Learn About the Modeler

There are three workspaces in the Modeler: Model Structure, Calculations and Data Management. When you open an existing model, its contents are shown on the Model Structure screen composed of the dimensions list (1), the structure view (2), the data foundation view (3), and the Model Details pane (4).

The Model Structure screen contents can vary depending on the model type. If you're working with a traditional account model, it shows you the dimensions of the model. If you're working with the new model type, it shows you both dimensions and measures. As standard, for both model types, it also shows you the number of members and hierarchies in each dimension, and any attributes that have been defined for the dimensions. On the right, the Model Details pane shows you the model settings, data sources, and other information about the model.

The Structure view shows you a star schema diagram that represents the contents of your model. It helps visualizing how fact data, attributes, and properties all relate to each other.

The Data Foundation view shows you the fact table containing the raw, unaggregated transactional data loaded into your model.

For more information about the Structure and Data Foundation views, see https://blogs.sap.com/2020/04/24/were-improving-modeling-in-sap-analytics-cloud/.

When you select a dimension or a measure, the view changes to display the Dimension Settings or Measure Details pane on the right with and detailed information about the selection:

You can switch between the list view, where dimension members and their properties are shown in a non-editable list, or the grid view, where you can make changes to the dimension's values and properties:

The Dimension Settings and Measure Details pane display information about the selected dimension or measure, and let you define hierarchies, create calculations, and change properties and settings.

In the list view, when selecting a dimension member, the application switches to the Member Details pane, where you'll find information about the member you've selected. You can switch back and forth between Dimension Settings and Member Details with the dedicated toggle:

The Calculations screen is where you can create additional calculations for your model.

It's composed of the of the objects list (1), the formula editor (2), the preview pane (3), and the properties pane (4).

The objects list can vary depending on the model type. If you're working with a traditional account model, it shows you the dimensions and account members of the model. If you're working with the new model type, it shows you both dimensions and measures, as well as account members, calculated measures and conversion measures if there are any in the model.

With the new model type, you can create calculations on existing accounts and measures by clicking the + icon next to the Calculated Measures, Conversion Measures and Account Members labels to open the central pane with the formula editor up top, and the Properties pane on the right.

The formula editor lets you create formulas and calculations using a combination of business functions, other objects, formulas functions, conditions, and mathematical operators. If you need help when writing formulas, use the Functions Help button to open the embedded documentation, or hit Ctrl + Space or Cmd + Space to get detailed information on the available formulas.

The calculations preview pane lets you see your aggregated and calculated data within the Modeler before moving on to a story. It takes all the structure information coming for the Model Structure screen to create a preview, and provides you with realtime calculations results without having to save the measures and accounts first.

If you add calculated measures, measures, accounts or conversion measures to the model, the preview gets updated and you can see how calculated data impact the model by adding objects used in the calculations in the preview table to see how the calculated values are derived.

However, the preview table changes automatically depending on your selection in the left panel, which resets the table configuration. You can freeze the table configuration by pinning rows, columns or filters by clicking the pin icon so that they’re always visible regardless of the member selected in the left panel.

You can organize the preview table and move rows, columns and filters around using drag and drop and rearrange them to preview data as you see fit, just like you would in a story. You can also switch axes by clicking .

The properties pane give you information about the selected object in the objects list.

Also, for account dimensions, when a measure is selected, there’s no longer need to have default filters defined. By default, the application displays all members hierarchically.

You can select a hierarchy either by clicking a filter in the Filters section, or by clicking  and Select Hierarchy next to a dimension in the Rows or Columns section.

For account dimensions, there are two ways to filter. If you select a measure and try to filter on an account member, the application displays a hierarchical list, and you can select the hierarchy you want to show. In that case, you can see all account members. However, if you select an account member first, you can select between Used Members and Other Members. That’s useful if you only want to check the account members that are used, in formulas for instance, or simply to check the member info.

When you create a new model, the Data Management screen appears, to help you upload data to your model. It's composed of the draft sources (1), the import jobs (2), the export jobs (3), and the data timeline (4):

This is the place where you can refresh, delete, and schedule data refreshes for specific data sources and dimensions. You can also import data into a model, export model data, or start a refresh job. If you select multiple items, you can apply actions to all of them at the same time.

As a best pratice, instead of having to rely on individual query names, try naming scheduled jobs to describe an entire job. To edit the name of a data refresh job, select (edit) next to the job's name.

For more information about refreshing data in models, see Update and Schedule Models.

When switching to the grid view, the dimension's contents are shown in an editable grid:

The data objects shown in the grid are:

• Dimension name.
• Dimension attributes and properties: Member ID, Description, and so on.
• Dimension members: Discount, Gross_Margin, and so on.

These are some of the helpful features available in the Modeler:

• Filter a dimension: When you select a dimension to view the dimension details, you can filter out members that you're not interested in.
  1. First, select the Filter button in the toolbar:

     

  2. Next, select (Add Filter).
  3. Choose a dimension property or hierarchy to filter.
  4. Type your filter text, and select Add Filter.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 to add more filters.

  Note: filtering doesn't apply to data that hasn't yet loaded from the server due to pagination.

• Search for members: Type a search string to find dimension members:

  

• Custom properties: You can add custom properties (columns) to dimensions. Click the Create New Property button in the Dimension Settings panel.

  

• Column menu: This menu appears when you select a column header.

  
  • : Sort the column.

    Note: sorting doesn't apply to data that hasn't yet loaded from the server due to pagination.

  • : Hide the column. You can also select Show Columns to show or hide any columns:

    
  • : Pin the column. Pinned columns stay displayed at the left side of the grid when you scroll to the right. To unpin a column, select the icon again, or drag the column out of the pinned area.

• Data validation and error highlighting: As you work, the model is continually scanned for data irregularities. Any errors are reported by the Validation icon in the toolbar:

  

  When grid cells contain errors, you can also select the cell for more information:

  

• Add a formula: In the Formula column, select the icon to open the Advanced Formula Editor.

  Press Ctrl + Space to see the available formulas, and then highlight a formula in the list to see a detailed description of the formula:

  

• Moving columns: You can rearrange columns in the grid by dragging their headers.

  

• Context-sensitive copy: If you have cells containing the values Cell1 and Cell2, when you select both cells and copy to the cells below, the cells will be populated with the values Cell3, Cell4, and so on.

  

• Account labels: For account dimensions, you can type custom labels for the Units & Currencies column:

  

• Keyboard navigation: You can use these keys while working in the grid:

  Keys	Action
  Space	Opens a cell for editing (same as double-clicking a cell)
  Enter	Move down 1 cell
  Shift + Enter	Move up 1 cell
  Tab	Move right 1 cell
  Shift + Tab	Move left 1 cell
  Page Down	Move down 1 page
  Page Up	Move up 1 page
  Alt + Page Down	Move right 1 page
  Alt + Page Up	Move left 1 page
  Ctrl + Shift + Space	Select all
  Space, t, and f	In columns with check boxes, for example the Hide column, the Space key toggles the check box, while t (true) selects it, and f (false) deselects it.