Using Excel for Reporting on SAP HANA

In this session we will show how to connect to SAP HANA using Excel and build simple reports

Prerequisite:

• You have access to an SAP HANA System (Section 1.5)
• You have created a modeling view (Section 4.10)

Download and install SAP HANA Client:
Excel can connect to SAP HANA using the MDX language in the form of pivot tables. These in turn allow users to “slice and dice” data as they require, to extract the metrics they need.

In order to make MDX connections to SAP HANA, the SAP HANA Client software is needed. This is separate to the Studio, and must be installed on the client system.

Like the Studio itself, it can be found on the SAP Service market place. Additionally, SAP provides a developer download of the client software on SDN, at the following link:
HANA Developer Edition-SAP HANA Client 

Note:Download and install the appropriate SAP HANA Client as per your operating system version and Microsoft Office installation.

If you are using a 64-bit operating system in combination with a 32-bit Office installation, then you’ll need the 32-bit version of the SAP HANA Client software.

Once the software is installed, there is no shortcut created on your desktop, and no entry will be created in your “Start” menu, so don’t be surprised to not see anything to run.

Connect to SAP HANA from Excel:
1. Open Excel.
2. Go to the Data tab, and click on From Other Sources, then From Data Connection Wizard, as shown:

1. Select Other/Advanced, then SAP HANA MDX provider, and then click Next.

2. The SAP HANA Logon dialog will appear, so enter your Host, Instance, and login information (the same information you use to connect to SAP HANA with the Studio).

3. Click on Test Connection to validate the connection. If the test succeeds, click on OK to choose the Modeling views to which you want to connect. Select the package which contains the modeling views.

4. Click on the name of the analytic view or calculation view. Click “Finish.”

5. On this screen there’s a checkbox Save password in file – this will avoid having to type in the SAP HANA password every time the Excel file is opened – but the password is stored in the Excel file, which is a little less secure.

6. Click on the Finish button to create the connection to SAP HANA, and your View.

7. Now that you have established your connection to the SAP HANA database and specified the data that you want to use, you can start exploring it in Microsoft Excel, using a pivot table.

Congratulations! You now have your reporting application available in Microsoft Excel.

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