We will keep this blog and associated notes updated, as we investigate upcoming mitigation options.

In an ongoing effort to combat the misuse of third-party cookies and align with the guidelines set by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google Chrome has initiated the deprecation of third-party cookies. While this move holds advantages for consumer privacy, it also impacts the technology that underpins numerous web integrations commonly employed in enterprise software.

SAP Analytics Cloud relies on third-party cookies for various crucial workflows, which include:

• Live connections
• OData Technical Component (accessing OData sources through scripting)
• Embedding SAP Analytics Cloud (incorporating within another web app)
• Webpage widget (integrating other web apps within SAP Analytics Cloud)
• SAP Analytics Cloud embedded in line of business applications like: SAP S/4Hana Cloud, SAP Successfactors, SAP Ariba and others

3rd Party Cookie Deprecation of 1% of Browsers: Despite our collaborative efforts with the Chrome team to tackle the issues associated with 3rd party cookies ahead of complete deprecation, Google has unveiled plans for a trial to deactivate third-party cookies for “1% of Chrome Stable users”. Consequently, starting in Q1 2024, an expanding segment of Chrome users can anticipate the disabling of third-party cookies, impeding access to workflows reliant on this technology.

Users experiencing third-party cookies deactivation will be unable to execute the workflows mentioned above, including the integration of SAP Analytics Cloud into other applications such as S/4Hana Cloud, SuccessFactors, Ariba, and others.

Mitigations

Chrome Enterprise: To guarantee uninterrupted service, you can ensure that your user base utilizes Chrome Enterprise, exempt from the 1% of browsers subjected to third-party cookie deactivation in Q1 2024.

“As with the majority of Chrome experiments, most enterprise end users will be excluded from the 1% third-party cookie deprecation automatically. For the few that may be affected, enterprise administrators can set the BlockThirdPartyCookies policy to false to opt out their managed browsers ahead of the experiment and allow time to make necessary changes to not rely on this policy or third-party cookies.”

https://developers.google.com/privacy-sandbox/3pcd#enterprise_support

Microsoft Edge is also fully supported by SAP Analytics Cloud. If you are not already using Edge, it may be prudent to run a few test scenarios to see if it can be available as a backup browser in the case that any of your end users are affected. Although Edge is based on Chromium it doesn’t appear it will start to disable cookies for 1% of their users. If things change, we will update this blog with the latest information.

We are actively engaged in creating solutions that alleviate the need for customer intervention or mitigation. We will be posting more about those solutions in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned to this blog and related SAP notes for further updates on this matter.