Designing Story Reports

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 Job Information table, such as Salary Increment Percentage.Common examples of Dimensions are: most fields in SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite product schemas. For example, name fields, External ID, Country, Department, Job title, 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 Multi-Selection 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 drop-down 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.

Note

If there are significant differences in the visual display of a feature between ODE and Classic, the image is most likely the ODE view and could look different than a report edited in Classic Design Experience.

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.
• Full Microsoft Excel export is not currently available but is on the roadmap.

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 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.

Note

The look of the toolbar varies with the different design modes and resolution of the device. The image pictured is the ODE mode toolbar.

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 drop-down 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.

Hint

It is recommended to use the responsive page type. Using responsive pages allows you to design your report to run on iPad, iPhone, laptop, HD screens, and other resolutions.

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.

Note: The preview screen shows an approximation of how the tiles appear, but it is not an exact match to how the tiles actually appear on a specific mobile device.

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.

Note

Grid pages are not available in Optimized Story Experience.

You can create stories with visualizations using data from one OR more data sources, also referred to as queries.

After creating a story, you must create a new Data Source using the Query Builder. When you have successfully created the first query, you are redirected to the Story canvas.

You can build multiple queries for a Story. To edit or delete an existing data source or build another data source, selectAdd, Edit, or Delete Data Sources.

Choose Edit Data Source or Delete Data Source, followed by the name of an existing query to edit or delete it, or click Add New Data Source to create a new one.

When using the add or edit data source, the Query Builder will load. After you add or edit the query, you are again redirected to the Story canvas.

Note

You can NOT delete a data source that is being used by a widget.

You can create stories with visualizations using data from multiple queries or data sources. Blending data sources lets you join a primary data source with secondary data sources that contain common linked dimensions. For example, you can blend data from a Job Information data source with User Information data. Blending can be done within individual charts.

Note

Currently, you cannot blend data in a table when utilizing Optimized Design Mode. You must use Classic Design Mode to use this feature.

To blend data, you will use Linked Dimensions.

For example, you may want to display the total value of one-time bonuses per Job Title. The employees Job Title is returned in a the data source Job Information, which includes the User ID field. You also have a second data source on Basic User Information, which includes the User ID field as well. The Basic User Information also includes related tables to display the one-time bonus values for each employee. You could link these two data sources on the dimension User ID so that you can chart your requirement.

To create link two data sets for blending data in a story:

1. In the story, create two or more queries (data sources) that can logically be linked with one another.
2. On the Story Designer page, select Link Dimensions.
3. On the left hand-side, select the primary data source.
4. On the right hand-side, select the other data source that you want to link to your primary data source.
5. From both data sources, select the dimensions that can be linked logically.
6. Choose Set.
7. Click Done.

You can add images to a canvas page.

To add an image, complete the following steps.

1. From the Insert menu on the toolbar, choose + (Add) → Image.
2. On the Builder panel, select +Add Image or (Upload Image).
3. Search for an image on your computer and select Open.

   The image is added to the Image Library.

   Note

   You can delete an image in the library be selecting the image and then selecting Delete Image.
4. From the Image Library, select the image you want to use.
5. On the styling panel, select the styling options for your image.

Story Reporting also includes some standard shapes or pictograms that can easily be added to the canvas.

To add the shape, complete the following steps.

1. From the Insert menu on the toolbar, choose + (Add) → Shape.
2. Select the image you want to use and click insert.

You can add descriptive text to your canvas. You can use static or dynamic text.

1. From the Insert menu on the toolbar, choose + (Add) → Text.
2. Add the text you wish to include to the text box.
3. On the styling panel, select the styling options for your text.

You can add dynamic text to a text box from the formatting panel. Dynamic text automatically updates the text based on either the values from the source input control or filter, or any filters applied to dimensions.

To add dynamic text, complete the following steps.

1. Select a text box on the canvas.
2. From the More Actions menu, select Add Dynamic Text.
3. In the Insert Dynamic Text dialog, select the checkbox for the object you want to use as the source for your dynamic text.
4. Select Create.

Tables can be used on story reports to view and analyze data.

When you add a table to a canvas, a data grid is created. You can change this basic layout using the Designer tools.

• Use the Builder to select the measures and dimensions to include in the rows and columns of your table.
• Use the Styling tools to enhance the presentation.
• Use the Examine panel to create charts and visualizations based on selected areas of the data in your table.

You can add multiple measures and multiple dimensions to your table. You can also apply filters to your measures and dimensions. The table is updated as you make your choices in the Builder.

To add a table to the canvas:

1. Under Insert, select the Table icon.

   A table is added to the page.

2. Use the Builder tab to select the dimensions to include in the rows and columns.
3. Use the Styling tab to customize the look of the table.

You can change the default design of a table in the Builder tab.

The following sections are displayed in the Builder tab:

The data source is displayed in this area.

Select between Cross-tab and List structures.

You can also select some Table Properties:

• Adaptive column width: Automatically resizes the columns when you resize the table.
• Arrange totals / parents nodes below: Moves totals to the bottom of the table.
• Optimized Presentation: Provides fast-loading In-Cell charts, pixel-level resizing of columns or rows, and smooth scrolling.

All filters that have been applied to the table are listed in the Filters section of the tab and in the table subtitle. Filters that have been manually applied can be removed by choosing the cancel icon beside the filter and more filters can be added here by selecting the Add Filters text at the bottom of the list.

Filters are normally applied as restrictive filters (so that only the selected members are visible) but they can also be applied exclusively by selecting the Exclude selected members checkbox when you select the members; in this case, all members are included in the table except the selected items.

To create a filter, complete the following steps.

1. In the Builder → Filters area, select Add Filters, select the dimension you would like to filter.
2. Choose the members.

   The members you choose appear in the Selected Members list on the right.

3. Choose whether you want to allow viewers to modify selections. If you allow viewers to modify filter selections, they can either toggle on and off each filter value (with the Multiple Selections option) or select a single filter value (with the Single Selection option).
   Note

   Viewers can reset any changes that they made to filters and input controls to get the original view of the story by selecting Reset/Reset Story on the story toolbar.
4. Select OK to create the filter.
5. The filter appears at the top of the table, and in the Filters area in the Builder tab.

When you have created a table on a story page, there are several options available in table-specific action and context menus.

• Table Action Menu: Appears when you use the More Actions button or in other menus.
• Table Cell (Context) Menus: Affect collections of cells in the table. Appears when you right-click a table cell.
• Table Body (Dimension Values) Cells: Appears when you right-click a value of a dimension.

Note

The following list are for Optimized Stories. Classic can have different options.

The table-specific menu options let you work with the data and change the appearance of the whole table:

The table row and column headers (Dimension headers) have their own context menu.

The table body (dimension value) cells have context menus for rows and columns:

You can change the title of a table. You can include dynamic text from a variety of elements including story filters and filters that are in use in the table.

To change the title, complete the following steps.

1. Double-click the title of the table.
2. Adjust the text as needed.
3. (Optional) To include dynamic text, do the following:a) From the table action menu, select Add Dynamic Text.b) Select the appropriate option.c) Choose Create.
4. Choose outside the title to save the changes.

You can configure the table widget to aggregate data in two different table structures: List with aggregation or Cross-tab. When either of these is configured, the measure(s) selected will be aggregated by the dimension(s) selected. For a list with aggregation, dimensions will be displayed as individual rows. For a Cross-tab, the dimension can appear both as rows and columns.

To create an aggregated table, complete the following steps.

1. Under Insert, select the Table icon.

   A table is added to the page.

2. Select either List → Aggregated or Cross-tab.
3. Select the appropriate measures and dimensions:a) For List, place the measure and dimensions in the columns areab) For Cross-tab, place measures and dimensions in either column or row area

Note

List with aggregation is NOT available in Optimized Story Experience.

Create charts in a story report to display your data. The data in your chart is based on an existing data source (query).

From the Builder, you can select a chart type and then pick the measures and dimensions to show in your chart. When you have defined the structure of your chart, you can add apply customizations to it.

For the Optimized Design Experience (ODE), all Charts are a single drop-down menu.

For the Classic Design Mode, charts are divided into the following categories:

• Comparison - Compares differences between values or shows a simple comparison of categorical divisions of measures.
• Trend - Shows a trend in the data values (especially for dimensions that are time-based, such as Year) or the progression of your data and possible patterns.
• Distribution - Shows distributions between several groups or sets of data.
• Correlation - Shows the relationship between values or compares multiple measure values. For example, you can view the correlation of two measures and understand the impact of the first measure on the second measure.
• Indicator - Shows a business's metrics.
• More - More options, including percentage.

To add a chart to the canvas, complete the following steps.

1. From the toolbar, under Insert, select the Chart icon.

   A bar chart is added to your page.

2. A data source will automatically be selected for your new chart. To change it, in Builder select Select Model (ODE) /Change Primary Model (classic) and choose a new data source.

When you add the chart to the canvas, you need to select the chart type. Some chart types require a specific number of measures or dimensions and will either not work or not provide good results if you use the wrong parameters.

To set the chart type, complete the following steps.

1. In the right panel → Chart Structure section, select the appropriate chart type.
2. Configure any additional required settings, for example a bar chart is configured as horizontal or vertical.

When you select a chart type, select the measures and dimensions to display in each area of your chart.

You can add multiple measures and multiple dimensions to your chart. You can also apply filters to your measures and dimensions. The chart is updated as you make your choices in the Builder.

To select the measures and dimensions, complete the following step.

In the Builder > Measures / Dimensions / Color section, select the appropriate measures and dimensions. 

You can change the default design of a chart in the Builder tab.

You might want to usea customized description for a measure or dimension in your chart rather than using the default label.

1. Select your chart.
2. In the right panel, open Builder.
3. Pick your measure or dimension and then select More Actions → Rename.
4. Type a new name for the description.

The new description is displayed in your chart.

To make your chart more visually appealing, add a Color dimension.

For some chart types you can use the same dimension for both category and Color feeds. This can be useful if you want to hide the legend for a chart, but still want to see the information that the legend would provide. For example, you can display total by employee and add employee to the color dimension as well.

You can exclude non-relevant data points or filter data points to focus a chart on a specific set of data. You can filter by selecting members directly on the chart, or by choosing members from a list. Chart filters apply only to the data displayed in that chart.

Note

You can also apply filters to all charts on a page, or all charts in a story. The concept is covered in a later section.

Note

If you add a dimension that contains many members, a filter to restrict the number of members added to the chart may be automatically applied. If you apply your own filter to the chart, all automatically generated filters will be removed. You can manually remove an automatically generated filter using the Cancel icon beside the filter. You can also edit the filter and save modifications.

To apply a chart filter, complete the following steps.

1. Select your chart.
2. In the right panel, open Builder.
3. Find the Filter section and choose Add Filters.
4. Select the Dimension you would like to filter.
5. Choose the Members. The members you choose appear in the Selected Members list on the right.
6. Choose whether you want to Allow viewers to modify selections. If you allow viewers to modify filter selections, they can either toggle on and off each filter value (with the Multiple Selections option) or select a single filter value (with the Single Selection option).
   Note

   Viewers can reset any changes that they made to filters and input controls to get the original view of the story by selecting Reset / Reset Story on the story toolbar.
7. Select OK to create the filter.

   The filter appears at the top of the chart and in the Filters area in the Builder tab.

In the Properties section of the Builder, you can choose to Enable Data Analyzer / Explorer in view mode.

Note

Data Explorer is only available for Classic View Mode. Data Analyzer is only available in Optimized View Mode.

You can create charts with data from multiple data sources (Queries). You have already set up linked dimensions between models. For more information on linked dimensions, see the following topic: Configuring Linked Dimensions for Widgets to Use Blended Data.

For example, you may want to display the total value of one-time bonuses per Job Title. The employees Job Title is returned in a the data source Job Information, which includes the User ID field.

You also have a second data source on Basic User Information, which includes the User ID field as well. The Basic User Information also includes related tables to display the one-time bonus values for each employee. You could link these two data sources on the dimension User ID so that you can chart your requirement.

To create the chart with Blended Data, complete the following steps.

Ensure two or more queries (data sources) that have a linked dimension exist in the story.

1. On the Story Designer page, add a Chart widget, and select the widget.
2. Select one of the queries as the primary Data Source for the chart.
3. Choose the Add Linked Models link.
4. Select the appropriate Model that has a linked dimension to the primary Data Source.

   You can also create a new Linked Dimension at this point.

5. From both data sources, select the dimensions that can be linked logically and choose Set.

   The linked or the blended data source appears below the primary data source on the Builder panel.

6. From the blended data source, select Measures and Dimensions that you want to show on your chart.

After you add the additional data source, you can set the Link Type. By default, the Link Type of the blended data source is All primary data (which is also known as the left-outer join). You can edit the Link Type to All data (also known as outer join) or to Intersecting data only (also known as inner join).

When you have created a chart on a story page, there are several options available in chart-specific action and context menus. Different chart types have different options available, and some options are not available when in View mode.

The chart action menu provides options that let you make additional changes to the chart. If you want to make changes to specific areas in a chart, you can use the right-click context menus.

To display the menu, in the chart tile either right-click or select (More Actions).

We will now look at Add in the Action Menu.

When you select the + icon (Add) in the Action menu, you can select the following options:

We will now look at the Chart Data Point Context Menu.

You can add a hyperlink to a page, or to an external URL.

To add a hyperlink, complete the following steps.

1. Select your chart.
2. In the Action menu, select More Actions → Hyperlink.
3. In the Hyperlink panel, under Link to, select one of the following options:a) Mobile App URLb) External URLc) Page
4. Select Done.

The Calculation Editor allows you to create calculations for use in a chart or a table.

You can display the calculation in a cross-tab table by selecting it in the Measures filter applied to the dimension. In a chart, calculations can be added directly as new measures.

The following calculation types are supported:

Navigating to the calculation editor depends on whether you are using a chart or a cross-tab table.

For a chart, complete the following steps.

1. Select a chart.
2. In the right panel, select + Add Measure.
3. Under the Calculation Heading, choose + Add / Create Calculation.

For a table configured as cross-tab, complete the following steps.

1. Select the table
2. In the right panel, locate the measure item.
3. Select the more actions (three dots icon) command to the right of the members.
4. Select Add Calculation or Edit Calculations to manage the calculations.

When Constant Selection is enabled, the restricted measure value is determined by the values you specify in the Calculation Editor and will remain constant. Enabling constant selection is useful for comparing a single value with several different values.

The Calculated Measures calculation creates a new measure by applying mathematical formulas to the data.

Measures are numerical values on which you can use mathematical functions. When you are setting up your calculation, you will apply the typical formula functions, conditions, and operators to the data contained in your model.

To create a Calculated Measure, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Calculation Editor for Measures.
2. Select Calculated Measure from the Type list.
3. Enter a name for the calculated measure.
4. Enter a formula in the Edit Formula area. This is covered in the next topic.
5. If you want to verify that your formula is formatted correctly, select Format: it may reformat your formula before displaying a valid formula message.
6. Select OK.

You can add preset functions, conditions, and operators, by selecting options in the Formula Functions list. Only certain functions, conditions, and operators are available for creating calculated measures. These are documented in the Topic Creating Calculated measures in the Document SAP Analytics Cloud Help on the SAP Help Portal.

There are a variety of shortcuts that you can use when working with the Calculation Editor.

When using the measure list ([) you see both the measure ID and the measure description. When you select a measure, the formula editor area shows only the measure ID. To view the measure description, click outside the formula editor area.

You will use three types of calculations that generate measures.

ExerciseStart Exercise

The Canvas page is a flexible space where you can explore and present your data.

Use canvas pages to bring your story to life. Add charts, tables, images, or some other objects that will make your data visually appealing.

You can resize or move the objects around to help you tell your story better. You can even copy the objects and paste them elsewhere on the same page or paste them to a different canvas page to save time.

You can format the general appearance of a page in a story. You can configure the following options:

• Background Color - Select a background color for the page.
• Grid - Control grid options for aiding in placement of widgets on the page.
• Canvas Size - Choose between a dynamic page size or a fixed size. You can select a predetermined size from the list (Letter, Legal, Tabloid, A3, A4, B4, B5) or set a custom size by entering the page width and height in pixels. Before you can change the page size, you may need to rearrange tiles in your canvas to fit the new size.
• Page Layout - Enable / Disable page header and/or footer. Set the margin width for fixed page sizes.

In the View mode, pagination splits a canvas pages in multiple pages.

It is designed to display all the data of a widget, like a table for instance, and provide a reporting page-like browsing experience. In View mode, a dedicated toolbar lets you navigate the report from page to page and quickly access parts of the report that are of interest to you.

If you are designing the story in Edit mode and want to preview how the report is going to look like in paginated mode, try setting one or multiple table widgets to resize automatically. In the Builder, check the Auto-size and page table vertically option.

Responsive pages let you create responsive lanes to section the page content into groups. Widgets within a lane stay together when the responsive page is resized.

By default, a responsive page starts with two lanes and you can add widgets to either lane.

You can change lane styling properties by selecting the paintbrush icon (Edit Styling). You can set the background color of the lane and page, turn on / off the layout grid, and set grid spacing.

To add more lanes, highlight an existing lane in your responsive page, select the + icon (Add new lane), and then select Add lane to left, Add lane to right, Add lane above, or Add lane below.

Reorder lanes by dragging and dropping them in another section of the page. To resize a lane, grab the lane border and drag it to the left or to the right. A grid appears and it is used as a reference on how the lane can be resized. Resizing a lane will also resize adjacent lanes, and the widgets within each lane will adjust to the new lane size.

The following recommendations are provided for report layout using responsive pages and lanes:

• The font 72-Web should be used because it has been optimized for SAP systems, which improves not only readability but also accessibility.
• The Grid Spacing for the whole Story should be 14 px.
• Structure your content using vertical and horizontal lanes. The lanes render top to bottom, left to right.
• Do not leave any space between widgets as the real estate on the screen is limited.
• If you need a header running across your screen, use a horizontal lane on top.
• Remember that if you use vertical parallel lanes, then you cannot guarantee even on a computer screen that the charts in adjacent parallel lanes are horizontally aligned. If you need charts to be horizontally aligned, then place them horizontally in the same lane.

More guidelines on report layout, refer to the Visual Design Guidelines for Stories in People Analytics document available on the Customer Community.

Sections are like containers for your story. If you are working with a canvas page, they are useful both for reporting and interactive dashboards.

Sections allow you to split a report information into smaller, more comprehensible, and more manageable parts. They are also an efficient to create comparisons by arranging multiple section widgets on the canvas.

You can use sections to improve the layout of your stories and break down your analysis per dimension member. When you have chosen a dimension as section filter:

• The members are displayed in the section heading.
• The widgets in the section based on the same model are filtered on that member.

Some characteristics of sections are as follows:

• Sections take the whole width of the canvas.
• You can NOT create sections within sections.
• Some widgets can NOT be placed in a section.

Note

Sections cannot be added in Optimized Design Experience.

Note

Sections must start on a new page to be supported in Optimized View Mode.

There are several styling options for sections.

By default, the view setting Show all instances on pages option is enabled for a new section. When viewing the story online, you can navigate the section member(s) via a page number selection bar that appears at the bottom of the page.

If you enable the view setting Browse and search instances option in the Styling panel, the application displays left and right arrows in the section header so you can switch between members of a section. Additionally, a search is available to look for dimension members and browse through data.

You can customize sections and section headings in Edit mode in the Styling panel. You can also hide the heading and guidelines of the section.

The Story Filter allows you to apply filters for all charts in a Story report that are based on the same data source. The Page Filter is the same as a Story Filter but applies to just one page in a Story Report. An Input Control is one type of page filter. You can also apply a filter to a single chart.

Measure-based filters are filters that are based on a range of values in a measure. For example, if you want to include in your Story only your company locations that have more than 200 employees, you could create a filter based on an Employees measure.

Changes you make to a story or page filter affect related filters in the same story report or page.

For example, when you change a page filter value, any related page filters on the same page are updated automatically. If you have both Country and Region filters on a page, and you change the Country filter value from All to Sweden, the Region filter updates to show only regions within Sweden. All other region names are hidden. You can select Show Inactive Values to display those hidden values.

Story filter changes affect other story filters in the same story report and page filters on any pages in the story.

You can turn off the cascading effect in the settings for the filter. When the cascading effect is turned off, any filter value selection changes made in this filter do not affect other filters, and any filter value selection changes made in other filters do not affect this filter.

In the image, a Story filter on the location field only has Atlanta and Boston enabled. Therefore, those are the only two values that appear in the page input control when cascading effect is enabled. Click Show Inactive Values to see all locations.

You can define time periods based on years, quarters, months, or days, and apply the date range as a filter so that only details in the selected time period are visible.

The ranges can be fixed or dynamic; for example, you could choose the fixed range January 2019 to December 2019. If this story is opened in 2020, the story will still show 2019 data. Dynamic date ranges shift based on the current date. They offer a few more granularities such as current year, current quarter, and current month, and you can offset the range from the current date.

Examples of dynamic date ranges are as follows:

• If you want to display data from three years ago, to two years into the future, choose Year granularity, enter 3 under Look Back, and enter 2 under Look Ahead. If the current year is 2019, then the date range is 2016 to 2021.
• If you want to display data for the current quarter, choose Current Quarter granularity. If the current date is June 1, 2019, then the date range is April 1, 2019 to June 1, 2019.
• If you want to shift the entire range forwards or backwards instead of basing it around the current date, choose Offset as the range type. For example, to set the range as the year before the previous year, you choose Year granularity, select Look Back as the offset direction, Year as the offset granularity, and 2 as the offset amount. If the current date is June 1, 2019, then the date range is 2017. Note that the Offset Granularity can't use a shorter period than the overall Granularity.
• If you switch on Include Range up to Current Period, the date range ends at the current period. If you choose Year granularity, and enter 3 under Look Back, and the current date is June 1, 2019, then the date range is January 1, 2016 to June 1, 2019. For offset ranges, the Include Range up to Offset Period setting works the same way using the offset period instead of the current period.

Input Controls give you the ability to change which dimensions or measures to display for your charts or tables.

Depending on which input control you create, you can either show a single selection or multiple selections.

You will see some output options when working with fields that store dates.

ExerciseStart Exercise

Linked Analysis allows you to create filters that simultaneously update multiple charts and / or tables your story.

With linked analysis, when you create filters for one chart, the same filters are applied to other charts that you include in the analysis. For a filter to update other charts, the charts in the analysis must be based on the same data source, or the data sources must contain linked dimensions.

To apply a story or page filter, complete the following steps:

1. Apply a filter in one of these ways:For a story filter, select the Story Filter icon on the top navigation panel. In the filter area, select the Add Story Filter icon.For a page filter, select the Input Control icon on the top navigation panel.
2. If you need to change the data source, select the name of the current data source, and then select data source that you want to use in the filter.
3. Determine if you want a Time Filter or Measure / Dimension Filter.
4. If using a Time Filter, in the Add Time Filters list, you can create a dynamic time filter that shifts based on the current date, such as Month to Date or Previous Quarter.Choose which periods to include, for example, Previous or Current and Next.If you have multiple date dimensions, pick the one that you want to filter.Select the granularity of the time period under Full Period or To Date, depending on the range that you want to include.
5. If using a Measure / Dimension filter, select the dimension or measure you want to filter from the Add Story Filter / Prompt list.
6. Depending on the selection, you may see the following:Select the date measure and choose between Filter by Member or Filter By Range.Select the measure to automatically open Filter By Member.Select a dimension to automatically open Filter By Range.

   For a Member Filter, do the following:

   • To change the display information for the filter, select to expand the Available Members menu and select one of the Show Description options:
     • Description / ID and Description / ID
     • To display dimension members that do not contain any data, switch the Show Unbooked Members option On
     • In the Available Members area, select the check box beside the members you want to filter. Select All Members to automatically select all members in the dimension or select the Exclude selected members check box to exclude the members you select.

   • For a Range Filter, do the following:

   • • For measure-based filters, select the Dimension Context. The dimension context is one or more dimensions that the measure is aggregated against.

       For example, if you are analyzing salaries of company employees based on country and gender, you could choose the two dimensions Country and Employee Gender for context.

     • For dimension-based filters, if you want viewers of your story to specify a single value within a range instead of a range of values, expand the Multiple Selection list, and select Single Selection.
     • Select end points for your range: i. For dimension-based filters, you can either drag the sliders on the range bar or select end points from the drop-down lists. ii For measure-based filters, type end point values into the Min and Max boxes.
     • Select Add a New Range if you want to define additional ranges. Note that the single value slider is not available if you define more than one range.
     • For date dimensions, you can also define the granularity (for example, year or month). You can also set dynamic ranges that shift based on the current date.
7. Choose whether you want viewers of the story to be allowed to specify the effective filter values from a list of filter values that you define.

   You can choose to allow a single filter value, or multiple filter values. If you allow viewers to specify filter values, they can either toggle on and off each filter value or select a single filter value.

8. Select OK to create the filter.
9. If you created a page filter, you can resize it to convert it to an input control.
10. The filter or input control is assigned a name according to the dimension being filtered.

    If you want to change the name, double-click it.

11. By default, the cascading effect is applied. If you do not want the cascading effect to apply to this filter, turn off the Cascading Effect in the filter settings.

When you create a story filter, the filter appears in the filter bar below the toolbar. You can convert a story filter to a page filter on a canvas page.

To convert the Story filter, complete the following steps:

1. With a canvas page open, select a story filter from the filter bar.
2. Select Convert to Page Filter.

   The new filter appears as a widget on the canvas page. You can resize the filter widget by selecting it and dragging its sizing handles. If you enlarge the filter widget, it becomes an input control that you can use to select filter values.

   For example, if the filter is set to allow viewers to change the filter values, and to allow multiple filter values, you can enlarge the filter widget on the page so that the filter values appear in a list, with check boxes. Then you can change filter values by selecting and deselecting the check boxes.

   Note

   You can convert a page filter to a story filter by selecting the page filter and select Convert to Story Filter.

   Note

   Conversion of story filter to page filter and vice versa is not supported in Optimized Design Experience.

Story filters can be configured in two select modes:

• Confirm Selection on Apply
• Confirm Selection on Select

By Default, Optimized Design Experience uses Confirm Selection on Apply, and Classic Design Mode uses Confirm Selection on Select.

When using Confirm Selection on Select, changing a story filter selection causes the system to auto-update the visualizations with each change in the selection by the user. This can cause unnecessary re-loading of visualizations and contribute to a sub-optimal user experience when an end user is modifying filters.

By using the preferred Confirm Selection on Apply functionality, it only re-loads the visualization on the final selection by the user. This improves the loading time of the story and conserves system resources to requested query updates.

In Classic Design Experience, Report Creators can choose between the default Confirm Selection on Select functionality or Confirm Selection on Apply. You modify the setting via the Edit Story > Story Details > Story Filter Selection Settings. This setting is not visible in an story with Optimized View Mode enabled.

Note

In Classic Design Mode, this feature is enabled at the Story report level. In Optimized Design Mode, this feature can be configured at the filter level.

The following are considered best practices:

• Maximum number of Widgets in a page: 6.
• Number of Non-Aggregated Widgets (Tables) in page: If you have multiple data sources, ensure total number of columns across data widgets does not exceed 120. The recommendation is to have 1 non-aggregated table when the number of columns in the table widget greater than 60. Otherwise 2 tables are recommended as a maximum.
• Number of Aggregated Widgets (Charts): Keeping the number as low as possible will decrease story load time. Reduce if you have pages that do not load.
• Number of Rows per table widget (Drill Limitation): Calculate using the formula - 1 Million / Number of Columns.
• Linked Dimension among Data Sources: Minimize linked dimensions as they also increase load time.
• Number of Cells in table Widgets: 1 million per table widget. However, the recommended limit is to have not more than 30,000 cells per table as more than that produces non-readable tables. Use proper filters to get only what data is needed. See Inappropriate Use Cases for Story Reporting.
• Number of Users to access the report with many columns: Limit access to minimum people who are in the need-to-know basis to avoid multiple concurrent usage of the report, which will impact application performance.
• Device: Complex reports are recommended to be accessed from desktops only due to high computation needs. Do not access complex report from mobile or enable story to be mobile enabled.

You can add localized values for widget titles and page names in Story reports. The ability to add localized widget titles and page names enhances the user. It enables report consumers to view the stories in their preferred locale.

Caution

When you enable inline translation in a story, you can edit it ONLY in the source language. The SAP SuccessFactors locale that you're using while you enable inline translation in the Story becomes the source language for the Story.

For example, consider that currently your system locale is German. If you enable inline translation in a story (initially created in the English US locale), the source language of the Story now becomes German. After the inline translation is active, you can edit the Story only when your system language is German.

Caution

When you enable translations you cannot disable it again.

To enable the inline translation for the story, complete the following steps.

1. With the story open, select the Edit mode.
2. Choose File → Story Details.
3. Switch on the Enable translation option under the Translation section.
4. Select Save.
5. Select the Save report button.

The source language for the report will be your system language.

When you have successfully enabled inline translation for the story, you can add inline translation values for page names and widget titles in multiple target locales. However, you edit the story only in the source locale.

To add localized values for widgets and pages, complete the following steps.

1. With the story open, select View mode.
2. Go to Tools → Inline Translation. The Inline Translation pane appears.
3. Select a Target Language from the dropdown menu.
4. In the Page Details section, update localized values for page names and widget titles in the selected target language.
5. Save the changes.