Identifying the Differences Between Model Structures

Analytic models are read-only models used strictly for data reporting and analysis. They do not have any required dimensions or measures.

Unlike the read-only Analytic models, Planning models allow write-back to the planning data source. Because designated planners can write data, Planning models require Version and Date dimensions to designate what the written data is and for what time frame.

In a typical workflow, the structure of the planning model is created and then actual data is imported. The actual data is typically copied to a plan version and then the data is adjusted to accommodate expected changes in the planning time frame.

Note

A planning model integrating with SAP BPC can work with real-time (non-imported) data, but that is the only exception. Any other planning model must replicate the data into SAP Analytics Cloud.

Both Analytic and Planning models can be created as either account-based or measure-based models.

There are two types of account-based models:

• Classic account model
• New measure-based model

Account-based models have a single measure with multiple accounts. Measures are the structures in your model that hold numeric values.

In either a classic account-based or a new model, model values are stored in a single default measure, and you use the account structure to add calculations, specify units, set up an account hierarchy, and set aggregation types for all the data. In the preceding figure, data is broken down by Account (Discounts, Gross Sales, Quantity, and Cost of Sales), which is used to describe the values in the measure column (SignedData), which represents transaction data.

There are two types of measure-based models:

• New model without accounts
• New model with accounts

The new model type exposes measures as single entities and lets you add and configure multiple measures with aggregation and units to fit your data. It provides plenty of flexibility: you can still match the structure of a classic account model by using a single measure and an account dimension, or you can remove the account dimension when it is not required for your use case.

The new type model is a best of both worlds. It has accounts but it can also have multiple measures. In addition, new models support model-specific calculated and converted measures.

The main difference between the classic account-based model and new model is how they handle measures.