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Colophon

Every Angle Software International

Kampenringweg 45C

2803 PE Gouda

The Netherlands

www.everyAngle.com

Published: November 2015

© Every Angle Software International, Gouda the Netherlands 2015

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Every

Angle Software International.

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Contents

Colophon 1

1 Introduction 4

2 New User functionality 5 2.1 Web based user client in browser or tablet 5 2.2 24/7, near real-time availability 6 2.3 New User Interface design: Business Process focus 6 2.4 Multiple Angle Displays 8 2.5 Improved chart set 9 2.6 Dashboard functionality 10

2.6.1 Ask @ Execution for Dashboards 11 2.7 Automated execution of Dashboards and Angles at login 12 2.8 Multiple SAP systems in one Every Angle system 12 2.9 Create Angle based on Templates 13 2.10 459 Template Angles for all Business Processes 13 2.11 Diagrams to organize Template Angles 14 2.12 Clear presentation of Jumps (Follow-Up Questions) 15 2.13 Personalization 16

2.13.1 Personal settings 16 2.13.2 Private note to Angles and Dashboards 17 2.13.3 Stars for Angles, Dashboards and Fields 17 2.13.4 Private Displays 18 2.13.5 Personal Default Display 19 2.13.6 Personalized startup actions 19 2.13.7 Personalized field formats 20

2.14 Multi-lingual Angles 20 2.15 Search engine for Angles, Dashboards and Templates 20 2.16 Learning system based on personalized movie set 21 2.17 Use of Validated Angles 22 2.18 Suggested fields and Starred fields 23 2.19 Extended Field Chooser 24

2.19.1 General Filters 25 2.19.2 Filter on Field type 25 2.19.3 Filter on Source Object 25 2.19.4 Filter on text in the name or the technical information 26 2.19.5 Filter on text in the help file 26 2.19.6 Sorting of columns 26

2.20 Extended filter options 26 2.21 Extended formatting options 27

2.21.1 Define the field-format in the Display 27 2.21.2 Define favorite formats per field type 28

2.22 Angle classification and authorization using BP’s and labels 28 2.22.1 Labels added to Angles for search support 29 2.22.2 Labels added to Angles to allocate Privileges 29

2.23 Extended functionality concerning Angle warnings 29 2.24 New ZEA03n for presenting Displays in the SAP GUI 30 2.25 New GRC module 32 2.26 Additional functions to make the system easier to use 33

2.26.1 Filter on field comparison (larger/equal/smaller than another field) 33

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2.26.2 Easy add and remove ad-hoc filters 33 2.26.3 Defining Drilldown Displays 34 2.26.4 Save a Display as a new Angle 35 2.26.5 All Objects have unique ID 35 2.26.6 System settings visible via the Help menu 35 2.26.7 Extra Limitations on Angles 36 2.26.8 Connecting special Angles to Objects and Jumps 36

2.27 Changes in wording and abbreviations 36

3 New IT management functionality 38 3.1 Central, web based IT Management Console (IT-MC) 38 3.2 Improved security concept, Sub-Roles and Privileges 40 3.3 Authentication via Active Directory 41 3.4 Conversion tool for converting Angles, users and authorization profiles 41 3.5 New function for monitoring the system log files 42 3.6 New Package-system for Interchangeability of Angles and help files 42 3.7 Central Angle automation/distribution 42 3.8 New tool to manage Angle warnings 44 3.9 Toolset to manage the set of Suggested fields for end users 45

4 New Architecture developments 47 4.1 Model server is split into application server and lean model server 47 4.2 Hello browser client, goodbye fat EA Classic client. 49 4.3 Authentication outside Every Angle system (e.g. AD) 50

4.4 EA2 Security 50 4.5 Multiple model servers used and managed via one Application server 51 4.6 Dual model instance to support 24/7 near real-time 51 4.7 Use of MS SQL server for metadata, privileges and Angle definitions 51 4.8 Scheduling via IT MC, Continuous refresh 52

5 Overview of future desired functionality not currently in R2015 53 5.1 User functions available in R2014 but NOT in R2015 53

5.1.1 Special buckets in charts and cubes 53 5.1.2 Calculated fields in lists 53 5.1.3 Percentages in matrix 54 5.1.4 Goto SAP 54

5.2 IT management Functions available in R2014 but NOT in R2015 55 5.2.1 Feedback loop 55 5.2.2 Old Configurator still needed for Status, Price condition and FiCo

hierarchies 55 5.2.3 Support Commands and Server Reports 55

5.3 New functions, planned for further releases 55 5.3.1 HANA connector, Integration of HANA Views 55 5.3.2 Interchangeability of movies and Dashboards via packages. 56 5.3.3 Multi Angles 56 5.3.4 Extra set of Templates answering specific business questions 56 5.3.5 Single Sign on and Users from SAP 56 5.3.6 Multi source 56

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1 Introduction

Every Angle Squared (EA2) is a completely different product than the previous version of the system;

which has now been lovingly renamed as ‘EA Classic’. The main motivation for this complete redesign

of Every Angle was the strong desire to be able to run EA using a browser client, both from our

customers and within the development team. The original product, EA Classic, was conceived and

developed in the last years of the 20th Century, when the web was still new and functionality was very

limited. We were therefore limited in our ambitions; for example there was no way we could develop

drag and drop functionality in a browser. There were multiple areas of functionality that we regarded as

essential in order to ensure a high quality user adoption and experience, but the technology available

at the time meant that these were very difficult to realize, especially given our desire to create market

leading levels of speed and performance.

The second important driver behind a complete redesign of the product was the desire to create a ‘near

real-time’ system that would be available 24 / 7, and which could support multiple SAP systems. To

achieve this ambition required a major redesign of the system from its core architecture through to its

GUI, not to mention multiple years of work and millions of euros of investment. We also took the

opportunity to resolve for good a magnitude of other enhancements and improvements that we wanted

to deliver to our customers, such as:

- An Angle ‘Search Engine’

- A central IT Management Console (IT MC)

- An mechanism for Angle validation

- The ability to create Dashboards that contain multiple Angles

- The ability to display the result of Angles in multiple ways (list, chart, pivot)

The summary of everything we have developed and changed over the last four years is detailed in this

document; ‘Every Angle Release 2015’. R2015 marks the first release of the EA2 product.

This document consists of the following sections:

- Chapter 1: Introduction

- Chapter 2: New user functionality

- Chapter 3: New IT management functionality

- Chapter 4: New architecture

- Chapter 5: Overview of future functionality not in R2015

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2 New User functionality

EA2 is a completely different user experience compared to EA Classic. The look and feel has been

totally reengineered to provide a much more modern and rich user experience. EA2’s web client

provides an experience that is much more focused around the end user, and less of a tool for IT experts.

The different Business Processes like P2P (Purchase to Pay) and O2C (Order to Cash) are clearly

presented from the moment a user log’s on, enabling them to easily find the Angles that relate to their

function. For those familiar with EA Classic, the most striking difference will likely be the absence of the

‘Angle tree’. However, this ‘old-school’ method of finding Angles has been replaced with a simple,

‘google’ style search engine. Whilst many die-hard EA Classic users found this frustrating to start off

with, as soon as they became familiar with the new design and all the new features, they loved it!

EA2 screenshot, showing the new search engine for end users, the Business Processes at the top

as well as other quick-filters that help users to find the required Angles.

2.1 Web based user client in browser or tablet

In the new release the end user client, the IT Management Console and the help functionality are all

fully browser based. This enables EA2 to be run via a browser on a work station or on a mobile device

such as a tablet or smartphone.

EA2 can therefore be supported on multiple devices that may have different operating systems and web

browsers. We have tested the use of EA2 on multiple devices and recommend our customers use the

default combination of web browser and operating system - for instance do not use Safari on Windows

or Chrome on iOS devices. The supported browsers for EA² are Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome,

Firefox and Android.

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2.2 24/7, near real-time availability

EA2 is always available with near real-time (business real-time) information through its use of two

instances of the model server. While one instance is refreshing, the other is serving users. Then, as

soon as the refresh is finished, the model instances will switch roles ensuring no downtime for users.

This enhanced availability is especially important for companies with SAP systems that are used in

multiple time zones across the world.

When an Angle is executed, the user can always see in the screen the date and time of the last refresh.

When the result of an Angle is displayed, the timeliness of the data is shown.

2.3 New User Interface design: Business Process focus

The new end user interface was designed with Business Process management in mind. It is now much

easier to find your way around the system, even for those who are not very IT-savvy. This enables wider

exposure and adoption throughout an organization than previous versions, as the user does not need

a high level of IT and SAP knowledge. The ease of use is also supported by a large number of instruction

movies as well as the intuitive Search Engine which allows for users to logically search for Angles. The

Business Process Bar is a dominate feature in the opening screen. It consists of a set of push-buttons

that represent the eight Business Processes EA2 covers. Each one has its own color, allowing for users

to quickly see where their Angles are likely to reside. The default set of process related Angles are

configured as follows:

- Green for P2P (Purchase to pay)

- Dark blue for S2D (Supply to Demand)

- Orange for O2C (Order to Cash)

- Yellow for F2R (Finance to Reporting)

- Light green for PM (Plant Maintenance)

- Purple for HCM (Human Capital Management)

- Red for GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance)1

- Dark green for IT (Information Technology)

1 A new Every Angle module, see paragraph: 2.25

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The Business Process Bar allows users to select the relevant Business Processes within their

authorization profile. Since the bar is so dominantly displayed, experienced users can choose to display

a compressed version, showing only the abbreviations of the Business Processes, as shown below).

The Business Process bar lets the user select the Business Processes relevant for him. It can run

in compressed or extended mode.

For beginners, the EA instruction movies could prove to be very important. The EA2 system is shipped

with a large number of instruction movies in 5 different languages as standard. Depending on the type

of user, the most appropriate set of movies is offered for each user. There is a movie player in the start

screen, ready to play a short instruction movie to new users.

Organizing items (documents or Angles) in trees appears only to be useful with relative small numbers.

For larger numbers, a fast search engine with quick filters and text search is more powerful. The search

engine in R2015 is designed around a text search box, something people are used with at home. Some

quick filter options are also available.

The start screen shows the search engine and the movie set.

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2.4 Multiple Angle Displays

In EA Classic, each Angle is limited to displaying its result in only one way - either a list, a chart, a matrix

or a pivot. If a user wants a certain Angle result to be available in two or more of these forms, they have

to create a separate Angle per display type.

In EA2, this shortcoming has been overcome. Any single Angle can display its

results in multiple presentation formats. These presentation formats are called

‘Displays’. A Display is always related to one Angle. There are three types of

Displays: List, Chart and Pivot.

The results of an Angle can be presented in an enormous number of different lists, charts or pivots, as

there are sometimes thousands of fields users can choose from. This functionality enables the user

who created the Angle to also define the best ways to display that data. For example, if an Angle shows

the book of open sales orders, the Power User might decide that a time-phased chart is the best way

to open with, but that there should be also a list of all orders with additional important details. The user

may then wish to also have another list that highlights any bottlenecks and input-output balancing

issues, and a final display dealing with the financial related data.

There are three types of Displays: List, Chart and Pivot. Displays can be private or published and

they can have additional filter lines, further restricting the result set from the underlying Angle.

When an Angle is executed, the result is presented in one of the Displays that is marked as the ‘Default

Display’ by the user who created the Angle. Users can override this by defining their own private-default

for a certain Angle. One user might like to inspect the Angle result in the form of a detailed list, while

another wants to see one of the charts first.

If a user has enough privileges, he/she can add Displays to an existing Angle. This is called a ‘Private

Display’. Some users with even more privileges (Power Users) can even publish such Displays and

make it available for other users.

Displays can have extra filter steps. These filter steps will be added to the filter that was already defined

in the Angle, further limiting the number of objects in the result set. This can be useful in situations when

users want to quickly zoom into a certain special situation; for example when they quickly want to inspect

all the late orders from a set of open orders.

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The Angle ‘Excess Stocks’ is presented with a chart Display called ‘No. per creation date’. The

dropdown list shows the others that are available to the user. The Default Display is the ‘Basic List’,

it has a solid rectangle around the list icon. The green selection box is the active Display

Displays can have language-dependent names and comments. They can have one or more filter lines

and Jumps (‘Follow Up Questions’). Displays can be added to the Angle by the Power User, but they

can also be created ‘on the fly’; for example when the user performs a Drilldown. Then, a new Display

is created with the additional lines coming from the Drilldown. These ad-hoc Displays are not saved and

will be gone after the user switches to another Display, unless the user explicitly saves and names the

Display.

The definition of the Angle (left) and the definition of the Display (right). In this example, the Angle

selects open sales orders of category C. (SD document category is equal to C and Execution status

is Open). The Display adds a filter line to select only the late orders. (Delivery Reliability is Late.)

2.5 Improved chart set

The new EA2 chart set offers 20 different chart types such as line charts, bar charts, pies, donuts, areas,

gauges, bubble charts, etc. They can be selected via a dropdown menu.

There are many options that can be set up for each chart, including the choice of the axes, values,

texts, legend, etc. There is also the ability to sort charts on fields and zoom in. This offers the possibility

to sort (for example) on number of open orders per customer, then zoom in on the top 10 using a chart.

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Some chart types in R2015 combined into a Dashboard.

All charts support Drilldown functionality, creating a new ad-hoc Display (can be a copy of another

Display in the Angle) and adding filters to it.

Example of the use of Chart Sorting and Zooming: Quickly find the top 20 customers.

2.6 Dashboard functionality

Displays can be combined into what we call a Dashboard, or in the aim of helping people to ‘know

more’, a ‘Factboard’. There is also the possibility to add Displays from different data models to a form

a single Dashboard.

Displays can be shown as lists, pivots or charts, and all of them can be easily added as a ‘widget’ to a

Dashboard to show multiple displays at the same time. The position and size of a certain widget on the

Dashboard can be easily configured. From a Dashboard, users can Drilldown within charts or pivots or

Jump to the Angle behind the widget to explore the details, for example by using other Displays

connected to the Angle.

When a Dashboard is first created, it has the status ‘Private’ for the user who created it. If this user has

enough privileges, he/she can publish the Dashboard, making it available for other users.

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Example of a Private Dashboard with 7 ‘widgets’. Each widget is a Display of an Angle. Users can

zoom in or Drilldown into the charts.

Dashboards are searchable items and can be found using the search engine in the same way as for an

Angle. Like Angles, they must be connected to one or more related Business Processes. They can also

be marked using a ‘star’ system starred by a user (which marks it as a ‘private favorite’) or receive the

status ‘Validated’ for all users, and have names and descriptions that are language-dependent.

2.6.1 Ask @ Execution for Dashboards

Executing a Dashboard where the first widget has an ask @ execution parameter will result in an

‘Execution parameters’ pop-up. The chosen value for the filter in this pop-up will be applied to all other

widgets which have the same ask @ execution parameter. Widgets which have different ask @

execution parameter will be executed with the predefined value for the filter.

A pop-up is shown when the first widget has an ask @ execution parameter.

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2.7 Automated execution of Dashboards and Angles at login

If users find themselves executing the same Angle or Dashboard every day, then the ability to mark an

Angle or Dashboard so it ‘Executes at Login’ can be very powerful. This means that the Dashboard is

automatically executed in a new tab of the browser as soon as the user logs in, preventing the need to

have to search for and execute it themselves. It is possible to mark as many Dashboards or Angles as

needed to ‘Execute at Login’.

The P2P Example Dashboard is marked for ‘Execute at Login’. As soon as the user logs in, the

Dashboard is automatically executed.

2.8 Multiple SAP systems in one Every Angle system

With version R2015, it is possible to have multiple model servers in one Every Angle implementation.

Each model server has its SAP ECC system or another system.

If users have access to multiple model servers (each with its own SAP ECC) users can select the

SAP system in the search engine.

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2.9 Create Angle based on Templates

In R2015 a new concept for creating Angles is introduced: the ‘Template Angle’. When designing the

EA2 system, one of the key challenges for the team was how to deal with contradictory requirements:

- Optimal flexibility for Power Users.

- Simplicity and speed, quick and easy creation of new Angles.

- No need for in-depth SAP- or IT-knowledge.

The answer to that was what we call ‘Template Angles’; semi-finished Angles which can be used as a

starting point for creating a new Angle. They can easily be found via the search engine by typing the

business question in the search box. A lot of knowledge and expertise about how to solve critical

business questions has been acquired during the 15 years of Every Angle implementations, and this

knowledge has been put into those Templates. New Templates will be released in the future.

Template Angles also save time for the Power Users. Filters, Jumps, labels, texts (in 5 languages) and

Displays are already added to the Template Angle. This means that in most situations, it is easier and

faster to remove or change something using a Template than to build it yourself from scratch.

Users can find the Templates via the search engine, just as normal Angles, but also via Diagrams that

are shipped with the product (see next paragraphs).

When a Power User executes a Template Angle, a new Angle is created and the content of the

Template Angle is copied into it. Users still have the possibility to change all filters, labels, texts and

Displays if they want to, so using a Template does not restrict flexibility.

EA2 contains a default set of Templates out-of-the-box, and new packages of Template Angles can be

imported over time. However, high-level Power Users, consultants and system managers can also

create new Templates; for example, to support special processes in a company or bespoke work.

2.10 459 Template Angles for all Business Processes

With R2015, an initial set of 459 Template Angles will be shipped. These are sets of Template Angles

related to Objects or Activities. New sets of Template Angles, related to specific business questions or

industry specific sets, will be shipped with future releases. The Template Angles set for the Business

Process ‘IT’ is still under construction, and will be contained in a future release.

Just as normal Angles, Template Angles are connected to one or more Business Processes. The

table below gives an overview per Business Process of the number of Angles shipped with R2015.

(Note: some Template Angles are valid for multiple Business Processes)

Business Process Number of Template Angles

Purchase to Pay P2P 139

Supply to Demand S2D 128

Order to Cash O2C 151

Finance to Reporting F2R 136

Plant Maintenance PM 157

Human Capital Management HCM 63

Governance, Risk and Compliance GRC 71

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Information Technology IT <not in R2015>

2.11 Diagrams to organize Template Angles

A Template Angle can be found via the search engine, but R2015 offers also an alternative way to

organize them and find them. These are the Diagrams.

For each Business Process, two diagrams are designed:

- A Diagram with the main Activities

- A Diagram with the main Objects

When a user presses the button ‘Create new Angle’, they can choose to use one of the diagram types,

or select one or more objects from the object list.

Creating a new Angle in three different ways.

A Diagram is a representation of a set of Templates in a graphical format. They make it easier for Power

Users to see what Templates are available and to quickly find and select the one they need. Every

Angle R2015 is shipped with a standard Object diagram and a standard Activities diagram per Business

Process.

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Example diagram: the Activities in P2P. Users can select a step in the Business Process and create

a new Angle based on a Template for that step.

If necessary, the diagrams can be changed to the specific needs of the customer, as well can the

Template Angles attached to them.

2.12 Clear presentation of Jumps (Follow-Up Questions)

The Object model and its relations between the different Objects remains one of the strongest points of

the Every Angle system. About 1000 tables are copied from the SAP-ECC system and translated into

about 75 ‘Objects’. Many of those Objects have a clear relationship, for example, the Vendor Objects

of a Purchase Document Item Object. Or the Customer Object, related to the Sales Document Item. If

the relationship is many-to-one, the user can add fields from the related Object into the overview. For

example: add the name of the customer to a list of sales order items. If the relationship is one-to-many,

this is not possible. But it is possible to use so called ‘Jumps’; for example from a Customer Object, it

is possible to Jump to the related Sales Orders.

Jumps are known as ‘Follow-Up-Question’ in EA Classic.

There are many types of Jumps. The most obvious ones are the Jumps based on the one-to-many and

many-to-one relations. But one can also use Jumps for explosions of the Bill Of Material (BOM) or to

find the batches used in a finished product or to find the stock requirements list of a material in a Sales

Order Item.

The functionality of Jumps is exactly the same as the Follow-Up-Question in EA Classic, but the way

they are represented has changed. The starting object is positioned in the middle. Higher level object

(having a one-to-many with the middle object) are positioned above it, lower level objects are below it.

Relations based on the material flow are positioned left and right of the Object.

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Jumps (formerly known as ‘Follow-Up-Questions’) are presented in a way that makes them easier

to understand.

2.13 Personalization

In R2015, special attention is paid to functions in order to ‘personalize’ the system, meaning that users

can change things in the system to their personal preferences. The following options are available:

- Define personal settings

- Attach private notes to Angles and Dashboards

- ‘Star’ Angles, Dashboards and Fields

- Private Displays

- Personal Default Display

- Personalized startup actions

- Personalized field formats

2.13.1 Personal settings

Every user can maintain their own personal settings. These settings include the ability to choose:

- The default Business Process

- Whether to compact or extend the Business Process bar

- Whether to display a search tag for Angles that have warnings

- Whether or not to show technical field information in the Field Chooser

- Show technical field information in column header

- The default selection in the Field Chooser starred fields

- The default selection in the Field Chooser suggested fields,

- The default number of rows when exporting to Excel,

- The default number of rows shown in a pivot

- The language

- The format for dates and times

- The format, number of decimal places and separators for numbers, currencies, percentages and

periods

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- The translation currency

- The default field format for enumerated sets.

Managing personal settings

2.13.2 Private note to Angles and Dashboards

End users can easily add a personal note to

an Angle or a Dashboard.

Personal notes are free text items of

maximum 100 positions, only visible for the

user who added the note to the Angle or

Dashboard. For this user, the note is always

visible in the search page and when the Angle

is executed.

The search engine will score matches of the search term with the private note higher than matches with

descriptions of Angles or even Angle names. So, this gives a powerful option for end users to easily

find their favorite Angles.

2.13.3 Stars for Angles, Dashboards and Fields

Users can add ‘Stars’ to Angles, Dashboards and Fields, indicating these items as more interesting

than non-starred items. Stars are personal, only valid for the user who set the star. Users cannot see

stars set by other users. In the search engine, users can filter quickly for starred items only. Stars can

be added to both private and to published items.

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In the search engine users can quickly search for starred items only, and user can set and remove

stars.

Fields in the Every Angle system can also be ‘Starred’. This helps users quickly find their favorite fields

in what can be a very long list. Stars on fields can be maintained in the Field Chooser and in the item-

Display modus of an object (see 2.18).

2.13.4 Private Displays

Users can define additional Displays to published Angles, even if they don’t have the privilege to change

the Angle. Private Displays are Displays that are not published and are only visible for the user who

created the Display.

Example: suppose a Viewing User with limited privileges finds himself working with a certain Display

every day, and every day they have to make a few small changes to it get the information they require

- add a certain column, remove another column, change the sorting etc. In such a situation, it is helpful

to make a copy of the Display, add the changes to this new Display and save it as a private Display.

Other users are not affected by these changes meaning that the user has exactly the report they require

without changing the original Display and affecting others.

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Settings in a Display to make it Private/Published or a Personal Default.

Users that created one or more private Displays can also easily search for Angles that carry their

private Displays.

2.13.5 Personal Default Display

An Angle always has one Display that is marked as the Default Display, meaning that if the Angle is

executed, the result will first be shown to the user by this Default Display.

However, users have the possibility to mark another Display as their personal default. This means that

if they execute the Angle, this Display will be used to show the result. The Personal Default can also be

a Private Display (see previous paragraph).

To determine if a user is allowed to see/execute an Angle, the combination of Fields, Objects and Jumps

used in the Angle and the default Display is considered.

2.13.6 Personalized startup actions

The functionality for marking Displays and Dashboards as ‘Execute at Login’ is already described in

paragraph 2.7. Next to that, users have the possibility to let the system perform a certain search action

immediately after login. This is maintained in their personal settings.

Defining actions at logon in the personal settings of a user.

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2.13.7 Personalized field formats

Different field types can be displayed in different formats. Some users might want to see all currency

fields with two digits, while others want to see bold figures in thousands or millions only. Every Angle

version R2015 offers greatly enhanced functionality to users to allow them to define their own favorite

way of displaying fields.

Users can define their preferences on two levels:

- The level of the Field-type (date, text, currency, number, etcetera)

- The level of the Object-field (for example, the field Ordered value in the Sales Document Item)

For more detail, see the paragraph ‘Extended formatting options’ further in this chapter.

2.14 Multi-lingual Angles

Angles and Dashboards are designed to be multi-lingual. Both the name and the description of an Angle

or Dashboard can be maintained in multiple languages. In the user settings, users define the language

they want to work in. The search engine will only present Angles for which the chosen language is

maintained.

When text search is involved, the search engine will only check names and descriptions in the chosen

language.

Both the name and the description of an Angle can be maintained in multiple languages.

2.15 Search engine for Angles, Dashboards and Templates

The search engine in EA2 replaces the old ‘Angle tree’. The key elements contained in this new search

functionality are as follows:

- Ability to search on a text in the name, description or the personal note of an Angle, Template or

Dashboard. When search terms match texts in the personal note of a user, these search results

will end up higher on the list.

- Ability to make selections based on Business Process (see previous paragraph)

- Quick filters on:

o Angles, Templates or Dashboards

o Private or Published items

o Validated items

o Whether the Angle has Private Displays for the user

o Items that are given a star by the user (starred as favorite)

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o Whether the user created the item or can change or validate it.

o Whether an Angle has warnings (optional)

- Detailed, advanced search. This opens a pop-up with a large number of possible filter options such

as the day the Angle was created, the user who created it, number of executes and many more.

The search engine and its main options to find Angles, Templates and Dashboards.

The text search box has ‘search as you type’ functionality, similar to Google, meaning that the search

executes as soon as a single character in the search box changes.

The search engine takes into account the language the user selected. Names and descriptions of

Angles, Templates and Dashboard are language-dependent. If an Angle does not have a title defined

in the language of the user, it will not show up in the search result.

2.16 Learning system based on personalized movie set

A movie player is embedded in the start screen, and for each user, a set of 3 minute instruction movies

is selected, depending on their Business Process, user level and language. System managers can add

new movies to the set when new functionality becomes available.

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A personalized set of training movies is offered to the user in the start screen of the system

2.17 Use of Validated Angles

In the EA2 system, an Angle or a Dashboard can be set as ‘Private’, ‘Published’ or ‘Validated’.

Private This means the Angle or Dashboard is only available for the person who

created them (and system administrators).

Published Available for all users who:

- are granted the Privilege Labels relevant for the Angle or Dashboard.

These labels also define the view/manage rights.

- and are allowed to see items that are not Validated.

Validated Angles and Dashboards that cannot be changed any more. They are

available for all who have the right privilege labels to see them.

Validated Angles and Dashboards are officially approved by a high level user. Only a few Power Users

will have the privilege to set the ‘Validated’ flag on an Angle or Dashboard. When this flag is set, the

Angle or Dashboard cannot be changed any more. If you want to change them, the ‘Validated’ flag will

have to be removed first before the changes can be applied, and then the Angle or Dashboard will have

to go through the validation procedure again.

In the item details of Angles and Dashboards, a high-level user can set the Validated-flag.

Setting the Validation flag of an Angle or Dashboard can only be completed by a user with very high

privilege.

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Not all users have the authorization to see Angles and Dashboards that are not

(yet) validated. Users who can see both validated and not-Validated items can

easily search for Validated items in the Angle-search page.

To implement a procedure or workflow for validating Angles, use the labelling

system - for example by introducing a label category ‘Validation Status’ with

labels:

- ‘Request for Validation’

- ‘Validation check 1 OK’

- ‘Validation check 2 OK’

- ‘Validation Rejected’

2.18 Suggested fields and Starred fields

The Every Angle system uses a special technology (called ‘Live Objects In Memory’) that first translates

a huge number of SAP tables to an easier to understand Object structure, and secondly relates all these

Objects to one another. These relations make it possible that Objects can ‘borrow’ fields from each

other.

For example, fields from the customer master and the material master are available in the object ‘Sales

Document Item’. This is a very powerful and value adding piece of functionality, but it also comes with

a price. The number of available fields in one Object can grow to over a thousand, depending on the

authorizations of the user. For very experienced Power Users this might not be a problem, but for other

users the risk of picking the wrong field can be quite high.

To address this risk, we have introduced in EA2 the concepts; ‘Suggested’ fields and ‘Starred’ fields.

The flag ‘Suggested’ is set by the system or System Administrator to inform

the user about the fact that this is an often used field in the company. The

Suggested-flag is visible by all users.

The flag ‘Star’ is set by the user to mark a field as one of his personal

favorites. The star is only visible for the user that has set the star. (see

2.13.3).

The system administrator has been provided with additional tooling in the IT Management Console to

manage the set of suggested fields. They can edit the set for each Object in detail or use mass-change

functions such as:

- Marking all fields in the basic list of the Template Angle as ‘Suggested’ (for the object involved)

- Marking all fields in all Displays of the object Template as ‘Suggested’ (for the object involved)

- And so forth….

The user can define in their personal settings that the Field Chooser should always start with the

selection ‘Suggested’ and ‘Starred’ switched on. This ensures that the Field Chooser comes up with

only a limited set of fields the user can choose from. The user always retains the possibility to remove

the filter and choose from the complete list of fields that they have authorization for. If a field is both

‘Suggested’ and ‘Starred’ only the Starred symbol will show.

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The Field Chooser default comes up with the Suggested and Starred filters on, if so defined in the

personal settings of the user.

2.19 Extended Field Chooser

The Field Chooser is one of the most important interface elements. This tool lets the user select fields

they want to add to a Display or a filter. Given the fact that SAP is a very complex system with a

multitude of data tables, it is sometimes difficult to find a certain field. The Field Chooser helps the user

to cut through these options and find the right field to the job.

Starting from a certain start Object, the Field Chooser can present all fields of that start Object, but also

of all related Objects - as long as the system can uniquely identify the related Object.

For example:

- The start object is a Customer Document Item (SD Item)

- This object has nearly 100 fields (SAP fields like ‘Material’, ‘Net value’ but also special Every

Angle fields like ‘Delivery Reliability’).

- The SD item has references to dozens of other objects like the Customer, the Material, the SD

Header, the ship-to party, the Cost center, the Project etc.

- All fields in all these referenced objects are also available, so a total of over a thousand

different fields to choose from is available.

Therefore, the new Field Chooser has a number of options to help the user to find the right field.

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2.19.1 General Filters

The items in the ‘General filters’ facet offer the possibility to quickly

filter out groups of fields like for instance all native SAP.

Customers can also have their own special, custom made fields (with

their company logo attached) or an external module like the GRC

module delivered by KPMG risk auditors.

The filter on ‘Reference’ will return the ID of the Object that is

referenced. Starred and suggested fields filters are default on (see

previous paragraph).

2.19.2 Filter on Field type

When the user knows the type of field he/she is

looking for, filtering on field type can be handy.

In the example next to this a user searched for a

field of type ‘Date’. There are only 3 items in the

‘Suggested and Starred’ fields left, so it should

be easy to pick the right one.

2.19.3 Filter on Source Object

As explained above, the Every Angle system

offers the possibility to add fields from many

related objects. These are the ‘Sources’ of the

fields.

If the field is not obtained from a related Object

but is a field of the start-Object itself, the source

is indicated as ‘(Self)’.

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2.19.4 Filter on text in the name or the technical information

One can search on the short name, long

name and the technical information of fields

all at once by using the search box.

The system will search immediately when the

user enters a character.

2.19.5 Filter on text in the help file

The Field Chooser has an extended search

mode so it also searches for text in the help

file of the field.

The button to switch to extended search

mode is on the top right of the Field Chooser.

2.19.6 Sorting of columns

The columns in the Field Chooser can be sorted up/down or down/up by clicking on the column header,

a small blue arrow indicates the sorting (ascending/descending).

2.20 Extended filter options

Next to the set of quick-filters, there is an extended set of options to search for Angles and Dashboards.

But this is only available if a special privilege is granted.

The advanced search option for Angles and Dashboards. All properties of the items can be filtered

on with multiple operators. For example, one can also search for all not-starred items.

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2.21 Extended formatting options

This topic deals with the question how many decimal places should be shown when a number is

displayed, if a short or long name of an enumerated set-item is displayed and how to display a date

field: ‘02/03/05’ or ‘2 Mar 2015’. EA2 offers an extended set of options concerning formatting.

The basic rule for finding a format for a field is as follows:

The system first looks if the field has a format definition in the Display that is presented

If the format is not defined in the Display, the system looks if the user has defined a favorite format for

the Object-Field involved.

If both the above searches are not successful, the system takes the user setting for the field type

(date, number, etc).

Note: please be aware of the difference between the Object-Field and the field type. An Object-field

could be ‘Sales order line – Created on’, a field type is for example ‘date’. There are only 9 field types

(Currency, date, number, percentage, period, set, text, time and Y/N) but there are over 10.000 Object-

fields. Each Object-field is of one of the 9 field-types.

2.21.1 Define the field-format in the Display

If a user has enough privileges, he/she can define and save the field-format in a Display; for example:

the number of decimal places of a number-column in a List Display. While doing so, the user can

immediately define this to be his favorite format for the Object-Field involved. So when he/she executes

another Angle, in which this Object-Field has no explicit format defined, the system will use his favorite.

In the Display ‘Basic List’ of an Angle for Purchase Order Lines, the field ‘Quantity’ is set to be

displayed in Millions with two decimal places and thousand separators. The user also wants this to

be his personal default format for the Quantity field of a Purchase Order line.

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2.21.2 Define favorite formats per field type

If a field format is not defined in the Display, and the user has not defined his personal favorite format

for the Object-Field involved, the system will fall back on the user preference for the field type. These

are maintained in the user settings.

Users can maintain their preferences for field types in the personal settings.

2.22 Angle classification and authorization using BP’s and labels

In EA2 there is no more Angle tree. It is replaced by a search engine in combination with a system of

labels that can be attached to Angles. The most important label (mandatory) is the label for the Business

Process. Users cannot create a new Angle without defining at least one Business Process. But system

administrators can define their own label categories with labels.

Labels serve two purposes: facilitate searching for Angles and allocating Privileges. The Labels of an

Angle are maintained in the Angle detail screen.

Both Privilege labels and Search labels are maintained in the Angle details in the ‘Publishing’-tab.

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2.22.1 Labels added to Angles for search support

Labels are organized per label category. Each label category is represented as

a facet-box in the search engine, but only if labels of that category exist in the

search result.

In the example on the right hand side, two search-label categories are involved

in the search result: Angle Type (3 labels) and Angle Purpose (5 labels). Users

can quickly narrow down the search results by selecting one or more of the

labels presented.

Some Label categories can be marked as mandatory by the system

administrator before an Angle can be published.

2.22.2 Labels added to Angles to allocate Privileges

Some label categories will be defined by the system management as ‘Privilege label’. These labels

function just as a folder in the old Angle tree where privileges were defined. On such a folder it was

defined which users had which rights on the Angles in the folder: who can read, who can change.

Privilege labels serve the same purpose. By adding a certain Privilege Label to an Angle, one defines

which users are allowed to see the Angle and which users are allowed to change the Angle. In the user

roles, privilege labels are defined with read/change rights.

In the system settings, an Administrator also defines which Privilege labels have to be allocated to

an Angle before it can be published.

The Business Process labels are an example of Privilege labels. User one might have a role with ‘Read’

privileges for P2P, user 2 might have a Role with ‘Change’ rights for P2P. This means that user 1 can

read the P2P Angles that are created by user 2.

2.23 Extended functionality concerning Angle warnings

The EA2 system is designed to easily copy or move Angles from one system to another. For example:

Template Angles that are created on the development systems of Every Angle in Gouda can be

imported as a package at the customer site.

When copying Angles and Displays from one system to another, there is always a possibility that Fields

or Objects used in the Angle are not available in the receiving system. In those cases, an error or a

warning is displayed.

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In the search engine, users can quickly filter on Angles carrying warnings. (Option in the ‘User

Settings’). In this example, 26 Angles have a warning.

To investigate what the details of the warnings are, users can execute the Angle, or use the ‘i’ icon and

select the ‘Edit’ option. In the above example of the Condition record, it appears that a certain field is

not replicated from the EEC system. Now the user can choose to add this field to the next download, or

to remove the column from the Display.

In the IT Management Console, there is new functionality added to deal with Angle and Display

warnings. System Managers can mass-change Angles and Displays with errors or warnings. This is

described in the next chapter.

A missing field caused the warning in this example. Hoovering over the column header shows the

details.

2.24 New ZEA03n for presenting Displays in the SAP GUI

The transaction code ZEA03 in EA Classic offers the possibility to present Angle results in the SAP

GUI. For EA2, the transaction code ZEA03n is developed. It presents a simplified version of the search

engine of EA2. Users can filter on labels and Business Processes. The text search is also available, as

well as the sort functions for search results.

The search result is displayed in the form of a tree, showing the available Displays for the Angle. Once

an Angle-Display is selected, users cannot switch directly to another Display of the same Angle, but

have to go back to the ZEA03n start screen.

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The transaction ZEA03n in SAP shows a simplified version of the search engine of EA2.

List Displays and pivots are also available, as well as the ‘Ask at Execution’ functionality. The little

icons will also be displayed in lists, such as the traffic lights in ‘Delivery Reliability’.

List Display example in ZEA03n in SAP.

Charts Displays cannot be displayed in the SAP GUI but will appear as a pivot, showing numbers

instead of graphics.

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2.25 New GRC module

We have also developed a new module for EA2 for GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance)

monitoring called EA4GRC. This module allows businesses to continuously monitor Purchase to Pay,

Order to Cash and Financial transactions in order to control risks.

The GRC process in EA2.

Every Angle provides support and analysis in the following areas:

- Daily process control monitoring

- Preparing for annual audits

- Risk analysis across Purchase to Pay, Order to Cash and Finance.

o Master data risks, such as which active customers do not have a credit limit?

o Transactional risks, such as what is the credit note versus invoice ratio? Which POs were

created after invoice receipt? Which postings were made after period end?

o Process conformance risks, such as monitoring for actual breaches of segregation of duties,

such as checking whether the same person changed the vendor’s bank account and entered

the invoice?

- Root cause analysis on exceptions

We have pre-loaded the module with 71 ready-to-use analytics that monitor and support the process

of creating compliance statements. The application can be used by any auditor and by the business to

support in continuous control processes typically within a defined Risk and Control framework.

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Overview of available GRC Templates in EA2.

2.26 Additional functions to make the system easier to use

There have also been a long list of smaller enhancements made to Every Angle that could be added to

this chapter. The following pages detail just a few of the more important ones.

2.26.1 Filter on field comparison (larger/equal/smaller than another field)

In the filter definition, users can now use comparisons between two fields.

In this example, all Sales Document items are selected that have a sales value that is smaller than

their material value.

2.26.2 Easy add and remove ad-hoc filters

Users can add ad-hoc filter lines to a Display. These can easily be removed again, for example when

drilling down in a chart or pivot. It is also possible to change the add-hoc filters.

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Easy remove ad-hoc filter lines via the red cross in the Display definition. Changing ad-hoc filter

lines is done via the ‘Edit Display’ action button. Filter lines that are part of the validated Display

definition cannot be changed or removed without proper privileges.

2.26.3 Defining Drilldown Displays

It is now possible to define a Display that should be used when drilling down in a chart or pivot. For

example, one can define the total worldwide revenue in a chart with a bar per country, and when drilling

down in one country, another chart is used to present the Drilldown result. This chart has a stacked bar

per city.

Defining a Drilldown Display in the details of a Display. When drilling down in a chart with bars

sales value per quarter, a list of late orders is presented.

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2.26.4 Save a Display as a new Angle

It is possible to save a Display as a new Angle with one Display. To do so, users must check the box in

the ‘Save Display as…’ function that can be obtained via the Display-actions button. The Angle definition

will be copied into the new Angle and only one Display will be added.

In the function ‘Save Display as…’ users have the option to create a new Angle.

2.26.5 All Objects have unique ID

In EA2, all objects are uniquely identifiable by its type and ID. For example stock items and independent

requirement items do not have a unique ID in the EA Classic version.

2.26.6 System settings visible via the Help menu

One of the options of the help menu is a page with all technical server settings.

The function ‘Model parameters’ in the help menu allows users to examine the detail behind the EA

fields, for example to see the margins used for delivery reliability calculations.

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2.26.7 Extra Limitations on Angles

Power Users can limit the actions that viewing users can do with an Angle. They can prevent users to

do a Drilldown in a chart or pivot to look at details or to perform a Jump. This is handy for example when

users want to inform people about the total costs or revenue but do not allow them to look at the details.

Drilldowns and Jumps can be turned off in an Angle to prevent users to see details.

2.26.8 Connecting special Angles to Objects and Jumps

It is now possible to connect an Angle to an Object or a Jump. This can be achieved by using special

ID’s within the Angle.

This functionality allows for the addition of a default template to a newly created (customer specific)

Object, making it possible to quickly create new Angles based on this Object. Previously, customer

specific Objects could not be added to the diagrams and could only be selected via the Object list if

used in a new Angle.

To enable this functionality and connect an Angle, the ID fields of Angles and Displays should be set to

‘open’ in the IT Management Console (Global settings / Web server settings).

The ID’s have to use the following convention:

EA_CLASS_TPL_<Classname>

EA_JUMP_TPL_<JumpID>

For example, use the following Angle ID to connect a Template Angle to the Object Material:

EA_CLASS_TPL_Material.

2.27 Changes in wording and abbreviations

Some of the naming changed between EA Classic and EA2. Here are the most important name changes

and abbreviations used.

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New names

EA Classic EA2

Class Object

Property Field

Follow Up Question Jump

Order number ID

Abbreviations

Abbreviation Meaning

PD Purchase Document

SD Sales Document

MD Material Document

AD Accounting Document

WAPT Weighted Average Payment Term

No. Number of

P2P Purchase to pay

PM Plant maintenance

HCM Human Capital Management

O2C Order to cash

S2D Supply to Demand

GRC Governance, Risk and Compliance

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3 New IT management functionality

3.1 Central, web based IT Management Console (IT-MC)

In EA Classic the system is managed using different tools for different functions.

In EA2, there is one central tool for system management. It is web-based and contains everything

needed for managing the Every Angle system. This is called ‘The IT Management Console’ (IT-MC)

The new IT Management Console from which all functions can be performed, from choosing the

languages and modules for each server, to download scheduling, managing authorizations and

users, log file monitoring and defining automation tasks.

39

The main options in the IT Management Console are the following:

Area Tasks

Manage the

global settings

o User authentication (Active Directory or Local server)

o Define Business Processes

o Define custom icons

o Define Label categories (Search labels and Privilege labels)

o Define languages

o Manage license files of the Every Angle system

o Manage packages of Template Angles, help files, etc.

o Monitor the system log

o Define system Roles for users (not model specific tasks like ‘Manage users’)

o Manage system settings (Page sizes, timeouts, SMTP server etc)

o Manage web server settings

o Manage the ‘Welcome page’ of the Every Angle system

For each model

o Manage the settings for the server communications

o Manage the Extractor settings (Extraction & copy type, logging etc)

o Define the model servers

o Manage and schedule the refresh cycle

o Manage the content parameters like logistic tolerances

o Manage Angle warnings

o Manage label usage

o Manage active languages

o Manage the activated modules per Business Process

o Activate or deactivate packages with Angles and help files

o Manage the Suggested Fields for each object

o Manage roles and sub roles

Users

o Manage users (Define/import users, assign roles, authentication)

o Manage sessions

o Set new user defaults

Automation

tasks

o Define data stores

o Define Tasks

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3.2 Improved security concept, Sub-Roles and Privileges

In EA Classic, each user has one role or ‘Authorization Profile’. In EA2, a user can have multiple Roles,

and roles can be created by combining multiple sub-roles. This makes the management of users and

authorizations easier.

The concept of allocating users to a user group is gone; replaced with the new Role/Sub Role concept.

Within a role, certain privilege labels can be added and related to view, assign, manage or validate

Angles with that label.

The difference between ‘Viewing Users’ and ‘Power Users’ that is defined in EA Classic is no longer

valid in the classic way. In EA2 there are 13 privileges defined that offers a much more precise way for

defining user rights.

Within a role, the system manager can define the privilege per label.

Instead of just defining ‘Viewing User’, ‘Power User’, and ‘Admin user’ as in EA Classic, in EA2 the

system offers a more granular way of defining user privileges.

For example, it is possible to define that a very basic user can only log on and execute officially validated

Angles without any Drilldown, Jump or extra filter functionality being allowed.

It is also possible to distinguish between Power Users that can create Angles, Power Users that can

also create new Template Angles, and (the highest level) Power Users that can also validate Angles in

a certain Business Process using the label functionality (as previously described).

The system administrator role can be divided into admins that manage the system and admins that

manage the users including the Private Angles.

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Example of user privileges in EA2.

3.3 Authentication via Active Directory

Authentication of a user can be performed via Active Directory. So users do not have to remember a

separate password for Every Angle and can be managed centrally.

3.4 Conversion tool for converting Angles, users and authorization profiles

For customers running the EA Classic system, there is a conversion tool to help converting Angles,

users and authorization profiles to the new EA2 system. The tool takes the ‘store’ of EA Classic as input.

The store consists of the XML file that contains all the Angles and the Angle tree and the information

about users and authorizations.

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Based on the information in the store, the EA Classic > EA2 upgrade tool generates a first pass

suggestion to define the labels based on the folders in the Angle tree. Some folders have privileges set,

some have not; resulting in suggestions for Privilege Labels and Search Labels. The result is presented

in a spreadsheet that can easily be adopted by the system administrator or the consultant. For example,

a folder in the Angle tree called ‘USA’ and another folder called ‘North America’ might be combined into

one label.

After adopting the settings, the result can be uploaded with the Angle set into the EA2 version. The

Conversion tool does not cover the conversion of automated tasks.

3.5 New function for monitoring the system log files

The IT Management Console carries a function to view the logs of the system.

Via the IT Management Console, the log files can be easily viewed.

3.6 New Package-system for Interchangeability of Angles and help files

A new concept in EA2 is the concept of importing new Template Angles, help files and other resources

via packages. Packages will be distributed by the Every Angle Company. They have version numbers

and can be imported and activated per model. But it is also very well possible to create new packages

yourself with the EA2 system, for example to share Angles with other companies or for backup

purposes.

3.7 Central Angle automation/distribution

The old automation tools like ‘Angle2CSV’ or ‘Angle2SQL’ are replaced with one tool, called ‘Automation

Tasks’. This is also part of the central IT Management system.

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In the Automation Tasks, a system administrator defines Data stores that use plugins (like export

Angle data to Excel, or SQL) and connects tasks to these.

The automation task function is buildup of two sub-functions:

- Define the Data stores. With this function, system managers can define the targets of the actions,

like ‘Export to Excel file’ on a certain location. In R2015, the following Data stores are available:

o Alert (no data will be exported, just a notification send to mail or SMS)

o Export to Excel

o Export to CSV

o Export to HTML

o Export to SQL

- Define Tasks. Each task has a list of Actions and an execution schedule. An Action is a

combination of a Data Store and an Angle plus a lot of parameters that can be set

In the new scheduler for Automated Tasks it is possible to define an execution schedule for each

‘Task’ (with Actions) per day of the week.

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A task is connected to an Execution

schema (e.g. run every day at 8.00 AM)

and a list of Actions.

An Action is the combination of an Angle,

a Data store and a set of parameters,

such as an Email address.

When sending an Email, you can add an

Angle result as an attachment. It is also

possible to use macros in the text, for

example:

- {Anglename} Expands to the name

of the exported Angle.

- {modeltimestamp} Expands to the

timestamp of the model the exported

Angle belongs to.

- {rowstotal} Expands to the number

of rows totally available in the

display.

3.8 New tool to manage Angle warnings

Since (Template) Angles can easily be moved from one system to another, chances are high that

Angles or Displays require a field that is not available in the specific Model the Angle runs on. Depending

on the modules that are activated or deactivated, the customer-specific customizations and the

selection of additional fields that people want in their download of data from SAP to Every Angle, may

or may not be available.

When an Angle is created on a particular system and contains a particular field, and then copied to

another system that does not carry that specific field, an Angle warning is generated. There are 7

different Angle warnings or errors, and for each warning or error type there can be multiple solutions.

For example, if a special field is used as a column in a list Display, users might just want to remove that

column from the Display and the warning is gone.

The new Angle warning management system in the IT Management Console groups together similar

errors and warnings and lets the system manager perform mass-changes on them.

Type Angle/ Display Solution1 Solution2 Solution3

1

Angles with non-existing start Object Angle Delete

Angle

Replace

Object

-

2

Angles and Displays with non-

existing Jump

A+D Delete A/D Replace Jump -

3

Angle/Display with non-existing filter

fields

A+D Delete A/D Replace field Remove filter

4

List Displays with a non-existing field Display Delete

Displ.

Replace field Remove

column 5

Pivot/Chart Displays with a non-

existing dim.

Display Delete

Displ.

Replace field -

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Type Angle/ Display Solution1 Solution2 Solution3

6

Pivot/Chart Displays with non-

existing value

Display Delete

Displ.

Replace field -

7

Other Errors and Warnings A+D Delete A/D - -

The Angle warning management system lets the user mass change warnings.

3.9 Toolset to manage the set of Suggested fields for end users

The new ‘Suggested’ field functionality enables the end user to more easily find the most common fields

in the Field Chooser. Since the number of available fields in a Display can sometimes be very high

(>1000), it is often useful to first limit the total list of available fields down to a few dozen.

Suggested fields are defined by the system manager, as opposed to ‘Starred’ fields that are maintained

by the end user as their personal favorites.

In order to set suggested fields per object quickly, the EA2 system offers a number of functions in the

IT Management Console.

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Managing the ‘Suggested’-fields in the IT Management Console. These help end-users to easily

find the most common fields in the system.

The following options are available:

Set suggested fields for single object

The system manager can select one or more Objects and define the suggested fields via a Field

Chooser.

Mass change suggested fields based on Template Angles

Each Object defined in the system has one special Template Angle attached to it. This Template Angle

defines how the Object is displayed in its most basic format. The system manager can select one or

more Objects and let the system set the suggested fields, based on the fields defined in the Display

‘Basic List’ of the Object-Template, or in all Displays of this special Template Angle.

A third option is to simply define all fields in all Displays in all Template Angles as suggested for the

Object involved. Basically, let the system do the suggesting.

By using this functionality, a system manager can set a reasonable first set of Suggested fields for all

objects in a very short time.

Clear suggested fields for one or more Objects

It is also possible to mass-clear the suggested fields. For example, to set them again based on a new

Template set that is imported from a new package.

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4 New Architecture developments

4.1 Model server is split into application server and lean model server

Compared to EA Classic, the technical architecture of the system has been completely overhauled. The

calculation kernel, the Model Server, is now much lighter. All tasks that are not part of the key function

of the model server (like user management, user authentication, Metadata management, Angle

management, Angle results, etc.) have been removed from the Model Server.

The Application Server is basically the heart of the EA2 system and can run on a separate machine. It

takes care of the communication between the Model Server(s) and the Web Server, the Automation

task application - and the ZEA03n application.

The EA2 system consists of the platform plus the content. The heart of the platform is the

Application Server that takes care of metadata and user management, and manages the

communication between the web client and Model Server(s) and HANA connector.

There can now be multiple Model Servers connected to one Application Server. One Model Server

consists of a number of instances. Normally, it will be 2 instances, and at any moment in time one

instance will be serving the user requests while the other one is refreshing its data. After the refresh is

completed, the two instances switch roles. The shorter the time lapse between two switches, the shorter

the near real-time period.

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The Application Server takes care of the metadata, the Angle results, the scheduler, the store of

metadata and the search engine on it. User authentication is done externally for example by AD.

Each Model Server can have multiple instances. One is serving users; the other is refreshing its

data.

The Application server takes care of the following tasks:

- User management

- User Authentication: this task is outsourced to Active Directory or the windows system of the

Local server

- Managing the metadata model

- Managing the results of Angles

- Scheduling of the refresh jobs (in EA Classic this is done via the Windows task scheduler)

- Searching for Angles and Dashboards using the SOLR search engine

Among other tasks, the Model Server takes care of the following tasks:

- Carrying the business logic

- Read the data from the tables on disk and build the Object model in memory

- Provide the metadata to the Application Server

- Execute the Angles over the live Object model

- Return the results of Angles to the Application Server

The Web Server carries two applications:

- The user client: search Angles, execute Angles, manage the results

- The IT Management Console, an application that offers system managers one point of entry to

manage the Every Angle system.

Each of the components can run on a separate piece of hardware. Model servers can even split their

instances over multiple servers. However it is also possible to run all components on one server,

depending on the model size and the specifications of the infrastructure.

The sizing of an instance of the model server depends on the data volume. It is equal to the sizing of

one classic EA installation. Since most models will presumably consist of 2 model instances, double

the sizing is needed per model.

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The sizing of the Web Server and the Application Server depends on the number of users. The following

sizing guide will help define the required amount of RAM and cores:

Number of users Hardware requirement

Less than 100 users 16 GB RAM, 8 cores

101-500 users 32 GB RAM, 16 cores

501-2500 users 64 GB RAM, 32 cores

Over 2500 users 128 GB RAM, 64 cores

Note: this includes both Web- and Application Server.

It is also possible to make EA2 available over the internet. In that case, the webserver must be placed

in a DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) outside the intranet.

Example of an architecture with two models (could be two separate SAP-ECC systems) and user

access possible via the internet using a DMZ - for example to facilitate external suppliers to monitor

the status of their orders.

4.2 Hello browser client, goodbye fat EA Classic client.

Where EA Classic uses a fat client as a user interface, EA2 uses a browser both for the end users and

for the system manager.

The tables below contain the combinations that are tested and supported.

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These requirements are valid for the EA² release at the end of 2015.

4.3 Authentication outside Every Angle system (e.g. AD)

The authentication of users in R2015 can be set to two options:

- Authentication via Active Directory

- Authentication via the local users in windows on the Application server

-

When creating a user, the system manager has to define this setting. All users from a certain AD can

be imported into the Every Angle system. The most important advantage of this is that users will have

a single password throughout the company, and they do not need to remember a separate user ID and

password for the Every Angle system.

4.4 EA2 Security

EA2 uses encrypted communications between all its components HTTPS/REST. Identities of the

separate components are validated using dedicated client certificates in the certificate store. This

means data is secured from SAP to browser client.

Security levels of the different components can be separated using firewalls.

The Business Data on the Model Server can be encrypted using EFS (Encrypted File System)

The data transfer from SAP to Every Angle can be configured in four different ways (Pull & Push):

- SMB (requires SAP on Windows)

- FTP (requires FTP server on SAP server)

- (S)FTP (requires SFTP server on SAP server)

- RFC copy (requires RFC destination in SAP system)

For the extraction, Every Angle places an SAP certified Function Module in the SAP-ECC system.

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EA² Meets the Highest Security Requirements

4.5 Multiple model servers used and managed via one Application server

One implementation of EA2 can cover multiple Model Servers and/or HANA systems. Therefore, it can

cover multiple instances of SAP-ECC. It is possible for each Model Server can be based on an SAP-

ECC system – however this is not necessary, and EA2 can also carry other data. However, a large part

of the business logic available in EA2 is based on the SAP database, so in practice, most Every Angle

Model Servers are processing the majority of its data from an SAP-ECC system.

4.6 Dual model instance to support 24/7 near real-time

By using two instances of a Model Server, a near real-time system can be achieved. While one system

is service the users, the other one is refreshing its data. As soon as the refresh is finished, the two

instances switch roles. The users that are logged on to the system will automatically get newer data.

In EA2, the user will see the exact time the

data was refreshed in each Angle. This is

a significant advancement to EA Classic,

where only the date is available, and

supports the ability to use Every Angle to

provide ‘near real-time’ information.

Dashboards and Angles can also automatically be updated when new data is available via a push-

mechanism in the browser.

4.7 Use of MS SQL server for metadata, privileges and Angle definitions

In EA2, the foundational data that the Application Server requires on Angle definitions and users is

stored in a SQL database on the Application Server machine. This data contains:

- The definitions of the Angles, Dashboards and Displays

- The language-dependent texts of Angles, Displays and Dashboards,

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- The metadata information of the model

- The user definitions

- The roles of users carrying the authorizations and privileges.

Please note that the data of the model (like all the customer orders, materials etc.) is NOT stored in the

SQL database, just the data the Application Server needs. The model data is stored in the Every Angle

Model Server, and is much faster than SQL.

In EA Classic this data about Angles and users is stored in the XML-store. For reasons of backup and

easy recovering this is now replaced with an SQL database in EA2.

4.8 Scheduling via IT MC, Continuous refresh

In EA Classic, the Windows task scheduler is used to schedule download and refresh jobs on the server.

In EA2, the system uses its own scheduler, which provides significant benefits.

The Refresh cycle is scheduled in the new Every Angle job scheduler. System admins can schedule

a download per day of the week. The new option ‘Continuous refresh’ means that it will start a new

refresh cycles straight after the last one continuously, enabling near real-time.

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5 Overview of future desired functionality not currently in R2015

5.1 User functions available in R2014 but NOT in R2015

5.1.1 Special buckets in charts and cubes

In EA Classic, the option is offered to use so called ‘Special buckets’ in charts, matrix and cube. This is

a functionality that allows for the Power Users to identify zero-values as a separate value and to group

the high and the low values. This functionality will be completely rebuilt and will not be available in the

first release of EA2.

Special buckets in EA Classic.

5.1.2 Calculated fields in lists

In EA Classic it is also possible to add a so called ‘calculated field’ to a list. With this function, end

users can let the system perform simple calculations like comparing or dividing two fields.

Calculated fields in a list in EA Classic.

However, this functionality is limited, since users cannot sort or filter on the calculated field, or use it in

other calculated fields. For EA2, it was decided to completely rebuild this functionality in a much more

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powerful way. The new calculated fields that end users can define will be part of the Angle and can be

used in any of the Displays connected to it, no matter if it is another list, chart or pivot. Sorting and

filtering will be possible. Users will be able to use more mathematical functions; can use calculated

fields in other calculated fields. But in the first release of EA2, this functionality is not available yet.

Note: the new functionality for filtering an Angle using field-comparison can probably cover for some of

the issues.

5.1.3 Percentages in matrix

The matrix and the cube functionality in EA Classic are combined in EA2 with the ‘pivot’ functionality.

The pivot will combine the two and (in time) become much more powerful, covering more formatting

options and calculated fields. However, with the first release of EA2, this function is not fully available

yet. The new ‘percentages’ functionality will be part of the ‘calculated fields in pivot’ project that will be

available in coming releases.

Percentages in matrix in EA Classic.

5.1.4 Goto SAP

The Goto SAP function that existed in EA

Classic was possible because it could be

started from a fat client. However it is not

possible to start from a browser, as browsers

are closed environments due to security

reasons.

Therefore, it is necessary to completely

rebuild this function and it is not part of the first

Release of EA2.

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5.2 IT management Functions available in R2014 but NOT in R2015

5.2.1 Feedback loop

The Automated Tasks do not yet support the option to execute an Angle and return the result of the

Angle back to the database of the Every Angle system. This function in the Automation Client of EA

Classic offers the possibility of buildup history over time, also over data that is no longer available in

SAP. For example, the stock level over time, or the bottlenecks in sales order delivery over time.

This functionality will definitely return, but will not be part of the first release of EA2.

5.2.2 Old Configurator still needed for Status, Price condition and FiCo hierarchies

The IT Management Console covers all the functions of the EA Configurator in EA Classic, for example

configuring the model by selecting the appropriate modules, classification characteristics and long texts.

However, some of the more detailed functions are not ready yet – and to compensate a stripped version

of the old EA Configurator is shipped with the first release of EA2. So, the functionality for the end user

is available, but for the configuration, the system manager has to use the old tool.

These functions involve:

- Defining the required status of orders

- Defining required hierarchies in FiCo

- Defining required price condition index tables

5.2.3 Support Commands and Server Reports

There are several options that system

managers and consultants used in EA Classic

that are not (yet) available in EA2.

The command ‘KillSAPjobs’ that was used to

stop a running download immediately,

including the SAP job, is no longer available.

The list of HTML reports in the client,

especially popular for consultants building

configuration when working with encrypted

files, is also not yet available.

5.3 New functions, planned for further releases

5.3.1 HANA connector, Integration of HANA Views

Due to changes in protocol in both the HANA system and Every Angle, the HANA connector appeared

not to be stable enough on time for the first release. Although the component takes a prominent place

in the architecture, it was decided to release the first EA2 version without the HANA connector. This will

form a prominent part of future releases.

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5.3.2 Interchangeability of movies and Dashboards via packages.

The new ‘packages’ mechanism is very powerful when it comes to interchangeability of Angles and help

files - however currently movies and Dashboards cannot yet be shipped with it.

5.3.3 Multi Angles

In the first release of EA2 an Angle can only run on one model server. In future releases it will be

possible to run one Angle over multiple models. This will make it possible, for example, to add up the

total revenue of the whole company in a situation where multiple instances of SAP are used.

5.3.4 Extra set of Templates answering specific business questions

The set of Template Angles that are available will be extended with new sets in the future. The existing

set covers the Objects and the basic activities; future sets will cover more specific business questions

or industry specific issues.

5.3.5 Single Sign on and Users from SAP

In the future releases functionality is planned to make it easier to manage large groups of users, for

example by using the users defined in the SAP system. Also, SSO (single sign on) will be supported.

5.3.6 Multi source

In most cases, the tables from the SAP-ECC system are the heart of the data model. However, many

companies now have many different software products in their IT ecosystem. It is therefore the strategic

intention to extend beyond the confines of SAP making it easier to connect multiple data sources to the

Model Server and combine them into one model that end users can analyze.