPS AND SETTINGS

 

What is basic for this you need:

1. SAC CF Tenant (because Data change insights is under the license of scheduling,which is not available in Neo Tenant)


2. At design time, you as an application designer should enable Data Change Insights option in the Analytic Application Details)


3. Add a Data Change Insights & Export to PDF technical components


4. Chart / charts with option "Subscribed by Default"


5. Use basic api methods (optional)

 

Below is a little detail on each of the points

1. SAP ANALYTICS CLOUD (SAC) TENANT

If the version of your SAC tenant is 2021.02 or newer, then the functionality of Data Change Insights is already available to you (Betta available since Q3 2020, GA available since Q1 2021)

2. OPTION IN ANALYTICS DESIGNER

This option (screen below) is for apps only,not available for stories.



 

3. TECHNICAL COMPONENTS

Two necessary technical components in the application

4. CHARTS OPTION

 

Define charts for subscription via the settings in the Styling panel

In the viewing mode, these charts will have this option available in context menu



And additional ability to set ranges



 

5. API METHODS

What can we refer to in scripts Below is a list of API methods for each ofAbout "saveSnapshot": Only one snapshot is kept per analytic application per day. When you create more snapshots within that time frame, then the later snapshot overwrites the earlier one.                                                                                                                                        About "listRecentSnapshotDates": you can retrieve the dates when the most recent Data Change Insights snapshots of the analytic application were saved. By default, up to 10 dates are returned.                                                                                                                        About "compareSnapshots": you can compare two snapshots (by date)

 

 

The result of using scripting capabilities

 

SUBSCRIPTION ACTIVATION

Subscription parameters are configured through the general top menu (during the application runtime)

 

A number of parameters are configured, after which the subscription itself is available in the calendar

An example of a letter from the mail based on the results of the notification (in this case, that there were no changes in the charts for the past day)

 

CONFIGURING SNAPSHOT STORAGE

By default, Data Change Insights snapshots are saved in the local tenant storage. You can configure the data repository where snapshots are stored by selecting navigating to System > Administration, selecting the Datasource Configuration tab, then moving to the Data Change Insights Snapshots section. (source: Analytics Designer Handbook)

 

Also you need to have the Remote Repository Snapshot privilege create

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

More details here: Analytics Designer API Reference (Version 2021.2)

And here: Working with Data Change Insights - Script API

Also, at the link above, you can see which charts support this functionality. Tables are unfortunately not supported.

 

UPDATE 10/09/2021: my viewing recommendations:

 



 

2022 RELEASE PLANS (Q1 2022)

Add Data Change Insights as a tile on the SAP Analytics Cloud home screen to include:

• Subscripted data changes across applications


• Ability to search a certain data change


• Ability to filter data changes with different criteria (top N, time range, importance, and the like)

 

SUMMARY

This functionality expands the capabilities of data analysis in Analytics Designer applications and simplifies the way of tracking changes, both in the mode of convenient receipt of emails and in the mode of informational text messages in applications.

When adding new functionality/information in future releases, this article will be updated.

[deshmukh]

Aleksey,

Learnt something new today. Thank you.

[former_member744615]

Hey Aleksey,

Thank you for such an amazing post.

Very well explained how to use the functionality.

Best Regards,

Rafat

[Sandeep_Kumar]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the data change insights details.

A question on the CONFIGURING SNAPSHOT STORAGE - where is the persistence for this? Is this in SAC underlying database or somewhere else in CF?

 

Best,

Sandeep

[avsalynin]

sandeep.kumar Hello!

you mean, in the case of locale - where exactly is it stored? I think that in HANA, which is under the SAC.

Regarding the change to another storage, it goes in conjunction with the choice of date repositories:

[Sandeep_Kumar]

Thanks.

[ShashiGarimella]

Very helpful blogpost.

[former_member1161]

avsalynin is this suppose to be a standard functionality available from 2021.02 on a CF tenant, regardless to analytic designer?

If yes, any configuration steps required on the CF SAC tenant?

Regards

Yoav

[avsalynin]

yoav.y this functionality is only part of the Analytics Designer. And yes, it became in the GA at the beginning of last 2021 year.

On the side of the SAC tenant itself in the Administration settings only Data change insight snapshots storage (screenshot in the comments above). Everything else and basic - settings in the Analytics Designer application only.

[former_member1161]

Thanks avsalynin

Are there any plans to make this a standard functionality (no-code)?

Regards

Yoav

[avsalynin]

yoav.y  in the analytics designer, this can still be used in fact without code, only with the help of settings, a technical component.

If we talk about this option "beyond the analytics designer", then in one of the webinars  talked about the concept of Watchlists. But the exact plans in the roadmap are not yet visible.

[jessica_jiang]

Thanks avsalynin.

Following this blog, our customer was notified by email of the contents of two snapshots, and it is difficult to notify of the changed contents. He has below questions:
1. with this data change insight function, when is the reference snapshot (before data change) saved? And, when is the snapshot after the data change saved?
2. What kind of data changes are recognized as changes?

[avsalynin]

jessica.jiang

right questions!
I recommend reading adem.baykal new blog