Global Bike Sales

Analysis
in SAP Analytics Cloud,
Pt 2
Authors:
Nancy Jones, San Diego State University
Nitin Kalé, University of Southern California

Revised by:
Liz Simmons, May, 2022

OBJECTIVES
This activity provides an opportunity to explore some of the various visualization and analysis functions
of the SAP Analytics Cloud in the context of Global Bikes, a company with which you are already
familiar. This exercise will pick up from the previous exercise to add to your story. These exercises are
intended as a starting point; that is, students are encouraged to explore the other capabilities of the
software and to extend their analysis of Global Bike data past what is shown in these exercises.

ACTIVITIES
Part 1
 Explore the data and data structures in the Global Bike model.
 Create a story using responsive pages.
 Create a Geo Map with two layers.
 Experiment with formatting, colors, and other styling components.
 Use linked analysis to link components of the stories.

Part 2
 Create calculated Measures.
 Create filters and input controls.
 Create and apply Conditional Formatting using threshold controls.
 Create a Time Series analysis.
 Create Variance analyses.
 View Story Pages in various media formats.

PREREQUISITES
 A shared Global Bike sales data model.
 Access to an SAP Analytics Cloud tenant.
https://higher-education.us10.sapanalytics.cloud
 Bookmark the above URL.

Access your Student folder to find the GBI Analysis Pt 1 file you saved at the end of the previous
assignment. Open the file so you can continue to analyze the GBI Sales Data.
Immediately SAVE AS… GBI Analysis Pt2 in your folder. All work you do now will be in this file.

1. Conditional Formatting
In SAC, Conditional Formatting is created using Thresholds. You wish to highlight Customers or
Products at various Gross Margin Ratio levels to determine which are most profitable to Global
Bike, so you will add some threshold formatting to your charts.
1. Add a New Responsive Page.
2. Create a Bullet Chart of Customer (GEOID level) and Gross Margin Ratio in the first lane.

3. In the Builder panel, go to Color to add a threshold by clicking on + Add Threshold  Create
Threshold.

Figure 1: Add a Threshold

4. Complete the threshold settings as shown in Figure 2. Compare To = Number Range, Ranges
= 50 to Max, 45 to 50, 40 to 45, and 0 to 40. You may choose whatever colors and shapes you
would like to use for the ranges.
a. Apply.

Figure 2: Setting up a Threshold

Your Bullet chart should now look similar to the one shown in Figure 3 below. Notice the chart
has been auto ranked because there was not enough room on the screen for all the Customers.
 Figure 3: Customer Bullet Chart with GM Thresholds

QUESTION 1: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR CUSTOMER BULLET CHART

5. Copy the Bullet chart to the next lane. A quick way to copy is to use the Actions dropdown on
the chart, Copy, and then click on the next lane and paste (CTRL-V).
a. Change the dimension from Customer to Product. Choose all levels of Product. If your
chart shows only one line for all Products, you can adjust the chart by using the Explorer.
i. Activate the Enable Explorer button at the bottom of the Builder pane.
ii. Click the Explorer link above your chart to enter the Explorer screen.
iii. Click the More dots for the Product object at the top of the screen. Choose Select
Hierarchy  Flat presentation from the menu to show all the Products in the
window. Your chart should change to show the Products as well.
iv. Sort Product Ascending to get an alphabetical listing of the Products.
v. Sort Gross Margin Ascending to see which Products have the lowest gross margins.
Are there any in the red?
vi. Sort Gross Margin Descending. Are there any Products in the green?
b. Click the Copy icon at the top of the screen (next to Save) and select Copy to Page 3.
c. Return to Page 3 by clicking the Display icon on the toolbar; your chart will be copied to
your Page 3 below the Customer chart.
d. Delete the chart with the single ALL item for Product and then move the copied chart
into the right lane.
 6. Add a Shape to the Title for both of your Bullet charts.

a. You can find Shape by clicking the More dots for the Title, the selecting + Add  Insert
Shape as shown in Figure 4. Then just choose a shape you like.

QUESTION 2: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR TWO BULLET CHARTS

Figure 4: Insert a Shape

2. Time Series Analysis

SAC has a few Time Series options built into the visualization tool. You can create Regressions,
Forecasts, and Exponential Smoothing Forecasts. The data must have a Date variable for the Trend
Analysis and Forecasts to work.
1. Create another Responsive Page in your Global Bike Story.
2. Add a Chart.
a. Add Date as the Dimension and Revenue USD as the Measure.
3. Change the chart to a Time Series. Notice you have a choice of how granular you wish your
Time Series to be. The chart shown here is for all time periods, that is all Days, Months, and
Years. You can adjust the time frame shown in the chart by dragging the blue-lined date “box”
underneath the visualization.
a. Drag the box to show all years in the chart.
 Figure 5: Time Series by Days, Months, and Years

4. Click Add Forecast on the Actions menu of the Time Series chart (in the red circle on Figure 5).
5. Choose Automatic Forecast. It will take a while for the Forecast to load. You will see Forecast
Loading… appear above your chart.
6. When the Forecast completes loading, click the word Forecast at the top left of the chart. Notice
the quality of the model.
7. Use the + Add option to change the forecast to Advanced Options  Triple Exponential
Smoothing.
a. Change the box slider to show only the last year or so of dates of the Time Series.
b. Use the chart slider to show the values for April 1, 2020; a box will appear next to the chart
with the Upper and Lower Confidence Limits and the forecast value of RevenueUSD.

Figure 6: A Forecast to April 2020

QUESTION 3: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR TIME SERIES CHART SHOWING THE
VALUES FORECAST FOR APRIL 1, 2020

8. Select the Add Forecast icon, Advanced Options  Linear Regression. The results should
look similar to Figure 7 (except the color palette is not the default). Notice the upper and lower
confidence boundaries.
a. Change the box slider to show only the last year or so of dates of the Linear Regression.
b. Use the chart slider to show the values for April 1, 2020 (the final date on the slider); a
box will appear next to the chart with the Upper and Lower Confidence Limits and the
forecast value of RevenueUSD

Figure 7: Regression Results

QUESTION 4: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR REGRESSION TIME SERIES SHOWING

THE VALUES FOR APRIL 1, 2020

9. Again, using the Advanced Options of Add Forecast, choose Triple Exponential Smoothing.
The results will be similar to those in Figure 8. Again note the upper and lower confidence
boundaries.
a. Change the box slider to show only the last year or so of dates of the Triple Exponential
Smoothing.
b. Use the chart slider to show the values for April 1, 2020 (farthest right); a box will appear
next to the chart with the Upper and Lower Confidence Limits and the forecast value of
RevenueUSD
 Figure 8: Exponential Smoothing Results

Question 5:TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR TRIPLE EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING

TIME SERIES CHART

10. Save the results of the Exponential Smoothing Time Series analysis.

3. Variances
Variances are important management tools to help drive efficiencies and profitability. They may be
visualized in various ways. Here are two examples of Variance analysis in SAC.
1. Add another Responsive Page. This should be your 5th page.
2. Insert a Column Chart in the leftmost lane of the page, (vertical orientation).
a. Add SalesQuantity to Measure.
b. Add Product to Dimensions.
i. Expand the product hierarchy to level 4.
3. Add a Reference Line to your chart. You will find Add a Reference Line under … More
Actions on the chart.
a. Choose Dynamic.
b. Select Measure = SalesQuantity, Aggregation = Average as shown below.
 Figure 9: Settings for the Reference Line

c. OK. The results should look similar to those in Figure 10.

Figure 10: Sales Quantities by Product with a Reference Line

QUESTION 6: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR SALES QUANTITY CHART

4. On the same lane, insert another chart, Numeric Point.

a. Add SalesQuantity to the Measure.
b. On the Chart Actions dropdown, Add a cross calculation. You will now see the Cross
Calculation option on the More Actions on the Chart. Create Cross Calculation. The
settings are listed below and shown in Figure 11.
i. Type = Aggregation
ii. Operation = AVERAGE
iii. Aggregation Dimension = Product
iv. Name = Average or Average by Product (you choose)
v. Measure = Account Values

Figure 11: Calculation Settings

vi. The value in your Number chart should change from Total to Average.
vii. Change the Decimal Places of Average to 0, (in Styling).
c. Rename the title of the Number chart.
d. Resize your Number chart and hide the primary Value Labels. You can see where to find
the Hide feature in Figure 12.
 Figure 12: Hide/Show Chart Components

5. Add an Input Control to your chart (with the Insert widgets on the top ribbon) using the
following selections:
a. Page Filter.
b. Dimensions.
c. Date.
d. Filter by range.
e. Change type to Dynamic.
f. Check to be sure your settings match those in Figure 13.
 Figure 13: A Date Filter by Range

g. OK.
h. You can double click the name of the control to change its name. I changed the example
to say “Choose the Date Range”.
i. Try out the Input Control and watch the change in the chart.
6. On the right-hand lane of your page, add a Column Chart to show Costs USD and Revenues
USD by Sales Organization (SalesOrg).
7. On the … More action selection, choose Compare To  Open Variance  Open Variance
Panel. The option is shown in Figure 14.
 Figure 14: Add a Variance to the Chart

a. Create your Variance to compare Costs USD to Revenue USD, show as a percentage with
2 decimal points. Display on Revenue USD. These settings are shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15: Variance Settings

 b. OK.

QUESTION 7: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR VARIANCE CHART

8. Copy your date range input control from the first chart in the first lane to the new chart in the
second lane.

4. Create Additional Charts for the Dashboard

1. Add another Responsive Page to your story (page 6)
2. Delete the second lane. The first lane will take up the entire page.
3. Add a chart to the lane.
a. Create a Bubble chart of Revenue USD, SalesQuantity, and Customer. Revenue USD on
the x-axis, SalesQuantity on the y-axis, and Gross Margin Ratio as Bubble size. Use
Customer as both the Dimension and the Color. Expand the Customer Hierarchy to Level 4.
b. Move the legend to the right of the chart. This task is done in Styling.
c. Filter to the year 2019.

Figure 16: Bubble Chart of Quantity, Revenue, Gross Margin Ratio by Customer in 2019.

d. Use Styling to add the high/low data labels by Gross Margin Ratio to the bubble.
i. You may need to Show the Data Labels under Chart Actions, Show/Hide.
4. At times it may be useful to segregate or cluster events by common characteristics or attributes.
This can be done using mathematical models such as k-means which works behind the scenes in
SAC.
 a. Duplicate the Bubble chart by clicking the Copy dropdown list located on the More
Actions button on the chart and selecting Duplicate.
i. Remove Customer from Color.
ii. Enable Smart Grouping for the new chart from the Builder.
iii. Select 5 Groups.
iv. Change the color scheme to make the groups more visible on the chart.

Figure 17: Smart Grouping

QUESTION 8: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR TWO BUBBLE CHARTS

5. Add a 7th Responsive Page and create a chart of your choosing to compare Discount as a
Percent of Sales by SalesOrg. You will need to create a calculated measure for Discount USD
divided by Revenue USD * 100. The formula is shown below:
 Figure 18: Discount Ratio Formula

6. Continue the comparison for Discount as a Percent of Sales by Customer name and also by
Product. You have several options. For example you could use input controls or multiple charts
to create the variations. The following is an example only. It uses a Marimekko chart, a trellised
bar chart, and a heat map. Use your own visualization/charting prowess to create your
analysis.

QUESTION 9: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF AT LEAST THREE OF YOUR OPTIONAL

CHARTS

Figure 19: Example of a Discount Analysis

 7. Finally, to pull the financial measures together, create one final Responsive Page.
8. Create a Waterfall chart using the following inputs. You will need to create a calculation for
Gross Margin USD. The formula is Revenue USD – Costs USD – Discount USD.
a. Measures:
i. Gross Margin USD
ii. Costs USD
iii. Discount USD
iv. Revenue USD
b. Dimension = Date.

Figure 20: Waterfall Chart

QUESTION 10: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR WATERFALL CHART

5. Viewing the Story and Tying up Loose Ends

1. To see how your pages will look on another device, go to Format on the top ribbon and
choose Device Preview. You can change the device and size using the dropdown arrows shown
below.
 Figure 21: View of Charts on a Tablet

2. Make sure all your charts have titles and you have enabled Sort and Top N options in the
Boardroom.
3. Save As… Your Name’s Global Bike Story Pt2. Note: The visualizations you create here may
be used in a future assignment.
4. Export your file as either a pdf or Powerpoint slides by clicking on Save  Export. (Exporting
as Google slides requires additional authorizations.)

Figure 22: Share the Story

 SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT AS DIRECTED BY YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Challenge Activity (Optional, Not Graded)

Create a visualization unlike any of the previous charts to analyze all measures of the data set by
various attributes. Make your visualization interactive so users can change parameters to slice and
dice in various means. Be sure to use the proper chart type and formatting.