SAP Fiori Launchpad Overview

SAP is the world leader in enterprise software and software related services. We have been working for the past 42 years at making companies of all sizes run better. Our mission is to continue developing innovations that help our customers not only to run better, but to also improve the lives of people everywhere. In recent years, mobile has taken over and Consumerization is the new standard. Almost everyone has a smart phone, and is accustomed to the fast paced access they provide to data. In addition, the simplicity and intuitive nature of accessing only relevant data is mandatory. SAP recognized this new standard and decided that with the vast portfolio of enterprise solutions we could do better in delivering a harmonized user interface.

Understanding this need, SAP made a commitment and great investments in improving our user experience. We noticed that over time we developed different user interfaces throughout our portfolio and although this is a step in the right direction we could do even better if we harmonized all our user interfaces into one look and feel. An additional step to achieve this harmonization was to develop the SAP Fiori Launchpad.

What is the Fiori Launchpad?

• It is a web based entry point for the most commonly used SAP Business applications across platforms and devices
• It is delivered as an out-of-the-box thin HTML client
• Offers single entry points for end users
• High productivity for end users through key features (search integration, theming etc.)

How does the Fiori Launchpad work?

• If you launch the Fiori Launchpad you’ll notice fiorilaunchpad.html as the end of the URL, this is because the fiorilaunchpad.html is the only HTML document which is loaded to the browser, making it the only SAPUI5 root application – if you are a customer using the Launch page this is different in that the launch page had an index.html for each application. This change provides a more holistic user experience by allowing page navigation & transitions.

Fiori Launchpad Benefits:

• Page/navigation transitions
• Ability to define application usage for certain roles/personas (Groups/Catalogs)
• Deep linking of applications without exposing the technical details of their deployment
• Theming
• Search
• Bookmarks
• One Homepage
• Personalization
• Responsiveness
• Single Sign On

For a good read on an introduction to the Fiori launchpad check out the Introducing SAP Fiori Launchpad blog written by Avaid Rivlin. Remeber to check out the active comments for tips and tricks from others!

I hope you enjoyed this blog. My team (Customer Experience Group – CEG) and I will continue to deliver blogs/content on the Fiori Launchpad. In the near future you can expect to find presentations on Launchpad concepts, building blocks of the Launchpad, prerequisites for configuration, detailed configuration guide, theme designer, whats new in the UI SP08 as well as H2G for different configurations.