Set Up Model Preferences

When you're designing a new model, you can set preferences for features such as security, auditing, and currency conversion. These settings are available from the (Model Preferences) dialog. Dimension-specific settings are available from the Dimension Settings panel.

Note

Not all preferences apply to analytics-type models, and models based on HANA views have different options, as described in the Options for HANA Models section within this topic.

General Settings

The Description field is here to help you provide details or a summary of the model.

The Search to Insight section allows users with rights to the model to index HANA live models for use with the Search to Insight functionality in stories. To enable indexing for an SAP HANA, SAP BW, SAP Universe, or SAP S/4HANA live model, after saving the model, select Create Index. After the indexing process is completed, a timestamped entry will appear under the Search to Insight section. See Live Data Limitations for Search to Insight for more information on working with live data. You have the option to update or delete the index entry. Any user working with a story that includes the indexed model can access quick insights based on the model through Search to Insight.

You have the option to specify which dimensions to include or exclude in the indexed live data model. This is useful when you want to exclude dimensions that may contain sensitive data. Select the text button under Search to Insight. In the image above the button is labelled 27/27 dimensions indexed. The Dimension Configuration for Index dialog lists all the available dimensions. Select or unselect dimensions as required. All the selected dimensions will be searchable by Search to Insight queries.

By default, data models that do not have Model Privacy enabled, or any dimensions that do not have Data Access control activated are indexed. You can choose to index or unindex a (local) acquired model using the ON/OFF toggle button.

Note

Don't refresh or close your browser window before the indexing process is completed. Also, you should index only one live model at a time.

As a best practice when indexing live data:

Make sure your systems have optimal access to memory and CPU resources for better indexing.
Use the Variable settings to limit the number of indexed members.

If you change the data source for an existing model used by Search to Insight, any index will be deleted when you save the updated model. For more information on using Search to Insight, see Search to Insight.

Note

Only HANA live models based on SAP HANA 1.0 SPS12 rev 122.14 or higher can work with the Search to Insight feature. When a HANA live model is indexed, metadata such as dimension and measure names, and dimension members, is stored on SAP servers.

Language

Switch on model translation to have the model metadata (descriptions and other user-specified text) translated by a translation service.

For more information, see:

Access and Privacy

Data Audit

Auditing within SAP Analytics Cloud is available at either of two levels: high-level auditing or transactional-level Data Changes auditing. If Data Audit is switched on, all changes for this model will be logged.

The audit logs are available from the Users menu ( Start of the navigation path Users Next navigation step Data Changes End of the navigation path ).

Validation Rule

For planning models, validation rules let you define the allowed member combinations across multiple dimensions to prevent improper data entry and planning operations in stories and analytic applications. Turn this switch on to validate the data in the model according to the validation rules you define for this model. Planners are only allowed to enter data or use planning functions for the specified member combinations. For more information, see Define Valid Member Combinations for Planning Using Validation Rules.

Data Locking

For planning models, data locking lets you set up locks on the model data, which prevent the locked values from being changed by data entry and other planning operations in stories.

Turn this switch on to enable data locking, and set the Default Lock State for the model. This state will apply to all data in the model's public versions, unless otherwise specified in the Data Locking page:

Open: Data entry is enabled for all members by default.
Locked: Data entry is disabled by default.

For more information, see Configuring Data Locking.

Restricted Export

This setting lets you disable the export of model data to a CSV file. For details, see Export Models and Data.

Model Data Privacy

This setting determines whether the model is visible to users other than the owner. Note that this setting can also be changed later after the model has been saved.

If you switch on Model Data Privacy, only the owner of the model and user roles that have specifically been granted access can see the data. Disable this switch if you want the model and data to be public.

For more information, check out this video to see how to set up model privacy.

Data Access Control in Dimensions

This setting lets you specify in the dimension settings which users will have access to each member in the dimension.

Fiscal Time

If your business fiscal year isn't the same as the calendar year, switch Fiscal Year on, and then select the other parameters as follows:

Choose the starting month of your fiscal year.
Choose whether you denote your fiscal year by the calendar year when it starts, or the calendar year when it ends.
Choose whether to display fiscal periods or calendar months in stories. For example, quarterly reports cover a fiscal period of three months, while annual reports cover a fiscal period of one year.

Planning & Time Range

If you want to use this model for planning, switch Planning Capabilities on, and then choose start and end dates for the timeline for the data.

You can use the Delete private versions button to delete private versions belonging to a model. An example of when you might want to do this is when you need to remove model dependencies so that users can upload and delete model data.

Note

You can switch Planning Capabilities on and off, but not after the model has been saved.
If the Planning Capabilities switch is disabled, a tooltip explains why.
If planning is enabled in the Data Integration step after importing data (see Import and Prepare Fact Data for a Classic Account Model, and Import and Prepare Fact Data for a Model with Measures), Planning Capabilities is automatically switched on, and can't be switched off.
Planning Capabilities can be switched on only if there are no facts in the model.
When you switch Planning Capabilities on, if the model contains multiple date dimensions, the first one is used by default for planning, but you can choose a different one:
Only users who have the Delete permission for the model will be able to access the Delete private versions button.
You can't change the date granularity, planning date range, default date hierarchy, or the Fiscal Year setting, after configuring an allocation process, allocation step, value driver tree, planning sequence, or data locking for the model.

Currency

For information about different currency scenarios, see Selecting the Right Model for Your Data.

Currency Settings Without Conversion

If your model doesn't use currency conversion, set one of the following options:

Default Currency: The currency for all monetary values. For example, if your model only contains monetary values in US Dollars, you can set the default currency to USD.
Currency Dimension: The dimension that separates model data into different currencies. Model data will not be aggregated across the different currencies. For more information about adding a Currency column to a dimension, see Learn About Dimensions and Measures.

Currency Settings with Conversion

Enabling currency conversion allows model data from different source currencies to be converted into a single target currency and then aggregated.

To enable currency conversion, activate the Currency Conversion switch. Then, specify the following settings:

Default Currency: Type the three-character code for the default currency. Monetary data will be converted to this currency by default.

Currency Dimension: Select the dimension that separates model data into different currencies. For more information about adding a Currency column to a dimension, see Learn About Dimensions and Measures.

Currency Rates Table: Select a currency conversion table. The drop-down list shows all tables that have already been created on the Currency Conversion tab of the Modeler.

Preconverted Actuals: When this setting is on, both source currency data and preconverted currency data can be imported. For more information, see Learn About Preconverted Currency Data.

Maximum number of Currency Conversions: This setting determines how many different currency conversions can be simultaneously displayed in a table based on this model. For example, if you want to enable users to view side-by-side figures for USD at the Budget rate, USD at the Forecast rate, and USD at rates defined for three different fixed dates, you can set the limit to five.

Note

You can increase this limit after creating the model, but it cannot be decreased.
When you increase the limit after creating the model, the new limit does not apply to existing stories. Each story keeps the limit that was valid when the story was created.
Displaying data in its source currency does not count towards the Maximum Currency Conversion Limit.
If the model uses currency conversion, each Account member has to have Currency set for the Units & Currencies attribute (column) of the Account dimension.

Currency Conversion Settings with Currency Variables

In a model with measures, you can use a currency variable to drive conversion measures bound to that variable and switch target currencies on the fly to update calculations both within the Modeler, via the Calculations workspace, and in stories via the filter bar or story and widget prompts.

To set up a currency variable, currency conversion must be turned on. Click Create Currency Variable, and specify the following settings:

Variable ID: That setting is automatically pre-filled.
Variable Description: Add a description for the currency variable.
Default Value: Select a default target currency in the dedicated drop-down. The target currencies available are derived from the currency rate table you’ve selected when enabling currency conversion. If needed, you can also decide to apply no conversion and stick to the source currency of the base measure by selecting No Conversion.
For more information, see Work with Currencies in a Model with Measures.

Structure Priority

The new model type can combine both accounts and measures, which can cause conflicting properties for formatting, unit handling and aggregations. To prevent such conflicts, you can specify which structure should take precedence over the other with the dedicated Prioritize properties and calculations from field.

The Custom priority for calculations toggle can help you define custom solve order for aggregations.

For more information, see Set Structure Priority and Create Custom Solve Order.

Data and Performance

Optimize Story Building Performance

Switch on this option to stop the automatic update that happens when changes are made in a chart or table. This reduces the load on the system and improves performance.

Size Limits for Planning Performance

Whenever you make edits to a private or public version, the application uses snapshots to support fast interactive planning and ensure a stable data region during planning. By default, snapshots are taken straight from the source public version, with potential restrictions (see below). With version management, you can also create a private version with an empty or filtered snapshot.

Note

Read performance can be affected when querying large private versions
The size of the target public version plays a role during publish

Large version sizes can impact the initial snapshot creation, interactive queries during planning as well as the publish operation. Although planning on private versions isn’t restricted, you might want to consider other ways to better control the performance for these versions:

Use read data access control to restrict data regions.
Use write data access on the version dimension to restrict edits on large versions (such as e.g., Actuals) to fewer users.
Create private versions with filters.
Configure a private version limit.

Working with limits in private version offers better control over a model performance. One benefit of working with limits is that, as a planner, you get notified whenever you create a data snapshot that is above the configured limit. When you get notified, you can either proceed or create a private version with more filters. For more details, please check out Creating Versions.

Every planning version has a default limit set to 5 million facts that can be adjusted, as planning performance depends on multiple factors, such as the number and complexity of the dimensions, calculations, concurrent users, and more. Make sure you adjust that limit accordingly if necessary in the Model Preferences, under Start of the navigation path Data & Performance Next navigation step Size Limits for Planning Performance End of the navigation path , with the Overwrite Default Limit option.

Optimize Recommended Planning Area

You can think of the planning area as a version’s data used for all planning actions, and a basis for creating private versions and editing public versions. By optimizing the planning area, you keep the data size manageable and can work on data that’s the most relevant to you.

Optimizing the planning area is especially useful if you’re trying to limit the data size of a model with a large public version that’s not limited. When you edit a public version, or create a private one, the application stores the recommended planning area as a reduced data snapshot but still shows locked data outside of that snapshot.

You can limit the size of the recommended planning area either using data access control, data locking, or both. Data access restrictions give you access to the data for which you have write access, while data locking restrictions give you access to the data regions that are unlocked.

You can optimize the size of the planning area in the Model Preferences, under the Data and Performance tab. Click the toggle under the Optimize Recommended Planning Area section, and using the dedicated options, select whether you want to limit the planning area based on data locking, data access control and model privacy, or both. Note that for both options to be effective, data access control and data locking must be enabled and configured. For more information, see Configuring Data Locking and Set Up Data Access Control.

For more information about the planning area, see Optimize Planning Models Using the Planning Area. For more information about working with the recommended planning area when editing or creating versions, see Planning on Public Versions and Creating Versions.

Optimized Scenario Composer for Analytical Engine

The SAP HANA processing engine used by SAP Analytics Cloud has been optimized and made available for models created from version 2021.02+ to provide better supportability, performance and precision. As a result, you might notice different data results between models created before and after version 2021.02. These differences are expected and solely due to the update.

However, if you notice unexpected results in new models or errors that didn’t occur before, you can decide to switch back to the legacy processing engine as opposed to the optimized processing engine. For more information, please refer to 2994816 Information published on SAP site .

Redeploy Model

For performance reasons, after a system upgrade, models are upgraded consecutively over time. You can use the Redeploy Model option if you want to make sure that a specific model is upgraded after a system upgrade.

You can also use that option if you have incorrect data or exceptions errors in widgets in stories and analytic applications. This usually means that the model is corrupted. The Redeploy Model option regenerates all runtime artefacts and fixes these errors.

Options for HANA Models

For models based on HANA views, version management functionality is available so that you can map any of the imported dimensions and values to selected versions (categories: Actual, Planning, Forecast, and so on). The mapped values are displayed in stories.

To access the feature, select the (Version Information) icon on the toolbar.

The following example shows that the Color dimension has been chosen to be the Version ID column. Different categories have been selected for the different versions (Blue, Green, and so on).

Note that not all dimensions from the HANA data source are immediately visible in Modeler. To see all dimensions, select the All Dimensions tab. For more information, see Dimensions in Live Data Models.