CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book

Customized, highly formatted reporting in EXCEL and PowerPoint.
Themen Flyer
Roland J. Merz
Managing Director / Vice Chairman
Expert Call

SIMPLE, FAST, FLEXIBLE – The Highlights

In the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book, which is based on SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, we are offering you a solution that can significantly improve your report and template creation process.

Report Book - Creation Process

A Report Book has many components: data from numerous heterogeneous sources (including SAP), the user’s own tables, graphics, screenshots and other images, complex comment blocks and much else. And all these components, some of them highly formatted, are to be presented in consistent form, all of a piece, as a report book. When it is time for the next report, this is then to be created on the basis of the updated data and, in actual fact, with slight modifications to the various components.

Controllers who create Report Books on a regular basis (and that is the majority) complain that 80% of their time is taken up with assembling the figures and the components and producing the final layout. This time could be better spent working on content.

When contemplating this process, the question is whether it is really necessary for all controllers (business analysts, information consumers / providers) to have in-depth knowledge of all the tools.

Would it not suffice to train a (small) number of business analysts or power users (SAP ERP / SAP BW / BEx Query Designer / Analysis for Office) and thereby enable them to initiate ReportBooks? Do the great majority of controllers actually want to use much more than the basic functions “Refresh”, “Comment”, “Basic Modifications” and “Creation of ReportBook” to handle their processes securely, fast and accurately?

Report Book creation process
Report Book creation process
CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book within HR landscape
CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book within HR landscape

This approach has several benefits.

  • A significant improvement in the recurring processes
  • Process simplification and stabilisation thanks to the use of the tool
  • The processes are more impervious to staff turnover as the training requirements for new employees are lower
  • Reduced training requirements also mean shorter familiarisation periods

All these benefits are paid for by a reduction in flexibility for the user. Many IT departments and managers do not, however, necessarily consider this a negative.

Working with the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book

Working with the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book is intuitive and requires only minimal additional know-how on the part of experienced Excel users. The requirements reduce further once a power user has initiated a report book and the Excel user is only responsible for the process of creating regular reports.

  • Open Analysis for Microsoft Excel
  • Open the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book
  • Work in Analysis to integrate and format data sources (BEx Queries, SAP BW InfoProvider, …) or to refresh data
  • Work in Excel to insert different contents (own tables, graphics, screenshots and other images, complex comment blocks, …) or to modify existing contents
  • Use key combination<Ctrl Shift A> to open the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book menu
  • Click on “Output in PowerPoint” and you will be shown a presentation in the maintained PowerPoint design 5 seconds later
  • Should you be short of time to produce a report, simply refresh the data in the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book and take the result with you onto the train or plane, where you can add comments and make any necessary modifications. Once back online, you refresh once again and can then create the presentation. This working method is also appreciated by managers who may wish to make last-minute adjustments just before a meeting.
Fast, simple, flexible
Fast, simple, flexible

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Additional Features

In addition to the above-mentioned functions, the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book come with several useful features.

Cover Sheet and Table of Contents

When a Report Book is created, a cover sheet and a table of contents are created automatically on the basis of the currently assigned template. To conform to your specific layout requirements (corporate design), one-time customizing must be performed. CubeServ consultants will be happy to assist you with this.

Variables and Filters

The “core object” within Analysis is the data source. An Excel workbook can contain several data sources, and a data source can supply several objects in that workbook with data. At the same time, each data source can be restricted with variables and filters. These restrictions can be made visible in the design area of Analysis, but currently only for one data source at a time. 

To simplify display and utilisation in the CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book, the user can create a worksheet with the currently applied variables and filters at the click of a button. In this worksheet, the user can then modify the values, for instance by adjusting figures to the new period / new fiscal year, as well as create new filters for the data source.

Metadata of the Analysis Data Sources

After a Report Book has been created, questions may be asked about the provenance of the data. To avoid such discussions, it is possible to generate a separate workbook at the click of a button in CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book, which contains all the Analysis metadata relating to the workbook and the data sources. In conjunction with the Report Book, this makes the report “bulletproof”.

Cover sheet and table of contents are generated automatically
Cover sheet and table of contents are generated automatically
All the variables and filters on one worksheet
All the variables and filters on one worksheet
Metadata for the workbook and for the data sources at the click of a button
Metadata for the workbook and for the data sources at the click of a button

Key Statements on CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book

  • Significant increase in performance during report creation process
  • Endusers work in familiar Excel environment
  • Flexibility for enduser retained (user can modify and/or insert tables / comments / objects)
  • Central adjustment of variables and filters for all data sources. Additional filters can be created centrally.
  • Facility to create a report on data source metadata at the click of a button
  • No need for (layout) adaptation in PowerPoint for recurring reports
  • Simple adaptation in the event of changes to the customer’s PowerPoint template
  • The application intelligence was integrated into the code to give users more time for their core tasks (usability / reduction in complexity)
  • Stabilisation of the report creation process
  • Reduction in enduser training requirements, increasing imperviousness to staff turnover
  • No additional frontend applications
  • Users can work online and offline

Customer Statement on CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book

Project goal
The goal was the automation (of a Report Book) of reports based on BW and complemented by manual data in the appropriate PPT layout.

Project outcome
Our set goal was achieved in full, and we now have a workbook available that we can use to optimise our reporting generally and in particular our monthly business review on the basis of AO/Excel/PowerPoint.

We finally have a tool that facilitates formatted reporting on the one hand but also allows us to make flexible adjustments on the other. It saves us a great deal of manual effort as we can present our data in PowerPoint and produce documents to aid decision-making at board level at the click of a button.

We believe that the combination of AO/Excel and PowerPoint – and in our case access to BW data – is a promising tool with diverse application potential.

Questions relevant to purchasing decision

  • What should controllers / managers etc. know about Analysis?
  • How often will they use the basic features of Analysis once it has been implemented?
  • How often will they need to use it to maintain their know-how about the tool’s basic features?
  • … or does the normal user (person creating report or adding comments) only need to know the following:
  • Where is the file stored?
  • How do I refresh the data? (preferably at the click of a button)
  • How can I make small adjustments?
  • How do I generate my report? (preferably at the click of a button)
  • Does the user need Analysis or only the Analysis functionality?

Our Offer

Any questions or require further information, please contact our Expert

Picture of Michael Hinnerkort

Michael Hinnerkort

My profession and my passion is the reporting process. My strength is the combination of SAP (SAP BW / Analysis) and MicroSoft (Excel (VBA) / PowerPoint).

Training

CubeServ Analysis Office Report Book
(2 hours)

Consulting

Adaptation to own layout / own reporting process (2-3 consulting days)

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We support remote across the world

Consulting

The proof of the pudding is in the eating (2-3 days for any required adjustments)

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