Viewing and Interacting with a Story

An SAP Analytics Cloud story is the primary data reporting and analysis medium. It is often referred to as a report or a dashboard because it can consist of detailed tables, highly visual charts, interactive elements, or a combination of these options.

The following figure shows different views of an SAP Analytics Cloud story, a dashboard of summary information and a more detailed view of the data.

In the following video, we will explore a sample story, highlighting some of the key features.

When you open a story, you default to View mode. In this mode, you have very limited functionality and cannot change the story other than with any interactive elements designed in the story. It is similar to read-only in other applications.

The following is an example of a story in View mode.

In Edit mode, you have full control over the design of the story. You can add elements to the story, including new pages. You can rearrange elements in the story. You can change or add interactivity to the story, and more.

The following is an example of a story in Edit mode.

InPresentation mode, you can create flexible and fluid presentations using the presentation viewer.

Objects used for this retain their interactivity and functionality. They replace static presentations and information with interactive elements based on real data, allowing fact-based decisions to be made.

The presentation mode allows you to answer questions through direct analysis of current data, planning visually, and simulating the effects of various assumptions and actions.

The following is an example of a story in Presentation mode.

In many areas of SAP Analytics Cloud, you have More options than can be displayed in the interface.

In some situations, seeing a More option depends on your screen size and resolution as well as your browser's zoom setting. In other words, if you have a large monitor, your browser window may be large enough to display all the possible options you have.

While viewing and editing a story, however, there is a More Actions button available for every element of a story (charts, tables, filtering devices, text, images, and so on). This option provides you with many more design- and object-related options than the story can practically display.

You can think of the More Actions button as being similar to a context or quick menu you access by right-clicking an object.

There will be different More Actions options depending on whether you are in Edit or View mode. When viewing a story, there are fewer options.

In the following example, you can see some of the different options available when choosing More Actions when editing a chart (left) or table (right).

Included in the More Actions button for charts, tables, and other data-dependent story elements is the option to export data to a .csv or .xlsx file. Unlike the export option for the entire story, which exports only to .pdf, .pptx, or Google Slides files, the More Actions export option exports the data reflected in the object.