Creating KPIs and Reports

Before you can create a KPI you must first create a KPI Group.

A KPI Group is a collection of related KPIs. For example, the KPIs Sales Revenue, Cost of Sales, and Lost Sales could be in a KPI Group called Sales Performance KPIs.

KPI Groups can be tagged to ensure they are easily found. They can also be assigned to an Application Area to facilitate searching. The KPI Group can also be assigned to a business user who is responsible for the KPIs in the group.

Each KPI must be assigned to a KPI Group.

An organization usually has a very large number of KPIs. KPI Groups provide a convenient way to organize and search for KPIs.

One of the key features of a KPI Group is a KPI Group Association. A KPI Group Association links KPIs that have an impact on each other, either in a positive way (supporting), or a negative way (conflicting).

Note

When you define a KPI Group Association you choose a direction (supporting or conflicting) and also a type. These two settings currently have no functional use and are not displayed in any standard reports or tiles. They are used purely for illustration and are visible only in the KPI Group app where the settings are defined.

When you create a Report (see later), you must always choose a lead KPI. The lead KPI sits on the tile surface and will also be the lead KPI for the drill down when the tile is clicked. But it is also possible to display other useful KPIs in the same Report. However, you can only choose KPIs from the same KPI Group as the lead KPI, or from any associated KPI Group. The aim is to provide the business user with more insight into the main KPI by displaying related KPIs.

Launch the video to watch how a KPI Group is created.

A KPI is an object that is based on single measure from a CDS view with added context to provide meaning.

When you define a KPI you first select a CDS view and then you must choose a single measure from that CDS view. The KPI will be based on that measure as is known as the Value Measure.

If the CDS view contains mandatory input parameters then you must provide values for these in the KPI definition. You can optionally provide additional filters values to provide even more context around the value measure. To do this you select dimensions that are available in the CDS view. For example, for the value measure sales revenue you might also include the dimensions company code or country and apply filters based on these.

When creating a KPI you must also define the Goal Type. This describes whether high or low values, or even a range of values, indicates good performance. You can also optionally provide a fixed or moving target value to indicate the desired value for the KPI. You can define values to indicate levels of performance, for example, warning values and critical values. These are known as Thresholds and are used to display the KPI value in various colors on the tile surface so that a business user can immediately see that a KPI needs investigating.

When defining the KPI threshold you can choose either a constant fixed value or point to a measure in the same CDS view to provide the value. This setting is know as the Value Type. Finally, you can specify whether the threshold value is expressed as a percentage relative to the value of another measure, again from the same CDS view. For example, in a KPI called delivery accuracy you could specify that measure delivery quantity should be at least 95% of the measure ordered quantity to be considered on-target.

It is possible to define Additional Measures for the KPI. The additional KPIs that you define are made available when you create charts that require multiple measures, for example, on a dual-line chart or a stacked column chart. The purpose of additional measures is to provide additional insight into the main KPI.

A static, non-clickable SAP Fiori tile can be created to present the KPI on its surface. But almost all KPI tiles provide an additional drill-down option in the form of a Report that opens when the user clicks on the tile. The Report provides the details behind the KPI.

Launch the video to watch how a KPI is created.

A KPI is based on a single measure and can provide only limited information when it appears on the surface of a tile. A business user is likely to want to explore the KPI by drilling down and applying filters. This is where a Report is useful.

A Report can provide a rich visualization to support a KPI using various charts and tables. Within each report you define at least one view to provide a visualization of the KPI based on your choice of one or more dimensions. For example, you might define a view using a pie chart to show the share of the KPI value by region. You can define multiple views so that the business user can switch between them. Views can also provide tabular data and this is useful to display the line-level records of the KPI.

Within the Report you can define filters on any dimension to provide a meaningful business context to each visualization.

Mini Tiles can be defined. Mini Tiles are simply tiles within a Report that provide an at-a-glance view of other related KPIs that might help to provide insight into the main KPI. The KPI you choose for the mini tile must be available in the KPI Group of the main KPI, or in an associated KPI Group.

You can define one or more navigational intents to provide useful jump targets from within the Report so that the business user is able to act on the analysis. A useful feature of intent based navigation is that the current navigation state, for example, the filters that are applied, is transferred to the target application.

Launch the video to watch how a Report is created.

To display a KPI, an SAP Fiori tile is created. If a Report is also assigned to the KPI, then a click on the tile launches the Report.

You can create the tile directly within the Report application. Simply go to the tab Applications to view the existing tiles that are used to launch the report or to create a new tile.

When you create a tile, you must choose various settings including the style of tile, the data refresh frequency, and the tile catalog assignment.

There are many types of tiles. The simplest tile will display the KPI value on its surface. If thresholds have been defined then the value will display using different colors to indicate levels of performance. More complex tiles can be defined. For example, a comparison tile displays the top 3 sales regions. A trend tile will present the KPI over a period of time to indicate how it is improving or worsening.

Launch the video to watch how a Tile is created.

The tile must be assigned to a catalog so that in turn, it can be made available, via user roles, to business users who could add it to their own SAP Fiori Launchpad using the Edit Home Page option in the SAP Fiori Launchpad.

Alternatively, the developer or administrator can add the new tile to a Tile Group so that it is immediately pushed out to the business users who already have the Tile Group assigned to them via their role.

Launch the video to watch how a Tile is added to the SAP Fiori Launchpad.