¶ Creating and Customizing Dashboards with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
In the era of data-driven decision-making, visualizing data effectively is key to unlocking insights and empowering business users. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (SAP DWC) provides powerful capabilities to build, customize, and share dashboards that reflect real-time data from your enterprise data warehouse.
This article guides you through the process of creating and customizing dashboards within SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, enabling you to deliver actionable business intelligence with clarity and precision.
A dashboard is a visual interface that aggregates key metrics, reports, and data visualizations into a single view, enabling users to monitor performance and identify trends quickly. In SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, dashboards integrate tightly with data models and analytics tools to provide interactive, real-time insights.
While SAP DWC manages your data models and warehouse, dashboards are typically created in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), which connects seamlessly to SAP DWC:
- Ensure your SAP Analytics Cloud tenant is linked to your SAP DWC Space.
- Use live data connections to pull data directly from SAP DWC models.
- This ensures dashboards always reflect the latest warehouse data without duplication.
Before building dashboards:
- Design semantic models in SAP DWC using the Data Builder.
- Create Analytic Models that aggregate and calculate key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Define measures, dimensions, filters, and hierarchies to enable flexible analysis.
Well-prepared models ensure your dashboards are performant and user-friendly.
- Open SAP Analytics Cloud and select Create > Dashboard.
- Choose from templates or start from scratch.
- Use drag-and-drop features to add charts, tables, filters, and input controls.
- Connect each widget to your SAP DWC analytic models via the live connection.
¶ Layout and Design
- Arrange visual components logically for intuitive navigation.
- Use consistent color schemes, fonts, and branding.
- Add text boxes or images to provide context and storytelling.
- Enable drill-downs and linked analysis across charts.
- Add filters and input controls for users to slice and dice data dynamically.
- Use geo maps, heatmaps, and other advanced visualizations to enhance insights.
- Limit complex calculations on the dashboard; push them to SAP DWC models.
- Use filters wisely to reduce data volume displayed.
- Cache frequently used queries to speed up response times.
¶ Step 5: Sharing and Collaboration
- Publish dashboards to user groups with defined access rights.
- Schedule dashboard refreshes and notifications.
- Embed dashboards into portals or applications for broader reach.
- Focus on KPIs: Display the most relevant metrics for your audience.
- Keep it Simple: Avoid clutter; use clear visuals and concise labels.
- Mobile-Friendly: Design dashboards responsive to different devices.
- Iterate Based on Feedback: Continuously improve dashboards based on user input.
- Ensure Data Governance: Maintain data quality and security across data sources.
Creating and customizing dashboards with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, in conjunction with SAP Analytics Cloud, offers a robust solution to deliver insightful, interactive, and real-time business intelligence. By following a structured approach—preparing data models, designing intuitive layouts, and enabling interactivity—you can empower decision-makers with clarity and confidence.
As you master dashboard creation, your organization will benefit from faster insights, better collaboration, and data-driven innovation.