You will see the terms "measures" and "dimensions" throughout this book. Every data column that you import from a source to build a model in SAP Analytics Cloud must be marked either as a measure or a dimension. Measures are the columns by which an organization gauges its business operations and performance, while dimension columns contain the data used to qualify the measures.
These terms can be further expanded as follows:

• Measures: Measures are those fields that can be measured, aggregated, or used for mathematical operations. Measures are typically calculated data, such as dollar value or quantity sold, and they can be specified in terms of dimensions. For example, you might want to determine the sum of dollars for a given product in a given market over a given time period.
• Dimensions: A business uses measures to evaluate...

In SAP Analytics Cloud, you can create planning and analytical models. A planning model is a full-featured model, which comes with preconfigured time and categories dimensions for actual, budget, planning, forecast, and rolling forecast. A planning model also supports multicurrency and offers security at the level of both model and dimension to restrict access to specific values in the report to named individuals. It also comes with auditing features for traceability. The users who have planning privileges can create their own versions of model data, use allocation features, add new data to the model, and copy and paste data into the model.

In addition to these two models, you...

Execute the following steps to create a new analytical model. The screenshot has numbered steps for sequence to be followed for creating an analytical model:

You can import data from an external file, such as an Excel spreadsheet or a comma-separated-values file, into a new model. If the data is saved in separate sheets in the Excel workbook, you will see a drop-down list from where you can choose which sheet to import:

You can connect...

Once your model is created, you are taken to the modeler area with your new model appearing in the interface. It has a tab carrying two built-in dimensions (time and account) and five private dimensions (state, city, store, manager, and product), which are created using the source data file.

Click on the Time dimension tab (A). The Time dimension is built into analytical models that define the start and end dates of the plan's timeline and the smallest time units that will be used in the plan. The time dimension specifies the overall time frame for the model and also the granularity--the smallest time period down to which the data will be analyzed--for example...

To see a list of existing models, click Models on the main menu icon and go to Browse | Models. You will be taken to the Models interface (illustrated here) with all your models listed:

The copy option in the model's toolbar section is a very handy option to create a new model based on an existing model. It is illustrated in the following screenshot.

When you use this option to copy a model, the data and private dimensions are also copied to the new model. Public dimensions are referenced from the copied model. Note that you can use this option only for the models created in SAP Analytics Cloud version 2016.21 or later. Further, note that if a model uses a pool dimension (which is used...

As mentioned earlier, the data of the Account dimension members is not visible in the modeler. You can view this data in Stories, which is the subject of Chapter 4, Creating Stories using Charts. For the time being, you will create a temporary Story to see how the model data is reflected.

To view the model data, execute the following steps:

Upon clicking on the Story option, a wizard will initiate, and you will get the following screen:

When you click on Import & Export Data, you get a Choose how you'd like to add data screen:

Proceed further with the steps displayed in the following screenshot to add dimensions:

We have the option of viewing numerical data. We can do...

This chapter provided hands-on exposure to creating an analytical model in SAP Analytics Cloud, which serves as the basis for all your analytical needs.

Here is the workflow to create a new analytical model from a file:

1. Import a source file.
2. Set name, description, and other parameters for the model.
3. In the initial data view, choose the dimension types for the dimensions in your new model.
4. Specify attributes for the dimensions.
5. Cleanse your data and fix any mapping or data quality problems.
6. If needed, create a location dimension to visualize the data in geo maps.
7. Delete the columns that you do not plan to use in your stories.
8. Create hierarchical relationships between columns.
9. Start the automatic creation of the model.

In the next chapter, you will go through the second type of model, that is, planning, which has categories for budgets, plans, and forecasts. It also comes...