What’s New in SAP Analytics Cloud Release 2024.13

[meganhoy]

SAP Analytics Cloud brings together analytics and planning with unique integration to SAP applications and seamless access to heterogenous data sources. It helps everyone in your organization make decisions without doubt with trusted insights and integrated plans.

This blog post introduces the features of the SAP Analytics Cloud 2024.13 release available for SAP Analytics Cloud FastTrack customers. For SAP Analytics Cloud Quarterly Release Cycle (QRC) customers, this release and its features will be available as part of the QRC Q3 2024 release. View the QRC release schedule here.

System Administration and Technical Requirements

Although not required, you may upgrade to the latest SAP Analytics Cloud agent version 1.0.409 to take advantage of all data acquisition types.

The agent’s minimum version remains at 1.0.75, with the following exceptions:

• Version 1.0.99 for SAP ERP/SQL Database
• Version 1.0.365 for SAP universe (UNX). The SAP Analytics Cloud agent requires additional setup steps, for more details see SAP Note 3262098
• Version 1.0.353 for SAP Business Warehouse (BW)
• Version 1.0.235 for SAP HANA View
• Version 1.0.248 for File Server

For more information, see System Requirements and Technical Prerequisites.

Regarding supported features and required updates for the integration of SAP BW with SAP Analytics Cloud, refer to SAP Note 2541557 for further details.

Regarding supported features and required updates for live universe access through SAP BusinessObjects Live Data Connect with SAP Analytics Cloud, refer to SAP Note 2771921 for further details.

Please download the latest version of the Simple Deployment Kit from Software Center.

Note: To avoid downloading older versions and potentially exposing users to a vulnerable bundling of the Cloud Connector with SAPJVM, or Apache Tomcat, only the three latest versions of the kits are available to download.

For Cloud agent version change management details, refer to SAP Note 3264839.

Release Highlights

• Administration and Service Management
  • Data Audit: Ability to delete audit data based on other filters | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
  • Disable the welcome email for new users | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
• AI for Planning and Analytics
  • Just Ask Comparison | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
• Data Exploration
  • Data Analyzer - Share an insight from within the tool
  • Data Analyzer - Shortcut Link | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
  • Calculations Dialog: LOG, LOG10, CEIL, ROUND, TRUNC
  • Context Menu Enhancements in Builder Panel / Available Objects list
  • More Filter Members Capabilities (Filter with Swap/Remove; Contextual Highlighting for Tuple Filter) | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
• Enterprise Planning
  • Data Actions - Mapping Strategy "Property" | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
  • Multi Actions – creation and update by BI users | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
• Microsoft Office Integration
  • Frontend Calculations referencing members
  • Null Suppression
• Story Design
  • Smart Grouping in Charts in the optimized story experience
  • Public URL API support for BW Hierarchies
• Story Extensibility
  • Widget Customization Add-on to support legend | (SAP Road Map Explorer)
  • Create calculated or account-based dimensions in custom widgets as charts and tables | (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Administration and Service Management

Data Audit: Ability to delete audit data based on other filters

When deleting data changes to reduce the size of your data change log, you can now add filters on dimensions of the model, as well as Audit Time, Audit User, and Audit Action, to control which data changes to delete. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Disable the welcome email for new users

You can now disable the welcome email from being sent to new users added to you tenant. For more information, see Manage the Welcome Email Notification. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

AI for Planning and Analytics

Just Ask Comparison

You can now use the following in Just Ask questions: (SAP Road Map Explorer)

• Compare two measures: Compare sales with expenses
• Compare two measures and a dimension: Compare sales with expenses by location
• Time comparisons: Compare sales with expenses by location in current year
• Combine a comparison and a calculation: Compare average sales by location with average expenses by location this year
• Combine a version dimension with a measure comparison: Compare actual sales with forecast in Canada

Data Exploration

Data Analyzer - Share an insight from within the tool

You can now share an insight right from data analyzer by using the function Share Insight in the new Share toolbar button. In the Share Insight dialog you can add the users or teams with whom you’d like to share the insight, set the access type and set if new recipients should get an email.

 

Data Analyzer - Shortcut Link

If you want to capture the state of the current view on your data in data analyzer without saving it, you can now create a shortcut link by using the function Create Shortcut Link in the new Share button in the in the toolbar. The generated shortcut link can be copied to the clipboard and thus be added for example to an email or opened in a new tab. A cleanup task is scheduled in the system configuration area to delete shortcut links in recurrent period. As an administrator you can reconfigure the default period. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Calculations Dialog: LOG, LOG10, CEIL, ROUND, TRUNC

We have introduced support for two mathematical and three conversion functions:

• LOG(number) and LOG10(number) compute the natural logarithm and the base-10 logarithm of a positive number, respectively.
• CEIL returns a real number that is greater or equal to the entered number
• ROUND rounds to a specified number of decimal places.
• TRUNC truncates the provided number at the specified decimal place.

These new functions enhance data manipulation in both BW and HANA systems, allowing for more precise and advanced arrangements of data. 

Categorization of functions:

• Functions are now grouped under the following categories - Conversion, Logical, Date and Time, Mathematical, Lookup & Reference, Business, and Dynamic Time. 

• Added a new search box in the function's sections for quicker access to functions, maintaining category clarity during search.

The new categorized layout with search capabilities enhances user experience and streamlines the generation of calculations.

Context Menu Enhancements in Builder Panel / Available Objects list

In data analyzer multiple enhancements have been added to improve the user workflow:

• Added splitter and the Expand/Collapse button ensure a better space management in the data analyzer Builder panel.
• In the Available Objects list you can now use the More menu with filter functions.
• In the Available Objects list there you can now work with a context menu by using the right-mouse click function.
• In the Available Objects list now all members of the accounts/measures are listed, not only the booked

More Filter Members Capabilities (Filter with Swap/Remove; Contextual Highlighting for Tuple Filter)

Table context menu enhanced with extra filter options: (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Filter Member and >

• Swap Dimension With > then this context menu offers the user to Apply Filter members with this selection and Swap with another dimension to be placed on Axis
• Remove Dimension{}then this context menu offers the user to apply Filter members with this selection and remove the dimension(s) from Axis.
• Filter color Highlighter - The color highlighter with different filter options (Filter Member, Filter, Exclude Member, Exclude, Filter Members)

Enterprise Planning

Data Actions - Mapping Strategy "Property"

In the cross model copy step one can now select the property which is used for the Identical names mapping. With this feature the user can map automatically dimensions by maintaining an additional property in the modeler

Multi Actions – creation and update by BI users

The standard "BI Admin" role contains multi actions privileges. Users with a BI license have the capability to create and execute multi actions that include BI steps only (excluding BI embedded license). Additionally, the names of the action triggers, such as multi action trigger, data action trigger, and BPC planning sequence trigger, have changed and they are now called starters: multi action starter, data action starter, and BPC planning sequence starter.

Microsoft Office Integration

Frontend Calculations referencing members

In your front-end calculations, you can now reference dimension members and properties.

This enables you to combine SAP Analytics Cloud and Excel features as you can use XLOOKUP, IF, and more Excel features in your formulas.

This feature is available to customers as of June 19, 2024.

Null Suppression

You now have the option Null Suppression to suppress null values (-) in a table. The option is available in the context menu on Rows or Columns.

With the existing option Zero Suppression, you can suppress zero (0) and null (-) values in one step.

This feature is available to customers as of June 19, 2024.

Story Design

Smart Grouping in Charts in the optimized story experience

You can now apply Smart Grouping to Charts in the optimized story experience.

 

Public URL API support for BW Hierarchies

The SAP Analytics Cloud URL API allows you to filter on time and Parent child Hierarchies which are not default for BW Live Data connections. fXXHierarchy  parameter supports to filter on time and parent-child hierarchies with different hierarchal values.  

This functionality allows developers to generate URLs for stories with embedded hierarchy node filters, enhancing the end-user experience. Users will benefit from pre-filtered stories that present data specific to particular hierarchy nodes.

Parameter Syntax: f<XX>Hierarchy=<HierarchyName>

• <XX> is any number between 01 and 99. If there are several filters passed for filtering then assign a unique value of <XX> to each filter. <HierarchyName> is the name of the hierarchy you want to filter on.

This is only supported in the Optimized Story Experience.

Story Extensibility

Widget Customization Add-on to support legend

Users can now develop their own widget add-ons for customizing chart legends. This new capability enhances the overall storytelling experience of data representation. Supported chart types are bar/column, stacked bar/column, stacked area and line. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Refer to SAP Analytics Cloud Widget Add-On Developer Guide for more.

Create calculated or account-based dimensions in custom widgets as charts and tables

In the optimized story experience, you can create and utilize calculated or account-based dimensions for custom widgets. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

This blog post only provides a high-level overview of the latest features and enhancements of SAP Analytics Cloud. You can find more details on these features in your In-App Help Guide for FastTrack customers and see this SAP Knowledge Base Article if you’d like to learn more about FastTrack and Quarterly Release Cycle releases.

If you have any questions regarding the content in this blog post, you can comment below. If you have product specific or technical questions, post a question to our SAP Analytics Cloud Questions & Answers forum. Visit our SAP Analytics Cloud Community pages to find more product information, best practices, and more. And check out our SAP Road Map Explorer to see more upcoming features of SAP Analytics Cloud.