SAP Analytics Cloud & SAP Datasphere Combined to the rescue.... (Drill Down in SAP Analytics Cloud)

I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud now for a few years and yes - there are some really impressive features coming up in the next couple of months, but there is one of those features that I think is still missing in SAP Analytics Cloud (and has been missing for quite some time), so I decided to look into some options and would like to show in the next couple of days, how this feature could get implemented using SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere combined.

I am talking about the option to do a simple Drill Down navigation as part of SAP Analytics Cloud Charts or Tables, similar to what is possible in Analysis Office or other BI tools.

Today it is possible to perform a Drill Down navigation (Figure 1), but that does require a hierarchy being defined in SAP Analytics Cloud.

Figure 1: Drill Down in SAP Analytics Cloud with Hierarchies

In case the chart or the underlying data source does not have a hierarchy configured, then the Drill Down option is not available anymore (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Missing Drill Down Option in SAP Analytics Cloud

In case we would allow the option to open the Data Analyzer based on the chart, then within the Data Analyzer itself we do have the option to perform a Drill Down by simply adding a dimension to the navigation and we also have the option to do a "Filter and Swap" (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Data Analyzer Navigation

And just to make sure we all have the same understanding.

• Drill Down would mean to be able to add an additional dimension (or hierarchy level). For example you are looking at a chart or a table that shows the Revenue by Country, and you would like to see the break down by Region / State.
• Filter and Swap would mean that you select a member in the chart, filter the chart based on the selected value, and exchange the dimension with another one at the same time. In our example from above, we select the entry "Canada" in our chart showing Revenue by Country and select to swap dimension Country with dimension Product. The result would then be a chart that shows Revenue by Product filtered for Country Canada.

So why SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere combined? Because I am planning to use SAP Datasphere Local tables for some configuration information, that then can be picked up at runtime for these scenarios.