Preview the Analytic Model Data

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to preview your modeling outcome and see exactly how SAP Analytics Cloud users will see your model. Visualize different perspectives, set filters, or change your input variables.

Contents

  • Preview the Model
  • User Input Prompts
  • Navigation Drill Down
  • Change Variable Filter
  • Add Filter
  • Location Hierarchy
  • Business Partner Report


In the Analytic Model preview perspective, you can navigate through the various dimensions and view the aggregated data. You can drill down by rows and columns, set filters on measures and dimensions, change display and hierarchies, order structures, page layout, etc.

This means, you will see how the data looks in SAP Analytics Cloud BI Reporting.

In this lesson we will preview our model, choose attributes for different reports, switch attribute presentation, change input filter value and drill down a hierarchy structure in the report.

At the conclusion of this lesson the last previewed report option will look similar to:

Review the Help Portal for more information at Using the Data Preview.

Preview the Model

  1. Select the Analytic Model if it is not already open, then choose the Preview toggle on the top right to switch to the analytics data preview. You can switch between the Model and Preview perspective anytime.

User Input Prompts

We are now prompted to set the values of our input variables. Consider that sales orders created before 2020 are not available in the Sales Fact model.

  1. Confirm the default entries and press the Set button.

Navigation Drill Down

The preview page appears and displays all measures. In the header row, the measure names are displayed with their semantics for value (currency) and quantity (unit).

Using the Builder Panel:

  • The builder panel is automatically displayed at the right side of the application. You can show or hide it, by choosing the Builder symbol at the right.

  • When you select the Available Objects button in the builder panel, you get a list of all available dimensions and measures in the analytic model. Here you can select dimensions and measures and assign them directly to the table’s rows or columns by selecting their Column or Row icons.

  • You can change the items’ display between ‘ID’ or ‘Description’, as well as their sort order by selecting the More (…) button.

  • You can also drag and drop dimensions from the Available Objects list into the builder panel.

  1. Review and align the order of the measures in the Builder Panel as depicted below. If necessary, select a measure, hold the mouse button and move the measure to the target position.

  2. Go to Measures and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description to exclude the ID information. As a result the header row displays only the description (business name) of the measures.

  3. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to hide the builder panel, displaying all measures in the preview area.

  4. In the preview, the default and calculated measures are listed.

    • Calculated Measure with Count Distinct Measure: ‘Avg Spend per Business Partner’ shows the average amount spend by a partner.
    • Exception Aggregation Measure: ‘Products with >1 million’ represents the best-selling products. The Exception Aggregation is even applied, when the dimension is not selected in the drill-down.
    • Restricted Measure with Restricted Measure Variable: Depending on the ‘Domestic Country’ variable value, the restricted measure ‘Domestic Gross Sales’ for this country is calculated.

Let’s look on the sales data of the product categories in their sales regions.

  1. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to open the builder panel again. In Available Objects,

    • Remove (unselect) the measures Avg Price and Quantity (A).
    • Add dimension SALESORG to the rows (B).
    • Expand PRODUCTID dimension (section) and add dimension PRODCATEGORYID to the rows (‘C’)
    • Go to the added row SALESORG and select More (…) -> Totals -> Show Totals. An additional row at the bottom is inserted, showing the totals (D).

  2. Select the Builder symbol on the right to hide the builder panel.

  3. In the preview, the sales organization regions are sorted by the product categories:

    • BX (BMX)
    • CB (Cruiser)
    • CC (Cyclo-cross Bike)
    • DB (Downhill Bike)
    • EB (eBike)
    • HB (Hybrid Bike)
    • MB (Mountain Bike)
    • RC (Racing Bike)
    • RO (Road Bike)

    The Domestic Gross Sales displays only the sales values for the domestic country ‘Germany (DE)’, which belongs to the ‘EMEA’ sales region.

Change Variables Filter

The input values, which are prompted when opening the Analytic Model preview can be changed in the ‘Set Variables for Analytic Model’ popup.

Let’s change the input variable value ‘Germany (DE)’ and choose ‘United States of America (US)’.

  1. Select the Set Variables icon in the header menu (A).

  2. Open the selection popup for the variable members (B).

  3. Search for the ID US, choose it and press the OK button.

  4. Select the Set button to confirm the changed variable value.

  5. Now the Domestic Gross Sales of ‘United States (US)’ are displayed, which are part of the American Sales Region.

Add Filter

We want to see the measures for the years 2022 and 2023. The year 2023 only includes the months from January to May. Either the ‘Year’ attribute of the ‘CreateOrderDate’ dimension might be added to the rows, or a filter must be defined. We prefer the latter.

  1. Select the Add Filter symbol below the header menu. If the option is not displayed, select the Show Filter icon in the header menu first.

  2. In the filter popup, select Dimensions -> OrderCreationDate -> Year.

  3. Choose 2022 in the Set Filter for Year pop-up window and press the OK button to confirm it.

The report values are aligned to the filter Year = 2022, that is listed in the filter bar. Further filters can be added to evaluate the report further in the preview perspective. Defined filters can be adapted easily.

  1. Select the filter value button Year = 2022.

  2. Change the year selection to 2023 in the Set Filter for Year pop-up window, and press the OK button.

  3. Now, we get the report preview restricted to 2023 (Jan-May).

Location Hierarchy

The Address Dimension includes a level-based hierarchy that is grouped into region, country and city, representing the business partner location. With this hierarchy element, we look at the average spend behavior of our business partners.

  1. Select the Reset to Metadata icon to switch to the default preview.

  2. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to show the builder panel and available measure and dimension objects.

  3. In Available Objects (A):

    • Remove (unselect) all measures, except Avg Price, Avg Spend per Business Partner
    • Add the dimensions to the rows in the following order:
      • PARTNERID
      • COUNTRY

  4. In the Builder panel, exclude the ID information (B):

    • Go to row PARTNERID and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description
    • Go to row COUNTRY and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description

  5. As a result, the preview lists the average price for each sales item and the average spend amount per business partner.

In the next step, we insert the location hierarchy structure to align the business partners to their regions.

  1. Drag ADDRESSID and drop the dimension to the first position in the row , above the PARTNERID row.

  2. Go to row ADDRESSID and select More (…) -> Hierarchy -> Select Hierarchy.

  3. Change from Flat presentation to LocationHierarchy and select the OK button.

Business Partner Report

Finally, we include the total summary information to the preview and expand the hierarchy structure by two levels (region, country).

  1. In the Builder panel, go to row PARTNERID and select More (…) -> Totals -> Show Totals.

  2. Then go to row ADDRESSID and select More (…) -> Hierarchy -> Drill Level -> Root + 2 Child Levels.

  3. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to hide the builder panel.

  4. In the preview area, scroll down to the AMER region hierarchy level.

In the preview, all level and sublevels are displayed. Here, all business partners of the AMER region are listed first, and then the assignments to the COUNTRY sublevels (Canada and United States) are listed in the third column. How much the partners spend on average, and the totals of a country or a region are presented at a glance.

Optionally, you can expand the country hierarchy, to drill down to the 3rd level, displaying the business partners on city level. In the data set, only one business partner is assigned to a city.

  1. Close the Analytic Model editor and return to the Data Builder entry point.

  2. [Optional] Select the Analytic Model, and choose the Impact and Lineage Analysis function to explore the data and dependency analysis.


Congratulations! You have successfully explored the data preview capabilities of the Analytic Model tool.



Contents

  • Preview the Model
  • User Input Prompts
  • Navigation Drill Down
  • Change Variable Filter
  • Add Filter
  • Location Hierarchy
  • Business Partner Report


In the Analytic Model preview perspective, you can navigate through the various dimensions and view the aggregated data. You can drill down by rows and columns, set filters on measures and dimensions, change display and hierarchies, order structures, page layout, etc.

This means, you will see how the data looks in SAP Analytics Cloud BI Reporting.

In this lesson we will preview our model, choose attributes for different reports, switch attribute presentation, change input filter value and drill down a hierarchy structure in the report.

At the conclusion of this lesson the last previewed report option will look similar to:

Review the Help Portal for more information at Using the Data Preview.

Preview the Model

  1. Select the Analytic Model if it is not already open, then choose the Preview toggle on the top right to switch to the analytics data preview. You can switch between the Model and Preview perspective anytime.

User Input Prompts

We are now prompted to set the values of our input variables. Consider that sales orders created before 2020 are not available in the Sales Fact model.

  1. Confirm the default entries and press the Set button.

Navigation Drill Down

The preview page appears and displays all measures. In the header row, the measure names are displayed with their semantics for value (currency) and quantity (unit).

Using the Builder Panel:

  • The builder panel is automatically displayed at the right side of the application. You can show or hide it, by choosing the Builder symbol at the right.

  • When you select the Available Objects button in the builder panel, you get a list of all available dimensions and measures in the analytic model. Here you can select dimensions and measures and assign them directly to the table’s rows or columns by selecting their Column or Row icons.

  • You can change the items’ display between ‘ID’ or ‘Description’, as well as their sort order by selecting the More (…) button.

  • You can also drag and drop dimensions from the Available Objects list into the builder panel.

  1. Review and align the order of the measures in the Builder Panel as depicted below. If necessary, select a measure, hold the mouse button and move the measure to the target position.

  2. Go to Measures and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description to exclude the ID information. As a result the header row displays only the description (business name) of the measures.

  3. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to hide the builder panel, displaying all measures in the preview area.

  4. In the preview, the default and calculated measures are listed.

    • Calculated Measure with Count Distinct Measure: ‘Avg Spend per Business Partner’ shows the average amount spend by a partner.
    • Exception Aggregation Measure: ‘Products with >1 million’ represents the best-selling products. The Exception Aggregation is even applied, when the dimension is not selected in the drill-down.
    • Restricted Measure with Restricted Measure Variable: Depending on the ‘Domestic Country’ variable value, the restricted measure ‘Domestic Gross Sales’ for this country is calculated.

Let’s look on the sales data of the product categories in their sales regions.

  1. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to open the builder panel again. In Available Objects,

    • Remove (unselect) the measures Avg Price and Quantity (A).
    • Add dimension SALESORG to the rows (B).
    • Expand PRODUCTID dimension (section) and add dimension PRODCATEGORYID to the rows (‘C’)
    • Go to the added row SALESORG and select More (…) -> Totals -> Show Totals. An additional row at the bottom is inserted, showing the totals (D).

  2. Select the Builder symbol on the right to hide the builder panel.

  3. In the preview, the sales organization regions are sorted by the product categories:

    • BX (BMX)
    • CB (Cruiser)
    • CC (Cyclo-cross Bike)
    • DB (Downhill Bike)
    • EB (eBike)
    • HB (Hybrid Bike)
    • MB (Mountain Bike)
    • RC (Racing Bike)
    • RO (Road Bike)

    The Domestic Gross Sales displays only the sales values for the domestic country ‘Germany (DE)’, which belongs to the ‘EMEA’ sales region.

Change Variables Filter

The input values, which are prompted when opening the Analytic Model preview can be changed in the ‘Set Variables for Analytic Model’ popup.

Let’s change the input variable value ‘Germany (DE)’ and choose ‘United States of America (US)’.

  1. Select the Set Variables icon in the header menu (A).

  2. Open the selection popup for the variable members (B).

  3. Search for the ID US, choose it and press the OK button.

  4. Select the Set button to confirm the changed variable value.

  5. Now the Domestic Gross Sales of ‘United States (US)’ are displayed, which are part of the American Sales Region.

Add Filter

We want to see the measures for the years 2022 and 2023. The year 2023 only includes the months from January to May. Either the ‘Year’ attribute of the ‘CreateOrderDate’ dimension might be added to the rows, or a filter must be defined. We prefer the latter.

  1. Select the Add Filter symbol below the header menu. If the option is not displayed, select the Show Filter icon in the header menu first.

  2. In the filter popup, select Dimensions -> OrderCreationDate -> Year.

  3. Choose 2022 in the Set Filter for Year pop-up window and press the OK button to confirm it.

The report values are aligned to the filter Year = 2022, that is listed in the filter bar. Further filters can be added to evaluate the report further in the preview perspective. Defined filters can be adapted easily.

  1. Select the filter value button Year = 2022.

  2. Change the year selection to 2023 in the Set Filter for Year pop-up window, and press the OK button.

  3. Now, we get the report preview restricted to 2023 (Jan-May).

Location Hierarchy

The Address Dimension includes a level-based hierarchy that is grouped into region, country and city, representing the business partner location. With this hierarchy element, we look at the average spend behavior of our business partners.

  1. Select the Reset to Metadata icon to switch to the default preview.

  2. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to show the builder panel and available measure and dimension objects.

  3. In Available Objects (A):

    • Remove (unselect) all measures, except Avg Price, Avg Spend per Business Partner
    • Add the dimensions to the rows in the following order:
      • PARTNERID
      • COUNTRY

  4. In the Builder panel, exclude the ID information (B):

    • Go to row PARTNERID and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description
    • Go to row COUNTRY and select More (…) -> Presentations -> Description

  5. As a result, the preview lists the average price for each sales item and the average spend amount per business partner.

In the next step, we insert the location hierarchy structure to align the business partners to their regions.

  1. Drag ADDRESSID and drop the dimension to the first position in the row , above the PARTNERID row.

  2. Go to row ADDRESSID and select More (…) -> Hierarchy -> Select Hierarchy.

  3. Change from Flat presentation to LocationHierarchy and select the OK button.

Business Partner Report

Finally, we include the total summary information to the preview and expand the hierarchy structure by two levels (region, country).

  1. In the Builder panel, go to row PARTNERID and select More (…) -> Totals -> Show Totals.

  2. Then go to row ADDRESSID and select More (…) -> Hierarchy -> Drill Level -> Root + 2 Child Levels.

  3. Select the Builder symbol on the right, to hide the builder panel.

  4. In the preview area, scroll down to the AMER region hierarchy level.

In the preview, all level and sublevels are displayed. Here, all business partners of the AMER region are listed first, and then the assignments to the COUNTRY sublevels (Canada and United States) are listed in the third column. How much the partners spend on average, and the totals of a country or a region are presented at a glance.

Optionally, you can expand the country hierarchy, to drill down to the 3rd level, displaying the business partners on city level. In the data set, only one business partner is assigned to a city.

  1. Close the Analytic Model editor and return to the Data Builder entry point.

  2. [Optional] Select the Analytic Model, and choose the Impact and Lineage Analysis function to explore the data and dependency analysis.


Congratulations! You have successfully explored the data preview capabilities of the Analytic Model tool.


Learning

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