Almadar A finance team in KAFD handed a generic SAP Analytics Cloud dashboard template usually can't answer a single real question with it.
SAC connects to SAP and non-SAP data sources alike, combining reporting, planning and predictive analytics in one platform, which distinguishes it from a pure reporting tool. For Riyadh businesses running mixed technology environments, several ERPs across different entities, spreadsheets still in active use, this connectivity is often the deciding factor over a SAP-only alternative.
Starting from actual questions, not a template dashboard
Before connecting any data source, we identify the specific decisions your finance and operations leadership need to make and what information those decisions currently lack, building dashboards around those questions rather than a generic template set that looks complete but does not address what your team actually asks.
Working with non-SAP data as readily as SAP data
SAC connects to whatever your business actually runs, not exclusively SAP systems, which matters for Riyadh groups where different entities historically adopted different platforms and a genuinely unified reporting view needs to draw from all of them rather than only the SAP portion.
Integrated planning alongside reporting
Budgeting and forecasting models link directly to actuals within the same platform, which removes the common failure of budgets maintained in a disconnected spreadsheet that never quite reconciles with what the ERP shows as actual performance.
A common Saudi scenario
A Riyadh group running SAP for two entities and a separate platform for a recently acquired business has been unable to produce a single consolidated view without manual spreadsheet consolidation each month. SAC connects to both source systems, and the group's first genuinely unified dashboard, built around the specific margin and cash questions leadership actually asks, replaces a two-week manual consolidation process with same-day reporting.
Handing off self-service capability
Once the underlying data model and foundational dashboards are built, we train your team to build their own additional views over time, so new reporting needs do not require waiting on an external consultant or an internal IT queue for every request.
Governance as adoption grows
As more people across the business build their own views, the same governance discipline that prevents BI sprawl elsewhere applies here too, certified data sources, clear ownership, consistent definitions, connecting to the same principles covered in BI strategy more broadly, and to Power BI as an alternative worth weighing where SAP-specific connectivity is not the deciding factor.
Testing dashboards with the actual audience
Before finalizing any dashboard, we test it with the actual leadership member who will use it, confirming they draw the correct conclusion quickly, rather than relying solely on the technical team's judgment of what looks complete and well-designed, the same testing discipline covered in data visualization.
Multi-entity Riyadh groups running mixed technology environments across Riyadh gain the most from SAC's cross-platform connectivity, while single-entity SAP-only businesses often find a simpler SAP-native reporting tool sufficient.