SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) offers Optimized View Mode, a feature designed to improve user experience and enhance the performance of dashboards. This article highlights the usability improvements and performance enhancements available in Optimized View Mode, allowing organizations to maximize the value of their data-driven insights.
Optimized View Mode introduces various usability enhancements to streamline the viewer experience. Here are some notable improvements:
View Time Undo/Redo: Viewers can now undo and redo actions while viewing a story, making it easier to reverse filter interactions and other actions.
Ghost Loading Indicator: Dashboards display an animated ghost widget during data retrieval, providing viewers with early insight into the rendering process and facilitating a better understanding of loading progress.
Tooltip Improvements: Tooltips and data point interactions are consolidated into a single menu, displayed closer to the mouse position for easier access. Additional actions can still be accessed through the right-click context menu.
Access and Configuration of Visualization Information: Information and configuration options are now grouped in a single menu item outside the widget, resulting in a cleaner dashboard appearance while offering access to valuable details such as warnings, filters, drill levels, and variables.
Collapsed Input Controls Discoverability: Visual updates to story filters and collapsed input controls improve the discoverability of dropdown menus and expand their width for better readability. &
Hierarchy Improvements - Interaction and Navigation: Hierarchical input controls receive updates to enhance interaction. These improvements include hidden inactive members, dynamic scrolling, sticky headers, and data path tooltips, ensuring smoother navigation and improved visibility of relevant hierarchy nodes.
Optimized View Mode also delivers performance enhancements for certain scenarios, primarily focusing on client-side performance challenges. Here are key performance improvements:
SAC introduces a new rendering experience called Active Viewport Rendering. It renders objects only when they are visible on the screen, pausing rendering for objects outside the viewport. This approach improves performance for dashboards with extensive information outside the visible area.
Optimized View Mode improves the rendering of the first page when a story is opened, utilizing Persisted Query Information to prioritize rendering visualizations and other components while backend queries are processed simultaneously.
Model Information Downloaded on Demand: Instead of downloading model information on story open, SAC retrieves it on demand based on the first user action executed for the corresponding data model. This approach distributes the performance load and ensures that only the required information is requested.
Must be noted that the new Optimized Mode may have limitations in some scenarios:
New Data Model Structure: If the structure of the data model has changed, such as adding or removing measures or dimensions, the Persisted Query Information becomes invalid. In such cases, the Model Information needs to be requested on story open, resulting in a performance hit. It is recommended to save the story frequently to update the Persisted Query Information.
Dynamic Variables, Forced Variable Prompts, and Exit Variables: Dashboards that use dynamic variables, forced variable prompts, or exit variables will always request the Model Information. This is because the data context provided by the viewer is likely to be different from the stored Persisted Query Information. Using bookmarks to capture dashboard variations is recommended.
Data Access Language (DAL): If a dashboard is opened in a different Data Access Language than the one used to save the story, the Persisted Query Information will be regenerated on a per-user basis. This incurs a one-time performance hit to ensure correct rendering of visualizations with translated descriptions.
Indirect Client-Side Filtering Across Models: When there is an indirect client-side filtering across models (e.g., a dimension that is not linked between two models), Model Information is required to ensure correct data retrieval for related visualizations. It is advised to avoid client-side filtering across models whenever possible. It occurs in the following scenarios:
Model Links with Hierarchical Dimensions
Links with a BW Data Model
Data Models without Server Side Filtering Across Models Capabilities
Links with Data Models on Different Data Sources (i.e. Acquired to Live HANA)
Geo Visualizations with Bubble Clustering Enabled: Bubble clustering in geo visualizations requires Model Information to resize and move visualizations for accurate clustering. Disabling clustering when the number of display points is below the clustering threshold is recommended to avoid requesting Model Information.
Out of Date BW Data Models: BW Data Models that do not meet the required BW version and lack necessary patch notes will not benefit from Persisted Query Information. Model Information will be downloaded in such cases.
Opening a Story via URL to a Predefined Page or Public URL API: Persisted Query Information is limited to the content on the first page of a story. Opening a story with a page other than the first or using the Public URL API to define filters or variables will require downloading Model Information, and Persisted Query Information will not be utilized.
BW Custom Groups: The generation of BW Custom Groups requires Model Information to ensure correct grouping. Persisted Query Information cannot be used in this case. Creating hierarchies on the data source is recommended.
Analytic Applications with OnInitialization Script: Analytic applications that use the OnInitialization script require Model Information to generate visualizations accurately. Persisted Query Information cannot be used in this scenario.
Enabling Optimized View Mode: Enabling Optimized View Mode is straightforward within SAP Analytics Cloud. It can be enabled on a per-story basis by following these steps:
Open an existing story in SAP Analytics Cloud
Switch to Edit mode
From the file menu, select "Edit Story - Story Details"
In the "View Time Optimization" section, chose "Enable optimized mode"
Save your changes and save the story
Conclusion: SAP Analytics Cloud's Optimized View Mode offers valuable usability improvements and performance enhancements for organizations seeking to optimize their data-driven insights. By implementing these enhancements, businesses can enhance user experience, improve dashboard performance, and derive maximum value from their analytics endeavors. Enable Optimized View Mode in your SAC environment to unlock the benefits it brings to your analytics journey.