SAC add-in for Microosft Excel

SAC add-in for Microosft Excel

| Jeanne Bigonnet |

Excel Analytics

YouTube

Spotify

Apple

Episode #304

Introduction

In episode 304 of our SAP on Azure video podcast we talk about the SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Excel.

SAP Analytics Cloud is used by many customers for planning, analytics, and reporting. But of course, many business users still spend a lot of their day in Microsoft Excel.

That is why the SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Excel is such an interesting topic. It brings SAP Analytics Cloud data and planning capabilities into a tool that many users already know very well.

Today we want to understand what SAC is, why there is an Excel add-in, who is using it, and how it works in practice.

To walk us through this, I am very happy to welcome Jeanne from SAP.

Welcome Jeanne, great to have you with us.

Find all the links mentioned here: https://www.saponazurepodcast.de/episode304

Reach out to us for any feedback / questions:

#Microsoft #SAP #Azure #SAPonAzure #SAPAnalyticsCloud #Excel #Microsoft365 #Planning #Analytics

Summary created by AI

  • SAP Analytics Cloud Excel Add-In Overview:
  • Jeanne explained to Holger and Goran how the SAP Analytics Cloud add-in brings live SAC analytics and planning into the familiar Microsoft Excel environment, using Microsoft’s JavaScript-based technology and supporting enterprise deployment across desktop, browser, Windows, and Mac.
    • Product Purpose: Jeanne described SAP Analytics Cloud as a web application for analytics and planning over SAP, partner, and external data sources. The Excel add-in extends those capabilities into Excel so users can analyze data, create reports, and perform planning without leaving a familiar workbook-based interface.
    • Technology And Deployment: The add-in was released in 2020 as a new product built on Microsoft’s JavaScript-based Office add-in technology; it is not the successor to an earlier SAP Excel tool. Users obtain it through the Microsoft Store, while organizations can deploy it centrally through a Microsoft administrator or allow individual installation where permitted. Updates and new features are delivered automatically through the store, avoiding manual installation and maintenance.
    • Platform Support: The add-in supports Excel desktop and Excel Online, and it can run on Windows and Mac because it is not dependent on the older Windows-only COM architecture. Jeanne stated that Office 365 was initially required and that Office 2021 is now supported.
    • Supported Data Sources: Users can connect to SAC planning models and other SAC-supported sources, including SAP BW, S/4HANA, HANA Cloud, SAP Datasphere, and artifacts included in the Business Data Cloud concept. Excel’s native capabilities—including formulas, macros, local files, SharePoint, and shared drives—remain available alongside the SAC connection.
  • Live Analytics And Planning Workflows:
  • Jeanne demonstrated how planners and analysts can retrieve live SAC data, design hierarchical reports, enter and process planning values in Excel, and preserve SAC calculation, versioning, governance, and publishing controls.
    • Analytics Reports: The add-in provides a pivot-table-like designer in which users define dimensions, measures, rows, columns, filters, and hierarchies. Users can drill into dimensions such as product or sales organization, select hierarchy levels, and use Excel formatting and charts to create analytical reports.
    • Planning Data Entry: Jeanne connected an Excel table to an SAC planning model and showed that planners can enter values directly into editable cells. Data entered or changed is highlighted in blue, while calculated cells appear in gray and cannot be edited because their values are calculated by the SAC backend.
    • Backend Processing: After data entry, the user selects Process Data. The add-in sends the changes to the backend, where SAC planning rules and calculations are executed; the resulting calculated values are then returned to Excel. Jeanne noted that the demonstration recalculated 156 data points and that the workbook’s tables can subsequently be refreshed.
    • Version Publishing: Processed planning changes initially remain private to the planner in the selected version, shown with an asterisk, so the planner can test or review them before wider release. Users can publish the data when ready or revert unpublished changes; processing and publishing can also be combined into one action if required.
    • Refresh Control: Data can be refreshed manually from the add-in ribbon or automatically when a workbook opens. Users may refresh all tables or select individual tables, which is useful for large workbooks; the interface indicates tables requiring refresh.
  • Excel And SAC Integration Scenarios:
  • Jeanne showed how standard Excel features can be combined with SAC tables and formulas, including copy-and-paste input, VBA-triggered actions, charts, Goal Seek what-if analysis, and SAP.GETDATA-based reporting.
    • Excel Data Integration: A standard Excel report can consume values produced by an SAC-connected table. Jeanne copied price data into an Excel-based planning workflow; the add-in recognized the pasted values as planning input, highlighted them, and allowed them to be processed back to SAC.
    • VBA And Charts: The workbook included Excel charts based on the planning data. Jeanne also demonstrated VBA macros associated with the add-in that can invoke add-in actions such as processing data, allowing existing Excel workflows to trigger SAC operations.
    • Goal Seek Analysis: Jeanne used Excel Goal Seek to target a 21% net margin by changing the required bike quantity. The resulting Excel value was linked back to the SAC table, highlighted as a new planning input, and processed so SAC could recalculate the related planning measures in the backend.
    • Custom SAC Functions: The add-in includes SAP-specific worksheet functions in addition to standard Excel formulas. Jeanne demonstrated SAP.GETDATA, which retrieves values cell by cell for reports such as actuals, forecasts, and prior-year comparisons, allowing users to combine SAC data retrieval with Excel formulas, hidden helper cells, formatting, and custom report layouts.
    • Rolling Forecast: Jeanne used GETDATA and table-status functionality to build a rolling forecast. After selecting a period such as October and refreshing the workbook, the report displayed actual data through the selected period and forecast data for subsequent periods.
  • Analysis For Office Positioning:
  • Jeanne clarified for Holger and Goran that SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office remains supported in maintenance mode for traditional sources, while all new SAC-related feature investment is directed to the newer cloud-based Excel add-in.
    • Legacy Product Status: SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office is a mature, Windows desktop add-in used by a large existing customer base with sources such as BW, BPC, group reporting, and other traditional SAP systems. Jeanne said it remains supported for bug fixes and customer assistance but is in maintenance mode, with no new feature roadmap.
    • Strategic Recommendation: For new SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP Datasphere scenarios, Jeanne clearly recommended the SAP Analytics Cloud add-in for Microsoft Excel because new SAC-related features are being developed there. Customers using BW and satisfied with Analysis for Office may continue using it when they do not require capabilities such as Mac or browser support.
    • Migration Approach: There is no automated migration tool because the old and new add-ins use fundamentally different technologies. Customers can redesign workbooks as needed or operate both add-ins in parallel—for example, retaining Analysis for Office for BW workbooks while using the SAC add-in for SAC scenarios.
  • Adoption And Product Roadmap:
  • Jeanne reported increasing use of the Excel add-in, particularly for reporting and growing planning adoption, and directed customers to SAP’s roadmap and Influence Portal for upcoming features and requests.
    • Usage Trends: Jeanne reported strong growth in the Excel add-in, including a 139% increase in direct navigation from SAC to Excel between January and June 2026 and a 40% increase in monthly saved workbooks. SAC represented approximately 70% of workbook usage and Datasphere approximately 30%.
    • Planning Adoption: Reporting remained the primary scenario, with SAP.GETDATA identified as the most frequently used custom function and filtering, member selection, and workbook refresh among the main user activities. Planning adoption was significant among larger customers, with 58% of tenants using Excel directly for planning and write-back.
    • Roadmap Themes: The roadmap included planned capabilities across planning, business intelligence, sources, and integration. Examples included dimension comments, multi-action execution, multiple new lines, new master-data members, BW comments, data-lock visualization, Office Scripts API support, calculated measures, formatting templates, additional live connections, lifecycle management, refresh-sheet APIs, and navigation from Modeler or Data Analyzer.
    • Customer Feedback: Jeanne identified SAP’s Influence Portal as the channel where customers can submit feature requests and communicate requirements that inform upcoming roadmaps. Holger and Goran planned to include the roadmap, documentation, deployment, learning, and request links with the published YouTube episode.

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