From 60 Minute Wait Times to Near Instant Analytics
Transformed SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) reporting by replacing code intensive applications with native Stories, reducing dashboard response times from over 60 minutes to under 30 seconds.
- SAC
- SAC Stories
- Analytics
- Reporting
- Performance Improvement
- S/4HANA
- BW/4HANA
- Financial Analytics
- Drill-Through
Client Overview
We worked with a US-headquartered precision instrument manufacturer with a global presence across more than 100 locations, over 10,000 employees and annual revenue of in excess of approximately $3B.
CloudScouts partnered with the organisation as an ongoing SAC and S/4HANA delivery team beginning in April 2021.
Customer
Global Precision Instrument Manufacturer
Industry
Manufacturing
Location
HQ in US with 100+ locations globally
Organization Size
Large Enterprise / 10,000+ Employees
Annual Revenue$3B+
Employees10,000+
Location100+
Users170
The Challenge
The finance and analytics teams were dealing with major performance and usability issues across their reporting landscape within SAC (SAC).
Some dashboards took close to 60 minutes to load. Reporting was fragmented across systems, collaboration across global teams was difficult, and business users had limited confidence in the existing analytics environment. Teams across US, Europe, and Asia struggled to work efficiently within the same reporting processes.
The initial SAC analytics environment used code-intensive Analytical Applications. Extensive JavaScript logic had been implemented in SAC, including calculations that could instead be handled within the underlying BW environment. This approach contributed to severe performance challenges.
The client also wanted to enhance its Financial Reporting & Analytics capability across a range of finance and operational reporting requirements.
What We Delivered
CloudScouts reviewed the existing SAC environment and proposed an approach based on native SAC Story structures. SAP best practice was to use standard SAC functionality wherever possible rather than introducing unnecessary code.
A small proof of concept was developed to demonstrate the difference between the existing Analytical Application approach and the native SAC Story approach. The proof of concept demonstrated that performance was much better with no loss of functionality.
The client chose the Story approach, and CloudScouts transitioned the Analytical Applications to Story views and then built additional Stories.
Approximately 18 Stories Built
The initial analytics that had been causing performance problems included the Executive Dashboard, Bookings/Revenue reporting, Operational reporting and Headcount/Personnel Cost.
SAP Environment Transformation
As the client moved from the existing ECC environment to S/4HANA and from BW on HANA to BW/4HANA, CloudScouts transitioned the analytical Stories and planning models to the new BW/4HANA structures.
CloudScouts also created a layer in BW to bring consolidated information and transactional data together, enabling drill-through from BPC-level information (as the organisation still uses BPC for planning and reporting) to transactional-level details.
The Outcome
“The team’s ability to identify the underlying performance issues and redesign the analytics approach made a significant difference to our SAC environment. The improved performance and more streamlined reporting approach have made it much easier for our finance teams to access and analyse the information they need.”
Ongoing Relationship
The success of the analytics performance work, together with the broader delivery relationship, led to CloudScouts being appointed as the Application Management Partner for the global use of SAC in the organisation.
The broader AMS relationship includes SAC, legacy SAP BPC applications for consolidation and management reporting, SAP BW and Datasphere.