Building Simple Stories

In this video, we cover the basics of creating a story in SAP Analytics Cloud.

When creating a new story, you have the option to start with a blank page or choose from one of SAP's pre-formatted templates. These templates can be used from content predefined by SAP, or created by your company.

When creating SAP Analytics Cloud stories, you have different page types from which to choose:

• Responsive: Required for viewing on mobile devices; dynamically changes layout depending on the viewer's monitor/screen size.
• Canvas: A fixed page size that does not change, no matter the size of the viewer's monitor size.

When you create a story, you can add and edit pages and page elements as you like. Once you have a blank page in your story, you will want to add widgets to visualize the data in your story. The simplest option is to choose either a chart or a table to add to your page using either the horizontal story menu options at the top of the screen or the left side panel.

From the story toolbar: Select either Chart or Table from the menu.

When elements are added from the story toolbar, SAP Analytics Cloud positions them on the page. Once they are added, you can reposition them.

The story toolbar is divided into different categories such as File, Edit, Insert, Tools, Format, and View to help you find options and perform tasks more efficiently.

Note

The options available in the toolbar will change depending on your screen resolution. If you have a smaller resolution, you may need to select the option in the menu to display the additional options.

From the left side panel: At the top of the left side panel you can select three different options:

1. Assets: All elements available in the horizontal menu can also be added to the story from the left side panel.
2. Outline: Access story settings, pages, and scripting.
3. Filters: View and apply story filters.

From the left side panel Assets tab, you can drag and drop the widgets or other elements to the exact position you require, as displayed in the following example.

The panel can be toggled on and off using the Left Side Panel button in the View menu option.

When you add a widget, you will be prompted to choose a data source for your story. From My Files, you can browse to a dataset or model in SAP Analytics Cloud. If you have a connection set up, you can also navigate to Connections and select an SAP Datasphere model to use in your story.

When selecting data source, you will probably most often choose a model.

There is no right or wrong way to tell a story; that is entirely up to you. There are, however, general design principles that can help you create meaningful, attractive stories that provide useful information.

• Choose direction: Define the importance of your visualizations.
• Keep it simple: Ensure a user-friendly experience for viewers.
• Follow general reading direction: Follow either left-to-right or right-to-left as appropriate for the audience.
• Group information logically: Locate similar topics adjacent to each other.

Next, you will build your chart or table. You may need to toggle the Right Side Panel button in the View area of the menu to access the Builder panel.

When you are in the Builder panel, you simply add the appropriate data to the various elements of the widget.

The builder panel, however, is only half of the right side panel. The other half is the Styling panel, which provides many formatting options for every component of the story, including the page itself.