In the rapidly changing business world, corporate success often depends on how quickly data-driven decisions can be made. In addition to a high-performing data model, a powerful client also plays an important role. In this article, we introduce the little-known Lite Viewer in SAP Analytics Cloud, how it affects performance and what you need to consider when using it.
While many performance optimizations focus on the backend and data modeling, the Lite Viewer addresses the frontend and provides a lightweight client. After all, decision-makers who only analyze dashboards and reports do not need the same functions as designers who create the content.
The Lite Viewer builds on the already familiar Optimized Story Experience, but goes a step further. It was developed specifically to load the lightest possible version of the application. This version is reduced to the essentials in order to ensure maximum performance when viewing stories. By consistently decoupling the designer and viewer personas, SAP was able to reduce the client load time by an impressive 75%.
Although the Lite Viewer was already released with the 2024 Q1 release, the functionality is not widely known. This is partly due to the fact that the Lite Viewer initially had to be accessed via a special URL and was incompatible with many SAC features.
To start SAP Analytics Cloud in Lite Viewer mode, you need to adjust the URL of the story.
Add the parameter ?shellMode=embed after the route story2. Here is an example.
Original URL:
https://<TENANT>/sap/fpa/ui/tenants/<TENANT_ID>/app.html#/story2&/s2/<STORY_ID>;
Lite Viewer URL:
https://<TENANT>/sap/fpa/ui/tenants/<TENANT_ID>/app.html#/story2?shellMode=embed&/s2/<STORY_ID>
In practice, it can be tedious to add the parameter to the URL every time. Therefore, you could create a landing page that links to the respective stories with the ?shellMode=embed parameter.
Implementing a button in the story, similar to the presentation mode, that allows switching between normal and Lite Viewer mode, would be a future implementation we would like to see.
While the Lite Viewer significantly improves performance, it still does not support all functions that are currently available in the Optimized Story Experience. The differences are immediately apparent due to the limited navigation bar.
For example, the comment function is restricted and the comment widget is not supported.
It is also not possible to display value driver trees or R visualizations in the Lite Viewer. Furthermore, Smart Insights are not available. A complete list of limitations can be found in the official documentation.
If a story is not supported by the Lite Viewer, you will be automatically redirected to the full version of the Optimized Story Experience. After the redirect, there is no way back to the Lite Viewer, other than opening the story in a new tab.
However, it must be noted that the Lite Viewer has been improved since the initial release. For instance, scripting is no longer completely excluded. All objects, functions, properties, methods and events that are specifically available for the Lite Viewer are listed in a separate API reference. It remains to be seen whether additional functions will be added with future releases. Unfortunately, the current roadmap does not provide any information on this.
The Lite Viewer in SAP Analytics Cloud proves to be a powerful tool for anyone who wants to maximize their dashboard performance. With a reduction in client loading time of up to 75%, it offers an enormous performance gain. This represents a tremendous advantage especially for users who exclusively consume stories and dashboards and do not need to edit them, provided they can accept compromises in terms of features.
However, the use should be well considered due to the many limitations. The Lite Viewer is therefore currently more of a targeted solution for specific use cases rather than a standard for all reports. It remains to be hoped that SAP will further expand the functional scope in future releases and also simplify accessibility in order to unlock the full potential of this lightweight client.
If you want to make your SAP Analytics Cloud dashboards faster or explore tailored performance solutions for your business, feel free to reach out to discuss your specific needs.