Microsoft Office is a commonly-used word processing suite among many companies today. if you’ve got SAP installed, you have much flexibility in combining both of these software suites into something seamless and integrated. However, configuring the systems to work together does take a bit of work. Here, we’ll run through the configuration that links Microsoft Office to SAP in as simple a way as possible.

Starting With the Basics

The starting point of our exploration and integration will be in the *.config files. Administrators have access to these files: Ao_app.config, Cof_app.config, Epm_app.config and Bpc_app.config. Since we’ll deal with the central settings for SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office, we’ll focus on the Cof_app.config file. The other files each have their own parameters relating to integration, namely:

• Bpc_app.config: SAP for Business Planning parameters
• Epm_app.config: SAP Enterprise Performance Management (SAP EPM) parameters
• Ao_app.config: SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office parameters

These files allow you to change what things users can access and change. The config section in the XML file is headed with the tag <configSections> and offers a range of settings that can be changed by default. If an administrator doesn’t wish for users to be able to change settings on their own, they could adjust the settings to “PerMachine,” locking the user out. The default setting is “UserRoaming.”

Some Warnings of Note

If you manage to change the settings under C:ProgramDataSAPCof, you risk losing your settings changes if you upgrade to a new version of SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office. Ideally, back up the file in another separate folder so you can restore it after the update. You can also maintain user-specific settings files in C:Users[User name]AppDataRoamingSAPCof. Two files contain your user settings for the account – Ao_user_roaming.config and Cof_user_roaming.config. These files will be automatically created and stored if you make any changes within the Technical Configuration dialog box.

Editing the Technical Configuration

The basic configuration tasks mentioned above can be done directly within the XML config files. More technical configuration requires opening the dialog of the same name. The dialog has two significant benefits over directly editing config files: filters and better clarity and control in choosing options. To get to the technical configuration dialog, we’ll need to go to File->Analysis->Customize Analysis->Technical Configuration.

The Technical Analysis dialog box allows you to do a multitude of things, including:

• A search bar along the top allows you to search for a particular setting.
• You can limit the search parameters by file type.
• You can filter the settings only to display the ones you’re interested in.
• Once you have a setting, you can directly adjust the value within the dialog box itself. The default value is displayed to give you an idea of what it was initially.
• The Allowed Configuration Level is similar to that mentioned above in the basic config section and can be set to either UserRoaming or PerMachine.

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office Add-In Settings

This section will explore the config settings stored within Cof_app.config. This file displays several sections once you open it, including:

• ConnectionServiceConfiguration: The Microsoft.NET SAP connector can be adjusted here. It is used for remote function calls (RFCs) in ABAP.
• AppBuilderConfiguration: This section deals with profile-specific settings.
• DPPConfiguration: The data protection popup window can be further configured in this space.
• OfficeConfiguration: You can access the settings for running your office tools in automated/embedded mode here.
• SupportConfiguration: Here, you can adjust the clientProfiling setting to turn profiling on or off as desired.
• VersionConfiguration: You can specify which MinorVersion you’d like to register to the installation.

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office Plug-In Settings

The Ao_app.config file is what we’ll explore in this section, as it contains the settings for the Microsoft Office plug-in. The sections you’ll run into in this file are:

• BoeConfiguration: If you have access to the SAP Business Objects BI platform, you’ll be able to define the settings in this portion of the file.
• DataSourceConfiguration: You can specify where your data source is located and the system settings about the source.
• DateTimeConfiguration: Setting up the date and time display happens here.
• DocumentConfiguration: You can find and edit your settings for your workbook here.
• FormulaConfiguration: Assigning and editing or filter settings can be done in this section of the settings file.
• GridConfiguration: Crosstab settings are found here.
• HanaConfiguration: Connecting to the cloud distribution resource that SAP HANA offers requires a timeout value, which you can set here.
• NavPaneConfiguration: The Design Panel and Analysis views can be configured and customized here.
• NewLinesConfiguration: If new line validation is necessary, you can set it up here.
• PlanningConfiguration: You’ll find all the settings relevant to planning in this section.
• SelectorConfiguration: If you’re looking for the filter dialog behavior, you’ll get it here.
• TaskPaneConfiguration: The Design Panel can be further configured here.
• UICommonConfiguration: User interface elements can be configured in this setting section.
• UtilitiesConfiguration: System-level relevant parameters can be edited and adjusted here.
• VariableConfiguration: How the variables are stored and interact can be edited here.
• WaterfallChartConfiguration: Waterfall diagram details are defined here.
• WorkbookConversionConfiguration: If you need to convert your workbooks, you can do it here.

Microsoft Office provides powerful tools for the SAP user such as giving you the ability to manage your SAP data in Excel for further processing. Please feel free to share your comments and feedback below and I’ll respond to as many as I can. You can find more on SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office on the sites in topics and in the questions and answers section.

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