SAP Analytics Cloud, Add-In for Microsoft Office #ASUG Webcast Summary - Road map, Positioning, Q&A

[TammyPowlas]

Last week ASUG had a webcast with SAP's jeanne.bigonnet

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Figure 1 shows common question & answer

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), Add-In for Microsoft Office is SAP’s primary MS Office planning front end solution moving forward - source: SAP

 

Figure 2: Source: SAP

Start at the bottom of Figure 2 related to Analysis for MS Office

SAP continues to invest in SAP Analysis for MS Office

Sees SAP Analysis for MS Office for BI

When it deals with SAC for Planning, want to use SAC add in for MS Office

Future extended planning scenario invest in SAC add in for MS Office

What to use in SAC?  If you want to start with a lot of user, use story in SAC

If want to guide your users, and customize story, use Analytics Designer

SAP knows many users use Excel, this is why SAP developed add in for MS office

 

Figure 3: Source: SAP

Cannot compare these two tools as MS for AO is a mature product

How deploy the product - add in for MS office is a pure cloud solution from Microsoft store

AO is a desktop product

Data source differences - AO can connect to several sources

Use cases are different

SAC add-in can be used with a Mac and used with Excel online

Figure 4: Source: SAP

Supports Excel online and desktop; need to get July Office 365 for Windows

Q4 - working on supporting unbooked today
Want to support different currency - ability to switch local currency
Want to support mass data entry to eliminate back and forth with back end

Working on sorting and ranking to support the action in the grid in Excel

Next year, want to preserve Excel formula in data region
Way to support a way to get data in grid (similar to GetData in AO)
Today no way to select member; want to add a way to search members

Future direction - want to support asymmetric reports
Want to execute data action from Excel

Want to have seamless integration in cloud story
Will to support live sources
Support for saving in SAP Analytics Cloud repository

Figure 5: Source: SAP

Figure 5

Check the set up documentation here

 

For central deployment see documentation here

 

 

Q&A

Where is the link to the documentation?

Please go to https://help.sap.com/viewer/2b73edbc8f8f4189a36bc7a2e038185c/cloud/en-US/ddbdfe77a32c424ba4bc98704e9...

How do I know if my SAC is running in the Cloud Foundry environment?

From SAP: "Systems hosted by SAP data centers use one digit in their URL, like us1 or jp1. Non-SAP data centers host systems that use two digits, such as eu10 or us30". NEO systems all have one digit and CF have two."

the hierarchy you are showing in the example, is that build separately in your SAC? or it is from the ERP system?

IT is from SAC , we only can connect SAC models built on acquired data

So you cannot change the value in cell if the model is not a Planning model correct?

correct

So NEO systems cannot use the new tool?

correct; need Cloud Foundry

Can you please elaborate a new SAC add-in. Aren't these features available currently in the Grid within SAC? and in future roadmap the features (like retrive SAPformulas, etc) could be added to the table grid within SAC itself? why need Office365 for it?

Many customers not move from Excel; using the add-in you can leverage SAC data using Excel

Are there any configurations / setting needed in SAC ?

Trusted origins - see documentation

If not ready for Operational Reporting, then can I say that it cannot be replacement for AFE ?

not a replacement for AFO

Are you still investing in SAP Analysis for Office?

yes sure , AO (Analysis for Office) remains a key part of our portfolio

For license cost, does it cost extra (on top of SAP Analytics cloud). Charging by concurrent users ?

not it is included in SAC subscription, no additional fee

Can we consume SAP BO Analysis Excel reports in SAC ?

Yes, you can use AO on top of SAC  but this is a different topic.

Can the Analysis add-in access Live models?

it is not supported yet, but it is in the road map

Does this have EPM like formulas? Or is it more so for viewing data?

SAP is now working on the support of formulas but it is not supported yet

How do I know if my SAC is running in the Cloud Foundry environment?

From SAP: "Systems hosted by SAP data centers use one digit in their URL, like us1 or jp1. Non-SAP data centers host systems that use two digits, such as eu10 or us30". NEO systems all have one digit and CF have two."

Do they ( Addon & AO) share the same naming,/groups/buttons.... look and feel ?

It is more similar to SAC look and feel

Is it possible to import data to SAP using this MS office connectivity?

You can write back data to SAC planning models

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What do you think?  Thank you, Jeanne, for sharing great information and answering a great deal of questions.