What can the new SAC Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint (Composable Analytics) do?
- SAP Analytics Cloud
- 7 min reading time
Nikolai Maag
This wiki article is about the new SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, which enables seamless integration of data and visualizations from SAP Analytics Cloud into PowerPoint presentations. The add-in allows users to embed interactive SAC widgets directly into their slides and update them as needed, so that the latest data is always available without manual screenshots. As part of the Composable Analytics approach of SAP Analytics Cloud, this tool supports the flexible use of analyses directly in Microsoft applications such as PowerPoint or Excel. The main functions include user-friendly navigation, quick search for SAC stories and widgets and the ability to filter data directly and update it in real time. Companies benefit from more efficient design of presentations and a reliable data basis for decision-making processes.
Table of contents
1. What is the SAC Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint?
The SAP Analytics Cloud Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to embed SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) widgets directly into PowerPoint presentations as an image. Through an intuitive connection to an SAP Analytics Cloud tenant, users can quickly search for stories and associated widgets, select them, filter them if necessary, and add them directly to the slides. The add-in also offers the option of updating the embedded data at any time, which ensures a consistent and reliable data basis without having to manually create screenshots from the SAC system. Currently, only optimized stories are supported and there are still some limitations (for example, stories without scripts are not supported, no tables, ...). More on this in chapter three.
Creating monthly screenshots for the management's PowerPoint presentations is now a thing of the past!
The SAC add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint is part of the Composable Analytics approach of SAC and, along with Excel, is one of the first business applications to enable the seamless embedding of analyses directly into their user interfaces. Composable Analytics in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) is a strategic concept that aims to flexibly integrate contextual analyses into various business applications.
In the future, the Open Widget API will allow individual widgets to be embedded in other applications besides PowerPoint. Support will be provided for:
- SAP applications such as S/4HANA, Ariba, Fieldglass or BTP
- Microsoft applications such as PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams
- External apps such as partner apps or customer apps
2. Features
The SAC Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint offers a range of useful functions to enable the seamless integration of SAC data and visualizations into presentations:
Intuitive connection to the SAC tenant.
- The add-in establishes a direct connection to the SAC tenant, enabling quick and secure access to company data from the SAP Analytics Cloud.
After deploying the add-in, a new tab will appear in PowerPoint.
Here we can now log into our SAC Tenant by inserting the URL.
Easy navigation and search for stories and widgets
- Users can easily navigate through the stories and widgets stored in the SAC to quickly find and select the content they need.
Reliable data integration
- The data is integrated directly from SAP Analytics Cloud into the PowerPoint presentation, ensuring a consistent and reliable data basis.
By clicking "Add Widget" in the "SAP Analytics Cloud" tab, we can now select individual widgets from existing stories.
Stories can be searched, selected from favorites, or chosen from the most recently used stories.
Once a story is selected, you can see all the story pages and the widgets contained on them.
Direct embedding and filtering of widgets
- Users have the option of selecting individual SAC widgets and inserting them directly into PowerPoint slides.
- The data can be filtered as needed to present specific and relevant information.
If you select a widget, you can still edit it.
By clicking on "Edit", the user has the option to customize the widget. Here you will find the functions known in SAC, such as "Sort", "Ranking" or "Drill" (if available).
In addition, you can filter or exclude individual data points.
Clicking on "Add Widget" adds the selected (and, if necessary, edited) widget to the PowerPoint slide.
Subsequently, the inserted visual can be moved freely in PowerPoint and incorporated into company presentations using the usual PowerPoint functions.
Real-time data updating
- The add-in allows you to update the embedded SAC widgets at any time to ensure that the data presented is always up to date.
- This eliminates the need to manually copy or re-enter data.
By clicking "Update" in the "SAP Analytics Cloud" tab, you can select and update individual widgets or all of them.
3. Current restrictions
The add-in is based on the new widget API in Lightweight Viewer (LWV), meaning it supports the functions available in LWV.
Restriction
Currently, the add-in is only fully supported in the PPT web version. As of the Q4 2024 release (11/18/2024), imported models and models connected via Live Tunnel Connection are now also supported in the desktop version.
Initial assessment
Initial support for the desktop app arrived with the Q4 2024 release. However, it is still limited to imported models and sources connected via Live Tunnel Connection. Hopefully, more will follow soon in the future.
All chart types except Geo-Maps, tables, custom widgets, CSS capabilities, gadgets, global variables, and composites are supported.
According to SAP, they are working on integrating tables + geo-maps. Further chart types will probably follow in the future.
More information about unsupported widgets can be found here: SAP Help | Unsupported widgets
Source: SAP Blog
No support for stories with scripting
According to SAP, they are working on integrating Stories with scripts. Until then, it would be possible to copy existing stories and create special "PowerPoint Add-In Stories" and remove the script from them. But whether this makes sense in practice is up to each individual.
Source: SAP Blog
Only Optimized Stories are supported.
Since the add-in is based on the new widget API in the Lightweight Viewer (LWV), it will probably only support Optimized Stories.
Source: SAP Blog
Currently, filters can only be set on the selection of data points. Applying additional filters is not supported.
Unfortunately, an assessment is not possible at this time. If you want to have specific layouts, you must first create them in SAC in order to use them in the add-in. It would be desirable if you could use existing filters.
Source: SAP Blog
No support for stories with data sources with “Forced Prompts”.
Should be supported in the future.
Source: SAP Blog
From the Q4 2024 release, it is now possible to overwrite existing widgets in Microsoft PowerPoint. For this purpose, the "Refresh" tab now has a "Refresh Widget" button in addition to the "Refresh Data" button, which can be used to overwrite the inserted widget with the latest version from the SAC story.
However, if you want to edit the functionalities of the widget that are available to the user during insertion into PowerPoint (for example, “Filter”, “Sort”, “Ranking” or “Drill”) you still have to delete the widget and re-insert it.
Further information can be found in the SAP Help | Troubleshooting & FAQ, in the SAP Help | What is SAP Analytics Cloud, add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint and in the SAP Road Map Explorer.
4. How to Obtain the Add-In
The SAP Analytics Cloud for PowerPoint Add-In is available in the Microsoft AppSource:
https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/WA200007270?tab=Overview
Further information on the configuration and requirements of the SAC tenant can be found in the SAP Blog | Introducing SAP Analytics Cloud, add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint and in the SAP Help | Deploying the add-in.
5. Assessment
The SAP Analytics Cloud Add-in for PowerPoint offers a promising way to integrate current data directly from SAC into PowerPoint presentations. The option to update SAC widgets in real time eliminates the need for regular screenshots. I see great potential in the add-in, as many companies still spend several hours or even days each month manually inserting screenshots into the monthly reporting presentation. This manual work would be eliminated by the add-in.
However, the add-in still has important limitations: Starting with the Q4 2024 release, data imported into PowerPoint Desktop and Live Tunnel Connections are now supported, while other connections are currently only supported in the PowerPoint web version. In addition, stories with script cannot be used, and tables cannot be inserted. In our test, we also occasionally found that individual widgets were no longer recognized, making updates impossible. Therefore, some road map items are still needed before the add-in is fully ready for use, which we hope to see from SAP soon. We are excited and see the potential to offer our customers real added value with this feature.
Would you like to delve deeper into the topic? I look forward to discussing SAC and its functionalities with you.
Feel free tocontact us!
