Hello Community,
It’s been a while since I last wrote an SAP blog. Over the past couple of years, I had the opportunity to work with several analytics tools and SAP Analytics Cloud has consistently stood out as a unique and fast evolving member of the analytics family. One thing that becomes very clear when you work with SAC is how fast it evolves. Just when you start getting comfortable with the current features, SAP introduces new updates that make the tool even more powerful and refined. This constant pace of innovation is something I genuinely enjoy, even though it can be challenging at times.
With every release, there is always something new to explore, test and sometimes even relearn. In this blog, I would like to share few features from the Q1 2026 SAC release that I personally encountered and found especially useful during my day‑to‑day work.
1. Story Versioning
Story Versioning is a great addition that really stands out in this release. It introduces a framework that allows dashboard designers to create, manage and restore up to 10 versions of a story, making experimentation much safer.
In real projects, it’s common to try different layouts, KPIs or visual approaches. Especially after feedback from business users. Earlier, this often meant copying stories or manually tracking changes. With Story Versioning, you can confidently test ideas knowing that reverting to a previous version is just a few clicks away.
To create a version, open the story in Edit mode, navigate to the Save tab and choose Save as New Version. Versions can be accessed either directly from Edit mode via File Versions or from Files > My Stories > File Versions, where you can open or delete older versions. Each version also shows who created it, when it was last modified, and what changed. As, this is very helpful in team‑based environments.
2: Live Snowflake Connectivity
One of the bigger technical enhancements in this release is live connectivity to Snowflake, now supported even for planning models. This removes the need for data replication and allows SAC to work directly on real‑time Snowflake data.
Setting up the connection is straightforward. You create a new live connection from the Connections area, select Snowflake and provide the required details such as account, database, username, and private key. Once connected, you can create a live model in the Modeler and select the required Snowflake tables.
From my experience, this is particularly useful when data freshness is critical or when data volumes are large and duplication is not ideal.
3: Presentation Mode
Presentation Mode replaces the old full screen experience and brings Digital Boardroom like functionality directly into standard SAC stories, without requiring a separate license.
This is a minor but impactful change. Instead of switching tools or modes for executive presentations, you can now stay within the same story and still deliver a structured, professional presentation experience. It feels much more polished during live discussions and review meetings.
4: Ability to Import Pages
This is a simple feature, but one that saves time in real projects. You can now import pages from other stories into your current story.
In Edit mode, selecting Add Page > Import Story Pages allows you to browse existing stories and reuse entire pages. For large recurring reporting cycles, this avoids rebuilding content from scratch and helps maintain consistency across stories.
5: Complex Presentation Structure
With this update, SAC allows you to build nested presentation structures using topics and subtopics. Think of it as creating a logical tree. This is very useful when you have multiple sections like Overview, Detailed Analysis and Deep Dives.
You can configure this in Edit mode > File > Edit Story > Presentation Settings or from the Outline panel. Pages can be organized under parent topics and subtopics making navigation during presentations far more intuitive. This has been especially helpful in long management review sessions.
6: Flexible Control Panel in Present Mode
Present Mode also brings better control over navigation and layout. You can configure the top toolbar to be floating or fixed, set it to auto‑hide and work with a consistent vertical filter panel.
To configure this, go to Edit mode > File > Edit > View Time Settings, adjust the toolbar behavior and save the story. Small adjustments, but they make a noticeable difference during live presentations where screen space and clarity matter.
7: Replace Model Within Stories (My Personal Favorite)
This is easily one of my favorite updates in this release.
In the past, I have faced multiple situations where the data model needed to change midway through development or sometimes even much later. Anyone who has been there knows what that usually meant: rebuilding widgets, re‑binding measures, rechecking filters and losing a lot of time redoing work that was already finalized.
With the Replace Model feature, SAC has addressed a very real pain point. You can now replace an existing model with another model that has a similar structure, while preserving story layouts, widgets, and bindings. This has already saved a significant amount of time for many of us, especially in agile or evolving projects.
That said, I do feel this is a feature that should be used with awareness. Before replacing a model, it’s important to understand all dependencies like dimensions, measures, calculations and filters. SAC does a good job of automatically mapping objects based on names and highlights any mismatches but taking time to review warnings ensures nothing fails unexpectedly.
I think when used carefully, this feature is a huge productivity booster.
That being said, I am excited to keep learning and exploring new features as SAP Analytics Cloud continues to evolve. I would also love to hear from you and please feel free to share your experiences, learnings and the features that caught your attention in this or recent SAC releases.😊
Hello Community,It’s been a while since I last wrote an SAP blog. Over the past couple of years, I had the opportunity to work with several analytics tools and SAP Analytics Cloud has consistently stood out as a unique and fast evolving member of the analytics family. One thing that becomes very clear when you work with SAC is how fast it evolves. Just when you start getting comfortable with the current features, SAP introduces new updates that make the tool even more powerful and refined. This constant pace of innovation is something I genuinely enjoy, even though it can be challenging at times.With every release, there is always something new to explore, test and sometimes even relearn. In this blog, I would like to share few features from the Q1 2026 SAC release that I personally encountered and found especially useful during my day‑to‑day work.1. Story VersioningStory Versioning is a great addition that really stands out in this release. It introduces a framework that allows dashboard designers to create, manage and restore up to 10 versions of a story, making experimentation much safer.In real projects, it’s common to try different layouts, KPIs or visual approaches. Especially after feedback from business users. Earlier, this often meant copying stories or manually tracking changes. With Story Versioning, you can confidently test ideas knowing that reverting to a previous version is just a few clicks away.To create a version, open the story in Edit mode, navigate to the Save tab and choose Save as New Version. Versions can be accessed either directly from Edit mode via File Versions or from Files > My Stories > File Versions, where you can open or delete older versions. Each version also shows who created it, when it was last modified, and what changed. As, this is very helpful in team‑based environments.2: Live Snowflake ConnectivityOne of the bigger technical enhancements in this release is live connectivity to Snowflake, now supported even for planning models. This removes the need for data replication and allows SAC to work directly on real‑time Snowflake data.Setting up the connection is straightforward. You create a new live connection from the Connections area, select Snowflake and provide the required details such as account, database, username, and private key. Once connected, you can create a live model in the Modeler and select the required Snowflake tables.From my experience, this is particularly useful when data freshness is critical or when data volumes are large and duplication is not ideal.3: Presentation ModePresentation Mode replaces the old full screen experience and brings Digital Boardroom like functionality directly into standard SAC stories, without requiring a separate license.This is a minor but impactful change. Instead of switching tools or modes for executive presentations, you can now stay within the same story and still deliver a structured, professional presentation experience. It feels much more polished during live discussions and review meetings.4: Ability to Import PagesThis is a simple feature, but one that saves time in real projects. You can now import pages from other stories into your current story.In Edit mode, selecting Add Page > Import Story Pages allows you to browse existing stories and reuse entire pages. For large recurring reporting cycles, this avoids rebuilding content from scratch and helps maintain consistency across stories.5: Complex Presentation StructureWith this update, SAC allows you to build nested presentation structures using topics and subtopics. Think of it as creating a logical tree. This is very useful when you have multiple sections like Overview, Detailed Analysis and Deep Dives.You can configure this in Edit mode > File > Edit Story > Presentation Settings or from the Outline panel. Pages can be organized under parent topics and subtopics making navigation during presentations far more intuitive. This has been especially helpful in long management review sessions.6: Flexible Control Panel in Present ModePresent Mode also brings better control over navigation and layout. You can configure the top toolbar to be floating or fixed, set it to auto‑hide and work with a consistent vertical filter panel.To configure this, go to Edit mode > File > Edit > View Time Settings, adjust the toolbar behavior and save the story. Small adjustments, but they make a noticeable difference during live presentations where screen space and clarity matter.7: Replace Model Within Stories (My Personal Favorite)This is easily one of my favorite updates in this release.In the past, I have faced multiple situations where the data model needed to change midway through development or sometimes even much later. Anyone who has been there knows what that usually meant: rebuilding widgets, re‑binding measures, rechecking filters and losing a lot of time redoing work that was already finalized.With the Replace Model feature, SAC has addressed a very real pain point. You can now replace an existing model with another model that has a similar structure, while preserving story layouts, widgets, and bindings. This has already saved a significant amount of time for many of us, especially in agile or evolving projects.That said, I do feel this is a feature that should be used with awareness. Before replacing a model, it’s important to understand all dependencies like dimensions, measures, calculations and filters. SAC does a good job of automatically mapping objects based on names and highlights any mismatches but taking time to review warnings ensures nothing fails unexpectedly.I think when used carefully, this feature is a huge productivity booster. That being said, I am excited to keep learning and exploring new features as SAP Analytics Cloud continues to evolve. I would also love to hear from you and please feel free to share your experiences, learnings and the features that caught your attention in this or recent SAC releases.😊 Read More Technology Blog Posts by Members articles
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