Navigating the Story Report Interface

A Story report is a presentation-style document that uses charts, visualizations, text, and images to describe data. If you have permission to create or edit a story, you can add and edit pages, sections, and elements as you like.

Measures are numerical value data fields that work with mathematical functions. Dimensions are fields with qualitative data that do not total a sum. Measures quantify the data sets on which you are trying to create a report. Dimensions provide a structure to categorize the facts and figures. If you are creating a report for employee attrition rates, then "attrition rate" is the measure and employees are the dimension. Measures and dimensions work together to help answer complex business questions.

Common examples of measures are Percentage fields in the Job Information table, such as Salary Increment Percentage. Common examples of dimensions are most fields in SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite product schemas, for example, Name fields, External ID, Country, Department, Job title, and status fields.

Optimized Design Experience

When you create a new story, you are prompted to choose between the Optimized Design Experience or the Classic Design Experience. The newer optimized experience has some enhancements, but there are also limitations in its current release.

SAP SuccessFactors recommends utilizing the Optimized Design Experience for all new reports. The current exception is in situations where you need to use the Blended Data feature.

Features of Optimized Design Experience (ODE):

• Available Object List - The Available Object List will display all objects that are associated with the respective data model.
• Apply Selection button for a multiselection filter – The Apply Selection button will be default in all the filters for ODE enabled stories. However, the designer can enable/disable it on a filter basis.
• Improved Chart Builder Panel - Sections within the Builder Panel are now collapsible. Furthermore, we’ve consolidated all charts into a single dropdown menu and introduced a Chart Add-ons section for better discoverability.
• Data Analyzer - Data Analyzer enables you to save your drill-down data state and analysis as insight. Data Analyzer contains a table, a filter area, and a builder panel with navigation capabilities to add and remove dimensions and measures from the table. Data Analyzer replaces the previous Data Explorer feature.

Limitations of Optimized Design Experience (ODE):

• Unsupported Features in ODE:
  • Grid pages
  • Clock widget
  • Error bars
  • Copy and paste across tabs and stories
  • Duplicate pages or copy to new page
  • Conversion of story filter to page filter
• Blending of data is not currently supported between linked models but is on the roadmap.

When you design your story report, you can add and edit pages, sections, and widgets with the Story Designer.

As a report designer, you can toggle between turning on and off Edit Mode while working on the report. In edit mode, you can enable the right-side panel. The panel has two main functions, the builder and styling. The Builder allows you to configure and select what data appears in the widget while the Styling affects the way data displays. The options that appear in the builder/styling data depend on the visualization you are working with. For example, if you are working in a chart visualization, it gives you different options from working in a table.

To switch between Edit and View mode, click the appropriate button:

To view the right-side panel:

• In Optimized Design Experience (ODE), select the right-side button:
• In Classic mode, select the Designer button:

Once the panel is displayed, you can switch between the builder and styling by clicking the appropriate button on the top on the right-side panel.

The story canvas toolbar is divided into different categories such as File, Insert, Tools, and Data to help you find options and perform tasks.

When you select a widget on a canvas, you will get an additional menu separate from the toolbar. This Action Menu has commands specific to the widget you have selected. The structure of the menu and commands available vary by widget type and by design mode.

You can add multiple pages to your story to help you explore and present your data.

A story page can be a blank canvas, a responsive page, or a grid. Use a blank canvas or responsive pages to lay out tables and charts or use a grid to work with numbers and formulas on a sheet. Responsive pages let you create lanes to section the page content into groups. Tiles within a lane stay together when the responsive page is resized.

On the page tab bar, you can select a page's dropdown menu to delete, duplicate, copy, rename, move, hide, or add comments to that page. You can copy and paste pages from one story report to another.

To move a page, you can drag and drop the tab to the desired location, or from the dropdown menu. Select Move left or Move right to move the page one level in either direction.

Hiding a page makes it visible only to users that have edit rights; it is not visible in view mode. To hide a page, from the page's dropdown menu, select Set as hidden. You can tell if a page has been set as hidden because its name is struck-through. To make a hidden page visible, from the page's dropdown menu, select Set as visible.

The Canvas page is the default page of your Story report. The Canvas page is a flexible space where you can explore and present your data.

Use canvas pages to bring your Story to life. You can add charts, tables, and other widgets that will make your data visually appealing within the Story.

You can rotate, resize, or move the widgets around to help you tell your story better. You can copy the widgets and paste them elsewhere on the same page or paste them to a different canvas page. You can apply styling changes to individual widgets or group them together and then apply the styling changes.

The Responsive page lets you create lanes to section the page content into groups. By default, a responsive page starts with two lanes and you can add tiles (widgets) to either lane. Tiles within a lane stay together when the responsive page is resized.

You can preview a responsive page to see how it looks on different screen sizes and device types. To preview a responsive page, from the story toolbar, select Device Preview. From the preview screen, you can change the device or size to see how your page looks on a particular device or screen size. In some cases, tiles resize and flow to fit smaller resolution screens when space becomes limited.

The Grid page is a space where you can create and work with formulas, either directly on the page or with a table that has been generated from existing data.