SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office
As a very comprehensive addin for the Office suite, SAP Analysis for Office provides many functionalities. Although this also includes integrated reporting in PowerPoint or Word, the greatest strengths lie in Microsoft Excel. As a strongly integrated addin of SAP, the multi-dimensional tool for Business Intelligence (BI) offers a seamless connection to SAP BW and the BI platform as well as SAP HANA, thus opening up a wide range of possibilities. In reporting, fast ad-hoc analyses and linking of data are just as much a part of the process as a technical deep dive into the current business figures.
This is contrasted with the collection, planning and forecasting of data. In this area, SAP Analysis for Office also offers an extensive interface against SAP BPC and integrated planning using BW-IP.
General
SAP Analysis for Office is the successor to SAP Business Explorer (BEx). In this respect, the main focus is on reporting based on SAP BW and SAP HANA. Accordingly, queries and views can be seamlessly integrated and evaluated. Based on this, the tool offers very comfortable possibilities to analyze data. This includes, above all, the setting of filters and breakdowns - essentially all the variants of the "slice and dice". All these functions are conveniently and intuitively accessible via drag & drop.
In addition to these extensive features in the area of OLAP analyses, the native front end for SAP BPC has also been part of the installation since version 2.2 of SAP Analysis with the EPM Client. The idea behind this is to be able to efficiently combine different data sources in reporting. On the other hand, this also enables a high level of integration between reporting and planning and forecasting.
Recommendation
If governance is important to you, SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office can help you unify your reporting landscape.
Your advantage
Business Intelligence and Planning
In SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office, queries and views can be consumed against SAP BW or SAP HANA, among other things. Local calculations and formulas are reasonably easy to set up and allow in-depth analyses and specialized evaluations (e.g. fast A-B-C analyses). This provides a high degree of flexibility, even if the data suppliers are provided centrally and are thus subject to central governance.
In addition to content analyses, another focus is on reporting. With little effort, users can implement appealing layouts and designs and share them with each other.
EPM Client
The installer for SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office also includes the EPM client. This combined two previously independent tools and achieved convergence. As a dedicated front-end for SAP BPC, EPM Client focuses on cell-based capture and reporting - click here for more information.
Recommendation
If you need the connection of different data sources as well as interactive what-if analyses, we recommend SAP Business Objects Dashboards.
If your data is already in the SAP world (SAP BW, HANA) and interactive what-if analysis is not your main requirement, take a look at SAP Lumira.
Your advantage
Summary
SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office combines flexible reporting with high reusability. Your users can very easily benefit from the extensive analysis and presentation options, while centrally provided views or queries against the backend deliver consistent data.
Our offer
If you are interested in SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office, we will be happy to support you with professional and technical expertise. We accompany you from the first report requirements, through the implementation, to the handover to the running operation by the specialist department.
As a first step, we recommend a short workshop in which the key points of a target scenario are developed.