SAP Business Graphics accepts input in the form of tables. A table can contain a single list of numbers, or a set of rows and columns. You can also input multiple tables, each of which has rows and columns. This section illustrates how these data tables are graphed.

When the data occurs in a simple list, SAP Business Graphics creates a 2D graph (see figure). The list items are laid out along the horizontal axis of the graph. You cannot generate a 3D graph for data that contains only a simple list of values.

A list of values can be viewed as a table with only rows, or only columns. In either case, the set of rows (or columns) is sometimes referred to as the row dimension.

When data is input in a table with rows and columns, SAP Business Graphics creates a 3D graph. This is illustrated by the following figure, which contains data input as a table of values (left) and a 3D graph of the data (right). The rows appear along the left side of the graph floor, and the columns along the right. The actual data values are depicted vertically in the graph.

The set of rows and set of columns are sometimes referred to as the "row" and "column dimensions." Individual rows or columns are referred to as "dimension elements."

Your data can also include multiple tables, each of which contains rows and columns. The number of rows and columns must be the same from table to table: the table never changes size.

For data in this format, SAP Business Graphics creates a 3D graph for each one of your tables. This is illustrated by the following figure, which contains data input in multiple tables (each with rows and columns). The rows and columns remain the same from graph to graph; only the data values change.

Employee Commissions: January

Because you can page through these 3D graphs, the set of table-names is referred to as the "pages" or "page dimension." Each page, like each row or column, has a name, and this name appears as part of the title of the graph.