Best Practices for Planning Stories in SAP Analytics Cloud

In this blog post, we discuss best practices for planning stories in SAP Analytics Cloud.

Entry into the Planning Story

A planning process consists of various phases and steps. For reasons of simplified maintenance and provision, we recommend separating individual steps from one another, and in this context, separation is at the object level.

Depending on the scope, you can create individual stories for each planning phase or planning step. However, to provide users with an easy introduction to the planning process, you should create best practices as an entry point for users.

The figure below shows you what this entry point could look like. The overview or start page should be structured and not overloaded, and in this example, the most important key figures from Human Resources are displayed in the form of KPI tiles at the top left.

The lower section of the application is divided into three visually separate areas:

• Configure Application and Parameters
• Plan FTE Demands & Costs
• Reports

In each area, users of the planning story have the option of jumping to one or more subsequent stories. In this case, users can make the jumps via simple text fields. Instead of the standard functionality for storing hyperlinks in widgets, scripting is used here. A script function is called at the onClick event of the text field in use, and you can see an example of this here:

// Extract a story id and page index at which the story should be

opened from the combination provided.

var storyId = arg_StoryIdPageIndex.substring(0,arg_

StoryIdPageIndex.indexOf(delimiter_storyIdPageIndex));

var pageIndex = arg_StoryIdPageIndex.substring(arg_

StoryIdPageIndex.indexOf(delimiter_storyIdPageIndex)+1);

// Create and fill an array of URL parameters needed to open the

desired story at the selected page.

var urlParameters = ArrayUtils.create(Type.UrlParameter);

urlParameters.push(UrlParameter.create("mode", arg_displayMode));

urlParameters.push(UrlParameter.create("page", pageIndex));

//Predictive Toggle URL Parameter is disabled but can be added here as needed.

/*

if (toggleIsPredictiveEnabled){

   urlParameters.push(UrlParameter.create('p_

toggleIsPredictiveEnabled', 'true'));

}

*/

NavigationUtils.openStory(storyId, '', urlParameters, false);

The script creates an empty object of the UrlParameter type, and the ID of the story is then taken from a script object that is the target of the jump. The script element is defined with the story’s ID when the entry story is started, and URL parameters are then defined and added to the empty object. Finally, the target story is opened using the openStory method.

The different stories are stored in a folder in the SAP Analytics Cloud file system.

This is irrelevant for users but easier to manage for the administrators of the planning story.

Assistance for Users

To support your users in the planning process, you can implement help functions, some of which are shown in this figure.

First, we’ll look at the sidebar, which is used in every single story of the business content except the entry page. The next figure shows the sidebar in detail. It offers several features, such as filtering and navigation options. You can also jump to external pages from it, for example, to ask a question or read information on the planning process.

Planning is also part of the sidebar of the story, and it usually consists of several steps. In the Instructions area, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for your users, and these ensure that even occasional users have the information they need to carry out the individual planning steps correctly.

This figure shows you the Instructions area of the business content.

Finally, there are buttons for individual actions. The following figure shows the buttons that are used in the Application Configuration story, which are color coded green and red to make it clear to users which functions they have.

In addition to the step-by-step instructions, a guided process was implemented when creating the business content. After you click the Guide Me! button, a popup opens and provides you with a focused view of the steps that you can take as the executor of the story. Below shows you this popup.

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Application Development with SAP Analytics Cloud by Josef Hampp and Jan Lang. Josef has worked with analytics and application development at SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG since 2017. Following his move to customer advisory, he has been working more intensively on the topics of data and analytics. Jan is a leading expert for data management and reporting at FC Bayern Munich. He has been working with SAP Analytics Cloud since 2017. He supports customers of the FC Bayern digital and media labs with his expertise in SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere.

This blog post was originally published 3/2025.