What’s New in SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Digital Boardroom Q1 2023

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 new features and enhancements of the SAP Analytics Cloud Q1 2023 Quarterly Release Cycle (QRC).

Stay tuned for a video with SAP Product Experts where they will demonstrate some of the features highlighted in Q1 2023.

System Administration and Technical Requirements

Although not required, you may upgrade to the latest SAP Analytics Cloud agent version 1.0.369 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 1.0.91 for SAP universe (UNX)
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.

Release Highlights

Administration and Service Management

OAuth support for the Activity Log API

The Activities Log API (api/v1/audit/activities/exportActivities) now supports OAuth: (SAP Roadmap Explorer)

• Enable customers to develop fully automated solutions to fetch the logs for archival or use in other systems
• Download activities log automatically using the Activity Log API

Business Content Delivery

Business content packages for retail, finance, sales, public sector, and treasury

Reduce the time spent implementing SAP Analytics Cloud by adopting new, prebuilt data models and stories. Updated packages for industries and lines of business for QRC1 2023 include: (SAP Road Map Explorer)

• New retail industry content package from SAP
• Updated industry and line-of-business content packages:
  • Group financial planning for SAP S/4HANA
  • Integrated financial planning for SAP S/4HANA
  • Cross-model add-on for integrated financial planning for SAP S/4HANA
  • Rapid financial planning and analysis for SAP S/4HANA (SAP Best Practices)
  • Rapid sales planning and analysis for SAP S/4HANA (SAP Best Practices)
  • Rapid workforce planning and analysis for SAP S/4HANA (SAP Best Practices)
  • Process control and risk management
  • Public sector management planning
  • Treasury executive dashboard
  • Liquidity planning for SAP S/4HANA Cloud (SAP Best Practices)

Learn more about SAP Analytics Cloud Business Content here.

Dashboard and Story Design

Ability to sort members in filter

Sorting filter values in the member selector has just gotten easier as users can now sort values in the following ways: (SAP Road Map Explorer)

• Newest to oldest for dates
• Alphabetical order
• Custom order

SAP Data Warehouse Cloud model integration – UX improvements

UX workflow improvements for integration of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud models: (SAP Road Map Explorer)

• Ability to directly integrate models of connected SAP Data Warehouse Cloud tenants into the existing model selection dialog when creating stories
• Appearance of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud tenants like a “remote place” to find the models to be used
• According to the authorizations defined on SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, user ability to browse and select the models they have access to

To learn more, check out this blog post by Tobias Mueller.

Optimized Story Experience Updates

Many improvements are now available with the Optimized Story Experience with this quarterly release:

For more details on the Optimized Story Experience, check out this blog post by Anna Burkhardt

Data Center Availability

Data-center availability in North America for Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

North American customers now have with more choices in data-center locations and hyperscale platforms through support for deployment on Google Cloud Platform in North America. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

Data Modeling

Geospatial support for new models

Geospatial handling improvements have been made for easier management and more powerful geo-dimensions in models and support for geo in the new model. (SAP Road Map Explorer) (Video)

Improvements include:

• Public geo-dimensions and the ability to add geo-dimensions after model creation
• Ability to add geo dimensions to the new model
• Initial support for coordinates (area/region enrichment to follow in a later release)

Microsoft Office Integration

Handling Overlapping Content and Allow Several Models per Sheet

We are introducing a concept of overlapping content. A warning message will now appear before other Excel content is overwritten. Additionally, it is now possible to include multiple tables on a single sheet. (SAP Roadmap Explorer)

This feature will be available to customers as of February 8th, 2023.

Create formulas on new lines or columns in a Microsoft Excel grid

Users can fill new rows and columns in the Excel table with user-defined calculations. The formula entered within one data cell of the new row/column will be inherited to all data cells of this new row/column. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

This feature will be available to customers as of February 8th, 2023.

Enhancements to GET DATA formula in a Microsoft Excel workbook

The SAP.GETDATA formula returns the data value for a specified set of dimension and member combinations. With this release, it is no longer required to define a table as a prerequisite. The formula can directly retrieve members combination from a data source. (SAP Road Map Explorer)

This feature will be available to customers as of February 8th, 2023.

This blog post only provides a high-level overview of the latest features and enhancements of SAP Analytics Cloud. For more details on these features, please visit the SAP Analytics Cloud Help Portal. You can also visit the SAP Road Map Explorer to see the upcoming features of SAP Analytics Cloud.