PUBLIC

Planning with SAP Analytics Cloud – Advanced Topics Week 1

Exercises / Solutions

Product Management / SAP SE

www.sap.com/contactsap

© 2020 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice. Some software products marketed by SAP SE and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors. National product specifications may vary. These materials are provided by SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP or its affiliated companies shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP or SAP affiliate company products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. In particular, SAP SE or its affiliated companies have no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this document or any related presentation, or to develop or release any functionality mentioned therein. This document, or any related presentation, and SAP SE’s or its affiliated companies’ strategy and possible future developments, products, and/or platform directions and functionality are all subject to change and may be changed by SAP SE or its affiliated companies at any time for any reason without notice. The information in this document is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and they should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. See www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................................................3

EXERCISE ........................................................................................................................................................4

Exercise 1 – Week 1 Modeling .........................................................................................................................4

Week 1

3

OVERVIEW

This exercise is supposed to cover the topics presented during the openSAP course Planning with SAP Analytics Cloud – Advanced Topics which is published on the OpenSAP platform https://open.sap.com/courses/sac4. This exercise is not relevant for the certificate of achievement provided at the end of the course. The exercises can be used to intensify your learning experience with a guided hands-on tutorial. The concepts behind the materials of this exercise are explained during the course sessions.

Week 1

4

EXERCISE

Exercise 1 – Week 1 Modeling

Explanation Screenshot

1. From the main menu, select Files so we can create a folder for this week’s assignment.

2. We are going to place this our assignment files in the My Files directory by selecting New Folder. This directory is only accessible to your user unless you share materials. If other colleagues are using your system for these exercises, this file location will be unique to the user.

3. Please give the folder a name and provide a description if so inclined.

Week 1

5

4. Select the folder.

5. Selecting the menu icon, select model. Note you could have also selected the Model from the main menu.

6. As the model we are creating has currency conversion enabled, we will create this model first by selecting the Currency Conversion tab and then the Create New button.

Week 1

6

7. Create a name for your currency table as well as a description. If you are working in a system where your colleagues are performing these exercising, it may be useful to provide this table with a more unique currency name.

8. Here we see a blank currency table. Note that we can be very specific in our currency rates we create to have them targeted to a specific versions category (i.e. Actual, Plan, Forecast) or a specific rate version (i.e. 2021 Forecast). We can also apply this as an average rate (i.e. typically P&L accounts) or closing rate (i.e. typically Balance Sheet accounts).

9. From Open SAP, we are going to open the openSAP_sac4_week_1_Meta_Model.xlsx, which contains the currency records for this currency table.

10. Copy the values from the SAP_CEP_Currency tab in the Excel workbook. Pease do not copy (crtl-c) the first row as this is intended to provide a description of each column to make the table more readable in Excel.

Week 1

7

11. Select the cell located in first column and first row and paste the values into the table (ctrl-v).

12. Select the Save button to save the currency model.

13. Next, we are going to create the main model we are going to use for this week’s exercise. We can simply select the Modeler or use the main menu to select it as well.

14. Select the Create New to create a new model.

Week 1

8

15. Select the New Model. If you would like to know more about the New Model, you can also select the link to Learn more.

16. Select Add new Dimension to add the dimension for currency. We are going to create a very minimalist model so that we can save it. To save the model, we need to add at least one measure. Since we will be building a currency enabled model, we will add a dimension that contains currency, a measure and then save the model.

Week 1

9

17. Give the dimension a name such as SAP_CEP_SALES_ORG. We are going to make this a generic dimension and not make it public. Public dimensions can be shared across measures and can be loaded from external systems. However, we are going to be simply cutting and pasting values from Excel to create the dimensions in the model.

18. Double click SAP_CEP_SALES_ORG to open the dimension.

19. Here we are going create a Parent-Child Hierarchy for this dimension. In this case, we are not selecting a level-based hierarchy, which is created based off dimension attributes.

Week 1

10

20. Give your hierarchy an ID and a name.

21. You should now see the hierarchy after it is created.

22. Next, we are going to create a property in the dimension. Properties can be used for a wide variety of purposes for modeling that extend beyond this course. As you will see later in this exercise, we can use properties to create level-based hierarchies for instance.

Week 1

11

23. Here we are going to create an attribute called Entity. We are creating this attribute for illustrative purposes.

24. Next, we are going to Enable Currency for this model. This will become important when we define our measures. When we create the measures, we will be storing our data based on the currency defined by this dimension.

25. When you have completed configuring this dimension, your dimension should look like the following.

Week 1

12

26. Next, open the openSAP_sac4_week_1_Meta_Model file and select the SAP_CEP_SALESORG tab.

27. Select the values excluding the first row and copy (ctrl-c). Pay special attention to the ‘#’ an ‘Not in Hierarchies” node when copying the data to make sure they are included in your selection.

28. Select the first column and row and then paste the values (ctrl-v).

Week 1

13

29. After the paste activity, your dimension should look like what is shown in the screenshot. We will press the back arrow to get back to the main modeling screen.

30. Select the + to create a new measure. If you have tried to save prior to creating a measure, you will likely encounter an error message. After we create the measure, we will be able to save the model. Hang in there, we will be able to save the model soon.

Week 1

14

31. Give your measure a name and description. Since this is a going to contain currency values, we will define it as a data type of decimal and set the decimal places to 2. Note that we are defining the maximum number of decimal places that can be saved at the database level. We are also going to define the measure having a unit of currency and will define this from dimension. In this case, we will select the dimension that was previously created in this model.

Week 1

15

32. Select the save icon to save your model!

33. We are going to save the model to the folder previously created.

Week 1

16

34. Verify the location where the model will be saved and then give your model a name and description. Feel free to save the model at any time that is convenient. Notice that your planning model does not contain an account dimension. For the new model, account is optional. For the classic account model, it remains mandatory.

35. Now that we have created one dimension and one measure in our model, we are going to provide some higher-level definitions for the rest of the model and let you self-explore how to create these additional dimensions and measures. We will be going over the higher-level definitions for each of these items in the next few steps.

36. Select the wrench to configure the model preferences.

Week 1

17

37. Select the Planning & Time Range to set the time validity for the model. Set the From and To date from the dropdown. Make sure to select both a year and month/day when selecting a value.

38. Set the Currency Conversion toggle to on and then select the currency table that you have previously created. If possible, select the Create Currency Variable option. We are expecting this toggle to be available to various tenants at the release of this exercise.

Week 1

18

39. When currency as a variable is enabled, you will see a variable description and a default value. We will select ‘No Conversion.’ In our example, currency is defined in the sales organization dimension so this would be a local currency. However, we could have selected a specific currency if desired, such as USD or EUR. Currencies come for the rate table. This currency variable is also viewable as part of the variable definition under the Data area of the model menu.

40. Add a new dimension for product, such as SAP_CEP_PRODUCT.

41. Create a parent-child hierarchy. You have previously done this as part of this exercise so review exercise for some hints how to do this if the solution is not readily apparent.

Week 1

19

42. Copy and paste the values from the worksheet tab SAP_CEP_PRODUCT. You have done similar steps before so this should be good practice.

43. Once you have copied and pasted the date from the excel worksheet into your product dimension, it should look like associated screenshot.

44. Give the dimension a name and create it with type Generic. If you are new to SAC, please select the dropdown to see the other types of dimensions that can be created.

Week 1

20

45. Add three custom properties of type text. These will be used to create a level-based hierarchy.

46. Create a Level Based Hierarchy and build the hierarchy as shown. A level-based hierarchy is created based on properties and has a fixed number of levels that is defined by the model designer. This can be a useful technique for creating a hierarchy without adding new members.

Week 1

21

47. Build the hierarchy as shown and give the hierarchy a name.

48. Copy values from the SAP_CEP_Customer worksheet to the dimension. The first few rows of the copied customer dimension are shown. Also, remember to Save your model periodically.

Week 1

22

49. Add a new generic dimension called SAP_CEP_Entity.

50. Add a parent-child hierarchy called H1, enable currency on the dimension and create a property called Country. We have done all these steps already as part of the exercise so this should be a good review of these concepts.

51. From the Excel file, copy the values from the entity worksheet and paste them into the SAP_CEP_ENTITY dimension.

Week 1

23

52. Create an Account dimension by providing a name and setting the type to Account. Notice that that Account dimensions are private. Also note that for the New Model, the Account dimension is not mandatory for this model type, which makes modeling more flexible.

53. From the excel workbook, copy the account date from the SAP_CEP_ACCOUNT worksheet. Notice that we added some account formulas to our model. This is for illustration purposes as we will be modeling these as measures. The calculation preference (i.e. accounts vs measures) can be set as a model property. Based on our scenario, account formulas were not showcased.

54. Create a new measure and call it Quantity. Based on the data for this scenario, we can model the quantity as an integer (vs. a decimal) and give it a unit of each.

Week 1

24

Week 1

25

55. Create another measure called PRICE. We will set the data type to decimal with places set to 2. Next, set the exception aggregation to average and the dimensions for calculation of this average to date, sales org and product. This was mainly done to reflect how price was stored in the back-end system. Lastly, we will set the currency to based off our sales org dimension.

Week 1

26

56. Next, we will go to the workspace dropdown selector and select Calculations.

57. Now we will create a Conversion Measure so we can see the value in USD, which is our company currency. This action will be accomplished over the next several steps.

Week 1

27

58. Here we will provide a name for our conversion measure and target currency. Options here will include creating currency that is fixed, which we are doing, based on a dimension such as sales organization in our example or from a variable, which we enabled. We will create this measure based on a Fixed currency so we can easily see all of our amount values in USD.

59. Now we will create a Calculated Measure for an average price calculation where we will use the conversion measure we just created. While this is a simple example, the point here is to show how we can use conversion measures in our calculations. Notice that when building the calculation that we can also build formulas with measures as well.

Week 1

28

60. Create a Calculated Measure called PRICE_USD with the following formula:

[AMOUNT_USD]/[QUANTITY]|INVERSE([AMOUNT_USD]:=[QUANTITY]*[PRICE_USD]) Can enter ‘[‘ to help pick values. Also note that there is a special character before INVERSE, which is a ‘|”. Basically, we are providing a simple definition of price = amount/volume and if someone plans on this calculation to adjust the amount value.

61. Copy the two csv files to your local computer from the week 1 course materials. We will be loading these files in the next several steps.

62. From the Workspace menu, select Data Management

Week 1

29

63. From the import jobs work area, select the menu icon to import data and then select File.

64. Select the OpenSAP_sac4_Actual_Data.csv file that you have previously downloaded to your local computer. Then select the Import button. Once back to the data management tab, you will need to select the Set up Import for your actuals import job. Note that this step is not explicitly shown in the screenshot.

65. Here we can see the data that has been imported from the file. Please note how the version is stored (public.Actual) as this will be a problem we will correct when load the plan data. Please select the wrench button to adjust your preferences for the data load.

Week 1

30

66. On the Import Settings tab, we will choose to update all the data and choose to reverse sign by the account type. This will allow signage of the accounts values we are loading to be properly managed based on the account type property in the account dimension.

67. As SAC will use a sample of data to determine the data types, it is possible that they may need to be adjusted, which will be the case when we load plan data later in the exercise. If we want to see how a field is defined, in our source, simply select the column name and the cube to see the details.

Week 1

31

68. Here we can see the Quantity is defined as an integer. This is consistent with how we modeled this measure as well so there are no issues.

69. Next, we will map the columns to target dimensions as shown. Column names should loosely match the target dimensions.

Week 1

32

70. This is what your field mapping screen will look like when activity is completed. The main point here is that all the target fields have been mapped. When we are happy with our mapping, select the Next button. Notice that we can also save our work and re-edit the transformation later.

71. When loading the Actuals, we should not see any mapping errors at this time. Assuming no errors, select the Run Import.

72. Review settings and select the Finish button.

Week 1

33

73. When the data has been imported, you should see a green status for the execution steps. If the job had failed, these indicators would provide insight as to where the problem was encountered so that changes can be made to subsequent loads.

74. We will now go to the workspace dropdown and select Calculations.

75. Notice that we can now view the data from within the modeler versus having to create a story. We can also do some simple filtering on the data and change the layout as well. This is useful for confirming data within the model.

76. Remember to periodically Save your model.

Week 1

34

77. We can also create a story to view our data as well. To create a story, we will select Stories from the main menu.

78. We are now going to create a simple story to view the data we have loaded into our model. This will also allow us to cover a few basic points about working with planning models for those that may be new to SAC -Planning. If you are new to SAC, please consider selecting the Learn More in the story header to explore story elements in greater detail.

79. To view the planning data, we will add a table to the canvas. You may need to select your model from the prompt. If you are new to SAC, please understand that we are only specifying the first widget we add to a story

Week 1

35

80. Since we have configured a model variable (i.e. currency), we will be prompted to enter a value when we create the story. Notice that the initial selection will correspond to the currency selected when creating the currency variable. However, this value can be changed for the story. Also remember that variables can also be set for each table as well to provide additional flexibility.

Week 1

36

81. With the designer panel open, add SALES_ORG to the Rows.

Week 1

37

82. Select the sales organization dimension and drag and drop above account in the Rows structure.

83. After completing the activity, the Rows should now have the SALES_ORG above the ACCOUNT.

Week 1

38

84. Expand the Total node and expand the table size as necessary.

Week 1

39

85. Select the filter for Measures.

86. We are now going to select Amount USD so we can see the conversion measure we created in the model being used in a story.

Week 1

40

87. You may need to adjust the table size several times during this exercise. You will need to manage this activity as required.

88. Next, we will open up Version Management and you can select the icon. If the icon is not visible in the menu, you may need to select the ‘…’ to view.

89. Select the Copy icon to create a new version from the Actuals.

Week 1

41

90. Here we are going to create a new version called Plan. We are going to create an blank version as we will load the data from a file and go through some data wrangling activities. If you are new to planning, you will see this is an easy way to copy a version as a basis for a new plan or to run though some planning scenarios individually. This will create a private version, which is only available to you, unless you choose to share it with others.

91. Throughout the exercises, it may be necessary to undo some planning adjustments. This can be done in the version management.

Week 1

42

92. Select the data icon for the Plan version and the Publish As menu option. We are going to show you how to create a public version based on a Private version. Public versions are can be viewed by anyone that has the proper authorizations to the model without explicitly having to share it.

93. We will give the version name of Plan of category Planning. If you are new to SAC, you may want explore the other version categories that come pre-delivered. Note that the category provides a convenient way to organize your public versions. We will be loading data into this version so if you choose to give it another name, you will need to make adjustments to the exercise steps yourself.

Week 1

43

94. For fun, we will now create a private version that can be immediately used for planning. This can be helpful for planners that may want to create a few different scenarios prior to updating the plan. Creating private versions can be particularly helpful when performing the exercises as the participant can go off script and explore the solution’s capabilities. This can also be done with public versions as well where the participant can choose whether or not to publish the version. Changes made to private versions do not require publishing.

95. Give the private version and name and then assign it a category. We will not be doing much planning specific activities with this private version so feel free to provide a unique name and another category. Ideally, you should assign this category for Plan vs. Actual as shown. The category chosen will affect the currency rates used during these activities.

Week 1

44

96. Notice the private version just created will show up in the private versions section of Version Management. Feel free to explore the ‘…’ to see what options are available with this version type. Note that no other user can see your private version unless you share it with them, which is a great way to collaborate with colleagues.

97. You may notice that after you created your private version that it was automatically added to the report. Here we are going to select the filter for Version to manage what version we would like to display in our report.

Week 1

45

98. If you are new to SAC, you may be surprised that you do not see your Plan version when you open up the filter for Version. You do not see the Plan version because it does not contain data. You need to enable the unbooked member toggle to see all of your versions. We are only going select our new private version for this table.

99. Notice that your private version now appears in the table.

100. Although the focus of this exercise is not on planning specific functions, we will make a quick adjustment to the plan to show how we can use version management to undo our change. Here I am increasing our sales by 10%.

Week 1

46

101. With the change, we will now see all the values that are updated. Since Amount_USD is based on Amount, we see the Amount values also updated with this change.

102. We are going to reverse our planning change we just made. To accomplish this objective, we will use version management.

103. Open the menu for our private planning version we previously created and then select History. We could also have selected the Undo option as we only have made one change.

Week 1

47

104. We are now going to select the initial copy step so reset the version back to the beginning. If we had made multiple planning changes, we would have seen multiple steps.

105. With tis change, you will now see our planning change has been undone. If you are new to SAC, working with private versions and Version Management are a great way to explore planning features and see the corresponding changes with your planning activities.

106. Another great way to explore planning features is to explore the online help. There is a lot of great information contained here and it is constantly being updated.

Week 1

48

107. Interested in how a feature works, videos provide a great way to explore our capabilities without a lot of trial and error. Simply select the video, watch and then apply to your planning model as appropriate.

Week 1

49

108. This is an example of the videos that are available for planning.

Week 1

50

109. If you have not already done so, please save your story.

110. You may want to consider saving your story in the same location as your model. When you save items to your ‘My Files’, these objects will only be available to you unless you share these items, such as the model or story.

Week 1

51

111. Now we are going to go back to the model so we can load our plan data. We could have also created our plan based on Actuals. However, we still have some items to cover on data wrangling.

112. Open your planning model.

113. Select Data Management from the model Workspace.

Week 1

52

114. Once again, we are going to import data from a file. In this case, we are going to upload the planning data.

115. This file is contained with the week 1 materials and should have been stored locally. Please select the Plan data file.

116. We are now going to configure the steps needed to import the data. Most of these steps should be a review. We have included some minor data issues to illustrate some of the features that are possible with the new wrangling experience for the new model.

Week 1

53

117. Open the Model Preferences by selection the wrench icon.

118. We are going to update the data and we will reverse sign by account type based on how we have staged the data in the spreadsheet.

119. During our previous import of actuals data, we noticed the version was called out as ‘public.Actual’. We are going to need to create a transformation rule to convert ‘Plan’ to ‘public.Plan’

Week 1

54

120. Notice that when you open the expression editor that the system will provide some tips to help you create them.

121. Here we are going to create a new column where we concatenate “public.” with the version. Please take some time to explore some of the other transformations that are possible with the expression editor.

Week 1

55

122. Select the Custom Formula icon to close the display.

123. Here you can see that we have added a new column for our planning version. We chose in this case to create a new column but could have simply updated the version column itself.

124. The default mapping for version is public.Actual. We are going to un-map this item and re-map it to our new column we just created for our transformation.

Week 1

56

125. May your columns to the appropriate dimensions. Pay special attention to the version mapping as we will want to use the column we just created.

126. This is what the final mapping will look like once we have completed this activity.

Week 1

57

127. Notice that the system has identified an issue with Quantity. Based on the message, the data type is incorrect. The system thinks the value is a string but is an integer. This mismatch can sometimes happen if the sample data does not contain any values, such as quantity. However, it is easy enough to fix. We will need to Prepare Data again.

128. Looking at Quantity, we can visually see that this is being modeled as a string. Select the cube icon to view the definition.

Week 1

58

129. Based on our model, we will change the data type for Quantity to Integer.

130. You may need to select Next twice to get to the screen to import the data.

131. Select the Run Import button to import the plan data into the model. Notice that the inconsistency with Quantity has been resolved.

Week 1

59

132. Press Finish to import the plan data into the model.

133. Notice that the data has been loaded based on the status. If there were issues, the status would not be universally green.

134. From our model workspace, select the Model Structure so that we can see our plan data within our modeling framework.

Week 1

60

135. We can select Plan from the version dropdown.

136. And now we can see our plan data that we have just loaded.

137. We are now going to show how we can create some calculation in a story as well. This will is a useful technique to extend modeling for various planning scenarios. In this section we will take advantage of the currency variable we created earlier in the exercise. Note that we could also create this same calculation in the model as well. Sometimes it is useful to create calculations in the story for rapid prototyping or for one-off situations.

Week 1

61

138. We are going to open our previous story which should be available from your home page (depending on configuration) or from Recent Files as shown.

139. Since we are going to be creating calculations in the story, we will need to be in the story design time. We can enter this mode by selecting Edit.

Week 1

62

140. We are going to add our calculation as a Measure.

141. We want to select the type to be Currency Conversion. Then we will give our measure a name and sent the target currency to ‘From Variable.’

Week 1

63

142. We now see our calculation in our story. We can set the currency variable at the story or table level.

143. To change the model variable value at the story level, we will select our model. We will then be prompted to update the variable. Note that we had previously set the variable to ‘No Conversion’ at the model level and at the story level when we first created this story.

144. We are going to select USD. Note that we did not update all the currency conversion values for the other currencies that are available for selection. The list of possible currencies come from the rate table.

Week 1

64

145. Now we can see that the Amount_USD that we created as a conversion measure matches the Amount_Var that we created based on the currency variable.

146. Please periodically remember to Save your report.

Week 1

65

147. From the Designer panel, select the filter for Measures.

148. We are now going to select Amount_USD and Quantity. These are going to be used in an Average Price calculation.

Week 1

66

149. We will create a calculated measure, where we will simply divide Amount_USD by Quantity.

150. We can now see our calculation in the story. Using story calculations, we can extend our modeling paradigm in a very flexible manner.

Week 1

67

151. If we want to change the order of the displayed members, we can also edit that as well via the Edit Member Order menu item.

Week 1

68

152. Basically, I wanted the table to display Amount_USD, then Quantity and then the Average Price USD, which can be accomplished by dragging and dropping values into the correct order.

153. Here you can see the order has changed.

Week 1

69

Congratulations! You have finished the exercise.

154. To clean up our scenario we will also give our page a new name.

155. We will call it Week_1.

156. Since we are almost done with the exercise, it is a good time to Save the story if you have not done so already.