Frequently Asked Questions

SAP Analytics Cloud

SAP® Analytics Cloud: Redefining Analytics

in the Cloud

To help customers Run Simple, SAP is breaking the limitations of the past. A new
generation of software as a service (SaaS) – the SAP® Analytics Cloud solution –
redefines analytics in the public cloud by providing all analytics capabilities for
all users in one product. This document answers a selection of frequently asked
questions about SAP Analytics Cloud.

2 What is SAP Analytics Cloud?
2 What analytics capabilities does SAP envision
in SAP Analytics Cloud?
2 Why is SAP delivering all analytics capabilities in one product?
2 How do I know my data is secure within SAP Analytics Cloud?
5 Does SAP Analytics Cloud replace on-premise versions
of SAP Lumira?
5 Does SAP Analytics Cloud complement SAP BusinessObjects
BI solutions?
5 For BI use cases, should I use SAP Analytics Cloud or
SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions and SAP Lumira?

3 How is SAP Analytics Cloud different from other cloud-based 5 For planning use cases, should I use SAP Analytics Cloud or
analytics solutions? the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application?

3 What are the licensing and purchasing options 6 Does SAP Analytics Cloud replace SAP Business Planning
for SAP Analytics Cloud? and Consolidation?

4 Is there a mobile app, and is it included in the subscription price?
4 What is SAP Digital Boardroom?
4 Is SAP Analytics Cloud multitenant?
6 Should I deploy SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP Business
Planning and Consolidation?
6 Does SAP Analytics Cloud complement SAP Business
Planning and Consolidation?

4 Where is SAP Analytics Cloud hosted?
4 Is SAP deemphasizing SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions and
SAP Lumira software in favor of SAP Analytics Cloud?
© 2017 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
6 Does SAP Analytics Cloud for predictive analytics replace
SAP Predictive Analytics software?
7 What are the on-premise and cloud data sources that can

be connected to SAP Analytics Cloud?

4 Does SAP Analytics Cloud change the road map for
SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions and SAP Lumira? 7 How do I get my data into SAP Analytics Cloud? What is the
difference between online (remote, live, hybrid) data access
4 Will SAP continue on the convergence strategy for
and acquired data access?
SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions and SAP Lumira?

7 What are the smart assist capabilities in SAP Analytics Cloud?

5 Is SAP Analytics Cloud the successor of the cloud edition
of SAP Lumira? 7 Where can I find the product road map for SAP Analytics Cloud?

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What is SAP Analytics SAP Analytics Cloud is an all-in-one cloud platform offered as a SaaS for
Cloud? business intelligence (BI), planning, and predictive analytics. It supports
data discovery, data visualization, planning, simulation, what-if analysis, fore-
casting, and many other capabilities. Built natively on SAP Cloud Platform,
it provides a comprehensive, unified, and secure public cloud analytics
experience to maximize data-driven decision making.

What analytics capabili- Our vision for SAP Analytics Cloud is to deliver all analytics capabilities – BI,
ties does SAP envision planning, and predictive – in one product to help people make better, fact-
in SAP Analytics Cloud? based decisions. SAP Analytics Cloud includes exceptional data connectivity
to SAP and third-party data sources, in the cloud or on premise. New data
sources are added regularly. See the table for current and planned data
sources.

On-Premise and Cloud Data Sources

See the document “System Requirements and Technical
Current sources Prerequisites” at help.sap.com/doc
/00f68c2e08b941f081002fd3691d86a7/release
/en-US/11b4e5ff76eb4747bc255d7037be1f01.html.
For data sources that we plan to support in the near
Planned sources
future, please see our product road map at
support.sap.com/content/dam/website/roadmaps
/en_us/analytics/SAPBusinessObjectsCloudand
SAPDigitalBoardroom.pdf.

­­
Why is SAP delivering With all analytics capabilities available in one product, users can do their jobs
all analytics capabilities much more efficiently ‒ without needing to jump between multiple products.
in one product? For example, a financial planning and analysis professional can access and
analyze data, create reports, run predictive functions, collaborate with others,
and plan ‒ all using SAP Analytics Cloud.

How do I know my data SAP Analytics Cloud runs exclusively on SAP Cloud Platform, which meets
is secure within SAP international security standards. Details about security and data protection
Analytics Cloud? at SAP data centers can be found in section two of the The SAP Data Center
guide, available at www.sapdatacenter.com.

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H
­­ ow is SAP Analytics SAP Analytics Cloud differs from other cloud-based analytics solutions in
Cloud different from multiple areas. Our solution does the following:
other cloud-based •• Integrates all analytics capabilities (BI, predictive, and planning) into one
analytics solutions? product, enabling users to save time and reduce errors by not having to
jump between multiple products to do their jobs
•• Offers a shared multi–touch screen interface that is intuitive to use on
any device – including mobile, browser, and large-screen displays – so
users can get value with just a few clicks
•• Supports business planning with SAP Digital Boardroom, which provides
a next-generation board portal with the ability to gain insights quickly and
turn executive steering meetings into a real-time digital enterprise experience
•• Provides built-in social collaboration tools such as chat and comments,
enabling users to take action directly in the context of their analytics
•• Connects to heterogeneous data sources – SAP and third-party – whether
they are on premise or in the cloud
•• Enables wrangling and blending of all types of data, including Big Data, to
enrich traditional analytics without requiring a separate specialized product
•• Integrates natively with SAP applications deployed on premise or in the
cloud to support hybrid scenarios while complementing existing investments
•• Provides predefined business content for different lines of business (LoBs)
and industries, allowing users to make use of analytics best practices
•• Hosts your data in certified SAP data centers that fulfill the highest security
and data protection requirements
•• Is built natively on SAP Cloud Platform so that it can be easily and quickly
extended in a scalable way to meet the needs of your organization

­­
What are the licensing Licensing is by monthly subscription. Currently we offer the following
and purchasing options types of licensing:
for SAP Analytics •• BI standard licensing – available for online purchase through the Web
Cloud? site for SAP Analytics Cloud (www.sapanalytics.cloud/plans-pricing)
•• Predictive standard licensing (includes BI standard licensing)
•• Planning standard licensing (includes predictive standard licensing)
•• Planning professional licensing (includes all licenses)

SAP Digital Boardroom is an add-on subscription that requires at least

one other license for SAP Analytics Cloud. To learn more about pricing for
SAP Digital Boardroom, please contact us at discover.sapanalytics.cloud
/website-contact-sales.

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© 2017 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

­­ there a mobile app,
Is Yes. The mobile app is available to all subscriptions for all editions: BI, planning,
and is it included in the and predictive. The mobile app was just released at the SAPPHIRE NOW®
subscription price? conference in 2017, and we’re excited to hear what you think.

­­
What is SAP Digital Built on SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Digital Boardroom provides a portal that
Boardroom? enables fast insight to your business. Bringing together LoB data from SAP
and third-party data sources, business leaders can gain insights about their
organization’s most important key performance indicators by monitoring,
simulating, and driving change using large shared touch screens.

­­Is SAP Analytics Cloud Yes. SAP Analytics Cloud is available as a public cloud, SaaS, multitenant
multitenant? offering. Optionally available is a private cloud that is a SaaS, single-tenant
offering.

­­Where is SAP Analytics Currently, SAP Analytics Cloud runs on SAP Cloud Platform in data centers
Cloud hosted? (www.sapdatacenter.com) around the world. We also have partnerships with
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft
Azure to run SAP Cloud Platform, and we plan to run SAP Analytics Cloud
on these infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platforms. There are no plans
to run on other IaaS platforms.

Is SAP deemphasizing Not at all. Many customers of ours still use on-premise software. Eventually,
SAP BusinessObjects™ all organizations will need a combination of on-premise and cloud deployments,
BI solutions and SAP and we will continue to innovate with both. We are already building bridges
Lumira® software in between on-premise and cloud solutions so that data can be consumed
favor of SAP Analytics wherever is best.
Cloud?

Does SAP Analytics Cloud No, it does not. We continue to evolve SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions and
change the road map for SAP Lumira with a strong set of on-premise innovations, and new features
SAP BusinessObjects are being delivered rapidly.
BI solutions and
SAP Lumira?

Will SAP continue on the Yes. Learn about our convergence strategy at www.youtube.com
convergence strategy for /watch?v=JJsLJxvSiwU. SAP Analytics Cloud does not affect our
SAP BusinessObjects convergence strategy nor our focus on simplification.
BI solutions and
SAP Lumira?

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© 2017 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Is SAP Analytics Cloud Yes. The cloud edition of SAP Lumira was retired in September 2016, and we
the successor of the transitioned paid subscriptions to SAP Analytics Cloud, providing improved
cloud edition of SAP functionality and experience.
Lumira?

Does SAP Analytics No. SAP Analytics Cloud is a SaaS-only offering; it is not available on premise,
Cloud replace on- although it can complement existing on-premise deployments of the desktop
premise versions of edition of SAP Lumira and the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform (as a hybrid
SAP Lumira? deployment). SAP Analytics Cloud is intended for customers who want to
get started in the cloud, pursue new use cases in the cloud, or complement
their existing on-premise deployments. It is not meant to replace existing
BI deployments.

The product road map for SAP Lumira includes publishing data sets with
metadata to SAP Analytics Cloud. However, business users and analysts can
still acquire and prepare data through the desktop edition of SAP Lumira.

Does SAP Analytics Yes. SAP Analytics Cloud is designed to access semantic data from SAP
Cloud complement software, like universes, queries of SAP Business Explorer® (SAP BEx) tools,
SAP BusinessObjects and SAP HANA® database views – in addition to traditional SQL sources like
BI solutions? Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. It also connects to cloud sources from
SAP like SAP SuccessFactors® solutions; Concur® solutions; SAP Fieldglass®
solutions; the SAP Business ByDesign® solution; SAP Hybris® solutions;
and third-party cloud sources like Salesforce.com, Google BigQuery, and
Google Drive.

For BI use cases, If you are looking for SaaS-based analytics such as data visualization, what-if
should I use SAP analysis, forecasting, and simulation, you should use SAP Analytics Cloud.
Analytics Cloud or If you require on-premise BI, then you should use SAP BusinessObjects BI
SAP BusinessObjects solutions and SAP Lumira.
BI solutions and
SAP Lumira?

For planning use If you are looking for SaaS-based analytics that include LoB planning, data
cases, should I use visualization, what-if analysis, forecasting, and simulation, you should use
SAP Analytics Cloud SAP Analytics Cloud. For on-premise enterprise financial planning, you should
or the SAP Business use the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) application.
Planning and
Consolidation
application?

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Does SAP Analytics No. SAP Analytics Cloud is a SaaS only; it is not available on premise. It
Cloud replace SAP complements existing deployments of SAP BPC, allowing you to create
Business Planning and a hybrid deployment.
Consolidation?

Should I deploy SAP If you are looking for a SaaS-based planning application, or if you are
Analytics Cloud or SAP indifferent as to whether your solution is SaaS or on premise, then you
Business Planning and should deploy SAP Analytics Cloud. If you are looking for an on-premise
Consolidation? solution or a unified planning and consolidation application, then you should
deploy SAP BPC.

SAP Analytics Cloud is suited for lighter workflows, departmental and LoB
planning scenarios (particularly where SAP BPC is the corporate financial
planning solution), and predictive forecasting scenarios. SAP BPC is pre-
ferred for more complex workflows, financial consolidations, intercompany
eliminations, and so on.

Does SAP Analytics Yes. SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP BPC can be used together in a hybrid
Cloud complement SAP scenario. Native, bidirectional integration is available to move data and meta-
Business Planning and data between SAP BPC and SAP Analytics Cloud without having to use flat
Consolidation? files. New functionality is being released for manipulating SAP BPC content
from SAP Analytics Cloud.

Does SAP Analytics No. These two solutions are intended for different types of users.
Cloud for predictive
analytics replace SAP The predictive capabilities of SAP Analytics Cloud – in particular, the “smart
Predictive Analytics discovery” feature – provide business users with the ability to automatically
software? analyze their data using machine guidance. With minimum involvement,
business users can quickly surface insights generated by machine-learning
technology without needing to build predictive models.

SAP Predictive Analytics software is intended for more sophisticated business

analysts – or “citizen data scientists” – to create predictive models and manage
their lifecycle regardless of their underlying database, predictive technology,
or even their data science experience. This mature, enterprise-grade predictive
platform is typically installed on premise. The solution consists of a server
(the predictive factory), a modeling tool, and for SAP HANA customers, a
native SAP HANA component called the automated predictive library (APL).

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What are the on-premise SAP Analytics Cloud can connect to multiple on-premise and cloud data
and cloud data sources sources, including SAP HANA, SAP Cloud Platform, the SAP Business
that can be connected Warehouse (SAP BW) application, Open Data Protocol (OData), Google
to SAP Analytics Cloud? BigQuery, SQL sources, semantic data, and other sources. New data-source
support is added regularly (see the table).

How do I get my data In addition to acquiring data from personal data sources like Google Sheets,
into SAP Analytics .csv files, or Microsoft Excel files, you can use online or acquired data access
Cloud? What is the to move data into SAP Analytics Cloud from a variety of sources. See the table
difference between for information on data sources.
online (remote, live,
hybrid) data access With online data access, the SAP Analytics Cloud is rendered in the user’s
and acquired data browser, which in turn makes its own connection to the data in the source
access? system without replication. This allows data to stay in the source system
without the need for replication.

With acquired data access, data is imported into SAP Analytics Cloud. You
can then leverage the planning, forecasting, simulation, what-if analysis, data
blending, and predictive analysis capabilities that are not available with online
data access. This is ideal for data preparation and blending scenarios.

What are the smart Smart assist is an umbrella term for next-generation predictive capabilities
assist capabilities in that empower workflows with machine learning. These capabilities currently
SAP Analytics Cloud? include smart discovery (formerly known as guided machine discovery), smart
insights, smart grouping, and smart transformation.

Where can I find the The product road map for SAP Analytics Cloud is available at
product road map for www.service.sap.com/roadmap. A direct link to the road map is at
SAP Analytics Cloud? websmp202.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/012002523100016366762015E.pdf.

Find Out More

For more information about how SAP Analytics Cloud can support cloud solutions for your company,
visit us online at www.sap.com/products/cloud-analytics.html.

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