SAP Analytics Cloud QRC3 2026: what's new (rolled out mid-August)

SAP Analytics Cloud's third quarterly release of 2026 — QRC3 2026 — rolled out in the 15–16 August 2026 window, with regional rollout running a day or two beyond that in some data centres. This is a practitioner recap of the scope SAP announced for the quarter: what each change is, why it matters, and what to test before you rely on it in production.

How to read this: the items below reflect SAP's announced QRC3 scope. The authoritative, always-current list for your environment is the in-product What's New Viewer and the SAP Roadmap Explorer. Availability of some features — the AI ones in particular — can depend on your edition and licensing, so confirm in your own tenant rather than assuming.

Prefer a 60-second visual tour? See the animated QRC3 walkthrough — the Funnel and Gauge shown, not just described.

The five headline themes

1. AI-assisted prompt insights in stories

Story designers can add a widget that pairs a custom prompt with the data behind a table or chart, then sends that combined context to a large language model. In practice it turns a static chart into a starting point for structured analysis — summarising a trend, flagging a risk, drafting commentary — without leaving the story. It is the clearest sign this quarter that AI is moving into the authoring surface designers touch every day. Worth testing: whether it needs an AI-units entitlement on your tenant, and what leaves your environment when the prompt is sent.

2. Compass simulation upgrades

Compass — SAC's scenario and predictive layer — gains more room to model uncertainty. If you build planning or risk scenarios, look here first: better simulation means more realistic ranges rather than a single point estimate. Worth testing: rebuild one existing scenario and compare it against your previous approach before presenting it.

3. Three new native visualisations

The built-in chart library gains three additions. Native charts matter more than they sound — every visual you can build without a custom widget is one less thing to maintain, transport or debug. Worth testing: whether any of the three lets you retire a custom widget you currently carry.

4. A much-requested search improvement

Search inside SAC gets a long-asked-for upgrade. Small on paper, but discoverability is a daily friction point: the faster people find the right model or story, the less time is lost re-creating things that already exist. Worth testing: behaviour across large content libraries, where the old search hurt most.

5. Smarter Data Action filtering

Data Actions get a more intelligent approach to filtering — for planners, the everyday-workflow item. Cleaner filtering means actions touch the right slice of data with less scripting and fewer surprises. Worth testing: run a non-production copy of a critical Data Action and confirm the affected records match what you expect before scheduling it.

What to test before you upgrade production

• Preview on a private test edition tenant and validate your critical stories and Data Actions against the new version first.
• Keep your models clean — consistent aggregations, no orphaned dimension members — since most upgrade surprises trace back to model hygiene, not the release.
• Check whether the AI features are licensed on your tenant before you design around them.
• Re-run one critical Data Action on a copy and confirm the filtered scope is unchanged.

Put QRC3 to work: grab the QRC3 Starter Kit, browse compatible templates, or run the Live-Ready check before you upgrade.

Where this fits

QRC3 leans into AI-assisted authoring, gives the simulation layer real workflow upgrades, rounds out the native chart set, and files down two everyday friction points. For the full-year context see the 2026 release index; the previous delivered release is the QRC2 2026 breakdown. If you are planning a live connection, our Live-Ready schema check and live vs import guide help you get the model right before you connect.

Next in the cycle: QRC4 2026 closes the year on 14-15 November. Track it and start preparing on the QRC4 2026 hub.

Note: This recap reflects SAP's announced QRC3 scope. Exact availability is staggered by rollout and gated by licensing — the authoritative source is the SAP Roadmap Explorer and your in-product What's New Viewer. Independent project, not affiliated with SAP SE.