SAP BPC 10 NW MEGA ELITE ENABLEMENT

Building reports/input forms in EPM Add-in by using

several new features
Exercises / Solutions
Overview of the Business Case

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 10.0 for SAP Netweaver is delivered with a brand new reporting tool
called SAP BusinessObjects EPM Solutions Add-in for Microsoft Office 10.0, which offers a new user experience.
This exercise is built to help you familiarize with this new tool and to demonstrate you how to use some former BPC
features inside it.

Exercise 1: Build a report

Create the Planning and consolidation connection manually, in SSO mode.

1. Open the Excel interface and click the EPM tab.

2. Click the Log on button.

3. Click the Ellipsis button (…).

4. Click the Create button in the EPM - Connection Manager window.

5. Choose Planning and Consolidation connection type.

 6. Enter following Server URL: https://epm10.csa.sap.corp:1443/sap/bpc/ . Then choose Version for
Netweaver option, check the Client Certificate option, and click on the Choose Certificate button.

7. Choose the ELITEUSER client certificate and click OK.

8. Then, click the Connect button.

9. The Loading environments and models window comes up.

10. Then, available environments and models will be retrieved. Select BPCP_XX environment and Planning
model.
11. Click Generate Connection Name to have a generic connection name being displayed in the Connection
Name field.

12. You can of course manually change this connection name if you would like.

13. Click OK.

14. The new connection will be created and displayed in the EPM – Connection Manager window. Click the Set as
Default button.
Use this newly created connection to create your report.

1. Select this new connection above, and click the OK button.

2. When the EPM – Logon window appears, click Logon.

3. A new blank excel spreadsheet is created, and the EPM context bar is displayed on the top, as well as the EPM
Pane on the right.
4. You can decide to display the context bar (formerly named Current View in BPC 7.5) inside the EPM Pane on
the right. For this, click the arrow on the right of the Options button and choose User Options.

5. Under the Others tab, tick the option named Display Context inside EPM Pane.
 6. Click the OK button, and notice the context has now been merged with the EPM Pane on the right.

7. Click the arrow on the right of the ACCOUNT dimension in the context, and choose Select Other Members…
option on the dimension drop-down.

8. In the displayed EPM – Member Selector window, first choose to display ID – Description in the Select
member names to display drop-down.

9. Then, choose PL600 – Net Income member and click OK.

10. Now, repeat steps 7-9 in order to display following context:

ACCOUNT: PL600 – Net Income

CATEGORY: ACTUAL - Actual
ENTITY: US – United States
PRODLINE: APL – All Product Lines
RPTCURRENCY: LC – Local Currency
TIME: 2010.TOTAL - 2010
MEASURES: PERIODIC - Periodic
11. Your context should now look like below.

12. Select cell A1 of your blank spreadsheet.

13. Then, select New Report.

14. Drag and drop Account dimension in Rows, Time dimension in Columns, and CATEGORY, ENTITY,
PRODLINE, RPTCURRENCY and MEASURES in Page Axis, and verify that cell B8 is defined as being the first
data range cell.
15. Click the Account link in the Row Axis Dimensions area. This will open the Member Selector window.

16. On the Member Selector window, select the Member names to display icon, and choose ID - Description.

17. First remove the Context (BS000 – Balance Sheet) selected member on the right side, by selecting it (1) and
clicking the left arrow button (2).
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18. Then, select PL600 account member in the Dimension Members area (1), and Member and Descendants in
the Selection Relationship drop-down (2), and move it to the Selected Members window, by clicking the right
arrow button (3), and click OK (4).

19. On the EPM – Report Editor screen, click the Time link in the Column Axis Dimensions area.
20. On the Member Selector window, select the Member names to display icon, and choose ID.

21. Remove the Context (2010.TOTAL) selected member on the right side, by selecting it (1) and clicking the left
arrow button (2).

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22. Then, select 2010.12 time member in the Dimension Members area (1), and Member Only in the Selection
Relationship drop-down (2), and move it to the Selected Members window, by clicking the right arrow button
(3).
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23. Now we would like our report to not only show 2010.12, but also 2010.12 + 1 year, and 2010.12 + 2 year
(current year, next year, and current year + 2).

24. To perform that, select 2010.12 time member once again (1), in the Dimension Members area, and Member
Offset in the Selection Relationship drop-down, with an offset of 12 (2), and move it to the Selected Members
window, by clicking the right arrow button (3).

FYI, the Member Offset option works like the former EVTIM function in BPC 7.5.
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25. Finally, select 2010.12 time member, once again, in the Dimension Members area (1), and Member Offset in the
Selection Relationship drop-down, with an offset of 24 (2), and move it to the Selected Members window, by
clicking the right arrow button (3).

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26. Your Member Selector window should now look like below, and then click the OK button on the EPM – Member
Selector screen.

27. Finally, click OK on the EPM - Report Editor screen.

28. Your report should mention 2010.12 (current year), 2011.12 (next year), and 2012.12 (current year + 2) in
columns, and all members under PL600 account, like as follow:

29. Now, click the Edit Report button.

30. Access the Options tab, and verify here that the Inherit Sheet Options checkbox is checked. Then click OK.
31. On the EPM tab, click the arrow near the Options button and select Sheet Options link.

32. On the General tab, select Hide from the drop-down for Empty Rows in the Empty Data Behavior section and
set Totals Placement to Top and Left by selecting the radio buttons.
33. On the Refresh tab of the Sheet Options, check the Refresh Data in the Whole File when Opening it option.

Note: In our case, checking this option has no impact on performance as the report is quite small, but we don’t
recommend checking this radio box in the case where the report is very large with multiple worksheets.

34. Then, click OK.

35. Finally, click the Refresh button.

36. The result should look as follow:

Note: PL999 account, which was null, has been hidden in row 22. Besides that, all parent members in the rows
have been moved to the top of the report.
37. Finally, access the User Options (Options – User Options) and check the Automatic Refresh on Context
Changes option on the Navigation tab. This will allow your report to retrieve data after each context changes
(same options than in BPC 7.5 workbook options).

38. Click OK.

39. Save your report by clicking the Save button inside the EPM tab and choose the link Save to Server Root
Folder.

40. Then select the Company tab, and save this report with the name Addin_LAB1.xlsx under the Reports folder.

41. Finally, close your report.

Exercise 2: Input Form
Transform the newly created report in an Input Form, and use the filtering by property feature for the account
row axis.

1. Click the Open button inside the EPM tab and select Open Server Root Folder.

2. Then select the Company tab, and open the report with the name Addin_LAB1.xlsx under the Reports folder
by clicking the Open button.

3. Access the Sheet Options.

4. Check the option Use as Input Form, and set the Empty Data Behavior back to Keep.
5. Click OK.

6. Click the Refresh button under the EPM tab.

7. You can now notice that the Save Data button has been enabled.

8. Now, click on the Account dimension in the row axis, on the EPM Pane.

9. Remove the PL600 – Net Income - Member and Descendants relationship from the Select Members window,
by clicking on the left arrow (highlight the member and click on the arrow). Then click on the Filter members by
properties icon.
10. Choose Account type in the Property field, = in the Operator field, and INC in the Values field (1). On the
second line, choose Account type in the Property field, = in the Operator field, and EXP in the Values field (2).
And finally, on the third line, choose Calc member flag in the Property field, = in the Operator field, and N in
the Values field (3). Then, click the Add Dynamic Filter button (4) to move your selection to the Selected
Members window (5).

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11. Then click OK.

12. Your input form should look like:

Note: According to the expansion definition based on account properties, our input form displays only non-
calculated members, also flagged as being Net Income accounts (INC or EXP).

13. Now double-click cell A3, which contains APL – All Product Lines, and select SPT - Sports member in the
member selector window.
14. Then, click OK. The figures in your input form are updated accordingly.

15. Now, input following values in time period 2012.12, as shown in the figure.

16. Click the Save Data button. By default, the Save Data button is linked to Save and Refresh Worksheet Data
option, but clicking on the Save Data arrow will display all other saving options available.

17. 9 data records will be sent. Click Yes.

18. The Save Results window is displayed and informs you about the status of the data submit process.

19. You can choose here not to display this summary window by checking the Do not show this message again
option.

20. At any time, you can also enable/disable this Save Results window under User Options – Others tab and
check the option called Display Warning when Saving Data or Comment.

Note: You might want to disable that message, to improve the performance in the cases where many users send
the data at the same time. The disadvantage is that you won’t have any information about rejected of approved
records.
21. Save your input form by clicking the Save button inside the EPM tab and choose the link Save to Server Root
Folder.

22. Then select the Company tab, and save this input form with the name Addin_LAB2.xlsx under the Input
Schedules folder.

23. Finally, close your input form.

Exercise 3: Local Member Recognition
Use the first created report and create a local member to retrieve ACCTYPE property for each account
displayed in your report.

1. Click the Open button inside the EPM tab select Open Server Root Folder.

2. Then select the Company tab, and open the report with the name Addin_LAB1.xlsx under the Reports folder.

3. Verify that the Context bar is set as follow.

4. Now select column B, right-click and choose Insert. This will insert a blank column in column B.

5. Your report should look like this after the column insertion.
6. Then, access the Sheet Options.

7. Make sure that the Activate Local Member Recognition under General tab is checked and click OK.

8. In cell B8 of your report, type-in following formula and click Enter.

=EPMMemberProperty("", EPMMemberID(A8), "Account type")
 Note: EPMMemberProperty cell-based formula corresponds to former EVPRO function, which is still usable. The
first parameter (“”) references the current connection name. You can also use for example:
= EPMMemberProperty ("Planning", EPMMemberID(A8), "Account type") or
= EPMMemberProperty ($B$1, EPMMemberID(A8), "Account type") where cell B1 uses
=EPMModelCubeID() formula, which is the equivalence of =EVAPP()

9. After clicking Enter, you can notice that the formula has been expanded down, and the ACCTYPE property is
displayed for all your account in rows.

10. This process has automatically created a local member for the report. You can access and edit it under the Edit
Report button and then Local Members tab. (Once you select the LocalMember000 on the left side, then fields
on the right side get populated).

11. Here you can decide to Enable/Disable the local member, as well as changing the description and the
location. For example, we’ll just change its description and write Account type in the description field, instead
of (fn) ACCOUNT. Please change the description and click the OK button.
12. Report should look like as shown in the figure.

13. Save your report by clicking the Save button inside the EPM tab and choose the link Save to Server Root
Folder.

14. Then select the Company tab, and save this report with the name Addin_LAB3.xlsx under Reports folder.

15. Finally, close your report.

Exercise 4: Member Recognition
Use Member Recognition to create a simple input form to enter data

1. Open a blank excel worksheet, by clicking the Office button, and choose New.

2. Choose Blank Workbook and click the Create button.

3. Access the Sheet Options.

4. On the General tab, check the option Use as Input Form and Activate Member Recognition.
5. You can also activate the member recognition by default by accessing the User Options – Others tab, and
check the option Activate Member Recognition by Default.

6. Click OK.

7. In cell B10, type-in Land and type Enter. You can notice the display of a green background in that cell during a
fraction of seconds. That means the member recognition has recognized one member matching the Land string
and displays Land & Building in cell B10.
 8. In case of confusion, the EPM - Ambiguous Name window is displayed with a list of members matching your
criteria. For example, first clear cell B10, and then type-in Lan in it, instead of Land. The EPM – Ambiguous
Name window pops-up.

9. Here you can select the member that best matches your choice. Select Balance Sheet.TotalAssets.Fixed
Assets.Land & Buildings. Then, same as in step 5, the value Land & Buildings is displayed in cell B10.

10. Then, in cell B11, type in Cash.

11. In cell B12, type-in Long (it will display Long Term Debt).

12. In cell C9, type-in 2012.12.

13. Now we will build the page axis. Type-in Actual in cell B2.

14. Type-in US in cell B3.

15. Type –in SPT in cell B4.

16. Type-in LC in cell B5.

17. And finally, type-in Periodic in cell B6.

18. The report has been built, and you can notice the EPM Pane has been updated accordingly. Use the scroll-up
and scroll-down arrows to see all dimensions in page axis.

19. Now input some data in cells C10, C11, and C12. For example 1 in C10, 2 in C11 and 3 in C12.
20. Click the Save Data button.

21. 3 data records will be sent. Click Yes.

22. Save your input form by clicking the Save button inside the EPM tab and choose the link Save to Server Root
Folder.

23. Then select the Company tab, and save this input form with the name Addin_LAB4.xlsx under the Input
Schedules folder.

24. Finally, close your input form.

Exercise 5: Input and retrieve comments
In EPM add-in, you can still input and retrieve comments. There’s no big difference in terms of functionality,
only the user interface is different. Former EVCOM, EVCGP, and EVCGT functions are also still working.

In Planning and Consolidation 10.0 for NetWeaver platform, in order to activate the “Comments” button on the
EPM add-in side, you need to enable the Comment input from the Administration Web Interface.

1. Open the Web client by clicking the Planning shortcut on your desktop.

2. Once Windows Security window appears, select ELITEUSER certificate and click OK.

3. You should be connected to BPCP_XX environment on the Web Client side.

4. In the right section called Launch, click the Planning and Consolidation Administration link.
5. A new Administration tab is opened. Under the Dimensions and Models section, click the Models link.

6. Highlight the line where Planning model is displayed and click the Edit button.

7. Under Features Used with the Model section, check the Enable Comments option.

8. Click the Save button. A message will tell you the status of the saving. And then click the Close button.
 9. Finally close Internet Explorer interface.

10. If not already done, please also close the existing Excel session.

11. Due to a bug in BPC 10 SP04 (SAP note 1640488 – Comment related reports fail), we have to update the
BPC_SERVICE user with an additional profile name, so that you’ll be able to retrieve comments using the Find
Comments functionality during the next steps.

12. To do so, double-click the SAP GUI icon and connect to NW 7.3.

13. Enter BPC_XX as user and Welcome! as password on the log on screen.

14. Enter SU01 transaction code and press Enter.

15. Enter BPC_SERVICE in the User field and click the Change button.
16. On the Profiles tab, add SAP_ALL profile and press Enter.

17. Save the BPC_SERVICE user by clicking the Save button.

18. Close SAP GUI and select Yes on the Log Off pop-up window.

19. Open a new Excel session by clicking the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 shortcut on the desktop.
20. Select the EPM tab and click the Log On button.

21. When the EPM – Logon window appears, click Logon.

22. A new blank worksheet is displayed and you can notice that the Comments button, under the EPM tab, has
been activated.

23. Click the Open button and choose Open Server Root Folder link.

24. Under the Input Schedules section, choose the already saved input form named Addin_LAB2.xlsx and click
Open.
25. Select cell D8 where value 8000 is retrieved.

26. Click the Comments button and choose Add Comment link.

27. The EPM – Add Comment window pops-up. Enter following values and click the Save button:
Priority: Medium
Comment: Third party sales have been increased by 1000
Keyword: Third Party
Context of Comment: Active Cell
28. The Save Results window appears. Click OK.

29. Click the Add Comment link once again.

30. Enter one new comment, but on a different Context that time. So, enter following information and click the
Save button:
Priority: High
Comment: No Third party sales for year 2011
Keyword: Third Party
Context of Comment: Custom context as follow:
31. The Save Results window appears. Click OK.

32. Now click the Comments button and choose Find Comments link.

33. The EPM – Find Comments window is displayed.

34. Check Medium and High radio boxes under the Priority section and click the Custom Context radio button and
choose following context (be particularly aware of choosing ALL option for the Time dimension). Finally, click the
Find button.
35. A new Internet Explorer window blinks. The Manage Comments tab opens in the BPC for Web page and
displays both comments you created in steps 19 and 22. Your comment table should look as follow.

36. Close that Manage Comments tab and access the Home tab.

37. Here click the Audit link in the navigation bar, and click the Comments link on the General section.
38. The web page displayed here provides the same search functionalities than from the EPM Add-in side. Here
select Planning in the Model field and click on the Display Report button.

39. The generated report displays all posted comments, according to your selection.
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