Commenting in SAP Analytics Cloud

This blog describes:

• Commenting in SAP Analytics Cloud
  
  • Story Commenting
    
  • DataPoint Commenting
    
  • Commenting Widget
    
  • System Configuration

Commenting in SAP Analytics Cloud

Commenting is an integral part of the SAC Stories/Apps, comments have a version history and the ID of the user who wrote the comment is stored. With comments, users can collaborate quickly and easily on different topics, and learn from other users.

SAP Analytics Cloud Certification Preparation Guide

What do users need in the way of commenting functions?

• Users need to add comments on the numbers in a report.
  
• They want to add a comment to a diagram or table.
  
• Or for the report as a whole. These are report comments.
  
• Or users want to add a comment for a single cell or value.
  
• Commenting as a process: Comments might be used as part of the planning process, for instance, to explain why a particular budget was set for an item.
  
• And so on.

SAC Commenting workflows :

1. Allow a user to create and view comments on story pages or widgets.
   
2. Allow a user to create and view a comment on a cell in a data table. Each cell is considered a data point.
   
   • These must be tied to a model version but potentially published to actuals
     
   • They can be surfaced to any grid using the model / version
     
3. Allow a user to see all comments for the given context (a story and all its models) in a right hand panel
   
   • The effective set of comments shown in the right hand panel would be all comments for all InA queries coming from all widgets within the story across all drill levels
     
4. Users must only see comments for that they have access to – because they can access the story or the data points which those comments are attached to.
   
5. We must “aggregate” data point comments so that we can show an indicator on table at a higher drill level to let users know that lower drill levels have comments to display. The aggregated data is currently not persisted anywhere in Orca.
   
6. We must display a snapshot of the previous data in the case the data in the table has changed. This allows user to view the comment with the right context.

Story Commenting

In SAP Analytics Cloud, you can add a comment to a specific page or widget within a story and other users can reply or like your comment.

To add a comment to a story page, on the page tab bar, select the Drop-down menu → Comment → Place Comment → Enter the comment in the displayed box.

To add a new comment, choose the diagram and then click the Add -> Comment Option.

You can enter your text in the box that then appears. You can address your comment to specific members of your team by marking it with @.

Choose Place Comment to save your comment. SAP Analytics Cloud can store up to 200 comments for each story.

It sorts them automatically into threads and numbers them in date order. You can change the sort order and sort comments by page and comment number. The comments are published by saving the story. If another user logs on and calls up the same story, they can view all the comments in it by activating Comment Mode. Users can “like” comments and reply to them.

Even if the user is not authorised to change charts or other widgets of the story, they can still add comments for other elements. That way, they can share important information with their team.

When you create a comment, the system assigns it a thread number, which it displays on the right-hand side of the collaboration area as a reference. In the comment itself, you can respond to earlier comments; the new comment is added to the thread. By moving the mouse over a comment you can “like” the comment or, provided you entered the comment, delete it.

Supported:

• User can leave 200 story comment threads per story. Each comment thread can have 100 replies
  
• User can “@” mention others in story comments
  
• User can see all story comments in the commenting side panel
  
• Support all widget type except input control
  
• User can enter 1000 characters for each comment.

Not Supported:

• Not supported on mobile device nor the device preview in story
  
• Not supported on input control
  
• Creating a copy of a story – the copy will not contain any comments.
  
• While using Save As option to create a new story, comments will not be saved in new file.
  
• Duplicating a widget or a story page – the copy will not contain any comments.
  
• Exporting a story to PDF. – No Comments will be exported
  
• Story comments cannot be viewed or added in the Digital Boardroom.

DataPoint Commenting

In SAP Analytics Cloud, you can add comments for particular values in a table. To add a comment to a cell in a table, choose the cell and the value. SAP Analytics Cloud applies the same access rights to the comment for a given data point as would apply otherwise. For instance, a user can display data for a certain region only. If they then enter a comment for one of the values, the comment is displayed only for users who also have access rights that permit them to display data for that region. If a user calls up the table who does not have the necessary access rights, they cannot see the comment.

User can add comments to the data cells in the crosstab. The data source must have been refreshed before you add a comment to a data cell. A comment is available internally as long as it is not explicitly deleted. For example, you add a comment to a cell and then change the view on your data. In the new navigation state, the cell with the comment is not visible. As soon as you change the navigation state so that the cell with the comment is again visible in the crosstab, the comment is also available.

The comments are associated with the selection of the cell (context). The selection includes all selected values for the dimension, for example prompt, filter and background filter values. Analysis stores for each dimension the single member selection if the selection is a single member selection, for example a single value in the prompting definition. For other selections, Analysis stores that there has not been a single member selection for this dimension. Note that a comment that is placed on the total cell of a dimension also is considered to not have a single member selection associated for this dimension. A comment is visible in a cell if the cell has for all dimensions the matching single member selection or the comment and the cell both do not have associated a single member selection.

Datapoint Comments are with Model not Story. If new story/App created with same model, user can see all the comments added from any story on this model.

Add Comment option on Table Data Cell:

User can Create separate Table column to see Comments:

Supported:

• Comment on a single cell within the table.
  
• Supported for planning Model and Analytic Model
  
• User can leave up to 100 data point comment threads per model. Each comment thread can have 100 replies
  
• Only supported for table, both in grid or as a table widget in the canvas or responsive page
  
• Supports default currency and Local Currency
  
• Restricted Measure (starting in 2018.13)
  
• Supported for private version.
  
• Comments will continue to show up when any hierarchy has been changed (e.g. from YQM to YM).
  
• Comments will display the previous data value if more data has been acquired or edited.
  
• Datapoint comment is saved in real time.
  
• User can enter 1000 characters for each comment.

Not Supported:

• Comment on non-data cell or multiple cells are not supported
  
• Commenting not supported when cell is being edited.
  
• Commenting is not supported when there are no dimensions in the row or column of a table.
  
• Not supported for blended tables.
  
• Not supported for total cells.
  
• Datapoint Commenting is not supported for
  
  • Remote Model
    
  • Key Figure Model
    
  • Private / Embedded Model
    
• Not supported for any other chart types
  
• Not supported for calculated Measures or model calculations
  
  • Exception: commenting is supported for restricted measures
    
• Not supported with variables.
  
• Not supported with navigational attribute (a.k.a dimension property). Commenting is disabled when there are navigational attributes in the table.
  
• “@” mention is not supported
  
• Not supported on mobile device nor the device preview in story
  
• Not supported when users have OR in their role level security or filter.
  
• Not supported for combinational filter
  
• Not supported for geometry filter.
  
• Creating Version by copying – the new copied version will not contain any comments.

Commenting Widget

This Feature introduced in 2020.14+ SAC Releases.

Story/App Creator can create new widget type called “Commenting Widget”. This widget is used for adding Comments on specific Datapoint of model selected in widget builder panel.

In below image , Comment widget created on model “APDProfitAndLoss” and dimension context is Version : Actual and Account: Key Performance Indicator.

Procedure

1. From the Insert menu, select

Add

Comment Widget

A comment widget is placed on the story page and the Builder panel displays the widget’s filters.

2. Add a dimension filter, selecting all dimension members or a subset.

Comments in Commenting widget are also Datapoint Comments, so User can see same Comments in Table if same dimension context exist .

Datapoint Comments are with Model not Story. If new story/App created with same model, user can see all the comments added from any story on this model.

System Configurations :

To set or change the Configurations,

Go to

System

Administration

Limit of comment threads per Model

Admin can turn ON/OFF Commenting Enable on Story Embed mode.

Default is OFF

Admin can set the Limit of Comment Threads per Model for Datapoint Commenting.

Default value is 3000

Admin can set the Dimension member limit to enable Commenting on Analytic Models.

Default value is 50000