openSAP Planning with SAP Analytics Cloud

Week 1 – Guided Exercises (1/2)

PUBLIC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Model Structure ............................................................................................................................................... 3
EXERCISE 1 – DEFINE THE CURRENCY TABLE ......................................................................................... 4
EXERCISE 2 – BUILD THE MODEL FOR SALES PLANNING ....................................................................... 7

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This exercise is supposed to cover the topics presented during week 1 of the openSAP course
Planning with SAP Analytics Cloud which is published on the openSAP platform
https://open.sap.com/courses/sac3. 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.
In this exercise you will create a planning model in the SAC modeler and import sample data. The
required data like currency rates, dimension master data and transaction data are provided via an
Excel spreadsheet.
OVERVIEW
The exercise has two parts. In part one, a currency rate table is created. If you are working on a
tenant where you already have a currency rate table in place like e.g. the SAP_ALL_CURRENCY
table from the business content network you might skip this part of the exercise and re-use your
existing table when creating the planning model. Make sure that all relevant currencies are
maintained in your table.
In the second part of the exercise, a planning model is created using the SAC modeler. The model
will be created from scratch. The dimension members and the relevant attributes are provided via
an Excel file. After the model is created you will import actual data from the Excel workbook. At the
end you will create dimension combination rules to restrict the allowed dimension member
combinations.
Model Structure
The final structure of the model which is created is shown in Figure 1. The model captures the
relevant information of a sales planning process. Besides the standard dimensions for version and
time, the dimensions used in the model are product, customer, sales organization, entity and
planning level as a technical element to distinguish between different planning levels.

Figure 1 Model structure

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EXERCISE 1 – DEFINE THE CURRENCY TABLE

Explanation Screenshot

1. After you have logged

into your SAP Analytics
Cloud tenant you
should see the home
page.

2. Navigate to the main

menu and select
Create / Currency.

3. Select the option New

Currency Conversion
Table to create a new
rate table from scratch.

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4. Provide a name for the
new table and click
Create.

5. You will see the grid for

the new rate table. Put
the cursor into the top-
left cell.

6. Switch to the provided

Excel file and open the
tab called Currencies.
7. Select the cell region
with the rate
information and copy to
the clipboard (Ctrl+C).

Note: Make sure that the

settings for the decimal
separator are aligned
between Excel and your
Chrome settings (if in doubt
make sure you have
selected the dot “.” as the
decimal separator).
Otherwise you might get an
error message when trying
to paste the values into the
rate table.

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8. Navigate back to the
currency view in SAP
Analytics Cloud and
paste the currency
rates (Ctrl-V).
9. Save the rate table.

10. Navigate back to the

home page.

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EXERCISE 2 – BUILD THE MODEL FOR SALES PLANNING

Explanation Screenshot

1. Start this exercise from the

homepage of your SAP
Analytics Cloud tenant.

2. In the main menu, navigate

to Browse / Files.

3. Make sure that you are in the

folder My Files.
4. Select New Folder from the
toolbar.

5. Provide Week1 as the name

for the new folder and a
description.
6. Hit the button OK.

7. You should see the new

folder Week1 as a sub-folder
under My Files.

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8. Navigate into the new folder
Week1.
9. Create a new model from the
toolbar.

10. Select Start with a blank

model from the following
screen to initiate the workflow
for creating a new model.

11. You will get to the SAC

modeler where you see a
new (still empty) model.
12. On the left you see the list of
the model’s dimensions.
Initially, there are already the
standard dimensions for
version and date.
13. In the main window, you see
a graphical representation of
the model structure.

14. Switch off the graphical

model view via the toolbar.

15. Select Add new Dimension

from the Edit section of the
toolbar to add another
dimension to the model.

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16. Provide MEASURE as the
name of the new dimension.
17. Make sure that Account is
selected as the type of the
dimension.
18. Make sure that the option
Make this a Public Dimension
is not selected.

19. As a result, a new account

dimension is added to the
model. This dimension is
used to define the relevant
business KPI’s which should
be stored in the data model.

Note: The account dimension is

a special dimension which
additional functionalities which
are covered in detail later.

20. Repeat the procedure and

add another dimension from
the toolbar. Provide
SAP_CEP_PRODUCT as
the name of the dimension.
21. Select Generic as the
dimension type.
22. Make sure the dimension is
private, i.e. the option Make
this a Public Dimension is
not selected.

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23. In the panel Dimension
Settings on the right you can
adjust the settings for the
dimension.
24. Provide a Description.
25. In the section Hierarchies,
click on Create Hierarchy
and then Parent-Child-
Hierarchy. This will add a
hierarchy to the product
dimension.

26. Provide a technical ID (e.g.

H1) and a description for the
new product hierarchy.

27. As a result, you should see

the new dimension in the list
of the dimensions of the
model.
28. Click on the entry for the new
dimension.

29. The maintenance view for the

dimension members is
opened. The dimension has
already two default members.
The member # to denote that
a record does not expose
any information for this
dimension and the member
Not In Hierarchies which is
used in scenarios with
multiple hierarchies to
exclude certain members
from a hierarchy.

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30. Make sure you have selected
the grid view from the
toolbar.
31. Place the cursor into the first
column of an empty row.

32. Switch to provided Excel

spreadsheet and navigate to
the Tab named Product.
33. Select the cell region with the
master data information for
the product dimension
34. Copy the data into the
clipboard (hit Ctrl-C).

35. Switch back to the browser

and paste the values into the
grid of the dimension
elements (hit Ctrl-V).
36. Navigate back to the
dimension overview window
by clicking on the back icon <
in the toolbar.

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37. Repeat the procedure and
add another dimension.
38. Provide
SAP_CEP_CUSTOMER as
the name of the new
dimension.
39. Make sure the dimension
type is set to Generic.
40. Make sure that the dimension
is private.

41. In the dimension settings

panel, provide a description.

42. In the Properties section of

the dimension settings, click
on Create Property to define
custom attributes for the
dimension.

43. Provide a technical ID and an

optional description. Since
the property is used to define
a level-based hierarchy later
on, you should choose L1 as
the ID.

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44. Repeat the procedure to add
further properties. At the end
you should have three
properties called L1, L2 and
cL3.

45. Create a new level-based

hierarchy based on these
three attributes. In the
section Hierarchies, click on
Create Hierarchy and select
Level-Based Hierarchy.

46. Create a new hierarchy in the

Hierarchy Builder.

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47. Select L3 from the drop-down
box as the attribute
representing the lowest level
of the hierarchy.

48. Finalize the hierarchy

definition by selecting
attributes L2 and L1. Provide
a name for the hierarch (H1).

49. You should see the new

hierarchy in the in the section
Hierarchies.

50. In the dimension overview,

you can see the new
customer dimension. Click on
the entry to open the
dimension member
maintenance view.

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51. Select the first column of an
empty row in the dimension
member grid. Make sure that
you are in grid view (you can
change this via the icon in
the toolbar).

52. Switch to the provided Excel

file and navigate to the tab
named Customer.
53. Select the cell region
containing the customer
master data.
54. Copy the data to the
clipboard (Ctrl-C).

55. Navigate back to the browser

window and paste the data
into the dimension member
grid (Ctrl-V).
56. Navigate back to the
dimension overview window
via the back button in the
toolbar (<).

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57. Repeat the procedure and
create another dimension.
58. Provide
SAP_CEP_SALESORG as
the name.
59. Make sure that the dimension
type is Generic.
60. Make sure that the dimension
is private.

61. In the dimension settings

panel on the right, provide a
description for the dimension.

62. In the section Hierarchies,

click on Create Hierarchy and
Parent-Child Hierarchy to
create a hierarchy for the
sales organizations.

63. In the section Properties,

switch on the toggle Enable
Currency. This will create a
system attribute to keep the
local currency of each sales
organization.
64. Click on Create Property to
add another custom attribute.

65. The custom property should

be named Entity. This
property is used to establish
a link between sales
organization and the
corresponding legal entity.

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66. In the dimension list, click on
the entry for the dimension
sales organization to open
the dimension member
maintenance.

67. Place the cursor into the first

column of an empty row.

68. Switch to the provided Excel

file and navigate to the tab
named SalesOrg.
69. Select the cell region with the
dimension member
information and hit Ctrl-C to
copy the data into the
clipboard.

70. Switch back to the browser

window and paste the data
into the dimension member
grid (Ctrl-V).
71. Navigate back to the model
overview page via the back
icon in the toolbar.

72. Repeat the procedure to add

another dimension for the
legal entity.

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73. Provide SAP_CEP_ENTITY
as name and make sure that
the type is set to Generic.
74. Make sure that the dimension
is private, i.e. the option
Make this a Public Dimension
is not selected.

75. In the dimension settings

panel, provide a description
for the dimension.

76. In the Hierarchies section,

add a new parent-child
hierarchy.
77. Provide an ID and a
description.

78. In the Properties section,

switch on the toggle Enable
Currency and add another
Custom Property named
Country.

79. In the dimension list of the

dimension, click on the entry
for the entity dimension to
open the dimension
maintenance window.

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80. Place the cursor in the first
column of an empty row.

81. Switch to the provided Excel

workbook and select the cell
region with the dimension
member information.
82. Copy the information to the
clipboard (Ctrl-C).

83. Navigate back to the browser

window and paste the entity
information into the grid (Ctrl-
V).
84. Navigate back to the
dimension overview window
via the back icon in the
toolbar (<).

85. Repeat the procedure to add

another dimension for the
planning level. This
dimension is a rather
technical dimension to allow
for planning process steps to
take place on different levels.

86. Provide SAP_CEP_LEVEL

as the name for the
dimension.
87. Make sure that the dimension
type is set to Generic and
the dimension is private and
not public.

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88. In the dimension settings
panel, provide a description.

89. In the dimension overview

list, click on the entry for the
new dimension to open the
dimension member view.

90. Place the cursor into the first

column of an empty row.

91. Switch to the provided Excel

workbook and navigate to the
tab named Planning Level.
92. Select the cell region with the
dimension member
information and copy the
data to the clipboard (Ctrl-C).

93. Switch back to the browser

window and paste the
information into the
dimension member grid (Ctrl-
V).
94. Navigate back to the
dimension overview via the
back icon in the toolbar.

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95. You have added all the
relevant dimension for the
sales planning model. The
list of dimensions should look
similar to what is shown in
the screenshot on the right.

96. From the toolbar open the

Model Preferences.

97. In the model preferences, we

will configure the currency
conversion.
98. Navigate to the tab named
Currency.
99. Switch on the toggle
Currency Conversion.
100. Make sure that USD is
selected as Default
Currency.
101. Select
SAP_CEP_SALESORG as
the dimension with the
currency property enabled.

Note: The values are translated

to the reporting currency on-the-
fly. The currency property of the
selected dimension determines
how the system interprets the
persisted values on the
database.

102. Scroll further down, to

check that Date is picked as
the Date Dimension.
103. Hit OK to close the
model preferences.

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104. In the model overview
page, click on the entry for
the account dimension to
open the member
maintenance view.

105. Switch to the provided

Excel workbook and navigate
to the tab called Measure.
106. Select the cell region for
the first four measures
(DISCOUNTS,
GROSS_SALES, PRICE and
QUANTITY)
107. Copy those items to the
clipboard (Ctrl-C).

108. Switch back to the

browser window and place
the cursor to the first empty
cell.

109. Paste the data into the

grid (Ctrl-V).
110. Navigate back to the
dimension overview list via
the back button in the toolbar
(<).

111. All the KPI’s and

dimensions of the model are
now defined.

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112. Save the model via the
toolbar.

113. Make sure that the

folder My Files/Week1 is
selected.
114. Provide
SAP_CEP_SALES_PLANNI
NG as the model name.
115. Provide and optional
description.
116. Hit the OK button to
save the model.

117. Now that the model is

saved, we can import actual
data. For this, navigate to the
Data Management view.

118. In the data management

environment, you can define
import and export jobs for the
model. We create a new
import job. Click the import
icon.

119. Select File as the data

source for the import job.

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120. Select the provided
Excel workbook
SalesData.xlsx from your
local disk as the source file.
121. Make sure that the first
tab of the workbook named
Transactional Data is
selected under Sheet.
122. Make sure that the
option Use first row as
column headers is switched
on.
123. Hit the Import button to
start the upload.

124. After a short while the

file should appear in the
section Draft Sources.
125. Click on the entry to
open the data wrangling
environment.

126. In the data wrangling

environment, you see the
structure of the file (i.e. the
columns) on the left-hand
side and the structure of the
model, i.e. its dimensions, in
the middle of the window.
127. The system tries to
match the columns to the
corresponding dimensions.
128. If this is not successful,
you can match columns and
dimensions manually by
dragging the icons from the
list to the tiles representing
the dimensions.
129. The system performs
and automated master data
check. In case there are
elements in the file for which
no dimension elements exist,
you will see an error
message.
130. Click on the Version
tile.

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131. In the panel on the right,
click on the button Map
Versions.

132. In the mapping dialog,

make sure that data of the
source is imported to the
version Actual.
133. Hit the OK button.

134. In the data wrangling

environment, switch from the
card view to the grid view.

135. In the grid view, you get

a preview of the source data.
136. If needed you can also
define transformation to
change some of the source
data.

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137. If the consistency
checks are ok, there will be a
positive indicator No Issues
which means you can start
the actual import process
which copies the data into
the model.
138. You start this process
by hitting the Finish
Mapping button at the
bottom.

139. In a confirmation dialog

you can click on Finish to
start the process.

140. After the import is

finished you will see a
success message and some
statistics in the data
management environment.

141. As a next step, we want

to configure valid member
combinations for the
dimensions sales
organization and legal entity
because a sales organization
is typically assigned to one
legal entity. Open the model
preferences from the toolbar.

142. In the tab Access and

Privacy, switch on the toggle
Validation Rule.
143. Click on OK.

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144. As a result, you will get
an additional area in the
modeling environment which
can be used to define valid
member combinations
between dimensions. Before
you can switch to this Rules
perspective you need to save
the model.

145. Switch to the Rules

perspective.

146. In this environment you

can define validation rules. A
validation rule defines a set
of valid combinations. The
user can plan values for
those combinations.

147. Create a new validation

rule by clicking on Create
New Rule.

148. Provide a name and a

description for the rule. In this
example, a rule is defined for
valid combinations of the two
dimensions sales
organization and legal entity
because a sales organization
is assigned to exactly one
legal entity. So, data entry
should be restricted to this
particular combination.

149. Add a new Reference

Dimension.

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150. Pick Sales Org from the
list.

151. In the column Matched

Dimension click on the + icon
to add the second dimension
for the validation rule.

152. In the dialog, pick the

attribute Entity from the Sales
Org dimension and Entity as
the matched dimension.

153. As a result, you see the

members of the Sales Org
dimension. The
corresponding members of
the legal entity are derived
from the attribute entity of the
Sales Org dimension.

154. Click the Save button.

155. Navigate back to the

model overview page.

156. In the overview page

you can switch on the
graphical representation of
the model.

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157. Your model should look
similar to what is shown in
the screenshot.

Congratulations! You have finished the exercise.

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Coding Samples
Any software coding or code lines/strings (“Code”) provided in this documentation are only examples and are not intended for use in a production system environment. The Code is only intended to better
explain and visualize the syntax and phrasing rules for certain SAP coding. SAP does not warrant the correctness or completeness of the Code provided herein and SAP shall not be liable for errors or
damages cause by use of the Code, except where such damages were caused by SAP with intent or with gross negligence.

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