Analytical List Pages in S/4HANA Essentials
The analytical advances in S/4HANA are well documented and have been steadily improving with recent versions. S/4HANA provides a user experience which is enriched through the availability of key analytics and crucially, the information gleaned from these outputs is designed to significantly improve the effectiveness of the actions being undertaken in S/4HANA. This may take the form of a Purchasing Manager deciding to place orders for materials with a local supplier who has a shorter lead-time and offers attractive terms. Similarly, a colleague from Finance may choose to agree payment plans with customers to proactively avoid missed payments and customer defaults. Analytics can provide this critical foresight and in turn, boost productivity.
This suite of analytics can be expanded to cater for any additional requirements that you may have. Depending on the specific requirements, there are multiple formats for these outputs e.g. Overview Pages, Analytical List Pages, KPI Tiles, SAC Stories, etc.
Analytical List Pages in S/4HANA
In this blog, I will walk you through an example I have been discussing with a customer. This leverages the Analytical List Pages in S/4HANA and hence, did not require any additional software investment.
There are multiple steps and Apps involved in the creation of the Analytical List Page. They can all be accessed through S/4HANA. To keep this example relatively brief, I will summarise wherever possible. Please feel free to contact me if you require the associated details.
Firstly, the required data must be available in the form of CDS View(s). There are thousands of pre-delivered CDS Views that can be browsed and previewed from the “View Browser” app. In this example, I have created a custom CDS View using the “Custom CDS View” app.
This is set to an “Analytical Cube” and has the “YY1” prefix to denote its custom object status.
Once the “Primary” and “Associated” data sources (CDS Views) have been added we can add the required “Elements” as shown below. This is ostensibly the list of available fields.
Once complete, the newly created CDS View can be located in the “View Browser” app as shown below.
We can also see the “Annotations” that have been defined for this CDS View. Crucially, this does not currently include the Analytics and OData annotations. The need for this Annotation will become clearer over the subsequent steps.
With the newly defined CDS View now in place, we are ready to create the accompanying query. This requires the “Custom Analytical Queries” app.
As part of this process, we need to select the required fields and parameters. Note that this is the list of fields that will be available to the Analytical List Page (not the list of fields in the initial CDS View). Once complete, this can be previewed using the inbuilt “Design Studio” app.
Importantly, this query must be “Published” and “Activated”. This process can take a few minutes to before taking effect.
This Analytical Query is actually another CDS View and similar to the earlier example, can be located using the “View Browser” app. Note that this now has the Analytics and OData Annotations. This is a prerequisite for the next step.
Another difference when compared to the initial CDS View, this can be browsed using the “Show Content” option. This was not available for the earlier CDS View due to the missing annotations.
Interestingly, the data is browsed using the inbuilt SAP Analytics Cloud client and not Design Studio.
Now that the base CDS View has been defined and the associated Analytical Query has been published, we are ready to create the Analytical List Page. This requires the “Manage KPIs and Reports” app.
This will require the Analytical Query as a source. We can then create the following objects as part of this report:
- Visual Filters
- Main Chart
- Table
After inserting all of the above, I published this report to an available “Business Catalogue”. The resultant report can be seen below.
I can interact with this information by applying filters, adding additional dimensions, maximising the information of interest and invoking S/4HANA transactional actions such as raising a purchase order, generating a customer statements or any other action that may stem from such information.
Summary
In summary, this blog demonstrates the relatively simple steps involved in the creation of new analytics in S/4HANA. This would supplement the suite of analytics that are shipped with the platform. Invariably, organisations will encounter unique information requirements and it is comforting to know that these type of operational (but analytical) outputs can now be created and delivered within the S/4HANA Platform.
As always, please get in touch if there are any questions or insights that you wanted to share.