Enhance your Dashboard (based on BPC Data) by using selectors and the “writeback-function” of the EPM Connector
This article explains how to enhance your dashboard (based on BPC Data) built using SAP Dashboard Design (formerly Xcelsius) with functions to filter data to be shown based on selection criteria and with the “writeback-function” to write changed data back to the BPC Server. It shows how to use the BPC EPM-Connector (an Add-On for SAP Dashboard Design) to enhance the functionality of the dashboard with those features.
The SAP BPC product version referred in this article is SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 10.0, version for SAP NetWeaver.
This article follows on from my previous one on “How to use the EPM Connector to visualize BPC Data via Dashboard Design”
1 Business Scenario
In this scenario, the business wants to be able to filter the data shown on the dashboard according to some given parameters and submit a new request to the BPC Server for live data based on its selection. Another feature the business wants to have is the possibility to write back the data changed on the dashboard (for example via a simulation) to the BPC Server.
Those functions are provided by the EPM Connector brought by the EPM Add-In for Excel which is installed as Add-On for SAP Dashboard Design (formerly called Xcelsius).
2 Software Versions
The following software are required (only to build the dashboard):
- SAP Dashboard Design SP06 Patch 01
- SAP BPC 10 EPM Add-In SP14 Patch 02
- EPM Connector of EPM Add-In, (add-On for Dashboard Design, located in the EPM Add-In installation folder)
- SAP BPC 10 ODBO Client
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package(x86)
All software (except for the Microsoft Visual C++ component) can be downloaded from the SAP Service Marketplace. It is suggested to always apply the latest support package for each software component.
3 Steps to enhance your dashboard with filters for data selection
The assumption is made that you follow the steps described in the post “How to use the EPM Connector to visualize BPC Data via Dashboard Design” and end up with a dashboard similar to the one on the figure below:
1- Prepare your sheet with an area for the dynamic filters of the EPM connection
Define on your sheet an area consisting of two columns for each of the dimensions TIME and PRODUCT. The first column is for the member name and the second for the member ID. This area will be used later on for the definition of the dynamic filters of the EPM Connection.
2- Configure the EPM connection
Having defined your EPM Connection like describe in the Post on “How –to…” you can enhance this connection by configuring dynamic filters.
Click the button next to “Dynamic filters” and bind it to the area in the sheet where you define the dynamic filters then click “OK”.
3- Prepare the input values for the filters
Prepare the input values for the filters on your sheet for each dimension to filter on. The area is constituted of 2 columns (one for the name and the other for the ID) for the member values of the dimension.
Tip: You can first use the “Retrieve Dimension Members” operation to retrieve members for those dimensions in two columns, one for the names and the other for the unique IDs.
4- Define the selector component on your dashboard layout
On your dashboard layout, drag and drop the selector components (combo box) for each of your filter. Then configure the component accordingly.
Click on the button next to Labels and bind it to the labels/names column of the area for the filter values for each dimension TIME and PRODUCT
For the “Data Insertion”, named your “insertion line” and define the insertion type as “Row” so that the selected value be inserted in the destination line as completed row. Then bind the source data to the complete value area and the destination to the line corresponding to the dynamic filter for the given dimension.
The figure below illustartes this process for the dimension TIME. You have to repeat the same process for the dimension PRODUCT.
5- Add a button to your dashboard layout for submission of your selection and to refresh your data
Drag and drop a “Connection Refresh Button” from the components list into the layout editor
Configure the submit button to refresh the EPM Connection, by checking the connection in the refresh button property sheet.
6- You are done with the insertion of the filters for the data selection. You can now test your dashboard by clicking on the “Preview” button.
Once the dashboard is loaded, you can select some new value for the filter and click the “Submit” button. You will then be asked to enter the BPC user name and password, and then click “Ok”.
4 Steps to enhance your dashboard with the function to write back data to the BPC Server
Now, let say you want to store the data of your simulation back to the BPC server. For that, you have to define an EPM connection for each parameter you want to write the value back to the server.
I’ll present here the process to write the value of the simulation parameter “Quantity of Sales” back. You have to repeat the same process for each value you want to write back to the server (i.e.: Sale Price/Item, Mat. Cost/Item, Man. Cost/Item).
1- First start by preparing an area on the sheet for the storage parameters of your EPM Connection
This area consists of 4 columns: the first one for the dimensions name, the second for the dimension IDs, the third for the member names and the fourth for the member IDs.
On the figure below, note that I marked in orange color the parameters that are subject to change (either they are part of the report –i.e. they are included in the rows or columns- or part of the dynamic filters) plus the parameter to write back (third row: Qty of Sales). I also marked in yellow the parameters that are supposed to be static. For the first part in orange, the first row is for the dimension ENTITY the member name and ID are set trough a formula that return the entity on which the current simulation is based. The second row is for the dimension CATEGORY, which is set to FORECAST, since we want to store the value as forecast. The third row is for the parameter to store, i.e. the Quantity of Sales which is a member of the dimension ACCOUNT. The fourth row is for the dimension TIME the member of which is returned from the selection made for filtering. So here we just copy the value from the dynamic filter. The same is true for the fifth row (dimension PRODUCT) which is copied from the corresponding dynamic filter row.
Tip: You can first use the “Retrieve Dimensions” and the “Retrieve Dimension Members” operations to retrieve dimensions and members for those dimensions in two columns each, one for the names and the other for the unique IDs.
2- Add a new connection based on the EPM Connector
3- Define and configure the connection
Give a meaningful name for this connection.
Next choose the EPM Application which you want to connect to. In this case, select “Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver platform”.
For the “Operation” field, select “EPM Report”.
In the “Input Details” section:
Next, enter the host name of the BPC web server. Enter both the host name and port.
Click the dropdown box next to “Data Source” and select “Retrieve”, the data source will then be retrieved according to the hostname and port you entered previously.
Repeat this action for the fields Environment and Models then choose when necessary the right value between the one shown by the retrieve operation.
Bind the “Cell Definition” to the area you previously define on the sheet for the storage parameters. This will settle for this connection the dimension members for which the value have to be written back to the server.
Bind the “Cell Value” to the cell where the value of the parameter to be written back to the sever is put.
In the “Output Details” section
Click on the button next to “Result” and bind this to the cells where you want the result of the operation (which is the value written back when the operation is successful) to be written on your sheet.
You can also select a cell where to put an eventual error message for the connection by clicking on the button next to “Message” and binding this to a cell on the sheet.
You have to create a similar connection for each parameter you want to store back the value to the server.
4- Now, add a button on your dashboard layout to save your data
Drag and drop a “Connection Refresh Button” from the components list into the layout editor and named it accordingly to the action the button will operate (i.e. “Save”).
Configure the Save button to refresh the EPM Connections defined previously for each of the parameter to store, by checking the connections in the refresh button property sheet.
5- The model is now complete.
Test it out by clicking the “Preview” button. You can then select a month and a product and submit your selection to refresh the data. After having selected an entity you can go for a simulation. After what you can store your changes back to the server by clicking on the “Save” button. If you did everything well, the changed data should have been saved back to the server.

















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