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This blog post is a quick guide to the currently available tools in SAP S/4HANA for maintaining custom launchpad content and layout, and part of our series on Understanding Business Roles. You will also learn the history behind the different tools, which is particularly useful when you upgrade from a SAP S/4HANA release to a higher release. You will also find clarified when to use which tool for what, and in which SAP S/4HANA releases. All of these tools support both SAP delivered and custom created content.
Below you will find launchpad content tools discussed first, followed by the launchpad layout tools.
IMPORTANT: Take careful note of the deprecated tools that are still available but you should avoid using. The new tools are less effort and scale better. Deprecated tools include:
Launchpad content includes business catalogs, technical catalogs, tile definitions, target mappings, and all the launchpad content entities discussed in Adding Custom Content to Business Roles.
The current main launchpad content tools as of SAP S/4HANA 1909 are:
With SAP S/4HANA 2020, this mix of launchpad content tools will change to:
You can see a summary of how the tools have evolved over time. If you are upgrading from a lower release of SAP S/4HANA you are recommended to move to the latest tools on upgrade.
Generally older tools are not removed immediately from the system for downward compatibility and so that you have some time to move across from old to new tools. Over time, some capabilities may be removed before the tool itself is removed, e.g. to block creation of new entries. So in the diagram you can see the removal of tools as a fade-out rather than an abrupt shift.
You will find a brief introduction to each of these tools and their current status below, followed by a summary of the current best practice for when to use which tool in SAP S/4HANA 1909. Because you may be coming from older solutions, you will also find deprecated tools included - mostly to explain predecessor/successor tools and why you should move to the current tools.
The tools are listed from oldest to newest, general tools and then special analytical tools. These are the general tools:
These are the analytical tools:
You can also find a summary of the available tools in the Tools for Setting Up Content section of your SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release.
Now available: A new tool for maintaining custom content called the Launchpad App Manager will come to SAP S/4HANA 2020 is now released. Refer to: SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager Tool Available for SAP S/4HANA 2020
IMPORTANT: From SAP S/4HANA 2020, all the main launchpad content and layout tools can be found in the Fiori Launchpad of the Fiori Administrator role. This role is generated by task list SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4. By default the role is named Z_FIORI_FOUNDATION_ADMIN. This is the current page assigned to the Fiori Administrator in SAP S/4HANA 2022. To assist customers upgrading from earlier releases, some of the older tools such as Launchpad Designer are retained on the launchpad, along with migration tools to move from Groups to Spaces and Pages.
This was a very old launchpad tool from pre-SAP Fiori days, e.g. for customizing ESS (Employee Self Service) menus in the SAP Enterprise Portal.
It provided a basic way to assign application aliases and was still in use for a few scenarios as late as SAP S/4HANA 1511, although by then Launchpad Designer was already the recommended tool for managing launchpad content.
This LPD_CUST tool has been deprecated - i.e. no longer recommended - for creation of SAP Fiori launchpad content since SAP S/4HANA 1709 and SAP NetWeaver 7.51 (refer to Customizing Navigation Targets in LPD_CUST). It is superseded by the Launchpad Designer. The SAP GUI transaction LPD_CUST still exists for compatibility reasons, however it should be avoided. New content created via LPD_CUST is no longer supported.
Important: This tool is not recommended for creating content for SAP Fiori launchpad content. It is still used for some other use cases e.g. for ABAP report launchpads using ABAP WebDynpro.
The Launchpad Designer was the original web browser tool created to maintain SAP Fiori launchpad content in SAP Business Suite. It is technically possible – but inefficient – to maintain everything using the Launchpad Designer in SAP S/4HANA.
IMPORTANT: As of SAP S/4HANA 2020, the Launchpad Designer was deprecated and superseded by:
Like the launchpad content manager, the launchpad designer can be accessed in either:
You access the desired scope by adjusting the scope parameter when calling the launchpad designer URL in your web browser, e.g.
or
You can also use SAP GUI transactions /UI2/FLPD_CONF and /UI2/FLPD_CUST respectively to launch the tool - i.e. these transactions will formulate and launch the relevant URL in your web browser.
Once launched you can use the top-right hand corner detail to see which scope mode you are in. In CUST scope you can see the Client in the top right-hand corner just before the Settings icon.
Tip: The Settings icon is where you nominate your Transport request for any changes. Naturally you will be asked for a customizing request in client-specific customizing (CUST) mode, and a workbench request in cross-client configuration (CONF) mode.
In the CONF scope you see Client: ALL in the same top right-hand corner.
The tool uses some drag and drop features. For example to copy an existing catalog or delete a custom catalog, you drag the catalog from the list to the lower left hand corner and onto the New catalog with references or Delete zones. These zones automatically appear once you start to drag.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1909 you are recommended to use this tool to:
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1610 you are additionally recommended to use this tool to:
IMPORTANT: For maintenance of technical catalogs, this tool was superseded by new Launchpad App Manager tool introduced with SAP S/4HANA 2020. For maintenance of business catalogs, Launchpad Content Manager is the primary recommended tool from SAP S/4HANA 2020. However, the Launchpad Designer is currently still be available for maintaining content created prior to SAP S/4HANA 1909 where necessary, i.e. for groups not yet migrated to spaces and pages.
In the Catalogs pane, the Launchpad Designer has 3 main tabs for maintaining catalogs:
You use the footer buttons to further review or change the entries.
Tiles (1) tab – showing simulated appearance of tiles:
Tiles (2) tab – showing semantic object, action, and URL fragment:
Target Mappings tab - showing semantic object, action, app type, and form factor settings:
For more on the Launchpad Designer refer to the section Setting up Content with the Launchpad Designer in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
SAP S/4HANA has brought several more useful tools.
With SAP S/4HANA, the desire to use the SAP Fiori launchpad as the single entry point for both SAP Fiori apps and classic UIs led to the creation of the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool. This tool is a Web Dynpro ABAP application that simplifies the mass creation and assignment of launchpad app descriptor items for classic UIs that exist in the (backend) SAP S/4HANA server.
You can reach the application through SAP GUI transaction MM_APP or by launching the URL, specifying your desired client and language.
You specify your technical catalog id or search for it.
Tip: To create a new custom technical catalog from scratch, you just enter a valid catalog id in the customer namespace, e.g. Z_MY_BE_APPS. The tool will give a warning that the catalog does not yet exist, and then you can confirm the warning to get to the maintenance screen.
You can edit the launchpad app descriptor items within the tool.
The mass-maintained content is then replicated/transformed from the backend into frontend technical catalogs ready in the Fiori Frontend Server via a replication program.
Important: This replication process technically needs to be executed even if you are using an embedded SAP Fiori frontend server. You can find more on this replication process in Integrating Back-end Applications using Mass Maintenance section of the SAP Fiori launchpad guide in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1909 you are recommended to use this tool to:
For more on the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool refer to the section Integrating back-end applications using Mass Maintenance in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
This tool has been superseded by new Launchpad App Manager tool to be introduced with SAP S/4HANA 2020. Refer to the section on the Launchpad App Manager later in this blog post.
Typically, approximately 300-400 new SAP Fiori apps are introduced with each new SAP S/4HANA release. As the number of SAP Fiori apps has rapidly grown across SAP S/4HANA releases, the need for a mass maintenance tool to better manage the catalogs overall and the launchpad app descriptor items for frontend target applications (i.e. SAP Fiori apps) became clear. So alongside the SAP S/4HANA 1709 and 1809 releases the Fiori launchpad content manager tool was released for SAP S/4HANA 1709 and higher.
The tool supports 2 scope levels – cross-client configuration (CONF) and client-specific customizing (CUST) modes.
The cross-client configuration (CONF) scope is primarily for creating and maintaining custom technical catalogs. You reach this scope via SAP GUI Transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CONF.
You can also:
Notice that in cross-client configuration (CONF) scope the Roles tab is not shown, as business roles are usually client-specific.
The client-specific customizing (CUST) scope is primarily for creating and maintaining custom business catalogs. This is also where you can view which catalogs are assigned to which business roles and vice versa. You reach the client-specific scope via SAP GUI Transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CUST.
You can also:
For SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1909 you are recommended to use the launchpad content manager to:
For more on these tools refer to the SAP Fiori launchpad guide section Setting up Catalogs with the Launchpad Content Manager for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
The tool called the Launchpad App Manager is launched via SAP GUI transaction /UI2/FLPAM or from the Fiori Launchpad of users assigned the Fiori Foundation Adminstrator role.
Hint: The Fiori foundation Administrator role is generated via the task list SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4. By default the role is called Z_FIORI_FOUNDATION_ADMIN and grants all the launchpad content and layout tools to the assigned user.
The purpose of the Launchpad App Manager tool is to manage all technical catalogs in one place, providing a simpler experience for managing launchpad app descriptor items.
Essentially the tool is an extended version of the earlier Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool. However there is a little more to it than that under the covers... and the blog post on Launchpad app manager is now released as SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager Tool Available for SAP S/4HANA 2020
Benefits of launchpad app manager over launchpad designer:
You can see a video showing an example of using the Launchpad app manager at openSAP microlearning Creating Launchpad Content with the SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager [12:00]
You can access the Launchpad app manager using the user FIORIADMIN which is generated as part of the rapid content activation Fiori Foundation task list (SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4). Just select the Manage Launchpad Apps tile.
Example of the search, sort, and filtering options across all technical catalogs. You can search by SAP Fiori app id, GUI transaction code, Web Dynpro application id, Semantic object/action and much more.
Example of the display/maintenance of launchpad app descriptor items (i.e. the tile and target mapping are maintained together).
From SAP S/4HANA 2022, the Launchpad App Manager now has a new Adaptation Mode that can be used to avoid creating your own custom tiles for simple changes such as changing tile texts and icons. Refer to SAP Fiori Launchpad: New Fast and Easy Option to Adapt SAP-delivered Launchpad Content (for On-Premi...
With SAP S/4HANA 1511, alongside the Launchpad Designer and the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor, some specific tools for handling certain frontend analytical launchpad content were added as part of the SAP Smart Business Framework under the SAP Business Role Analytics Specialist (SAP_BR_ANALYTICS_SPECIALIST). These tools are a collection of apps known as SAP Smart Business Modeler apps.
The Analytics Specialist role included tools such as SAP Fiori apps F0818 KPI Workspace, F0817 Create KPI, F0822 Create Evaluation, F0820 Configure KPI Tiles, F0819 Configure Drill-Down, F0821 Manage KPI Associations.
Find out more about these in the SAP Smart Business Modeler Apps section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you need to use these apps you can find out more in the SAP HANA Academy series:
There are a number of useful blogs on this topic:
Including customer blog posts such as:
Important: You will also find there are some special authorization requirements for Smart Business apps listed in section Authorization for Smart Business KPI Tile in the Business Catalog role in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
Later in SAP S/4HANA 1709 a similar set of tools for reports were introduced such as SAP Fiori apps F2319 Report Workspace, F2318 Create Report, F2322 Create Report Evaluation, F2320 Configure Report Visualization, F2321 Publish Report.
Tip: You can find out how to use these apps in the SAP Developers tutorial Create an Analytical List Page Report.
Find out more about these in the Report Designer Modeler Apps section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1809 you are recommended to use SAP Fiori app F0818 KPI Workspace for KPIs and the related Smart Business Modeler apps to:
For downwards compatibility in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher you can still access these tools however they are marked as Obsolete.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1809 you are recommended to use the SAP Fiori app F2319 Report Workspace to:
For downwards compatibility in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher you can still access these tools however they are marked as Obsolete.
The successor tool for KPIs and Reports in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher releases is SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports.
In SAP S/4HANA 1909 the earlier SAP Smart Business tools were superseded by a new central SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports. This brought the KPI and Report apps together.
Find out more about this app in the Manage KPIs and Reports section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1909 or higher you are recommended to use the SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports to:
Tip: In SAP S/4HANA Cloud you can even use the same app to create SAC stories as explained in Embedded Analytics: SAP Analytics Cloud in SAP S/4HANA Cloud – How to create your own Dashboard or S...
You can find more blog posts on SAP Community, such as these customer blogs posts:
For customers on SAP S/4HANA 1709 or higher you are recommended to use the Fiori launchpad content manager as your main tool for creating custom launchpad content.
Use the Fiori launchpad content manager to:
You can view and reference technical catalogs created via Mass Maintenance App Descriptor and Manage KPIs and Reports (and earlier SAP Smart Business Modeler apps).
You can launch from the Fiori launchpad content manager to the Launchpad Designer for fine detail maintenance via the Open in Launchpad Designer feature.
The remaining tools are still useful for specific needs, i.e.:
For managing the launchpad layout the current tool as of SAP S/4HANA 1909 is:
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 the new tools are:
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 all of these tools are available however you are recommended to move to the new tools and the new Spaces and Pages concept as quickly as possible. While the Launchpad Designer will remain available for now, the use of Launchpad Designer for launchpad layout is intended to decline over time.
You can see a summary of the evolution of launchpad layout tools below.
The current tool for managing the launchpad layout is the Launchpad Designer. Launchpad layout is managed using Groups. Groups can reference tiles from one or more business catalogs, and display them as tiles or links.
For example, you can see what the Journal Entries group looks like to a finance user - in this case the standard test user S4H_FIN_DEM in the SAP S/4HANA 1909 FPS02 on-premise trial system. Tiles are shown first followed by any links.
This user experience of tiles and links is achieved by assigning tile definitions from one or more catalogs to the Show as Tiles and Show as Links areas respectively.
Wondering why the user sees fewer tiles than are defined in the group? Since tile definitions can come from multiple catalogs, and the user may not be assigned all of those catalogs, any tiles or links the user is *not* authorized to use are automatically hidden and cannot be accessed by that user. You can check the source catalog of any tile or link in the group using the information ("i") icon in the corner of the tile.
To create a new group you press the add "+" icon at the bottom of the list of groups. To add a tile or link you press the add "+" icon in the relevant Show as Tiles or Show as Links section, which will then prompt you to reference the tile definition from your desired business catalog. You will need to give your catalog an id in the customer namespace, e.g. starting with Z, and a name, i.e. which will be shown as the Group title and Group tab on the home page. You can add tiles one at a time or select multiple tiles from the same catalog.
Tip: You can delete your custom groups by dragging and dropping them from the list of groups onto the Delete zone. The Delete zone will automatically appear as you start to drag.
These groups are then assigned to the technical business role, e.g. in SAP GUI transaction PFCG, as a way to default the launchpad layout of the role. You can assign multiple groups to a business role.
Important: Groups do not impact on authorizations. If for some reason the group contains a tile/link that the user is not authorized to launch, that tile/link will be hidden and cannot be accessed by the user.
You can use the Launchpad Designer tool to:
One of the known challenges with groups is the limited capabilities for controlling the sort order of groups. This becomes an increasing challenge as you scale your user experience to add more groups.
With SAP Fiori 3, the new concept of Spaces and Pages has superseded groups and provides more flexibility to better control launchpad layouts as you scale.
With this concept, the space is assigned to the business role, and the tiles/links are organized using Pages and Sections within the space. For example, Spaces and Pages automatically merge changes in the page content with existing user personalizations.
By defining pages with meaningful sections, you will be able to define in which order the apps are sorted on the page. You can, for example, sort the most used apps in the top-level section and then create separate sections for apps that belong together.
Important: Spaces and pages do not impact on authorizations. If for some reason the group contains a tile/link that the user is not authorized to launch, that tile/link will be hidden and cannot be accessed by the user.
SAP will deliver predefined spaces and pages that you can use as a starting point for your own spaces and pages.
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 you will be able to manage spaces and pages using the SAP Fiori apps F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages and F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces. These apps are already being used for SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
In a nutshell with SAP S/4HANA 2020 these tools will be used to provide the following capabilities:
Important: You will be able to move from Groups to Spaces and Pages in a step-wise fashion, e.g. for specific users/roles at a time.
You can find more details on the Spaces and Pages concept and the Manage Launchpad Pages tool in:
And yes you will find more details in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for SAP S/4HANA 2020 and higher releases.
In SAP S/4HANA 1909 the only tool available is the Launchpad Designer tool for maintaining Groups.
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 you can start to move to the Spaces and Pages approach using the new SAP Fiori apps Manage Launchpad Pages and Manage Launchpad Spaces.
Since the concepts are different there is no way to fully automate moving groups to spaces and pages. So instead both tools will remain to enable a step-wise move from Groups to Spaces and Pages over time. For example, you may decide to try out Spaces and Pages with one group of users – aka one business role – first, then use those learnings to smooth the move for other business roles.
For more information on the migration tools and options available refer to:
- November 2023: Correction to the status of Launchpad Designer - deprecation was warned with SAP S/4HANA 2020 with the introduction of the Launchpad App Manager and the deprecation of the Groups-based Home Page. The launchpad designer tool further features are deprecated with S/4HANA 2023.
- August 2023: Following some requests I have added references for the deprecation of Launchpad Designer - which was deprecated with SAP S/4HANA 2020 - and cross-reference the blogs on moving from groups to spaces and pages.
- February 2023: The Launchpad App Manager now has a new Adaptation Mode that can be used to avoid creating your own custom tiles for simple changes such as changing tile texts and icons. Refer to SAP Fiori Launchpad: New Fast and Easy Option to Adapt SAP-delivered Launchpad Content (for On-Premi...
- January 2021: Updated from wiki to topic page and added some benefits of Launchpad app manager over Launchpad Designer with some screenshots.
- October 2020: Blog on Launchpad app manager is now released as SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager Tool Available for SAP S/4HANA 2020
- September 2020: Added a couple of conceptual diagrams to explain the relationship between business catalogs and groups, business catalogs and spaces. Corrected the app id of the Manage Launchpad Pages app - which is F4512 and also SAP Fiori app F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces. Added a link to another recommended blog Structure the SAP Fiori Launchpad Layout with Spaces Added a small clarification re LPD_CUST - it's deprecated for SAP Fiori launchpad content creation, it still has some use for ABAP report launchpads using ABAP Web Dynpro.
This blog post is a quick guide to the currently available tools in SAP S/4HANA for maintaining custom launchpad content and layout, and part of our series on Understanding Business Roles. You will also learn the history behind the different tools, which is particularly useful when you upgrade from a SAP S/4HANA release to a higher release. You will also find clarified when to use which tool for what, and in which SAP S/4HANA releases. All of these tools support both SAP delivered and custom created content.
Below you will find launchpad content tools discussed first, followed by the launchpad layout tools.
IMPORTANT: Take careful note of the deprecated tools that are still available but you should avoid using. The new tools are less effort and scale better. Deprecated tools include:
- The generic Launchpad Designer tool which has been superseded by specific tools for content and layout with SAP S/4HANA 2020. The tool has now been officially deprecated as of SAP S/4HANA 2023.
- Refer to What's New Viewer - ABAP Platform - SAP Fiori Launchpad Designer - Features Deprecated - for S/4HANA...
- Refer to What's New Viewer - ABAP Platform - SAP Fiori Launchpad Designer Deprecated for S/4HANA 2020
- Also the use of groups for the home page was deprecated with SAP S/4HANA 2020 and has been superseded by spaces and pages. Refer to What's New Viewer - ABAP Platform - SAP Fiori Home Page Deprecated
- This was even more strongly reinforced in SAP S/4HANA 2021 to make it clear that groups will be removed in a future release. Refer to What's New Viewer - ABAP Platform - SAP Fiori Launchpad Home Page Deprecated.
- You should look to migrate groups to spaces and pages and there is a specific tool provided for this Create launchpad pages from groups. Refer to SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – How to migrate from groups to spaces and pages
- The LPD_CUST tool has been deprecated for creation of SAP Fiori launchpad content since SAP S/4HANA 1709 and SAP NetWeaver 7.51 (refer to Customizing Navigation Targets in LPD_CUST
Evolution of launchpad content tools
Launchpad content includes business catalogs, technical catalogs, tile definitions, target mappings, and all the launchpad content entities discussed in Adding Custom Content to Business Roles.
The current main launchpad content tools as of SAP S/4HANA 1909 are:
- Launchpad Designer – available since SAP Business Suite
- Mass Maintenance App Descriptor – available since SAP S/4HANA 1511
- SAP Fiori launchpad content manager – available since SAP S/4HANA 1709
- SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports – available since SAP S/4HANA 1909
With SAP S/4HANA 2020, this mix of launchpad content tools will change to:
- Launchpad App Manager – available from SAP S/4HANA 2020
- SAP Fiori launchpad content manager – available since SAP S/4HANA 1709
- SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports – available since SAP S/4HANA 1909
You can see a summary of how the tools have evolved over time. If you are upgrading from a lower release of SAP S/4HANA you are recommended to move to the latest tools on upgrade.
The evolution of launchpad content tools from Business Suite to SAP S/4HANA 2020 and beyond
Generally older tools are not removed immediately from the system for downward compatibility and so that you have some time to move across from old to new tools. Over time, some capabilities may be removed before the tool itself is removed, e.g. to block creation of new entries. So in the diagram you can see the removal of tools as a fade-out rather than an abrupt shift.
You will find a brief introduction to each of these tools and their current status below, followed by a summary of the current best practice for when to use which tool in SAP S/4HANA 1909. Because you may be coming from older solutions, you will also find deprecated tools included - mostly to explain predecessor/successor tools and why you should move to the current tools.
The tools are listed from oldest to newest, general tools and then special analytical tools. These are the general tools:
- SAP GUI Transaction LPD_CUST from before SAP Fiori - deprecated
- Launchpad Designer - where it started for SAP Fiori
- Mass Maintenance App Descriptor for classic UIs in the backend
- Launchpad Content Manager - the tool to scale with SAP Fiori
- Launchpad App Manager for technical catalogs - available from SAP S/4HANA 2020
These are the analytical tools:
- SAP Smart Business tools for analytical apps with additional requirements
- SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports the central tool for analytical apps with additional requirements
You can also find a summary of the available tools in the Tools for Setting Up Content section of your SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release.
Now available: A new tool for maintaining custom content called the Launchpad App Manager will come to SAP S/4HANA 2020 is now released. Refer to: SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager Tool Available for SAP S/4HANA 2020
IMPORTANT: From SAP S/4HANA 2020, all the main launchpad content and layout tools can be found in the Fiori Launchpad of the Fiori Administrator role. This role is generated by task list SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4. By default the role is named Z_FIORI_FOUNDATION_ADMIN. This is the current page assigned to the Fiori Administrator in SAP S/4HANA 2022. To assist customers upgrading from earlier releases, some of the older tools such as Launchpad Designer are retained on the launchpad, along with migration tools to move from Groups to Spaces and Pages.
The Fiori Administrator as it appears in SAP S/4HANA 2022 with all the main launchpad content and layout tools
SAP GUI Transaction LPD_CUST from before SAP Fiori – deprecated
This was a very old launchpad tool from pre-SAP Fiori days, e.g. for customizing ESS (Employee Self Service) menus in the SAP Enterprise Portal.
It provided a basic way to assign application aliases and was still in use for a few scenarios as late as SAP S/4HANA 1511, although by then Launchpad Designer was already the recommended tool for managing launchpad content.
This LPD_CUST tool has been deprecated - i.e. no longer recommended - for creation of SAP Fiori launchpad content since SAP S/4HANA 1709 and SAP NetWeaver 7.51 (refer to Customizing Navigation Targets in LPD_CUST). It is superseded by the Launchpad Designer. The SAP GUI transaction LPD_CUST still exists for compatibility reasons, however it should be avoided. New content created via LPD_CUST is no longer supported.
Important: This tool is not recommended for creating content for SAP Fiori launchpad content. It is still used for some other use cases e.g. for ABAP report launchpads using ABAP WebDynpro.
Launchpad Designer – where it all started for SAP Fiori
The Launchpad Designer was the original web browser tool created to maintain SAP Fiori launchpad content in SAP Business Suite. It is technically possible – but inefficient – to maintain everything using the Launchpad Designer in SAP S/4HANA.
IMPORTANT: As of SAP S/4HANA 2020, the Launchpad Designer was deprecated and superseded by:
- For launchpad content:
- the Launchpad App Manager - for cross-client maintenance of technical catalogs which hold original entries of tiles and target mappings
- the Launchpad Content Manager - for client-specific maintenance of business catalogs which hold references to original entries in technical catalogs. You also use this tool to assign catalogs and spaces to roles, check the services in catalogs or roles are active, find where-used information on tiles and target mappings, etc.
- For launchpad layouts:
- SAP Fiori apps Manage Launchpad Spaces and Manage Launchpad Pages.
Like the launchpad content manager, the launchpad designer can be accessed in either:
- Cross-client configuration (CONF) scope
- Client-specific customizing (CUST) scope
You access the desired scope by adjusting the scope parameter when calling the launchpad designer URL in your web browser, e.g.
https://<host>:<port>/sap/bc/ui5_ui5/sap/arsrvc_upb_admn/main.html?scope=CONFor
https://<host>:<port>/sap/bc/ui5_ui5/sap/arsrvc_upb_admn/main.html?scope=CUSTYou can also use SAP GUI transactions /UI2/FLPD_CONF and /UI2/FLPD_CUST respectively to launch the tool - i.e. these transactions will formulate and launch the relevant URL in your web browser.
Once launched you can use the top-right hand corner detail to see which scope mode you are in. In CUST scope you can see the Client in the top right-hand corner just before the Settings icon.
Launchpad designer in Customizing (CUST) mode showing Client detail
Tip: The Settings icon is where you nominate your Transport request for any changes. Naturally you will be asked for a customizing request in client-specific customizing (CUST) mode, and a workbench request in cross-client configuration (CONF) mode.
Launchpad Designer showing Transport Settings dialog - Client-specific customizing (CUST) mode
In the CONF scope you see Client: ALL in the same top right-hand corner.
Launchpad designer in Cross-Client (CONF) mode showing Client:All
The tool uses some drag and drop features. For example to copy an existing catalog or delete a custom catalog, you drag the catalog from the list to the lower left hand corner and onto the New catalog with references or Delete zones. These zones automatically appear once you start to drag.
Drag and drop zones for Catalogs in the Launchpad Designer
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1909 you are recommended to use this tool to:
- Create custom technical catalogs for SAP Fiori (SAPUI5) apps and URLs from scratch
- Create custom business catalogs from scratch
- Create tile definitions from scratch
- Create target mappings from scratch
- Edit tile definitions
- Edit target mappings
- Create custom business groups from scratch
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1610 you are additionally recommended to use this tool to:
- Copy SAP Technical Catalogs to the customer namespace
- Copy SAP Business Catalogs to the customer namespace
IMPORTANT: For maintenance of technical catalogs, this tool was superseded by new Launchpad App Manager tool introduced with SAP S/4HANA 2020. For maintenance of business catalogs, Launchpad Content Manager is the primary recommended tool from SAP S/4HANA 2020. However, the Launchpad Designer is currently still be available for maintaining content created prior to SAP S/4HANA 1909 where necessary, i.e. for groups not yet migrated to spaces and pages.
In the Catalogs pane, the Launchpad Designer has 3 main tabs for maintaining catalogs:
- Tiles (1) tab - showing simulated visual appearance of tiles
- Tiles (2) tab - showing details of the tile definition settings
- Target Mappings tab - showing details of the target mappings
You use the footer buttons to further review or change the entries.
Tiles (1) tab – showing simulated appearance of tiles:
Launchpad Designer - first Tiles tab showing simulated appearance of tiles
Tiles (2) tab – showing semantic object, action, and URL fragment:
Launchpad Designer - second Tiles tab showing tile definition details
Target Mappings tab - showing semantic object, action, app type, and form factor settings:
Launchpad Designer - Target Mappings tab showing target mapping details
For more on the Launchpad Designer refer to the section Setting up Content with the Launchpad Designer in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
SAP S/4HANA has brought several more useful tools.
Mass Maintenance App Descriptor – for classic UIs in the backend
With SAP S/4HANA, the desire to use the SAP Fiori launchpad as the single entry point for both SAP Fiori apps and classic UIs led to the creation of the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool. This tool is a Web Dynpro ABAP application that simplifies the mass creation and assignment of launchpad app descriptor items for classic UIs that exist in the (backend) SAP S/4HANA server.
You can reach the application through SAP GUI transaction MM_APP or by launching the URL, specifying your desired client and language.
https://<host>:<port>;/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/sui_tm_mm_app?sap-client=100&sap-language=ENYou specify your technical catalog id or search for it.
Tip: To create a new custom technical catalog from scratch, you just enter a valid catalog id in the customer namespace, e.g. Z_MY_BE_APPS. The tool will give a warning that the catalog does not yet exist, and then you can confirm the warning to get to the maintenance screen.
Mass Maintenance App Descriptor entry screen
You can edit the launchpad app descriptor items within the tool.
Mass Maintenance App Descriptor editor for launchpad app descriptor items
The mass-maintained content is then replicated/transformed from the backend into frontend technical catalogs ready in the Fiori Frontend Server via a replication program.
Mass Maintenance App Descriptor to Technical Catalog replication process
Important: This replication process technically needs to be executed even if you are using an embedded SAP Fiori frontend server. You can find more on this replication process in Integrating Back-end Applications using Mass Maintenance section of the SAP Fiori launchpad guide in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1909 you are recommended to use this tool to:
- Create custom technical catalogs for classic UIs from scratch
For more on the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool refer to the section Integrating back-end applications using Mass Maintenance in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
This tool has been superseded by new Launchpad App Manager tool to be introduced with SAP S/4HANA 2020. Refer to the section on the Launchpad App Manager later in this blog post.
SAP Fiori launchpad content manager – the tool to scale with SAP Fiori
Typically, approximately 300-400 new SAP Fiori apps are introduced with each new SAP S/4HANA release. As the number of SAP Fiori apps has rapidly grown across SAP S/4HANA releases, the need for a mass maintenance tool to better manage the catalogs overall and the launchpad app descriptor items for frontend target applications (i.e. SAP Fiori apps) became clear. So alongside the SAP S/4HANA 1709 and 1809 releases the Fiori launchpad content manager tool was released for SAP S/4HANA 1709 and higher.
The tool supports 2 scope levels – cross-client configuration (CONF) and client-specific customizing (CUST) modes.
The cross-client configuration (CONF) scope is primarily for creating and maintaining custom technical catalogs. You reach this scope via SAP GUI Transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CONF.
You can also:
- View SAP technical catalogs and SAP Business catalogs which are always delivered cross-client
- Create custom technical catalogs for web content – SAP Fiori (SAPUI5) apps, URLs, etc.
- You open the catalog in the launchpad designer using the Open in Designer button to adjust the fine detail of the tile definition and/or target mapping
Notice that in cross-client configuration (CONF) scope the Roles tab is not shown, as business roles are usually client-specific.
Launchpad content manager in cross-client configuration (CONF) mode
The client-specific customizing (CUST) scope is primarily for creating and maintaining custom business catalogs. This is also where you can view which catalogs are assigned to which business roles and vice versa. You reach the client-specific scope via SAP GUI Transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CUST.
Launchpad content manager in client-specific customizing (CUST) mode
You can also:
- View and reference custom technical catalogs and SAP technical catalogs.
- View and copy SAP Business catalogs into the customer namespace as a starting point for creating your own custom business catalogs
- Add/remove references to existing launchpad app descriptor items in your custom business catalogs.
For SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1909 you are recommended to use the launchpad content manager to:
- Understand the relationships between business roles, business catalogs, technical catalogs, tile definitions and target mappings
- Search across catalogs and their content
- Verify whether catalog content is activated
- Copy SAP Business Catalogs into the customer namespace
- Copy SAP Technical Catalogs into the customer namespace
- Remove unwanted tile definitions and target mappings from your custom business catalogs and custom technical catalogs
- Create references from content in your custom technical catalogs and/or SAP Technical Catalogs into your custom business catalogs
For more on these tools refer to the SAP Fiori launchpad guide section Setting up Catalogs with the Launchpad Content Manager for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
Launchpad App Manager for technical catalogs – available from SAP S/4HANA 2020
The tool called the Launchpad App Manager is launched via SAP GUI transaction /UI2/FLPAM or from the Fiori Launchpad of users assigned the Fiori Foundation Adminstrator role.
Hint: The Fiori foundation Administrator role is generated via the task list SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4. By default the role is called Z_FIORI_FOUNDATION_ADMIN and grants all the launchpad content and layout tools to the assigned user.
The purpose of the Launchpad App Manager tool is to manage all technical catalogs in one place, providing a simpler experience for managing launchpad app descriptor items.
Essentially the tool is an extended version of the earlier Mass Maintenance App Descriptor tool. However there is a little more to it than that under the covers... and the blog post on Launchpad app manager is now released as SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager Tool Available for SAP S/4HANA 2020
Benefits of launchpad app manager over launchpad designer:
- Removes the confusion between technical catalogs and business catalogs
- Better filtering of tiles and target mappings across all technical catalogs, e.g. including filter by Semantic Object and action
- Mass maintenance of tiles and target mappings
- Easy to copy and adjust tiles and target mappings
- Linked maintenance of tiles and target mappings (minimizing the risk of orphaned tiles or mismatched information)
- Where-used lists to quickly identify similar tiles and target mappings
- Translation options for tile and target mapping texts
You can see a video showing an example of using the Launchpad app manager at openSAP microlearning Creating Launchpad Content with the SAP Fiori Launchpad App Manager [12:00]
You can access the Launchpad app manager using the user FIORIADMIN which is generated as part of the rapid content activation Fiori Foundation task list (SAP_FIORI_FOUNDATION_S4). Just select the Manage Launchpad Apps tile.
Launchpad app manager on the FIORIADMIN user home page
Example of the search, sort, and filtering options across all technical catalogs. You can search by SAP Fiori app id, GUI transaction code, Web Dynpro application id, Semantic object/action and much more.
Launchpad app manager provides many filtering options across all content - both SAP and custom content
Example of the display/maintenance of launchpad app descriptor items (i.e. the tile and target mapping are maintained together).
Example of the catalog maintenance highlighting the additional features such as where-used list and where to see parameters and tiles for the target mapping
From SAP S/4HANA 2022, the Launchpad App Manager now has a new Adaptation Mode that can be used to avoid creating your own custom tiles for simple changes such as changing tile texts and icons. Refer to SAP Fiori Launchpad: New Fast and Easy Option to Adapt SAP-delivered Launchpad Content (for On-Premi...
SAP Smart Business tools – for analytical apps with additional requirements
With SAP S/4HANA 1511, alongside the Launchpad Designer and the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor, some specific tools for handling certain frontend analytical launchpad content were added as part of the SAP Smart Business Framework under the SAP Business Role Analytics Specialist (SAP_BR_ANALYTICS_SPECIALIST). These tools are a collection of apps known as SAP Smart Business Modeler apps.
The Analytics Specialist role included tools such as SAP Fiori apps F0818 KPI Workspace, F0817 Create KPI, F0822 Create Evaluation, F0820 Configure KPI Tiles, F0819 Configure Drill-Down, F0821 Manage KPI Associations.
SAP Smart Business KPI Workspace app
Find out more about these in the SAP Smart Business Modeler Apps section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you need to use these apps you can find out more in the SAP HANA Academy series:
There are a number of useful blogs on this topic:
- SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Modify Currencies in Standard KPI tiles
- Leading S/4HANA UX – Adapting Analytical Tiles and Overview Pages
- Date Function for dynamic date filtering in Fiori apps
- How to find a predefined Virtual Data Model in S/4HANA
- How to deal with “Not released” predefined VDM in S/4HANA
- Analytics in S/4HANA - real shape of embedded analytics and beyond embedded analytics
Including customer blog posts such as:
Important: You will also find there are some special authorization requirements for Smart Business apps listed in section Authorization for Smart Business KPI Tile in the Business Catalog role in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
Later in SAP S/4HANA 1709 a similar set of tools for reports were introduced such as SAP Fiori apps F2319 Report Workspace, F2318 Create Report, F2322 Create Report Evaluation, F2320 Configure Report Visualization, F2321 Publish Report.
SAP Smart Business Report Workspace app
Tip: You can find out how to use these apps in the SAP Developers tutorial Create an Analytical List Page Report.
Find out more about these in the Report Designer Modeler Apps section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1511 to 1809 you are recommended to use SAP Fiori app F0818 KPI Workspace for KPIs and the related Smart Business Modeler apps to:
- Configure KPIs delivered by SAP
- Copy KPIs into the customer namespace
- Create your own KPIs from scratch
For downwards compatibility in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher you can still access these tools however they are marked as Obsolete.
SAP Smart Business KPI tools marked as Obsolete in SAP S/4HANA 1909
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1709 to 1809 you are recommended to use the SAP Fiori app F2319 Report Workspace to:
- Configure Reports delivered by SAP
- Copy Reports into the customer namespace
- Create your own Reports from scratch
For downwards compatibility in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher you can still access these tools however they are marked as Obsolete.
SAP Smart Business Report tools marked as Obsolete in SAP S/4HANA 1909
The successor tool for KPIs and Reports in SAP S/4HANA 1909 and higher releases is SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports.
SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports – the central tool for analytical apps with additional requirements
In SAP S/4HANA 1909 the earlier SAP Smart Business tools were superseded by a new central SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports. This brought the KPI and Report apps together.
SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports
Find out more about this app in the Manage KPIs and Reports section in the Analytics guide for your SAP S/4HANA release in the SAP Help Portal.
If you are using SAP S/4HANA 1909 or higher you are recommended to use the SAP Fiori app F2814 Manage KPIs and Reports to:
- Configure KPIs and Reports delivered by SAP
- Copy KPIs and Reports into the customer namespace
- Create your own KPIs and Reports from scratch
Tip: In SAP S/4HANA Cloud you can even use the same app to create SAC stories as explained in Embedded Analytics: SAP Analytics Cloud in SAP S/4HANA Cloud – How to create your own Dashboard or S...
You can find more blog posts on SAP Community, such as these customer blogs posts:
Summary of when to use which launchpad content tool
For customers on SAP S/4HANA 1709 or higher you are recommended to use the Fiori launchpad content manager as your main tool for creating custom launchpad content.
Use the Fiori launchpad content manager to:
- Search across all launchpad content – both SAP delivered and custom created content
- Copy SAP content into the customer namespace
- Both business catalogs and technical catalogs
- Add/remove references to existing content
- Add references from technical catalogs to business catalogs
- Verify content is active
- View where launchpad content is used, e.g.
- Which business catalogs are used in which business roles
- Which tile definitions and target mappings are defined in which technical catalogs or referenced in business catalogs
You can view and reference technical catalogs created via Mass Maintenance App Descriptor and Manage KPIs and Reports (and earlier SAP Smart Business Modeler apps).
You can launch from the Fiori launchpad content manager to the Launchpad Designer for fine detail maintenance via the Open in Launchpad Designer feature.
The remaining tools are still useful for specific needs, i.e.:
- Use the Mass Maintenance App Descriptor to integrate classic UIs into custom technical catalogs
- Create launchpad app descriptor items for your own custom classic UIs
- Replicate the launchpad app descriptor items into technical catalogs
- Use the SAP Fiori app Manage KPIs and Reports to configure and adjust analytical tiles
- Configure SAP and custom analytic tiles and reports and publish them to catalogs
- Use the Launchpad Designer for fine detail maintenance of tiles and target mappings
- Create tile definitions and target mappings from scratch in your custom technical catalogs
- Adjust copied tile definitions and target mappings in your custom technical catalogs
Evolution of launchpad layout tools
For managing the launchpad layout the current tool as of SAP S/4HANA 1909 is:
- Launchpad Designer – available since SAP Business Suite
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 the new tools are:
- SAP Fiori app F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages – available from SAP S/4HANA 2020
- SAP Fiori app F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces - available from SAP S/4HANA 2020
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 all of these tools are available however you are recommended to move to the new tools and the new Spaces and Pages concept as quickly as possible. While the Launchpad Designer will remain available for now, the use of Launchpad Designer for launchpad layout is intended to decline over time.
You can see a summary of the evolution of launchpad layout tools below.
The evolution of launchpad layout tools from Business Suite to SAP S/4HANA 2020 and beyond
Launchpad Designer – the launchpad layout tool for Groups
The current tool for managing the launchpad layout is the Launchpad Designer. Launchpad layout is managed using Groups. Groups can reference tiles from one or more business catalogs, and display them as tiles or links.
Conceptual relationship of business catalogs to groups
For example, you can see what the Journal Entries group looks like to a finance user - in this case the standard test user S4H_FIN_DEM in the SAP S/4HANA 1909 FPS02 on-premise trial system. Tiles are shown first followed by any links.
Groups in the SAP Fiori launchpad showing tiles and links
This user experience of tiles and links is achieved by assigning tile definitions from one or more catalogs to the Show as Tiles and Show as Links areas respectively.
Groups in the Launchpad Designer showing the Show as Tiles and Show as Links areas
Wondering why the user sees fewer tiles than are defined in the group? Since tile definitions can come from multiple catalogs, and the user may not be assigned all of those catalogs, any tiles or links the user is *not* authorized to use are automatically hidden and cannot be accessed by that user. You can check the source catalog of any tile or link in the group using the information ("i") icon in the corner of the tile.
Groups in the Launchpad Designer showing the source catalog of a tile using the Information dialog
To create a new group you press the add "+" icon at the bottom of the list of groups. To add a tile or link you press the add "+" icon in the relevant Show as Tiles or Show as Links section, which will then prompt you to reference the tile definition from your desired business catalog. You will need to give your catalog an id in the customer namespace, e.g. starting with Z, and a name, i.e. which will be shown as the Group title and Group tab on the home page. You can add tiles one at a time or select multiple tiles from the same catalog.
Groups in Launchpad Designer showing the Add Catalog, Add tile to Show as Tiles and Show as Links buttons
Tip: You can delete your custom groups by dragging and dropping them from the list of groups onto the Delete zone. The Delete zone will automatically appear as you start to drag.
These groups are then assigned to the technical business role, e.g. in SAP GUI transaction PFCG, as a way to default the launchpad layout of the role. You can assign multiple groups to a business role.
Important: Groups do not impact on authorizations. If for some reason the group contains a tile/link that the user is not authorized to launch, that tile/link will be hidden and cannot be accessed by the user.
You can use the Launchpad Designer tool to:
- Create/change/delete custom groups
- Lock/unlock groups – to control whether users can change the groups via personalization option Edit Home Page
- Reference tile definitions from business catalogs to appear in groups
- Specify if the tile definition should appear as a tile or a link within the group
One of the known challenges with groups is the limited capabilities for controlling the sort order of groups. This becomes an increasing challenge as you scale your user experience to add more groups.
SAP Fiori app F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages and SAP Fiori app F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces – the launchpad layout tools for Spaces and Pages
With SAP Fiori 3, the new concept of Spaces and Pages has superseded groups and provides more flexibility to better control launchpad layouts as you scale.
With this concept, the space is assigned to the business role, and the tiles/links are organized using Pages and Sections within the space. For example, Spaces and Pages automatically merge changes in the page content with existing user personalizations.
Conceptual relationship of business catalogs to spaces
By defining pages with meaningful sections, you will be able to define in which order the apps are sorted on the page. You can, for example, sort the most used apps in the top-level section and then create separate sections for apps that belong together.
Important: Spaces and pages do not impact on authorizations. If for some reason the group contains a tile/link that the user is not authorized to launch, that tile/link will be hidden and cannot be accessed by the user.
SAP will deliver predefined spaces and pages that you can use as a starting point for your own spaces and pages.
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 you will be able to manage spaces and pages using the SAP Fiori apps F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages and F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces. These apps are already being used for SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
SAP Fiori app F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages
In a nutshell with SAP S/4HANA 2020 these tools will be used to provide the following capabilities:
- F4512 Manage Launchpad Pages: Create, update, delete pages
- F4834 Manage Launchpad Spaces: Create, update, delete spaces and assign pages to spaces
- SAP GUI Transaction PFCG: Assign spaces to roles
Important: You will be able to move from Groups to Spaces and Pages in a step-wise fashion, e.g. for specific users/roles at a time.
You can find more details on the Spaces and Pages concept and the Manage Launchpad Pages tool in:
- Structure the SAP Fiori Launchpad Layout with Spaces
- Get to Know the New Spaces Concept for SAP Fiori Launchpad
- Manage Spaces and Pages for SAP Fiori Launchpad
- SAP Fiori 3: Multi-page spaces now available and much more
- SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Migrating from groups to spaces and pages – Why, When, and Key Differenc...
- SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – How to migrate from groups to spaces and pages
And yes you will find more details in the SAP Fiori launchpad guide for SAP S/4HANA 2020 and higher releases.
Summary of when to use which launchpad layout tool
In SAP S/4HANA 1909 the only tool available is the Launchpad Designer tool for maintaining Groups.
From SAP S/4HANA 2020 you can start to move to the Spaces and Pages approach using the new SAP Fiori apps Manage Launchpad Pages and Manage Launchpad Spaces.
Since the concepts are different there is no way to fully automate moving groups to spaces and pages. So instead both tools will remain to enable a step-wise move from Groups to Spaces and Pages over time. For example, you may decide to try out Spaces and Pages with one group of users – aka one business role – first, then use those learnings to smooth the move for other business roles.
For more information on the migration tools and options available refer to:
- SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Migrating from groups to spaces and pages – Why, When, and Key Differenc...
- SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – How to migrate from groups to spaces and pages
Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru
You’ll find much more on the community topic page for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA
Other helpful links in the SAP Community:
- Follow our tag SAP S/4HANA RIG for more from the SAP S/4HANA Customer Care and RIG
- See all questions and answers about SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA
- Follow SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA for more blogs and updates
- Ask a Question about SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA
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