First Thoughts about Fiori Overview Page

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At SAP TechEd Las Vegas SAP announced the new Fiori Overview Page. With SAPUI5 1.30 and SAP Web IDE we can try it out (at least in an experimental version).  As soon it was possible for me I had to try it out because OVP looks great and I think it will provide an awesome user experience. In this blog entry I would like to share my thoughts about it.

First impression

There is a document on SCN which describes what to do. For OVP you need annotated OData streams that can be displayed in various chart types. The implementation is very fast since it is mostly configuration. At the moment there are more than 37 comments under this document which shows that there is an immense interest in this approach.

The UX Explorer describes the use case and more details. OVP uses global filters to display filtered data and supports detail views and navigation. From what I saw, OVP brings analytics into Fiori. The OVP is a role-based dashboard visualizing a set of OData streams with a common filter using a defined set of card types.

OVP apps can be programmed using special templates of SAP Web IDE. Development is done using annotations and configuration. It is consistent with latest SAPUI5 development: the template approach allows efficient development of standardized UIs.

Personally I am very fond of the experience of the different card types and I am convinced that OVP is very useful for many purposes. And I want to thank SAP that a version of OVP is shipped in SAPUI5 1.30 together with an experimental version in SAP Web IDE. This is really useful since it allows us to get experience with latest features at an early stage. And last but not least: I really like the user experience of OVP and I am sure it will have a great future.

What features should SAP add to OVP?

As far as I can see the approach is made for adding analytical features to Fiori. I appreciate it since together with the Analysis Path Framework and the Smart Business Infrastructure Fiori is getting ready for operational reporting.

But one aspect is missing: I would like to have the possibility to develop my own custom card resp. card types. This is necessary since a typical use case is the definition of 360 degree views for complex business objects like business partners or insurance claims. In this use case you need specialized tiles for displaying header data of the business object, perhaps pictures of the business objects or related objects, correspondence information and so on.

At the moment I don’t know a Fiori design pattern for this use case. Last week I saw two customer UI5 applications which both used a design pattern that is quite useful but not part of Fiori design guidelines. The shell contains of two parts: an object header together with a NavContainer containing some tiles as navigation links. The tiles display some information similar to KPI tiles in SAP Smart Business. This is no Fiori pattern - but nevertheless useful. You can use it to create dashboard-like applications that display information standardized way.

The possibility to develop own cards resp. card types would help achieve a user experience consistent to Fiori for above mentioned use case and even if the backend is on a low release level.

Moreover I think this development should be also part of openUI5. In SAPUI5 we have additional benefits like the integration with CDS and of course tooling like SAP Web IDE.

What is your opinion? What features do you need?

Do you have tried out Fiori Overview Page? What features are missing and would give more value to OVP? What kind of cards are missing? What kind of use cases do you see besides analytics and 360 degree views?