Fiori in S/4HANA – Overview
In the last couple of years we’ve seen lots of innovations around SAP Fiori and with the release of S/4HANA there is no exception to this rule as Fiori is now a central part of the “Simplification Process” at SAP.
How does Fiori fit into the S/4HANA environment?
It all started with Fiori and the User Experience Renovation process in SAP. This change led to the innovation strategy, which is now transforming into the “simplification era” with S/4HANA. First, let’s think of S/4HANA not as a single component to be installed in the customers’ existing landscapes, but as a completely new product with a new vision on how customers make business and their underlying processes.
Once we have grasped this idea, we can start thinking on how to deploy this new solution.
Building Blocks in S/4HANA for the Frontend Server
The first step is to identify the required component versions and building blocks for the Frontend Server. With the previous versions of Suite on Hana (SoH) and Simple Finance we had some specific requirements, which differ from S/4HANA:
While the backend is only running on HANA DB, the frontend server supports also MaxDB and ASE as possible databases.
Maintenance Strategy/Minimum Versions for Frontend Server components in S/4 HANA
In general UI components can be patched independently by implementing notes or support packages, however, the duration of the maintenance period is 2 years from the first maintenance support package.Corrections for the UI add-on 2.0 for SAP NetWeaver are provided in Component Support Packages (CSP) as part of the Online Correction Support (OCS) and in accordance with the standard Support Packages and via SAP Notes.
You can find additional details about the general UI Maintenance Strategy in the following note 2217489 – Maintenance and Update Strategy for UI Add-On and User Interface Technology
Previous SAP Fiori product versions can be upgraded to the new UI 2.0 only if the required product version has been released to run on UI 2.0. You can find a detailed list on note 2200415 – Release of Fiori Product Versions for SAP UI Addon 2.0 / SAP_UI 7.50
Regarding Netweaver 7.5x there are restrictions for the required databases and minimal required versions:
- SAP HDB: The minimum required revision is 102.2. 2189824 – SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511: Release Information Note
- SAP ASE/Sybase ASE: The minimum required version is ASE 16 SP02 = ASE 16.0.02.01 2158828 – Minimal DB system platform requirements for SAP NetWeaver 7.5
- SAP MaxDB: The minimum required version is 7.9.08.35 2158828 – Minimal DB system platform requirements for SAP NetWeaver 7.5
Current Restrictions for Netweaver 7.5 can be found on note 2206460 – Release restrictions for SAP NetWeaver 7.5
Selecting a Frontend Server (FES) Deployment Option
With S/4 Hana the recommended deployment option is “Central Hub” because of the following reasons:
- Fiori UI software update cycles are decoupled from the backend system.
- FES is deployed as one instance, which can connect to several backend systems allowing the use of a centralized Fiori Launchpad.
- Routing mechanism is supported for several backend systems.
- FES can be implemented in segmented networks (e.g. DMZ) to serve security needs.
On the other hand, there are some considerations to be reviewed if you decide to go with this option:
- Additional NW ABAP System.
- User maintenance: User ID’s must be replicated from backend to frontend server.
- Network latency / response times.
Customers can choose between two network deployment models:
- Intranet Deployment – Customers use SAP Fiori apps in the intranet, meaning, inside their corporate network.
- Internet Facing Deployment – SAP Fiori apps are consumed from outside the corporate network requiring additional components.
Internet Facing Deployment Recommendations
SAP recommends using Web Application Firewall capabilities in SAP Web Dispatcher or using an additional Web Application Firewall as first line of defense, especially when consuming SAP Fiori analytical apps or search capabilities over the Internet.
For an internet-facing deployment of mobile devices, you can use the SAP Mobile Platform Server, by doing this you can create a secure, efficient, and easy-to-manage mobile environment for SAP Fiori.
SAP Mobile Platform/Hana Cloud Platform Integration
It is also possible to integrate S/4HANA with SAP’s Mobility Platform (SMP) to enable mobile scenarios embedding Fiori Apps on Kapsel/Cordova container or integrate S/4 Hana with Hana Cloud Platform mobile services (HCPms), which will enable enhancement scenarios.
UI Technology Troubleshooting
It is important to notice that during the process of testing Fiori apps end users or consultants may find errors while executing the applications. An important amount of errors can be related to the following components:
- Frontend UI Services
- Back-end UI Services
- SAPUI5 toolkit
- UI theme designer
Therefore, SAP strongly recommends installing the latest UI 2.0 support package available before raising a message for an encountered issue as mentioned in note 1971640 – UI add-on 2.0 & 1.0 for SAP NetWeaver: recommendation install the most recent support package stack available
Fiori Application Extensibility/Development
Currently SAP WebIDE (HCP) is the preferred tool to enhance or create new Fiori-like applications based on templates and SAP Best Practices, but support for Eclipse tools will continue. Just keep in mind that required UI libraries should be on version 1.30.x or higher.
Wrap-up
The journey into Fiori for S/4HANA seems promising and exciting, however reaching the goal might be challenging for many customers. Understanding the architecture, restrictions, and dependencies will prove to help obtaining a successful implementation.
Additional References
2196503 – User Interface Add-On 2.0 for SAP NetWeaver: Central Note
2194374 – UI add-on 2.0 for SAP NetWeaver : installation
2210123 – UI add-on 2.0 for SAP NetWeaver : planning of the installation and upgrade
2210122 – UI add-on 2.0 for SAP NetWeaver: support packages
2183948 – Smart Business for S/4Hana delivery
S/4HANA Cookbook: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-64980
Recommended:
SAP Fiori for S/4HANA – 10 Lessons Learned in S/4HANA 1511 projects
Fiori for S/4HANA – Getting started with documentation
SAP Fiori for S/4HANA – Basic Configuration with help of Task Lists
Fiori for S/4HANA – Adding Transactions to Fiori Launchpad
Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru
You’ll find much more on our SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA wiki
Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments section.
Thanks,
SAP S/4HANA RIG
Great Job Javier!
I really enjoyed your blog - with a lot of useful information and a very through S4HANA technical overview.Hope to read more from you soon.
Congratulations and keep up the good work.
Great synthesis! Really useful. Thanks for sharing, Jorge Baltazar!
Nice summary Jorge Baltazar!!! this is a pretty good explanation that will help not only UX experts but also several colleagues in other teams as well.
Excellent!, I look forward to read more of your articles.
Very helpful, thanks a lot!
Use always S/4HANA (without space) 🙂
Hi Jorge Baltazar,
great blog.
I would like to make one little enhancement in regards to the FES deployment options.
SAP actually provides deployment recommendations for many products, including FES in the SAP UX Explorer (will be renamed end of March to SAP Enterprise Architecture Explorer).
The following blog provides the details about SAP's deployment recommendations: Landscape Deployment Recommendations – New Rollout Channel Live
Regards,
JJ
Hi Jorge Baltazar
Thanks for a good informative blog.
Can you kindly elaborate on why traditional non-SAP databases (eg: DB2, MS-SQL, Oracle) are not supported for ABAP Front-end (NW Gateway) server for S/4HANA 1511?
Had a quick look in to PAM, where NW 7.5 is still supported on above databases, so it appears the restriction is only if NW 7.5 is used as ABAP Front-end for S/4HANA 1511.
That brings in other interesting, but painful, scenarios.
If I currently have standalone Fiori Front-end server on non-SAP databases for non-S/4HANA 1511 systems, an introduction of S/4HANA 1511 in to the landscape will force me to do a heterogeneous DB migration of Front-end server.
Why this restriction? Is it only initial, temporary? Will rest of the traditional non-SAP databases be added to the supported list?
Kindly share your thoughts.
Thanks and best regards,
Shaji
Shaji Narayanan
Hi Shaji
I don't believe Jorge made the statement that non SAP databases are not supported. He only discusses the SAP databases (he's from SAP...) but the SAP notes refer to the PAM and if PAM tells us that other DB's are supported then they are supported I would assume.
Best regards
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the reply. I am aware Jorge is from SAP - both from the extensive informative in this post and via internal partnership 🙂
That said, please refer to following section of this blog post.
From this section, it appears there is a restriction on the DB product supported for NW Gateway (Front-end) server to be used for Fiori apps installed on backend S/4HANA 1511.
Hence my query.
Best regards,
Shaji
Hi Shaji Narayanan & Tom Cenens
You raised an interesting question. However I was checking SAP Enterprise Architecture Explorer (as pointed by Juergen in previous comment) and found out that only SAP DBs are supported if you are using NW 7.50 as FES for S4HANA. You can check the image in this link.
Regards,
Ekansh
Hi Ekansh
yes, it's also mentioned in the pdf guide now. So it looks like SAP really wants to push SAP only DB's, I still don't see any reason why it couldn't run on anyDB (FES I mean) but it looks like it won't be supported. The landscape planner also doesn't provide the option to choose AnyDB.
Best regards
Tom
Hi Jorge,
Really useful and interesting blog 🙂
Best Regards,
Dorian
Hi Jorge,
Thank you for this really helpful blog.
After comparion the component version ,I found a strange thing.
If I'm going to upgrade my frond-end server from 2.0 to 3.0, what impact on SAP FIORI FOR HANA will be made ?
I checked in FES3.0, UI FOR BASIS APPLICATIONS should be 200.
But in both SAP FIORI FOR HANA 1511 and 1610 ,the UI for Basis Applications is 100.
I got another question about backend server version.
Should the version of SAP FIORI FOR HANA in FES be same as in BES ?
I'm quite confused about the consistency of production version between FES and BES .
Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks and best regards,
Quintina