Reading SampleBegin learning how to turn your data into beautiful visualizations and narratives with this selected chapter of Getting Started with SAP Lumira. Discover the capabilities SAP Lumiras easy-to-use interface which seeks to solve the growing business intelligence requirements of todays indus-try.

Christian Ah-Soon, Peter Snowdon

Getting Started with SAP Lumira565 Pages, 2015, $69.95/69.95 ISBN 978-1-4932-1033-6

www.sap-press.com/3645

Introduction to the SAP Lumira Suite

Contents

Index

The Authors

First-hand knowledge.

2015 by Galileo Press, Inc. This reading sample may be distributed free of charge. In no way must the file be altered, or individual pages be removed. The use for any commercial purpose other than promoting the book is strictly prohibited.

21

The SAP Lumira suite is the new analytics tool proposed by SAP that offers self-service data visualization. This chapter provides an introduction into the SAP Lumira suite and its core component, SAP Lumira Desktop.

1 Introduction to the SAP Lumira Suite

The SAP Lumira suite is self-service data-visualization software that allows for eas-ier manipulation, visualization, and sharing of data on a platform or in the cloud.With it, you can analyze trends and share insights into your data via its versatilecomponents; thanks to SAP Lumira Desktop, SAP Lumira Server, and SAP LumiraCloud, this suite has you covered. This suite is intended for anyone who needs toanalyze and manipulate some data, from the student to the data expert in yourcompany. This suite democratizes business intelligence (BI) by allowing anyone tocreate their own analytics easily and for free. SAP Lumira is easy to use, but pro-vides powerful analytical capabilities to address the requirements described pre-viously.

In this chapter, we will discuss the suite itself and the core component of the suite:SAP Lumira Desktop.

SAP Lumira Desktop is a standalone desktop application, whereas the SAP LumiraServer is an enterprise solution, and SAP Lumira Cloud offers virtual sharing with-out physical constraints.

Since its first release in 2012, SAP Lumira Desktop has generated a great interest,which can be measured by its high download numbers. It was initially named SAPVisual Intelligence and positioned as an advanced visualization tool.

SAP Lumira Desktop

Throughout the remainder of this book, the SAP Lumira Desktop application on-premiseis referred to as SAP Lumira. SAP Lumira Desktop is explicitly used when it could beconfused with SAP Lumira suite, SAP Lumira Cloud, or SAP Lumira Server.

22

Introduction to the SAP Lumira Suite1

In this chapter, well review how organizations requirements have evolved andhow SAP Lumira suite and SAP Lumira Desktop address these new requirements.Well show you a standard workflow that uses SAP Lumira and then show howthe workflow relates to the SAP Lumira suite that is offered. First, lets address theevolving requirements for todays users and data artisans.

1.1 Changing Requirements and SAP Lumira

In this section, well quickly highlight how BI has been changing in recent yearsbefore delving deeper into the SAP Lumira suite. Many of the changing BI require-ments that organizations have are reflected in the SAP Lumira suite.

1.1.1 Requirements and User Expectations

Deploying a BI solution or optimizing its use remains a priority for many compa-nies, but the shifting world and environments have seen the arrival of new play-ers on the market, changing the way everyone interacts with data and businessintelligence. This translates into new requirements and user expectations, includ-ing the following:

Self-service BIUsers no longer accept the classical BI model in which they needed to wait sev-eral weeks before IT could modify their reports. BI users want to discover dataavailable to them on their own and generate their own reports immediately.

As technology and standards evolve, some users cannot wait for IT products tosupport them, and thus need to be able to extend products themselves.

Big dataTechnical advancements now allow companies to gather and store a very largeamount of data. Companies that operate worldwide can generate multiple factsthat they need to analyze as a whole. Real-time events can be monitored

Note

SAP Lumira does not replace SAP BusinessObjects BI classical products, such as SAP Busi-nessObjects Web Intelligence, SAP Crystal Reports, SAP Explorer, or SAP Dashboards,but can be used in complement

Changing Requirements and SAP Lumira 1.1

23

through sensors and analyzed in real time or aggregated later on. However,processing such large amounts of data can only be worthwhile if the systemperforms well.

Geo mapsIn a global world, data may come from different locations, and an easy way todisplay this data is to use a geo map. Users expect the application to embed geo-graphical maps and to locate and display data on those maps, whether the datais attached to a country, a city, or a more specific location.

PredictiveBusiness intelligence has been used to analyze and report past historical datawith a powerful engine and to aggregate and drill into it with the objective ofimproving enterprise governance and planning future actions. Hence, the nextstep for business intelligence is inferring future trends from past data, which canprovide more insight in order to make decisions more quickly and accurately.

From a deployment point of view, the on-premise model is still a common way touse a piece of software, because the user wants to install applications himself onhis desktop without IT interaction. Nonetheless, new methods have emerged thatare changing the way IT services are provided:

CloudThe on-demand model, based on cloud infrastructure, offers very good returnon investment, because it reduces administration and deployment costs.Because the services are hosted in the cloud by the service provider, adminis-tration, installation, and upgrade are no longer managed by the user. This alsoavoids heavy infrastructure and hardware management. For this reason, moreand more services are now offered on the cloud.

MobileWith the emergence of mobile devices, both in our personal and professionallives, our interaction with data has been modified. Mobile devices alloweveryone to access his or her data anytime and everywhere using specificinterfaces and interactions. It is natural to expect BI mobile services to beavailable.

A common factor that links all of these requirements is the need for simplifica-tion, which is a common demand for SAP products. Simplification can include thefollowing elements:

24

Introduction to the SAP Lumira Suite1

Process simplification, with self-service BI

Data simplification, to turn big data into aggregated indicators

Maintenance and installation simplification

Ease of use with mobile devices, the workflows for which must comply withstandard mobile usage and thus be easy to learn and self-explanatory

Finally, for all customers who have already invested in other SAP systems, it ismandatory to continue to leverage their previous SAP investments: SAP HANA,SAP BusinessObjects BI, and SAP Business Warehouse (BW).

1.1.2 SAP Lumira and the Data Artisan

SAP Lumira suites capabilities have constantly been improved to take into con-sideration customers new needs and expectations. Todays business intelligencescustomers ask for the following:

Self-service usage and simplicity

Support for big data

Predictive analysis, using historical data to predict future data

Geo mapping, to locate data on maps

It may be that no one is hungrier for these features than company data artisans,better known as those who possess both the technical skills and the businessknow-how to collect large amounts of data and present that data with unique andcompelling clarity. Overall, SAP Lumira is a great option for all those looking toenhance their data.

1.2 Self-Service Business Intelligence with SAP Lumira

Whatever your technical expertise is, you can easily install and use SAP LumiraDesktop. It does not require vast infrastructure, and it can be operational in onlya few clicks.

As shown in Figure 1.1, a typical workflow in SAP Lumira Desktop allows the dataartisan to retrieve data from the data source and generate a dataset, process it, andcreate visualizations. From these visualizations, stories can be created and then

Self-Service Business Intelligence with SAP Lumira 1.2

25

shared through the other SAP Lumira suite components (SAP Lumira Server andSAP Lumira Cloud) or other SAP systems (SAP HANA, SAP Explorer, SAP Stream-Work, SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1, etc.).

Figure 1.1 Classical Workflow in SAP Lumira

SAP Lumira can be downloaded quickly from the SAP website for free. Oncedownloaded, you can install it yourself without any external interventions.Because SAP Lumira benefits from a short development cycle, new versions arereleased on a regular basis; you can update it easily.

Once installed, it is easy to get started and extract your first data from your datasources without external assistance. You can discover and select your data, createyour dataset, and generate your visualizations and stories.

On the cloud, you can register yourself and try SAP Lumira Cloud for free. It isalso regularly upgraded, allowing you to focus on your functional requirements.

The next sections detail the different steps of the classical workflow for SAPLumira and how it addresses the requirements previously listed.

Datasets

Visualizations

Stories

SAP HANA

Publish

Data acquisition and manipulation

Publish

SAP Lumira Cloud

SAP BI 4.1 with add- on for SAP Lumira

Files

SAP Explorer

SAP StreamWork

SAP Lumira Server

26

Introduction to the SAP Lumira Suite1

1.2.1 From Rapid Acquisition

In the SAP Lumira suite, SAP Lumira Desktop allows you to easily retrieve datafrom a wide range of data sources, as shown in Figure 1.2. First, it supports somecommon and popular file formats, such as text or Microsoft Excel files. Access tothese files does not require any drivers or middleware installation.

SAP Lumira Desktop can also access relational databases through SQL directaccess. In addition to classic relational databases, this SQL direct access can also beused to query a HADOOP data source, often used to store big data, or any datasources that expose an OData interface.

In all cases, the extracted data is saved in a dataset, which can be one of the fol-lowing:

Offline: if saved in the SAP Lumira document

Online: if accessed directly in the data source

Figure 1.2 Data Source Supported by SAP Lumira Desktop

If you have already deployed an SAP system, you can also use SAP Lumira Desk-top to extract data from it, because it natively supports access to the following SAPsystems:

SAP HANA

SAP BusinessObjects BI universes

SAP BW

Once data is extracted from data sources, SAP Lumira can process the offlinedataset through powerful manipulations and formula engines before using it invisualizations. You may also enrich it by adding additional metadata, such as calcu-

SAP Lumira Desktop

Offline Online

Customdata source

SAPHANA

SAP BWText Excel Clipboard Universe SAPHANA

SQL

Self-Service Business Intelligence with SAP Lumira 1.2

27

lated dimensions, measures, or hierarchies (geography or time). For data sourcesaccessed in online mode, some of these processing options are also available.

1.2.2 To Beautiful and Customizable Visualizations

Once your dataset has been prepared, you create visualizations to graphically dis-play your data. SAP Lumira natively proposes a wide range of charts to cover com-mon situations: column charts, pie charts, line charts, radar charts, tree charts,and so on. For geographical data, SAP Lumira also proposes visualizations withmaps from third-party ESRI for their background and countries, regions, and def-initions from third-party Nokia/Navteq.

Visualizations can be easily mapped to dataset metadata through simple drag-and-drop actions (see Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3 Vizualisation in SAP Lumira

For more specific needs, you may create your own custom visualization with theSAP Lumira visualization SDK, connect to the SAP Marketplace to purchase customvisualizations created by SAP partners, or get the ones shared by the SAP Lumiracommunity (see Figure 1.4).