In today’s data-driven enterprises, integrating analytics tools to provide seamless, real-time insights is essential. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and SAP Analysis for Office (AO) are two powerful solutions that, when integrated, enable organizations to combine the agility of cloud-based analytics with the familiarity of Excel-based reporting.
This article explores best practices and approaches for performing data integration between SAP Analytics Cloud and Analysis for Office, empowering users to leverage the strengths of both platforms within the SAP ecosystem.
- SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) is a cloud-based business intelligence and planning platform offering advanced visualization, augmented analytics, and collaboration.
- SAP Analysis for Office (AO) is an Excel add-in widely used for multidimensional data analysis from SAP BW, SAP HANA, and other sources.
Integrating SAC and AO allows users to harness SAC’s interactive dashboards alongside AO’s deep Excel-based analysis, bridging cloud and desktop analytics.
- Unified Analytics Experience: Leverage SAC’s cloud data models and planning capabilities while continuing detailed offline Excel analyses with AO.
- Access to Centralized Data Models: SAC’s single source of truth ensures consistency across reports and planning scenarios.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Combine SAC’s real-time collaboration with AO’s flexibility for ad-hoc analysis.
- Improved Data Governance: Central data management in SAC helps enforce security policies across both platforms.
SAP Analytics Cloud exposes data models and stories that can be consumed in AO:
- AO supports connections to SAC Live Data connections, allowing users to import SAC models directly into Excel.
- This enables analysts to perform pivot table analyses, custom calculations, and formatting while using SAC’s underlying data.
Steps:
- Establish a live data connection from AO to SAC.
- Select the SAC model or story.
- Analyze SAC data interactively within Excel.
Conversely, AO reports can be published to SAC for distribution and collaborative consumption:
- Export AO workbook data to SAC as datasets.
- Use SAC’s planning and visualization tools to create interactive dashboards based on AO data.
- Automate data refreshes to keep SAC reports synchronized.
¶ 3. Hybrid Reporting and Planning
Use SAC for centralized planning and forecasting and AO for detailed offline modeling:
- SAC handles top-down planning and simulations.
- AO supports bottom-up detailed input and data validation.
- Data synchronization occurs through SAC live connections or batch uploads.
- Use OAuth or SAML-based SSO for secure authentication between AO and SAC.
- Ensure data transmission occurs over encrypted SSL/TLS channels.
- Align dimensions, hierarchies, and key figures between SAC models and AO workbooks to avoid mismatches.
- Use consistent naming conventions and metadata management.
- Limit data volumes by applying filters or query parameters in AO when connecting to SAC models.
- Utilize SAC’s calculation engine for complex computations instead of loading raw data into AO.
¶ 4. Maintain Version Control
- Use SAC’s versioning capabilities for data models.
- Version AO workbooks and synchronize changes with SAC datasets carefully.
- Use SAC planning functions and actions to update data, then analyze the impact in AO.
- This combination enhances real-time scenario modeling and offline detailed analysis.
¶ Challenges and How to Overcome Them
- Latency Issues: Minimize latency by optimizing SAC models and reducing data payloads.
- Security Synchronization: Align security roles and authorizations in SAC and AO to prevent unauthorized data access.
- User Training: Provide training on working with live data connections and hybrid reporting workflows.
Integrating SAP Analytics Cloud with Analysis for Office creates a robust analytics environment combining cloud agility with Excel power. By following best practices in secure connectivity, data model alignment, and performance optimization, organizations can enable comprehensive, collaborative, and efficient data analysis.
This integration not only enhances decision-making agility but also strengthens data governance and user productivity across the SAP analytics landscape.