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Real People, Real InsightsSAP runs analytics solutions from SAP

David PoissonBI Director, Business Innovation and Application Services, SAPWith responsibility for introducing new analytics solutions within SAP, David discusses the need to convince business users of the value of new technologies and the best way to deploy them to win high user acceptance.

READ DAVID’S STORY ›

Michael GolzCIO Americas, SAPResponsible for both IT service delivery and innovative solutions, Michael discusses the changing role of the CIO, describes how the IT organization deploys analytics projects, and articulates the benefits gained thereby.

READ MICHAEL’S STORY ›

Joachim MetteDirector, Business Innovation and Application Services, Enterprise Analytics, and Internal SAP HANA Adoption, SAP Data consistency is crucial for delivering the insights a business wants. Joachim describes SAP’s information design project and how it is helping executives make better, faster decisions.

READ JOACHIM’S STORY ›

2 /20 © 2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

“The eternal challenge of every CIO is that there is more demand than you have capacity for, and you can never deliver fast enough. So if you can reduce at least a portion of the workload by giving the business self-service capability, the platforms to build their own models, and standard solutions rather than custom-built applications, you free up capacity for innovation and help the company achieve its strategic goals.”

Michael Golz, CIO Americas, SAP

Introduction Innovation Contact us

Michael’s Story: Delivering collective insight

Top tips


Like any CIO, part of Michael’s responsibility is to improve IT service levels delivered to the business while driving down costs. But the greater value is driving innovation and enabling the business to achieve its transformation goals.

Driving innovationA key component of Michael’s responsibility is working with the business to help it deliver on SAP’s strategic objectives. In particular he and his team have been heavily involved with delivering Big Data and analytics solutions based on the SAP HANA® platform.

Use the navigation bar at the top to explore what has been keeping Michael busy.

“Concerning analytics and Big Data, a CIO’s best position is to create platforms on which the business can build its own models.”

Michael’s Story: Introduction

Introduction Innovation Contact usTop tips

86%Time savings in producing profitability analyses for quarter and year-end close1

5 Business days reduction in earnings reporting2

1. Source: SAP Performance Benchmarking 2. Source: Ibid.


Sharpening sales forecasting Closing faster

Before• Data was extracted from different sources

and aggregated.• Extractions were taken at different times• Data definitions were different.• It was difficult to aggregate to the group level

or to drill down to various levels like region, country, industry, or product in a consistent way.

• IT had to spend time building and maintaining the reporting system and filling it with data.

• Data quality was a major concern.

“We can ask any question of a trusted data source and get the answer on a mobile device with flexible drill-down capabilities.”

Michael’s Story: Sharpening sales forecasting

Today• SAP CRM powered by SAP HANA allows

massive amounts of sales data to be analyzed in real time.

• There is zero delay between updating information and the ability to analyze it.

• Any question can be asked against trusted data.• Data can be analyzed across any dimension, for

example, by industry, country, or business unit.• Users can get the answers to questions

themselves.• All reporting is available via mobile devices.

Regular, accurate, global sales forecasting is vital for managing SAP’s business successfully. A new solution that uses the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application powered by SAP HANA is increasing the quality and speed of this critical activity.



Before• Profitability analysis was essentially a batch

process.• Reports were run, any incorrect postings or

allocations were checked, and adjustments were made.

• Reports were then rerun.• The process resulted in a number of iterations

and took 26 business hours end to end.

“Accelerating profitability reporting by two and a half days has freed up valuable time for deep-dive analysis.”

Michael’s Story: Closing faster

Today• Cost and revenue allocations are made

in real time with no impact to the performance of the system.

• Final profitability reports are produced in four hours.

• The four hours are not due to system processing time, but the time for finance and controlling to clarify open questions.

• Valuable time has been freed up to analyze the information.

Providing profitability analyses that show the revenues and costs for regions, countries, and product lines is a major part of any company’s financial reporting. Using the SAP HANA platform and analytics solutions from SAP has allowed the company to slash the time it takes to produce reports.


Sharpening sales forecasting Closing faster


Provide real-time platforms that allow employees to get instant, flexible insight and speed up critical processes.

Deploy mobile analytics for anytime, anywhere access.

Start with information relevant to senior management, and let them champion the cause when they see the benefits.

Don’t be too concerned about exposing inconsistencies, as data is no longer extracted and corrected before it is used. It will drive accountability for correct data at the source.

“Never underestimate the process aspect, and really work with the business to identify how you want to implement analytics across the business.”

Michael’s Story: Top tips

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Move as little data as possible to simplify your landscape and decrease dependency on IT.

Take a platform approach that allows the business to use self-services, build their own models, and visualize the results.

Pilot new solutions, include user feedback, and expand from there.



“The SAP HANA platform is the starting point for our transformation strategy. It offers access to massive amounts of data to create dashboards and reports through a very simplified architecture. We are bringing analytics directly into our SAP software, which delivers very high performance that allows us to slice and dice millions of records and create more accurate and informed insights for our users.”

David Poisson, BI Director, Business Innovation and Application Services, SAP

Introduction Innovation Contact us

David’s Story: Transforming BI strategy

Top tips


Business Innovation and Application Services is an internal IT organization focused on next-generation technologies and business challenges. It is charged with bringing IT closer to the lines of business, tightening collaboration with internal customers, and delivering solutions based on SAP technologies.

Delivering business intelligence globallyDavid is in charge of delivering business intelligence (BI) solutions globally for the controlling and HR functions as well as providing business planning solutions for all lines of business. That mandate has David leveraging the deployment of the SAP HANA platform to deliver real-time predictive and operational analytics solutions.

Use the navigation bar at the top to explore what has been keeping David busy.

“There are great expectations about how running predictive analytics on SAP software will generate additional business value. We are working on using SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA and SAP Lumira software, which will allow us to deliver more and more capabilities to our users.”

David’s Story: Introduction


6Person-weeks saved every quarter by using SAP Data Services software3

3. Source: SAP Performance Benchmarking


The sales pipelineThe sales pipeline is now delivered directly from the SAP Customer Relationship Management application in real time. Senior executives can quickly analyze and visualize data using SAP Lumira™ software. The data is also available in an iPad app. Feedback from SAP sales personnel and leadership has been very good, while the take-up by previously reluctant executives has been universal. Besides showing quick adoption, they have provided suggestions on how to enhance the solutions to make them even simpler.

“Executives visiting customers feel confident demonstrating the sales pipeline app using real-time data on their iPad.”

David’s Story: Keeping the architecture simple

Operational reportingInstead of having to extract data and populate a data warehouse for strategic reports like accounts receivables and purchase orders, reports are now run directly from the SAP ERP application. This simplified approach saves time and effort and helps to keep data quality and consistency high.

With the SAP HANA platform, SAP has been able to do away with time-consuming and labor-intensive data extractions. Instead, it now runs analytics directly in SAP business software. Not only does this hugely simplify the architecture, it also adds greater value to the business as well, as these examples show.


Keeping the architecture simple Managing data with an agile touch Forecasting headcount smarter


One example of its value is in recruitment reporting. The recruitment system SAP uses is on an extranet. Employing SAP Data Services software, the data is brought in-house and combined with other information to answer questions like who is recruiting and how long positions have been open.

“We can really quickly create solutions and automate them, giving us an agility that we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

David’s Story: Managing data with an agile touch

Sustainability – a key topic for SAP – is another good example of how SAP Data Services provides value. The software is used to bring disparate data from around the world – it might be facilities management information or employee commuting data – together in one location. An overall dashboard then showcases relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) culled from that body of data.

SAP Data Services software has always been a key tool in the IT strategy at SAP. It greatly simplifies the process of transferring data from a source to a target system. It allows processes like data cleansing, filtering, and transformation to be automated, even when there are no data matches and complex rules are required.




SAP’s workforce is critical to its success. Naturally, regularly reviewing the quality and quantity of employees it will need in the future is a key activity. With SAP InfiniteInsight, the company can construct a whole range of scenarios based on key criteria, such as employee age groups, HR data, and salaries.

“Forecasting is a key activity in our organization, and we need to have the elements in place that enable us to judge how situations will evolve.”

David’s Story: Forecasting headcount smarter

This gives managers a clear idea of how headcount needs will evolve, allowing them to put in place the plans that will make sure SAP has the workforce it needs not only now, but in the future.

Predictive analytics provides meaningful insight to support a wide range of future planning. SAP currently uses the SAP InfiniteInsight® solution in the area of finance for headcount and internal costs.




Understand users’ challenges and issues and develop solutions that solve business problems – innovation for innovation’s sake won’t work

Identify key influencers and start communicating with them early on

Improve adoption and buy-in of mobile technology by creating apps quickly for key influencers

Use agile methodologies to deliver quality solutions quickly to gain enthusiastic user adoption

Think carefully about the data layer and where to place it before developing analytics solutions

“Delivering quality functionality in collaboration with business users on a step-by-step basis helps them feel part of the process and improves buy-in.”

David’s Story: Top tips

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Consider the high user adoption of SAP BusinessObjects™ Design Studio, despite the fact that it is more “technical” than the highly popular SAP Lumira software that users value for its excellent interactive analysis and visualization features

Pilot tools people will use as early as possible

Consider the opportunities you have for simplifying planning and forecasting using the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application.



“Combining technologies like analytics, the SAP HANA platform, and mobile technology with the latest thinking about information design is enabling us to make reporting faster, more accurate, and easier to assimilate. This has led to an improved understanding of the business and better decision making.”

Joachim Mette, Director, Business Innovation and Application Services, Enterprise Analytics, and Internal SAP HANA Adoption, SAP


Joachim’s Story: Improving accuracy and interpretation


From a background in data warehousing and controlling, Joachim now focuses on the benefits accounting can gain from the SAP HANA platform, analytics software, and mobile apps.

He gives examples here of how SAP is combining these technologies to deliver greater insights into the business. He also explores an often-overlooked aspect of analytics and reporting – the importance of consistency in the way data is presented.

Use the navigation bar at the top to explore what has been keeping Joachim busy.

“Before the completion of our information design project, recipients often spent more time trying to understand what the reports were trying to tell them than analyzing and interpreting the results.”

Joachim’s Story: Introduction


Instant reportsFinancial forecasts are now produced almost instantaneously instead of taking six to eight hours4

4. Source: SAP Performance Benchmarking


Before• Multiple reporting standards and procedures• Different layouts, terminology, and naming• Mixed and inconsistent notations• Varying information density• Difficulty comparing information between

reports

“The controller now has a whole day to analyze the reports and write comments that provide an explanation of the data for the recipient.”

Joachim’s Story: Streamlining forecast reporting

Today• One common reporting standard• Consistent layouts, terminology, and naming

across reports, dashboards, and graphs• Consistently defined notations, including

abbreviations, color schemes, and layouts• Standardized information density• Use of industry standards as basis for

information design

Every business unit in SAP, from a development unit to the board, is embroiled in financial forecasting 11 times a year. Previously, the forecasting process involved a lot of reports produced in various formats and a multitude of local standards. So, it was very difficult for recipients to understand the data and what the reports were telling them.


Streamlining forecast reporting Improved reporting accuracy Self-service business intelligence

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“It is now easier for recipients to consume information, which leads to better decision making.”

Joachim’s Story: Streamlining forecast reporting (cont’d)


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Information design is making it easier to recognize information faster by using visual standards for actuals, budget, and forecast data, for example. After defining new notation guidelines, SAP was able to standardize and simplify the vast quantity of different reports it produced.

There are notation standards in many other areas, like sheet music or geographical maps, with presentation standardized and accepted worldwide. The same concept can be applied to business information to optimize and accelerate the delivery of actionable business intelligence and analytics.

The result would be higher engagement and alignment across the entire organization, and faster, smarter decision making.

Reports are produced automatically in a standardized format using SAP Crystal Reports® software. Time to generate them is down to a couple of minutes, giving controllers time to add comments to the reports, something extremely valuable for the recipients. Users can pick and choose the reports they need, for example, reports on headcount or reports on profit and loss.


Before• Three currencies were used for evaluation

– transaction currency, local currency, and group currency.

• Currency information was aggregated in a business warehouse before reporting, so no detailed data was available for analysis.

“SAP HANA has allowed us to work at a much lower level of granularity – by day, by document number – which is delivering greater accuracy.”

Today• The transaction currency is converted directly

to the group currency.• Despite data volume increasing by a factor of

15–20, with SAP HANA the information can be analyzed in real time without adversely impacting system performance for users.

• Reporting and analysis are more accurate.

SAP reports its financial results at constant currency in order to provide a clearer picture of the company’s growth. Moving from reporting on local currencies at an aggregated level to using live source data in SAP Business Warehouse powered by SAP HANA has delivered greater speed and accuracy.

Joachim’s Story: Improved reporting accuracy




Before• Mashups of data happened outside of the

data warehouse in local data marts.

“With workspaces, our business users are able to merge information from the central data warehouse with local data in a very controlled and governed manner.”

Joachim’s Story: Self-service business intelligence

Today• Local data is uploaded in workspaces and linked

to central data models.• New records in the data warehouse are

automatically joined to the uploaded local data – there is no time delay.

• No lengthy IT projects are needed, with business users empowered to create their own reports.

It’s a challenge for IT departments to react quickly to business users’ analysis needs. Also, users want to be able to create their own data mashups. Using workspaces, SAP has been able to combine data from architected data marts and departmental data marts.




Realize that business users don’t care about technology, and talk to them about the issues they want to resolve

Decide which information is important to have in real time, and remember that every industry has its own set of KPIs that are vital

Think carefully about how to present data to make it easy for recipients to interpret

Joachim’s Story: Top tips

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4 Don’t forget that very basic things are important, like column sequences and standard use of colors

Let the SAP HANA platform help you use transactional data to achieve greater accuracy in financial reporting, and stop using aggregated information



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real people, real insights - cdm media · sap data services software has always been a key tool in...

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