Need suggestion on Analysis for Office version

[animikhc]

Hi Experts,

We will be using SAP Analytics Cloud to report on CFIN data. As you know there are 3 different versions of Analysis for office.

o SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office, Edition for SAP Analytics Cloud – this version connects with SAP Analytics Cloud. Works for both Live and Import Data connection

o SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office (Formerly SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Microsoft Office) – connects with SAP Business Objects. This is full version. Users need one license to use it. It can connect with BusinessObjects BI platform, HANA or BW or CFIN.

o SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Office – cloud-based version for Office 365. Mainly created to use with SAP analytics Cloud for planning. But still having limitation.

We are planning to go for 2^nd option of AFO. Because we will be able to connect to data directly without extra layer of SAC Tenant. Is there any license related limitations here?

We also can use 1^st option of AFO. On that case we have to create SAC models for each ABAP CDS views that we want to expose. That will be and extra task. Again, we will have extra layer of SAC between CFIN and Analysis for Office, which I believe will slow down data refresh compared to option 2.

Please suggest which one will be better option from performance and Licensing perspective.

Thanks in advance!!

[glenn-chamuel]

Animikh,

I’ll just answer directly:

1. From performance perspective which version of Analysis for Office is the best ?

• Option 2 should give you the best performance. However, you’d need to test to see how noticeable it will be.

2. Also from licensing perspective - can we use 2nd option with one license only. or do we need to buy separate licenses for 400 users?

• From what I understand, Option 2 utilizes your existing SAP BI license agreement. So, unless you have a rare site license for BI, you should expect to pay per user. Same for the other options.

I hope this helps!- Glenn

[N1kh1l]

animikhc

animikhcYou mentioned that you intend to use SAC to report on CFIN data. But then in your follow up you seem to be inclined towards AFO. If your goal is to only report CFIN Data into Excel based front end you definitely don't need SAC as a middle layer and option 2 will work fine for you. Now In case you want to use SAC as a front end, it can add value with its dashboarding and Analytics offering along with tabular data presentation. Also SAC will make your CFIN data available on web/mobile devices. AFO can only help you with Excel based frontend reporting with access to data limited to on premise (desktop) access. SAC Add-in can only connect to SAC modes and has limited features and more suited for planning needs. You can make a choice with above points in consideration.

Hope it helps !!

Nikhil

[animikhc]

Hi Nikhil,

Thanks for your input.

Actually, we are planning to use 3 tools to reporting on CFIN - Fiori, Analysis for Office and SAC. This decision is taken to serve different requirements of reporting. Your input helps. Now the questions are - 1. From performance perspective which version of Analysis for Office is the best ? 2. Also from licensing perspective - can we use 2nd option with one license only. or do we need to buy separate licenses for 400 users?

Thanks.

[Neeraj_Jain]

Hello animikhc,

Please refer below SAP Blogs. Might be you will get some insight.

https://blogs.sap.com/2021/05/20/most-common-issues-within-analysis-for-office-2.8-sp6/

https://blogs.sap.com/2021/02/23/extending-the-reach-of-sap-analytics-cloud-data-with-microsoft-offi...

Regards,

Neeraj Jain

[animikhc]

Hello Neeraj,

Thanks for reply,

I have checked both links. None of these are comparing different versions of AFO from performance and licensing point of view.

Do you have something on that line?

Regards.

Animikh Chaudhury