Table widget - missing features and empty roadmap

[dominik_zed]

Does anybody know why table widget has such a low priority? We have seen many improvement in data analyzer and most of it is not adopted in table widget. We have many tables integrated in stories that contain scripting. So we cannot use data analyzer. Tables should get the same priority than data analyzer. Table widget is so poor and SAP does nothing to fix it. The roadmap is empty, as far as I can see. We can see that SAP is able to adress problems in data analyzer but tables are just being ignored. I think it is obvious that the table widget is very important for stories. What is the reason for neglecting this?

Edit: Just to name a few examples:

- Un-compounded key display https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/307830

- Arrange Totals / Hierarchy nodes independently

- FilterLine Cascading effect https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/306135

- ID and Description presented in 2 columns

- Drag and drop within a table

- Undo/Redo on Table (not story level) that works despite scripting (like in Lumira)

https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/310965

https://blogs.sap.com/2023/04/11/whats-new-in-sap-analytics-cloud-release-2023.07/#19

[N1kh1l]

dominik_zed

Of all the Widget Table should be on top on SAP list in terms of features. SAC also being a planning solution and the only widget that would support planning in stories are Tables but as you said it lacks so many things. I just hope the Tables also get some love and attention.

Br.

Nikhil

[William_Yu]

Hi dominik_zed, Would you please be a bit more specific on what feature you are looking for in story table? Thanks.

[dominik_zed]

Hi, I edited my question and added some examples; Just check out the What's new in 2022/2023; You will find a lot that has been implemented in data analyzer but not in table component,

[Stein]

I fully agree! If only SAP could establish a table widget that has the same features as the old BEx Web Application table in a compact layout. Data Analyzer is moving in a right direction, but it takes too long time and doesn’t support the strategy of “Data first”! The poor layout, too many bugs, and lack of functionality that has been taken for granted since 2004!

[JefB]

Hi Dominik, totally agree.

The regular 'table' widget in stories is often not performant enough when having many dimensions in the rows (drill state) as described in SAP note 3116279 stating "In general it is recommended to only add few dimensions into drill"

And according to SAP note 2729600
"Tables and charts in SAC are used to analyze data, it is not for data exploration purposes... Data exploration purposes are suggested to be done by a database client tool or using the Data Analyzer."

Let's hope SAP will align features & capabilities so that we can use more performant tables in stories.
I logged IR 280400 in the past especially because I felt the table widget was limiting (and still is) planning project requirements in stories.

[dominik_zed]

Hi Jef, thanks a lor for your answer

I was not aware of those notes. I have to admit this makes me a little bit depressive.

So if I understand it correctly this really means SAP officially provides no way of combining “Data exploration” and a bit of scripting in a consistent way.

We started with adopting Generic Analysis template, as recommended by the time which is deprecated by now. ("The Generic Analysis is a configurable ready-to-run application in SAP Analytics Cloud for flexible ad hoc analysis of SAC model"; SAP Analytics Cloud – Sample Content: Generic Analysis application | SAP Blogs) ; We added scripting of course, so we cannot switch to data analyzer; SAC of course having it’s strength, is still a huge step back in many ways compared to Lumira.

Hopefully SAP changes its mind and puts more focus on table widget allowing us to combine scripting and “data exploration” in a performant way. (By data exploration I mean list reporting of mass data like in Lumira crosstab). If Data Analyzer can do it, there should not be a technical limitation why this cannot be implemented in table component.

Which customer will start a fancy AI, advanced analysis or advanced planning project in SAC if they know, we cannot even put an arrow in a table or script a small button in a mass data report (in a way that is supported by SAP)?

Mass data analyzing in most cases is done by business users such as controllers or similar roles. If you give them a blank report (Data analyzer) for mass data reporting most of the cases they will have additional ideas to improve the report, that require scripting or at least story design. So we cannot support this scenario at the moment.

[William_Yu]

Seems only 'Arrange Totals / Hierarchy nodes independently' is not available in story table.

As to Drag and drop within a table, it's somehow related to the positioning. Data analyzer is more for ad-hoc analysis by end-user, while story table is usually pre-created by story builder. Of course, I agree that it would be great to have drag & drop in story table as well.

[dominik_zed]

That is not true; Yes there is a way to show uncompounded key in Table widget; but in DataAnalyzer it is much better solved. In Data Analyzer we can set it individually for every object. In Table widget we just have a global flag. Also " ID and Description presented in 2 columns" is much more cumbersome in story. So my question remains: Why are both not aligened or the missing points at least in the roadmap of table. The DataAnalyzer features have been proudly mentioned in the "What's new" but for stories you are telling me that we should be happy with workarounds. The fact that "Data analyzer is more for ad-hoc analysis by end-user" is not a valid argument for missing features in table widget. I have to admit, the title of my question is not very well chosen. But I think there are many heavy requested features (some available in DA, some not)which can be found in the Customer Influence Programm. What is more worrying than the direct comparision to DA is that the roadmap for table component is so empty and so little progress in the recent past. SAP is investing heavily in other very advanced areas and very basic table features are missing(Improvement Request Details - Customer Influence (sap.com)). Seems to me like a dead horse at the moment.