Creating and Maintaining Users in SAP Analytics Cloud

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to Create and maintain users manually and through a CSV import.

Create and Maintain Users

In this lesson, we'll cover the two basic ways of creating users in SAP Analytics Cloud:

  1. From the Users page.
  2. From a file, using a CSV import.

The two methods covered in this lesson assume that SAP Analytics Cloud is using its default authentication provider.

Note

Creating users with dynamic user creation with custom SAML Identity Provider (IdP) is covered later in the course. If you're using a custom SAML IdP, you must provide slightly different information, depending upon how your SAML authentication is configured.

Creating and Maintaining Users in SAP Analytics Cloud

As the administrator at The Mock Company, you are responsible for creating all of the users for SAP Analytics Cloud. This short video will introduce you to creating and maintaining users in SAP Analytics Cloud.

Access the Users Page

In SAP Analytics Cloud, users are created and maintained in the Users page.

You can access the Users page from the Security option in the vertical menu, as shown in the following example.

SAP Analytics Cloud with Security selected in the vertical menu. Users is also highlighted as one of the six security options available to administrators.

Mandatory and Optional User Information

In the example below, you can see mandatory and optional user information when creating users individually or when importing them using a CSV file.

  1. User ID is a mandatory field, as each user requires a unique ID. It is always displayed in upper case and can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores up to a maximum length of 20 characters.
  2. Last Name is a mandatory field. However, it is recommended to include the user's First Name and a Display Name as well.
  3. Email is a mandatory field. New users will receive an email to activate their account.
  4. The Manager listed in this field approves the user's request for new role assignments. They approve all self-service role requests for that user. Users can only request additional roles if they have a custom role that allows for self-service.
  5. User Roles can be assigned during user creation. If one or more default roles have already been created, you can leave Roles empty and the default roles will be assigned when you select Save. Role creation is covered in detail later in the course.
  6. Licenses is determined by the roles assigned to the user and the licenses available.
The SAP Analytics Cloud User page with numbers 1 to 6 (from left to right) pointing to columns described in the text above the image.

The User Profile

A user profile resembles a business card and consists of standard user data, such as name and phone number. Once a user is created, their user profile is used throughout the system, for example, to easily identify the participants in a discussion.

When you select a user in any dialog, for example, when you assign a manager to a user on the Users page, you can display the full profile by clicking on the user's ID.

In SAP Analytics Cloud, the profile also includes user preferences that can be updated by the user in the Profile Settings once they have logged on to the system.

Profile Settings

While defaults are set for the profile settings, users can update them to suit their own requirements. For example, they can:

  • Update their profile picture. By default, a photo placeholder is displayed.
  • Update their language. Users can choose the language they wish to use in SAP Analytics Cloud.
  • Select a Data Access Language for displaying stories created from live data connections. If it is set to Default, then the value used in the Language setting will be used.
  • Update date, time, number, and scale formatting.
  • Enable email notification to receive information about system activities, including product updates and learning.

For more information on user profile settings, please visit Creating a Basic User Profile for a New User

Note

Passwords

If you use SAP Cloud Identity, then profile information will be pulled from a user's SAP Cloud Identity profile. To edit their SAP Cloud Identity profile, users will be able to select Edit Profile & Change Password from the Profile Settings dialog. An email will be sent to the user that will ask them to click a link to reset their password on SAP Cloud Identity.

If you use SAML Custom Identity Provider (Custom IdP), then users will not see Edit Profile & Change Password in their Profile Settings. They will have to contact the SAML Custom Identity Provider administrator to change their password.

Create Users in the Users List

Most administrators will create and modify users by using a CSV file, however, it is also possible to create individual users from the Users page.

When you select the Add button in the Users page toolbar, a new line will appear in the table, as you can see in the example below.

Add the required information and then, once you hit Save in the toolbar, the Licenses will automatically update based on the roles selected.

SAP Analytics Cloud Users page with Manager and Roles input help open.

Note

If one or more default roles have been created, you can leave Roles empty. Default roles will be assigned when you click Save.

Create Users from a CSV File

When there is a need to create a large number of users, it's possible to import those users using a CSV file.

You can see the Import and Export buttons highlighted in the following example.

SAP Analytics Cloud User Page open with Import and Exported highlighted.

Hint

When using this approach, it's best to first use the Export Users button to export the existing users from the users page to a CSV file. The CSV file will have the columns that the system is expecting, allowing you to update the file with the new users' information and import the file to create the users with the required information.

For more information on exporting users, visit Export Users | SAP Help Portal.

Once you upload the CSV file, you select Create Mapping.

Clicking Create Mapping in the Import User dialog opens the Map Source to Target dialog. Mapping Options can be changed and Source Columns (left) are mapped to Parameters (right).

The available mapping parameters are included in the table below:

ParameterDescription
User ID 
First Name 
Last Name 
Display Name 
Email 
Manager 
Roles 
Mobile 
Phone 
Office Location 
Function AreaCan be used to refer to a user's team or area within their organization.
Job Title 
Clean up notifications older thanSet in user settings. When to automatically delete notifications.
Email NotificationSet in user settings.
Welcome messageMessage that is shown to the user on the home screen.
Page tipsEnabled/disabled via the help center (deprecated).
Closed Page tipsClosed page tips are tracked so that they are not shown again.
Closed Item Picker TipsClosed tool tips are tracked so that they won't be reopened again (for first time users).
Current BannerSaves which banner is currently showing.
Last BannerThe UUID of the last closed banner.
Last Maintenance Banner VersionThe version when the last maintenance banner was shown.
Marketing email opt inSet in user settings.
Home screen content is initializedIf default tiles have been set for the home screen.
Expand Story ToolbarSet in user settings.
Is user concurrentIf the user has a concurrent license.
Default ApplicationThe application that will launch when you access your SAP Analytics Cloud URL. The default application can be set in SystemAdministrationSystem Configuration or in the user settings.
On the Edit Home Screen dialog, a user can override all the default preferences that have been set by the administrator for the system (SystemAdministrationDefault Appearance). These are the preferences: 
Override Background Option 
Override Logo Option 
Override Welcome Message 
Override Home Search To Insight 
Override Get Started 
Override Recent Stories 
Override Recent Presentations 
Override Calendar Highlights 

Create Users from a CSV File

Business Scenario

Since The Mock Company is setting up SAP Analytics Cloud for the first time, you have to create users for everyone who will be using SAP Analytics Cloud. As creating users individually is time consuming on this scale, you choose to create new users by importing user data that you have saved in a CSV file.

You have exported the data to a CSV file and added all of the user information required.

In this practice exercise, you will:

  • Access the Users page.
  • Import user data from a CSV file.

Maintain Users

Deactivate and Activate Users

Users can be deactivated and activated from the Users page. Select the user that you want to delete by selecting the checkbox for that user. In the example below, you can see that user A18 is selected and the entire row is highlighted. The user is currently active, so only the Deactivate icon is available in the toolbar.

SAP Analytics Cloud Users page with user A18 selected. The Activate button is grayed out and the Deactivate button is available.

A deactivated user can't log on to SAP Analytics Cloud and any licenses they consume are temporarily revoked and can be reallocated. The user’s data is saved in the system, but all scheduled data refreshes for models the user owns and any publications the user owns are paused. Deactivated users are not deleted from the system or removed from any teams.

In the example below, you can see that the deactivated user is identified with a deactivated icon in the USER ID column and the LICENSES column is empty.

SAP Analytics Cloud Users page with user A18 deactivated. They have an icon next to their name and the Licenses field is also blank.

When you reactivate a user, they can once again log on to the system and immediately resume working on their data. Their scheduled data refreshes and their publications resume. Their licenses are assigned based on their role, and are included in the license consumption total.

Modify Users

You can use a CSV file to modify existing users (or to create additional new users).

  1. Export the users' data to a CSV file from the Users page.
  2. Edit the downloaded CSV file:
    • Remove columns for values you don't want to modify.
    • Remove rows for users whose values you don't want to modify.

    Do not modify the USER ID column as this ensures that entries can be matched to existing users when you import the updated CSV file back into SAP Analytics Cloud.

  3. Import the CSV file using the same process that you used for creating new users with a CSV file.

Hint

You can deactivate multiple users at once when you’re modifying users with the CSV file import by setting the Is User Deactivated value to True for any user to be deactivated.

Delete Users

You can delete users from the Users page.

  1. Select the user that you want to delete by selecting the checkbox for that user. This highlights the entire row, as you can see in the following example.
  2. Choose what to do with user content. When you delete a user, you must transfer their content to another user.
    • Transfer all content to another user: Private, public, and shared content is transferred to a new owner. Model and connection ownership is transferred to the new owner.

    • Delete private files and only transfer public and shared content: Public and shared content is transferred to a new owner. All private content that isn’t shared is deleted.

    The user's manager is selected as the default user to transfer content to, but this can be changed in the Transfer content to: field.

  3. Click OK to remove the user from the system.
SAP Analytics Cloud User page. User A01 is selected on the left of the screen. The Delete icon is selected which opens the Delete User dialog with options to transfer all content or delete private files and transfer public and shared content with another user.

Note

Any model permissions, or connections that content depends on, are not modified when a new owner is assigned.

By default, only users assigned to the Admin or BI Admin roles can allow the transfer of content when a user is deleted. To allow other roles to transfer content, you must create a custom role that includes the Ownership of Content permission.

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