Picture the scene; you are building a story in SAP Analytics Cloud, you have your page nicely setup with selection charts, tables and numeric points in exactly the way you want it. To complete the visual, you want to add some titles, however not just any titles. You want to add titles that will change dynamically to reflect the data you are reporting and just to make it more complicated, the data you want to show in the titles is not available within any of the data sources you are connecting to.

I can hear you saying to yourself, “this is not possible”. Wrong! This is possible in SAP Analytics Cloud and let me tell you how.

Before we start, let’s just talk about dynamic text and how the content in this blog differs. I’m sure some of the more SAC savvy amongst you might point out that we can use the dynamic text option, well so did I. Sadly this is not the case. Whilst the dynamic text does allow us to bring in dimensions used in page filters, story filters and dimensions amongst other options; it does not have the option to be filtered itself. The idea here is that we have multiple titles (or plain text depending on your needs) across a single page that can each be filtered and influenced in a customised and dynamic fashion.

In the example above we are analysing the volumes of product being transported between various locations by time.

We have a page with two-time series charts that show the volume of shipments by both inward and outward transport routes (e.g. Dublin to Cork and Cork to Dublin), and these will differ depending on the selection in the country filter. Selecting IE in the country filter will filter the two charts by Ireland transport routes and Great Britain transport routes when GB is selected.

What is not obvious from the example above is which routes these charts are currently reporting, and this is where we need titles to add some context. What we are looking to include is a dynamic title that will change depending on selection of the country filter. So in this example, the left-hand chart would show “From London to Manchester” when the country is filtered on GB and “From Dublin to Cork” when filtered on IE and the reverse journey will be shown on the right-hand chart.

To achieve this, we need to create a SAC model (for the purpose of this example we will call the model ‘TransportRoutes’), and this model will contain the transport routes that relate to the various countries, remembering this is the data that did not exist in our original data source. This can be achieved by creating a straightforward Excel file like the one shown below:

The “Measure” column is irrelevant and is only there due to SAP Analytics Cloud models requiring at least one measure.

Now we have the data, we now need the titles and to get a dynamic custom title we do not use the text object, but instead, we use the table object.

The first thing we need to do is insert a table into our story and use the ‘TransportRoutes’ model created above as the data source. Under columns add the ‘Route’ dimension and then hide everything else, (Table Title, Subtitle, Grid etc. Your report should end up like the example below:

Next we need to filter the table on the two titles that we want to switch between. (From Dublin to Cork and From London to Manchester for the left-hand chart) And vice versa for the right-hand chart. This can be achieved in the “Designer” panel (make sure that Builder is selected) and by adding a filter on the ‘Route’ dimension for the routes we want.

Once we have created the filters shown above, we need to link the models which contain the transactional data and the ‘TransportRoutes’, and we do this by linking the country dimensions in both models as shown below:

The model linking will ensure that by changing the value in the country filter, the transport routes in the title will dynamically change. We should only be able to see the transport route appropriate to the country we are filtering.

Now that we have the mechanics of the titles working, the final step is to edit the style of the table in such a way that we hide the fact that it is a table we are using. To do this we select the Styling option on the Designer panel. From here we can create new styles, and for this example, we have created two styles one called ‘Title’ and one called ‘Empty’.

Let’s go off on a brief tangent on Styling in SAC for a moment. Be all technical if you want, but part of the reason we’re doing all of this is to “pretty up” SAC which to be honest is fairly pretty to start with, but there is no harm in “dolling” it up a bit more.

In SAC we can use Styling at a very detailed level and in the example of a Table widget, whilst the Styling panel is open we can highlight anything from the entire table to a single cell depending on your selection.

When you have created your table selecting the title of the table will focus the Styling to the Header Region, also at this point, we have the option of creating and choosing new Styles. Styles are reusable across your entire story, not just a single widget, and this means you can keep the formatting consistent without having to remember precise font sizes and colours etc.

When you add a new ‘Style’ (clicking the ‘+’ icon) we get a default style panel:

In my example, I have changed this new ‘Style1’ to the “Title” style by changing it to the following:

Obviously this can be pretty much whatever you want.

The “Title” style controls the content, font and colour of the title to be displayed. The Empty style, on the other hand, is there to make everything invisible and to do this we set the font opacity to 0, the cell fill to transparent and hide all lines. There are no other requirements for the “Empty” Style.

Once we have completed the styling for the left-hand chart, we repeat the process for the right-hand chart.

Finally,  we end up with two charts that have dynamically changing titles based on the value selected on the country filter and below is the final output.

For Ireland:

For Great Britain:

This method can be applied in multiple areas across your Story. Whether it is a full on title, or if you just want to make a small subsection pop out a bit more. We have found this to be an effective way to make our Stories just that little bit more fluid and interactive.

One of the many benefits of SAP Analytics Cloud tends to be that whilst at first it might seem there isn’t a way of doing something, if you explore enough and think outside the box a little there is usually a way around the problem.

I would highly recommend anyone who is heavily invested in SAP Analytics Cloud actively checks on the Customer Influence page as this has an active role in how this product will be developed in the coming years so have your say in what you would like to see.

https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/campaign/884/ideas

This blog was originally posted to the following:

https://itelligencegroup.com/uk/local-blog/customisable-dynamic-titles-in-sap-analytics-cloud-the-offroad-way/

Dynamic text can highlight changes that occur when users interact with the data in your story, making it easier for them to follow the charts in your dashboard and draw insights from the underlying data. To use text effectively then, you should use it moderately and make it dynamic.

In SAP Analytics Cloud, there are several options to add Dynamic Text. Users can add dynamic text using story filters, dimensions, input controls, and others.

Adding dynamic text using story filter:

Story filters is one of the most useful methods to slice data based on the user’s unique needs, it also happens to be the most straightforward way to add dynamic text.

Adding dynamic text using story filters is a great way to inform the user when a filter is selected. In the below example, I wanted to see how many people registered for a tech event in Canada and Columbia using the country filter. As you can see in figure 1, the title updates according to the filter chosen.

Figure.1

Adding dynamic text using dimension values:

The purpose of adding dynamic text using dimension values varies:

1. You can add dynamic text using dimensions to inform end users of changes that happen to certain attributes/dimensions used in your story under a filter(s). The example in figure 2 demonstrates how dimension values such as products per country, store per country, and quantity revenue change when changing the region filter from LATAM to NA. This is helpful in drawing the user’s attention to important dimension values used in your dashboard that they might have otherwise missed without the dynamic text. Please note that to add dynamic text based on story dimensions, you need to have a story filter set. The dynamic text based on dimensions will reflect changes made based on the filter set in place.

Figure.2

2. Another good use for dimension-based dynamic text, is in the case of exporting reports in pdf format using the Batch Export by Story Filter option. You can export a report with the required dimension values, set under a filter(s). In Figure 3, you can see how I exported several reports based on the Store filter (I chose six stores that I was interested in). As figure 3 shows, I exported reports containing the dynamic text I added (Store Manager, Product Category, Product, Country, and Store).

Figure.3

Adding dynamic text using input controls:

As an alternative to the previous dynamic text options, you can add dynamic text based on input controls. Figure 4 demonstrates how dynamic text added to the titles of the upper section of the dashboard (numeric points) and lower section of the dashboard (charts).

Figure.4

Adding dynamic text using chart properties:

For more granularity, you can add dynamic text in your chart’s subtitle to display important details in the chart such as measure, scale, unit, and dimensions. To do that you can add dynamic text based on Chart Properties. Just right click the Chart’s subtitle, add dynamic text, and then choose the Chart Properties option. In figure 5, I choose the Sales Revenue measure. As you can see the dynamic text gets updated accordingly.

Figure.5

Adding dynamic text using Smart Insights:

Or, to make things more interesting you can add Smart Insights to your chart’s footer and then copy and paste it in a text box in your story. You can then add Dynamic Text to the chart’s title that reflect the changes made when you explore your data using Smart Insights. In this example, I added Smart Insights to the Attendees by Country chart and copied and pasted the Smart Insights in a separate text box. If I decide I wanted to filter out another country using the input control or story filter, the dynamic text in the Smart Insights will change accordingly as shown in figure 6 when editing the input control to include the United Kingdom.

Figure.6

And there you have it: you can see the region dimension/input control/chart property you chose reflected in the dynamic text you added in your story and charts (figure 7).

Figure.7

In the end, it’s important to remember that no matter how intuitive you think your dashboard is, end users might still need guidance in digesting the data presented to them, especially if the dashboard is new and the end user is not familiar with the data. This is why dynamic can be a great addition to your dashboard.

(From SAP blog)

1.Snapshot screen: “What You See Is What You Get – WYSIWYG”. With this type of exporting, Rows data that are seen by scrolling the screen down can not be exported to pdf.

2.Export All: In order to export all data, you have to paginated the report.

This post is from SAP blog guide the detail of second solution. You can read the original source here.

A paginated report is designed to be printed and formatted to fit pixel-perfectly on the A4 page. This report displays whole data in a table although the table expands in multiple pages. In this blog I am going to explain how to create a paginated report in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).

Below are the steps being used to create a paginated report in SAC:

Step-1: Create a new story with canvas page.

Step-2: Add a table to the story canvas.

Step-3: Select the model.

Step-4: Go to styling of the page.

Step-5: Select page size as fixed.

Step-6: Select size as A4 as well as select the orientation.

Step-7: Select the table and go to the builder. Choose the rows and columns and check “Auto-size And Page Table Vertically”.

Step-8: Go to styling of the table and select the appropriate template.

Step-9: Go to view of the report.

Step-10: Export the report as a pdf.

In this way we can create a paginated report in SAC.

Conclusion: Paginated report is the very strong feature of SAP Analytics Cloud as a reporting tool where we can design a pixel-perfect report as per printing requirement.

Export types

SAP Analytics Cloud supports export to CSV or Excel. CSV can be exported with “All” or “Point of View” options.

Restrictions for all export types

• Formatting (such as cell color, font styles, etc.) will not be exported.
• Hyperlinks are removed.
• Hierarchies are flattened.
• For tables, only the table data region is exported. Custom cells outside the data region (for example, on a grid page) are not exported.
• Custom cells and calculations created from story formula bar won’t be exported.
• The export option is disabled if any of the following are valid:
  • there is no data in the chart or
  • the model used in this story is in Edit mode.

General Best Practices

1. Before exporting data, make sure that the number formats are the same for the model and your local machine. For example, if the data you want to export uses a comma as a decimal separator and a period as a thousands separator (123.456,78), you will need to verify that your machine’s number format is the same. On a PC, in the Control Panel, go to Clock, Language, and Region >  Region > Additional Settings and verify the separator formats.
2. If you want to include custom cells (that are outside the table data region) in your export, you need to select all the cells, copy them, and then paste them into Excel.
3. Use Include Number Formatting when you want the formatting to exactly match what is in the chart or table. For example, if the table shows $12.04 Million, that is how the value will be exported, even if that is a rounded value.
4. Don’t use Include Number Formatting if the actual data values are different from those displayed in the chart or table (for example, the actual data has more decimal places).
5. Before opening the exported CSV file in Excel, verify that your Excel list separator settings are set correctly.

Performance Best Practices

1. If exporting large volume of data in CSV or Excel for the purpose of data analysis in Excel then consider performing as much analysis as possible in SAP Analytics Cloud, so the need for a large volume export is either reduced or eliminated.
2. If existing stories don’t provide data which you need and you preform additional analysis in Excel to get that data then consider redesigning stories such that new stories provide the data you need. This way additional analysis in Excel is no longer necessary and with it export to Excel may be no longer needed.
3. When exporting, consider exporting only data which you need, don’t export unnecessary data. This can be achieved by selecting story filter values for data you are interested in. Exporting unnecessary data may increase the export time.
4. Connecting your laptop to power outlet / power supply and setting power plan to high performance may improve performance.
5. Make sure to use a fast network with wide bandwidth as slow network can negatively impact high volume export performance.
6. Large amount of data are transferred over the network during export. Enabling gzip compression on the backend side significantly reduces the amount of data to transfer over the network. It can very significantly improve export performance. For example, in case of on-premise data sources a gzip compression can be enabled in on-premise backend server.
   • You can check if gzip is enabled by inspecting (in Google Developer Tools, Network tab) response headers from your on-premise backend data sources, for example by inspecting response headers of GetResponse requests. When gzip is enabled the Response Header contains “Content-Encoding: gzip”.
7. Consider using “CSV / All” export type everywhere where it is possible as it uses the power of the backend server more than other export types, and loads browser and user’s laptop less than other export types. Be aware that there are limitations as described in help. For example:
   • Export of max 3,000,000 cells is supported.
   • Export of max 60 columns is supported.
   • The measure and dimension names from the data source (not from story) are exported. If you have renamed a measure or dimension, you won’t see new names in the exported data. The measure and dimension names from the data source are exported.

CSV / Point of View or Excel Export Performance Best Practices

1. If due to CSV / All export type limitations you cannot use it and you decided to use CSV Point of View or Excel exports and if you are planning to export larger dataset then be aware that CSV Point of View and Excel exports will not be performed at the server, but rather export will be done in the browser after all story data is downloaded into the browser first. Therefore ensure that your computer has lots of free memory to load all the cells which you want to export. Using computers with insufficient memory can impact performance and can limit number of cells you can download and export.
2. For optimal performance it is not recommended to save story with a very large drill limitation. Otherwise the user would be forced to wait for the entire dataset download into the browser first (which may take a while for large data sets), before the user even gets a chance to specify desired / reduced drill limitation or to set filters. Instead it is recommended to set a small default drill limitation so initial story loads faster and user quickly gets ability to set desired filters and to configure drill limitation as desired.
3. CSV Point of View and Excel :

• For optimal performance 30,000 cells is a recommended limit for drill limitation, downloading more cells is supported but can be slower.
• For Excel 500,000 cells is maximum supported cell limit.
• No documented max cell limit for CSV Point of View export. It is limited by laptop memory / power.
• Default drill limitation is 500 rows x 60 columns. If it is not increased then only first 500 rows and up to 60 columns are exported.

4. To improve performance of the export consider unchecking “Repetitive Member Names” option on the table:

1. 1. Click on the table
   2. Click on “…”
   3. Select “Show/Hide”
   4. Uncheck “Repetitive Member Names”

5. Be aware that CSV Point of View and Excel exports will not be performed at the server, but rather export will be done in the browser after all story data is downloaded into the browser first. CSV Point of View and Excel large volume exports are two step process:

• Step 1: download all data into the browser by increasing table’s drill limitation
• Step 2: trigger export

Step 1: download all data into the browser by increasing table’s drill limitation

1. Download data into the browser by increasing table’s drill limitation.

a) Click on exclamation mark, on top left side of the table

b) Click on Edit Drill Limitations

c) Either select “Custom”, uncheck “Preserve recommended cell limit” and specify “Rows” and “Columns”, click OK.

d) Or select “Unlimited”, click OK.

2. Wait for data to load. When complete, running three blue dots will disappear.

3. Check that all data was successfully loaded by checking the drill limitations icon changed

Step 2: trigger export

4. Click export
5. In case of huge exports on underpowered computer the browser can be less responsive, if prompted, click “wait”.

Determining drill limitation needed for entire dataset export

Either:

• Use an Unlimited setting or Custom setting with a large value which is most likely to be sufficiently large for entire dataset, for example 25,000 rows x 25 rows, etc. Based on your knowledge of data and computers specs, over time you can decide on a large value to use which will be larger than the largest dataset in a table and which computers can handle. OR
• Improve stories by adding an Indicator widget which shows how many rows are in the table. Users can enter this number of rows in the table’s drill limitation.

The Indicator widget is to use COUNT formula, to include the same dimensions as table and to apply the same filters as the table.

The original source is from SAP blog.