In today’s analytics-driven enterprises, empowering users to explore and interact with data dynamically is essential. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) offers powerful features known as Input Controls that enable end-users to filter, slice, and drill down into datasets directly within stories and dashboards. This interactive capability helps users tailor their views, uncover insights faster, and make more informed decisions.
Input Controls are user interface elements—such as dropdowns, sliders, checkboxes, and radio buttons—that allow users to modify the data displayed in visualizations by applying filters or selecting dimension members on the fly. Unlike static reports, input controls provide an interactive layer for personalizing analytics experiences without needing to redesign the underlying data model or story.
- Enhanced User Experience: Allow users to customize dashboards based on their specific needs and interests.
- Improved Data Exploration: Facilitate drill-down and ad-hoc analysis by dynamically filtering data.
- Reduced Report Proliferation: One dashboard can serve multiple user groups by enabling self-service filtering.
- Real-Time Interaction: Changes reflect immediately in linked charts, tables, and other visualizations.
SAP Analytics Cloud offers several input control types, including:
- Dropdown Lists: Select one or multiple dimension members from a dropdown.
- Multi-Select Lists: Allow selecting multiple items with checkboxes.
- Radio Buttons: Choose one option from a limited set.
- Sliders: Adjust numerical ranges or dates interactively.
- Search Boxes: Filter dimension members by typing search terms.
Adding input controls is straightforward:
- Open Your Story: In the SAC story editor, select the page or section where you want to add interactivity.
- Insert Input Control: Click on the “Input Controls” option in the toolbar.
- Select Dimension and Members: Choose the dimension (e.g., Region, Product Category) and define which members users can select.
- Configure Control Type: Pick the control type that best suits your analysis scenario.
- Link to Visualizations: Input controls automatically filter all compatible charts and tables on the page.
- Publish and Test: Save and share your story so end-users can interact with the controls.
- Keep It Simple: Avoid overwhelming users with too many controls on a single page.
- Use Relevant Dimensions: Choose dimensions that are meaningful for filtering and analysis.
- Optimize Performance: Minimize the number of selectable members, especially in large datasets, to maintain responsiveness.
- Combine with Bookmarks: Save filtered views as bookmarks for quick access to frequently used filters.
- Test User Experience: Ensure controls behave as expected and update all linked visualizations.
- Sales Dashboards: Enable users to filter sales data by region, sales representative, or time period.
- Financial Reporting: Allow CFOs to drill down into expenses by department or cost center.
- HR Analytics: Let HR managers filter employee data by location, job role, or tenure.
- Supply Chain: Supply planners can focus on specific suppliers or product categories dynamically.
- Input Controls apply page-level filtering; filtering across multiple pages requires separate controls on each page or global filters.
- For very large dimensions, dropdowns or multi-select lists may become slow or unwieldy; consider hierarchical filters or custom widgets.
Input Controls in SAP Analytics Cloud are essential tools for enhancing interactivity and user engagement in analytics stories and dashboards. By enabling users to filter and manipulate data views in real-time, input controls transform static reports into dynamic decision-support environments. When designed thoughtfully, input controls empower business users to explore data on their own terms, accelerating insight discovery and driving more effective business outcomes.