As analytics adoption grows, Story Designers are increasingly expected to move beyond static reporting and deliver visual analysis that explains trends, highlights drivers, and supports prioritization.
While SAP Analytics Cloud already offers a strong foundation of visualizations, designers often faced limitations when trying to identify key contributors behind a metric, show how values evolve over time without visual clutter, or clearly communicate proportional impact and cumulative effects.
With the 2026 Q1 QRC, SAP Analytics Cloud expands its out-of-the-box visualization capabilities with new and enhanced charts: Pareto Chart, Area Chart, and improvements to the Stacked Area!
Pareto Chart: Focus on What Truly Drives Impact
The Pareto Chart is designed to help Story Designers to prioritize focus, explain trade-offs, and guide action instead of treating all contributors as equally important.
We wanted the creation of a Pareto Chart to be intentionally simple. Story Designers just have to bind a primary structure (Measure or Account depending on the Model Type) and select the dimension across which the analysis should run. The Pareto Visualization is then automatically generated, sorted from highest to lowest, including the cumulative percentage which increases to 100%.
Furthermore, we allow additional Primary Structures as supplementary columns for context without impacting the Cumulative Percentage Calculation. It provides Story Designers the option to enrich the analysis while keeping the pareto logic clean and mathematically correct.
⚠️ For the Cumulative Percentage, Pareto Charts rely on a Running Total Calculation and therefore is not supported for data models that do not allow for the creation of a Running Total Calculation in Stories, such as SAP BW and SAP IBP.
Area Chart: A Clear Alternative to Stacked Visuals
The new Area Chart introduces a powerful option for visualizing trends over time while maintaining focus on the overall shape and direction of the data. Compared to Stacked Area Charts, Area Charts emphasize trend and magnitude rather than composition, reduce visual complexity when multiple series are present, and make it easier to follow a single measure’s evolution across time. It makes Area Charts especially valuable when the analytical goal is trend interpretation rather than part-to-whole comparison.
Stacked Area Chart Enhancements: More Expressive, More Flexible
The Stacked Area Chart has been enhanced to support use cases that matter to you the most! These include the introduction of a 100% Stacked Area Chart, enabling designers to clearly visualize proportional contribution over time. We’ve also added the configuration to adjust the line to a smooth line, which also applies to the Area Chart and offers consistency with our other Chart Types.
Why This Matters for Story Designers
These visualization enhancements significantly expand what Story Designers can do out of the box in SAP Analytics Cloud rather than relying on Custom Widgets.
As SAP Analytics Cloud continues to evolve its visualization portfolio, designers can rely less on workarounds and more on purpose-built visuals that match analytical intent.
ⓘ Keep an eye out on the roadmap explorer, as new Chart Types such as the Gauge, Funnel, and Sankey will be coming soon!
As analytics adoption grows, Story Designers are increasingly expected to move beyond static reporting and deliver visual analysis that explains trends, highlights drivers, and supports prioritization.While SAP Analytics Cloud already offers a strong foundation of visualizations, designers often faced limitations when trying to identify key contributors behind a metric, show how values evolve over time without visual clutter, or clearly communicate proportional impact and cumulative effects.With the 2026 Q1 QRC, SAP Analytics Cloud expands its out-of-the-box visualization capabilities with new and enhanced charts: Pareto Chart, Area Chart, and improvements to the Stacked Area!Pareto Chart: Focus on What Truly Drives ImpactThe Pareto Chart is designed to help Story Designers to prioritize focus, explain trade-offs, and guide action instead of treating all contributors as equally important.We wanted the creation of a Pareto Chart to be intentionally simple. Story Designers just have to bind a primary structure (Measure or Account depending on the Model Type) and select the dimension across which the analysis should run. The Pareto Visualization is then automatically generated, sorted from highest to lowest, including the cumulative percentage which increases to 100%. Furthermore, we allow additional Primary Structures as supplementary columns for context without impacting the Cumulative Percentage Calculation. It provides Story Designers the option to enrich the analysis while keeping the pareto logic clean and mathematically correct.⚠️ For the Cumulative Percentage, Pareto Charts rely on a Running Total Calculation and therefore is not supported for data models that do not allow for the creation of a Running Total Calculation in Stories, such as SAP BW and SAP IBP. Area Chart: A Clear Alternative to Stacked VisualsThe new Area Chart introduces a powerful option for visualizing trends over time while maintaining focus on the overall shape and direction of the data. Compared to Stacked Area Charts, Area Charts emphasize trend and magnitude rather than composition, reduce visual complexity when multiple series are present, and make it easier to follow a single measure’s evolution across time. It makes Area Charts especially valuable when the analytical goal is trend interpretation rather than part-to-whole comparison.Stacked Area Chart Enhancements: More Expressive, More FlexibleThe Stacked Area Chart has been enhanced to support use cases that matter to you the most! These include the introduction of a 100% Stacked Area Chart, enabling designers to clearly visualize proportional contribution over time. We’ve also added the configuration to adjust the line to a smooth line, which also applies to the Area Chart and offers consistency with our other Chart Types. Why This Matters for Story DesignersThese visualization enhancements significantly expand what Story Designers can do out of the box in SAP Analytics Cloud rather than relying on Custom Widgets.As SAP Analytics Cloud continues to evolve its visualization portfolio, designers can rely less on workarounds and more on purpose-built visuals that match analytical intent.ⓘ Keep an eye out on the roadmap explorer, as new Chart Types such as the Gauge, Funnel, and Sankey will be coming soon! Read More Technology Blog Posts by SAP articles
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