What is SAP Predictive Analytics?

SAP Predictive Analytics is, as the name would suggest, a statistical analysis and data mining platform that can be deployed with SAP HANA.

Categories & Use Cases

Ali Kazempour View profile

Information Technology Adviser in Information Technology at AZEREX LLC. (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

All different common database like JDBC, XLS, CSV, and more types can be connected
Easy integration with SAP Lumira workflow
Simple and conceptual design and convenient diagrams

Cons

Working with this software is very simple and enjoyable for me as [an] IT consultant and expert, but it is a bit complicated for novice users.
Some big data takes more time‌to load, which I think could be faster

Most Important Features

Connect different data sources
Load data from different sources or in fact any source
Integration with SAP related products like SAP Lumira and SAP HANA

Return on Investment

Proper forecasting increases our credibility with partners and customers
Forecasting determines the amount of investment in each sector and reduces the cost of additional costs

Alternatives Considered

Board, SAS Advanced Analytics and IBM SPSS Modeler

Other Software Used

Board, SAP HANA Cloud, Couchbase

Abdelhalim DADOUCHE View profile

Freelance Consultant in Professional Services at Self Employed (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

It doesn't require you to have a Ph.D. to build models!
You can use it to address a very large and wide dataset without worrying about sampling.
Automation is in the product DNA. You can prepare your data, ingest it into the "Kernel", then get insights about what was found, decide to publish it and schedule scoring tasks or model refresh in the same product.

Cons

The "User Experience" is sometimes lacking some clear basic things. Maybe a migration to a cloud-based environment will help bridge that gap.
API is probably the next item on my list. The existing one is not easy to access or use which limits the integration capabilities.

Return on Investment

You don't need an army of Ph.D.s to address your needs (and if you have, lucky you as they will be able to do so much more now).
SAP Predictive Analytics allows you to reduce tremendously the time to build and maintain models.
Lower workforce cost + higher productivity = you already won the TCO battle. On the ROI side, because you will get better agility, you can "try" more things and adjust more quickly.

Alternatives Considered

TensorFlow, SAS Enterprise Miner, IBM SPSS and Microsoft R (formerly Revolution R)

Other Software Used

SAP Cloud Platform, Pega Platform

Usability

Josh Anderson View profile

User Experience Manager in Information Technology at Procter & Gamble (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Ability to use built-in algorithms or expand using R. This means that (with training) casual users can take advantage but also data analysts can do their thing!
Integration and consistency with Lumira. Even Lumira on its own has a quick 'predict' functionality (although limited/black box)
Ability to do the analysis and then present visually using the Lumira visualization capabilities

Cons

It's extremely hard to get started. We even have a data scientist who, when we put Predictive Analytics in front of them, they could not intuitively create a data model and start analyzing. Even with deep knowledge of data analysis, the interface isn't intuitive and it's hard to get to the point of having imported a data set and start analyzing/predicting
Our platform team had confusion installing Predictive Analytics, particularly on the BI Platform. Additional complexity came when it came to using APL Libraries (AFL Wrapper or Stored Procedures)
We are still working on merging datasets. In theory, we get how to do it but we come across all sorts of issues which don't occur in Spotfire (missing records etc.)

Return on Investment

It will potentially save time in forecast creation by giving an algorithm-derived forecast which can then be adjusted vs. starting from scratch. We can call this, a system enabled forecast
Thresholds can be created based on historical data to flag actuals as in/out of the 'norm', or to limit the scope of an investigation
We spent a lot of time so far and haven't got very far with it - it's been quite frustrating to use and a lot of time/money has been invested

Alternatives Considered

TIBCO Spotfire and SAP Lumira

Other Software Used

SAP Lumira, SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform

IBM SPSS Statistics

SAS Viya

Oracle Machine Learning, OAA, on Oracle Database

SAP Predictive Analytics

What is SAP Predictive Analytics?

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

Smart forecasting with fast and accurate database analysis

Pros

Cons

Most Important Features

Return on Investment

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used