A Cloud-based Fiori Launchpad – a perfect use case for the HANA Cloud Portal

In his demos during the keynote at the TechEd in Las Vegas, Sam Yen (Global Head of Design and User Experience at SAP) presented various Fiori apps as well as a Fiori cockpit based on a MRP-related scenario.

This cockpit  can also be depicted as a role-based personalizable launchpad / container for individual Fiori apps [SOURCE].

Here is another example of a Fiori cockpit:

[SOURCE]

As I viewed the MRP cockpit during the Keynote, I was struck by how much it reminded me of a portal with its personalized collection of applications.

This demo also reminded me of my recent blog about cloud scenarios for Fiori and Fiori-like applications in which I focused on the ability to create Fiori-like apps using various cloud-related technologies. Yet, this analysis focused on isolated apps – I had failed to depict how a user might interact with multiple apps in a logical fashion that reflected their particular role. 

I combined both thoughts and asked myself – were there options in the cloud that would provide the foundation for a launchpad for Fiori-like apps?

The obvious answer was the HANA Cloud Portal – it could bring together Fiori and Fiori-like apps from different sources.

The end-user really doesn’t care where the Fiori apps are based – more important is their relevance to the individual’s particular role. The HANA Cloud Portal could easily meet this requirement.

Although Fiori apps usually aren’t connected with OpenSocial, the associated user experience and their ease of usage within the HANA Cloud Portal would be enhanced if OpenSocial support was provided in such apps.  The fact that HANA XS supports OpenSocial might make this especially relevant for scenarios in which this platform was used as the development environment for such apps. Furthermore, OpenSocial would also allow Fiori-like apps in a Fiori launchpad to interact with one another.