The typical planning process requires cooperation of different departments: from sales and marketing to production, IT and HR. Successful plans are based on contributions from many employees, not just financial experts, and represent a complex and collaborative process.
In practice however, the plans are still created using spreadsheets or incompatible planning systems. The inevitable errors create uncertainties in the planning process and make it impossible to react quickly to new knowledge and rapidly changing markets.
With the new strategic analytics solution SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), SAP facilitates collaboration between the individual parties. Discussions can be held directly in the application using the chat or comment functions. Milestones, tasks and workflows are visible in a central calendar and thus support effective collaboration. SAP Analytics Cloud can be used conveniently as Software as a Service (SaaS). Hosting, maintenance and updates are carried out by SAP. In this way, users can rely on up to date, high-performance software.
Support your planner’s decisions with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP). With the help of Smart Insights, the SAP Analytics Cloud notifies users of significant correlations, opportunities and risks in your corporate figures. Ask the system directly via the microphone and you will receive answers in easy-to-understand plain language. In this way you can recognize previously unknown relationships in your data and react accordingly. The potential results can be easily predicted thanks to the built-in forecast functions and Smart Predict.
With the help of a modern and intuitive user interface, you can quickly create data models and reports. Quick and easy-to-use analysis, planning and visualization functions enable users to do real self-service reporting without compromise. And if you want to continue with a proven front end tool, you can use SAP Analysis in conjunction with SAP Analytics Cloud. The integration includes reading and writing functions for users who want to work in a familiar environment.
SAP Analytics Cloud blurs the lines between reporting, planning and predictive. You can start the process at any point. For example, you can start with reporting and use the gained knowledge in planning. You can then use the predictive algorithms to open up new markets. You can also start with a predictive model to identify the key drivers for performance. Then you can make a decision, plan accordingly and check the results in reporting. Jumping to a separate planning environment is no longer necessary, as is copying the data between the planning and reporting tool. The planner can go directly into the process and copy actual data into different planning versions in order to simulate different scenarios.
SAP Analytics Cloud offers seamless integration with SAP BW, SAP BW4/HANA, SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA Cloud. You have direct access to data in the source system without data being imported into SAP Analytics Cloud. Only the meta data are transferred. The data itself remains in the source system at all times, which increases security.
You can combine an on-premise planning system with the cloud-based user experience by connecting SAP Analytics Cloud with your SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) data. Thanks to the mutual integration, you can carry out central financial activities in your BPC system and use this data as the basis for agile and simple department planning in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). Alternatively, you can use SAC to take the latest data from BPC, perform analyses and simulations and then write the new data back to BPC.
In addition to live data connection (Live Access), in which the data remains in the source system, traditional data import to SAP Analytics Cloud is also possible. A number of data sources are supported. In addition to the usual suspects in the form of SAP ECC, SAP BW, SAP S/4HANA and SAP BPC, data sources from other providers such as IBM, Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL Server, Netezza, OData as well as CSV and Excel data sources can be connected. In addition, a number of cloud-based services such as Google Drive & Sheets, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Business ByDesign, SAP Fieldglass and Hubspot can be used.
The values planned in SAC can then be exported to SAP BPC, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP) and OData Services. Of course an export to a file is still possible.
SAP Analytics Cloud makes collaboration with your team simple. You can easily communicate with other members and share insights without leaving the application. Features such as discussions and tasks help you and your colleagues make better business decisions together.
One of the most common requirements for a planning application are comments. For example, users want to comment on certain key figures in a report or add comments to a diagram or table. Often, users want to share their insights about the entire report. Comments can also be used as part of the planning process to explain why a particular budget has been set for a certain product. With SAP Analytics Cloud it is finally possible to create comments easily and flexibly.
Whether on the go with your smartphone or on the computer in the office - you can use SAP Analytics Cloud anytime, anywhere and on any device. Make business decisions based on continuous analysis functions with a coherent user experience. Analyze, plan and forecast your business figures on all devices and everywhere.
Shorten the project duration with the help of predefined functions and modular construction. Reduce manual activities to shorten planning cycles and improve planning quality. SAP Analytics Cloud is based on the SAP HANA platform, which enables large amounts of data to be analyzed easily and efficiently.
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While the predefined planning functions cover the standard processes, you can implement customer-specific requirements using a graphic script editor. With the visual tool, you can drag and drop graphic elements into a flowchart in order to accomplish the most demanding tasks even without programming experience.
While the SAC stories cover a number of standard requirements, analytical applications can be used for specific requirements. You can personalize visualizations and the interaction behavior of the interface according to user requirements. This flexibility enables you to create a variety of analytical applications - from simple static dashboards to highly customizable planning and smart predictive applications. And with Analytics Designer, you can implement specific application scenarios even better and improve the user experience
Use the built-in calendar to keep track of tasks and keep to the schedule. When working with your team, you can create and assign tasks or multi-step processes with due dates and approval workflows. You always keep an eye on the progress of the task and upcoming milestones. The individual tasks are also displayed in the calendar.
With predefined forecast functions, you don't have to rely solely on your intuition. Support your planning by calculating the likely results, including the confidence interval, for future periods based on historical data.
With the help of value driver trees you can visualize the most important influencing factors. These enable you to carry out simulations, visualize the value flow and display effects on KPIs. Value driver trees can be created automatically based on the account structure and easily expanded with your own calculations such as annual growth forecasts. While the standard value driver trees are well suited for the beginning, ValQ is a much more sophisticated solution. If you are serious about understandable visualization of complicated relationships, you can take your value driver trees to the next level with ValQ.
When you get ready to close your books, you can easily select sections of data to protect from changes. You can also delegate each section to responsible persons, who block the data themselves or set the status to "Restricted" so that the data can only be processed by those responsible.
Data security is a top priority in every company. SAP Analytics Cloud offers a dynamic security concept to protect your planning data from unauthorized access. The business department can add new users, monitor activities and data without the support of the IT department.
12/03/2024 - 03:00 to 04:00 p.m. (CET)
