Analytical Apps

The SAP Fiori Apps Reference Library labels these apps "SAP Fiori - Analytical", but they come in several forms:

SAP also documents drill-down apps built with the Analysis Path Framework and review booklets as analytical applications. The Reference Library also tags some apps with additional application-type flags, so check the app details there. The label analytical apps covers a family of UI forms, not one technology.

Most analytical apps in SAP S/4HANA follow the embedded analytics model:

1. ABAP CDS views of the virtual data model describe operational tables as a star schema: dimension views around a cube view that holds the measures.
2. Analytical queries, also CDS views, select from a cube and define the measures, filters and layout a user sees.
3. The Analytic Engine evaluates those queries at runtime; it only processes views marked as cubes or dimensions.
4. A service layer exposes the result to the app; which service type is used depends on the app form.
5. The app renders charts, tables or KPI tiles and offers navigation to related transactional apps.

Because the queries run on the live database, there is no extraction step and no copy to reconcile. CDS access controls defined in the data model filter the rows per user, so two users can see different figures in the same analytical app. Analytical apps are therefore only as correct as the CDS models and authorizations behind them.

• Current data: figures come from the operational system, so a buyer sees today's open purchase orders, not last night's load.
• Insight next to action: analytical list pages, overview pages and KPI drill-downs link to transactional apps, so a user can move from a deviation to the document that caused it.
• Key-user creation: apps such as Custom Analytical Queries (F1572) and Manage KPIs and Reports (F2814) let key users build queries, KPIs and reports without ABAP development.
• Role-based delivery: analytical apps reach users through the same launchpad, catalogs and roles as every other SAP Fiori app.

Example: a purchasing manager at Alder Manufacturing watches a purchase order value KPI, drills into Cedar Office Supply and opens the purchase order in one flow. For operational reporting inside SAP S/4HANA, analytical apps are the most direct option SAP delivers.

• One system's data. Embedded analytics reads the SAP S/4HANA system it runs in. Analysis that combines several systems or non-SAP sources needs a separate analytics or data platform.
• Current state over history. Live queries show the present well; long time series, snapshots and planning are usually better served elsewhere.
• Load on the operational system. Analytical queries run on the same database as the transactions, which calls for well-designed CDS models and restrictive default filters.
• Definitions need governance. When key users can create KPIs, two tiles with the same name can calculate differently unless someone owns the definitions.
• Delivered content is fixed. Standard analytical apps show what SAP modeled; other measures require custom queries.

These limits follow from the design: analytical apps optimize operational insight within one SAP S/4HANA system, not enterprise-wide reporting.

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition: analytical content is delivered by SAP and reaches users through business roles; key users build their own queries, KPIs, reports and stories with the key-user apps. Embedded SAP Analytics Cloud stories analyze data only from Public Edition systems, and SAP notes that some analytical applications need a separate license.
• Private Edition and on-premise: on-premise, the Analytic Engine must be set up before CDS analytical queries can run; the customer activates the services and launchpad content and can model custom CDS views in ABAP. For embedded SAP Analytics Cloud, check the prerequisites on the SAP Help Portal for your release.

The concept of analytical apps is the same in every edition; the difference is how much modeling the customer may do and who sets up the runtime for analytical apps.

Work through the causes from the user outward:

1. Authorization: CDS access controls filter rows by the user's authorizations. Compare with a user who sees data before changing anything.
2. Filters and variants: a default variant or KPI evaluation may restrict company code, period or currency, because evaluations can carry their own filters and input parameter values.
3. Setup: on-premise, a missing Analytic Engine setup or an inactive service stops analytical queries.
4. Definition: two KPIs with similar names may use different queries or measures.

A common mistake is to open a data-quality incident before checking authorizations: Bright Freight figures that look too low for one user are often a restricted company code. Most "wrong number" reports for analytical apps turn out to be authorization or definition questions, not data errors.