Maintaining Business Content

If you want to use business content in your production system, you’ll want to consider how to maintain it so that you can get the most benefit out of the content, without accidentally overwriting content or data.

You can find more information about business content in Content Package User Guide.

Updating existing content

SAP Analytics Cloud assigns a unique ID to each object. This ID doesn’t change when you move an object from one system to another, and multiple objects with the same ID can’t exist on the same system.

As a result, it’s possible to overwrite content when you import packages from the Content Network. For example, this can happen when you import an updated version of a package that already exists on your system, or when you import two packages that both contain the same object, such as a public dimension.

Therefore, when you import a package containing objects that you’ve already imported before, you’ll need to decide whether to keep the objects that are already in your system, or whether to overwrite them.

General practices

If you have a system for testing or developing content, it’s a good idea to move content updates here first, to see whether the updates are useful for you and compatible with the rest of your content.

By default, it’s also safest to avoid overwriting content by selecting Don't overwrite objects or data. This way, you won’t risk losing any changes you’ve made to the content or the data. For more details about the different overwrite options available, see Getting Business Content and Samples from the Content Network.

Scenarios for Maintaining Business Content

Beyond the approach of always avoiding overwrites, it’s worth considering the following scenarios for each package, based on how you intend to use it.

Using business content without changes or overwrites

This option allows you to use business content without spending much time maintaining it. If you want to use the business content without customizing it, and you aren’t concerned about getting all the updates to the content, this option can work for you.

It means you use the content as it is delivered, without making any changes. You can also avoid overwriting any of the objects.

If you want, you can still import new versions of the package using the Don’t overwrite objects or data option, to import any new objects that have been added to the package. However, the new objects may not work if they depend on updates to existing objects on your system.

Copying business content

This option offers more flexibility to customize and update the content, while also avoiding overwrites.

It involves copying each of the objects, other than live models. Since the copied objects have new IDs, they won’t be overwritten if you choose to import a new version of the package.

Use the following guidelines when copying content:

Object Type	Guidelines
Folders	Do not save files in the folders that are imported with the sample content. Objects saved in these folders may be accidentally deleted if the content is imported again.
Models	Live models don’t need to be copied. You can begin using them after you connect them to your data source. For models with private dimensions only, copy the imported model. For more information, see Copying a Model. For models with one or more public dimensions, create a new public dimension with a different name based on each imported public dimension. Then, manually create a copy of the imported model with a different name, using the new public dimensions that you created. For more information, see Create a New Model. To use the model with your own data, you can clear data from the model and import new data. For more information, see Deleting Data from a Model and Import Data to Your Model.
Stories and analytic applications	Copy the imported stories and applications. For more information, see Manage Files and Folders. Update story widgets based on the models that you copied or recreated, so that they use the newly created models as data sources. After switching models, you’ll need to rebuild some story features such as filters, restricted and calculated measures, and thresholds.
SAP Digital Boardroom presentations	Copy the imported presentations. For more information, see Manage Files and Folders. Remove the story pages from the topics of each presentation copy, and then delete the stories from the Story Library (). Import the newly-created copies of the stories and add pages from them. In the Navigation () panel, add direct links (jump targets) to the pages and tiles. For more information on importing stories, adding pages, and creating direct links for SAP Digital Boardroom presentations, see Creating Digital Boardroom Dashboards.

Customize business content without copying

This option gives you flexibility with less effort, since you don’t have to copy the content. However, you’ll need to be careful to avoid overwriting the content that you’ve customized.

You may want to leave the models and dimensions unchanged, while updating the stories and presentations or creating new ones.

Or, you may want to update the model and dimensions too, for example, to add new attributes or dimensions, or change the model settings.

In either case, take care when you import a new version of the package. You can select Don’t overwrite objects or data, or you can make sure to deselect the model, dimensions, and any other objects that you’ve updated without copying. Also deselect all the Include Data checkboxes. Be careful when importing a package with the same public dimension, too. You might want to try importing the public dimension on a test system to make sure that it’s still compatible with your content.