Technical Articles
SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud : Hints and Tips for Configuration and SSCUIs
Updated: March 27 2019
Introduction
SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud provides business configuration through Configure Your Solution in the Manage Your Solution App. Self Service Configuration User Interfaces (SSCUIs) are used. The first place for project teams to look for information and instructions is the existing customer presentation that is available in SAP Activate at this link:
If you are new to the topic, review this content first. The presentation is updated regularly and at least with every new release each quarter. The purpose of this blog is to provide additional detailed hints and tips for experienced project team members. You may find it valuable if you need detailed guidance that is not in the presentation.
Contents
The blog covers these three topics:
1 Latest news on deleting unwanted records: useful if you have made errors or changed decisions.
2 Partial solution to download configuration: useful if you want to document your configuration.
3 Mandatory country-specific SSCUIs
4 Create multiple configuration records quickly
5 Requirement where IMG would be used in on-premise
6 Can I see Expert Configuration done by SAP?
7 Common usability issues: may be of value if you get stuck using SSCUIs.
There is a conclusion, that covers what to do if you have unanswered questions.
1 Latest news on deleting unwanted records
A deletion feature will be enabled SSCUI by SSCUI over a number of releases starting with 1902. You can delete records that you have created yourselves in certain Web GUI SSCUIs. Deletion of records provided by SAP is not possible and deletion is not possible in Fiori SSCUIs.
If the record was transported to the Production System, the record will also be deleted from the Production System when a transport is done. Depending on the SSCUI, some deletions will not be allowed in order to prevent damage in the Production System. For example, if the setting is used in live Finance data.
Some SSCUIs do not allow the user to create a new record: these SSCUIs do not require the deletion feature. If deletion is possible, a delete button will appear at the top of the SSCUI. If you try to delete an SAP authored record, you will get an error message.
In 1902, an additional column appears in the Excel list of SSCUIs available in SAP Activate. This identifies which SSCUIs have been enabled with the deletion feature. We plan to enable deletion in more SSCUIs every release.
2 Partial solution to download configuration
It is possible to download configuration from a Web GUI SSCUI. This does not work for “View Cluster” SSCUIs that have a hierarchy. In these, only the content for one selected level can be downloaded. It is also not possible in Fiori SSCUIs.
Use menu: More > Table View > Print
Then menu: More > List > Export > Spreadsheet
Click Continue
Click Choose
Click on the Excel
3 Mandatory country-specific SSCUIs
If you have more than one country in your project, it is useful to see which configuration steps (SSCUIs) are mandatory for each country.
In the system, set the country in Manage Your Solution. Open Configure Your Solution and use the download feature to create an Excel list of SSCUIs. Use the filter feature in Excel: Category = Mandatory. Country Dependent = Country Dependent or Localized.
Alternatively, use the SAP Activate Reference Excel for SSCUIs in SAP Activate:
Set filters for: Category = Mandatory. Country Dependent = Country Dependent or Localized. Specialized for certain countries contains the country code e.g. AE.
4 Create multiple configuration records quickly
New configuration records cannot be created in all SSCUIs: some SSCUIs only allow you to change existing records whilst others only allow you to change records you have created yourself.
In some cases, you may need to create many new records. Web GUI SSCUIs allow you to copy and paste multiple records at a time. For example, 30 to 50 rows.
- Create your configuration in Microsoft Excel with columns that match the SSCUI.
- Click on the New Entries button in the SSCUI and ensure the browser font is small enough to see all the new rows.
- Count how many new rows are available in the SSCUI.
- Use CTRL-C to copy this number of records from Excel.
- Use CTRL-V to paste these into the IMG Web GUI SSCUI and then save and repeat.
There is no feature to upload configuration into SSCUIs from Excel.
5 Requirement where IMG would be used in on-premise
You have a business requirement or solution gap. If you were using an on-premise solution you might look at configuration in the IMG but in cloud there is no equivalent SSCUI. For example, you may want to understand the meaning of certain drop-downs in an application field.
The cloud application scope and available SSCUIs have been carefully designed. If there is a gap, SAP would like to know about it. Possible changes might be a change in the application, additional documentation or an extra SSCUI. For this reason, please create a customer incident explaining the pure business requirement and impact. You could add which IMG activity you would consider using in on-premise.
SAP might offer an alternative cloud-specific approach and/or update standard documentation. In some cases, SAP might do some expert configuration behind the scenes in your Quality system. Typically, an SSCUI is then released for that topic in a later release.
6 Can I see Expert Configuration done by SAP?
SAP has undertaken some expert configuration in the Quality System. Can I see it?
SAP has decided to only share configuration settings through SSCUIs accessed from Configure Your Solution. Any other configuration setting, including settings that have been changed through expert configuration, are not made available.
If expert configuration is suitable for all customers, an SSCUI is usually delivered for the IMG activity within the next few releases and you will be able to see all (or some) of the configuration. The business impact of the configuration should be tested with a test case in the quality system, and then repeated as part of regression testing for each release. This should be done before and after the SSCUI becomes available.
7 Common usability issues
Here are some hints about common usability issues.
7.1 Confirm mandatory SSCUIs
In the first project sprint in the Realize phase, all mandatory SSCUIs must be confirmed in order to transport configuration from Q to P. The system moves to a Deploy phase and then to a Change phase. This is confusing because the project is actually still in the Realize phase. This is a work-around that must be done. Originally, all configuration in S/4HANA was transported at the end of the Realize phase. Now transports are done in sprints.
The confirmation of mandatory SSCUIs currently has no meaning: in the first sprint many SSCUIs will not be complete. There is no selective transports of configuration; all configuration that has been done with SSCUIs is transported. There is no firm plan to change this yet.
7.2 Some apps related to configuration are outside Configure Your Solution
Some apps related to configuration are available in Fiori launchpad tiles within the SAP Business Role SAP_BR_BPC_EXPERT. They are not in Configure Your Solution. Others apps are available in other roles e.g. SAP_FIN_BC_CM_CONF_PC or GL_ACCOUNTANT. There is no firm plan to move these into Configure Your Solution yet.
7.3 Tracking Configuration
A detailed change log is available for Web GUI SSCUIs. In 1902, 95% of SSCUIs are Web GUI SSCUIs. Currently, a detailed change log is not available for Fiori SSCUIs in the system. It is not possible to get a list in the system of SSCUIs that have been changed in a sprint. Refer to this SAP Activate page for advice on this topic.
In 1905, the plan is to add a new column to the Excel download feature called “Comment”. This will contain the last comment added to each SSCUI. This can be used to help track which SSCUIs were changed and when. You can adopt the standard of adding the sprint number or change project to the comment each time an SSCUI is changed. By downloading the Excel, you can see which sprint an SSCUI was last changed in.
7.4 Country Dependent Configuration
If you have more than one country in your project, the country can be selected in Manage Your Solution: the country selection impacts all users.
Web GUI SSCUIs allow records for all countries to be configured by any user. The country in Manage Your Solution is ignored.
Some Fiori SSCUIs have country dependent records and only show the records for the country selected in Manage Your Solution.
You can only see the SSCUIs that are relevant for the selected country. For example, you cannot see the localized SSCUIs for Brazil when the country is set to France.
When working with Fiori SSCUIs, you must co-ordinate the country change and all users must work on one country at a time. Typically, one country is chosen as the lead country and configuration is done for this country first. Two different countries must not be configured with Fiori SSCUIs simultaneously. Changes for multiple countries can be done within one change project. However, best practice is to configure and test in sprints one country at a time.
Fiori SSCUIs are being phased out release by release. The plan is to eliminate country dependent Fiori SSCUIs with the exception of the organization structure SSCUI.
7.5 Cancel from error
You get an error message while editing an SSCUI and the cancel button at the bottom of the screen disappears. Use the menu More > Cancel or press the Esc key.
7.6 Search options not obvious
When you are presented with a search help screen, you can click on the three dots … to see more search options.
7.7 Selection menu unclear
The options all changed entries and display deleted entries work before the Save button is pressed. Once saved, the selection is cleared.
Conclusion
If you still have a question, you can reach out to an experienced SAP consultant. Double check the presentation linked at the top of this blog which is regularly updated. Many aspects of SSCUIs are similar to the SAP on-premise solution.
Alternatively, you may have a SAP Product Expert who can help. Bugs or issues can be reported using the Application Component ID as described in the presentation.
If you have suggestions to improve configuration, you can create a request in the Customer Influence Portal under SAP S/4HANA Cloud End-to-End Deployment Experience with SAP Activate.
Hi Amin Hoque
Thanks for your above blog give us brief idea on S4HC1902.
We expect many more updates from time to time.
Thanks
I.Damodara Reddy
It would be worth mentioning that there are some SSCUI's where you need to use Chrome settings to make the screen very small in order to be able to see and/or enter values in all fields which are further down the screen. The page down option is simple not there ane the only way to get to these fields which you know must be further down the page is to make the screen settings small - in some cases on tax configuration related issues I had to go to a Chrome Setting of 50% in order to see all the information I neede.
We are live for some years, and maybe due to habits, we still confirm every SSCUI item per country (the delta's) before we select "Proceed To Run Phase".
Is there an easier way (cross country) to do do this?
Thank you for this post, Amin.
I don't see anything called "SAP S/4HANA Cloud End-to-End Deployment Experience with SAP Activate" in the customer influence portal, so I will leave my feedback here.
A way to export the entirety of all SSCUI configuration data to Excel in one step is badly needed so that partners can set up additional companies in an S4HC instance and configure them the same as existing companies if needed. Taking screenshots of every SSCUI item and step, one-by-one, is extremely inefficient and is not a feasible approach.
The ability to download all SSCUI configuration data to Excel, in one step, is very much needed.
Ralph
Hello Ralph
I will send your feedback through to the relevant people in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud global product management team.
Kind regards
Amin Hoque.
Hi Amin
Please can you confirm if the SSCUI function is used exclusively for S/4HANA Cloud editions and cannot be used in an 'on premise' implementation?
Many thanks
Gerald Pecover
Auckland, NZ
Hello Gerald
I can confirm that SSCUIs only exist in S/4HANA Cloud public edition. The equivalent concept in S/4HANA on-premise and S/4HANA private cloud are IMG activities within the IMG transaction and hierarchy. 90%+ of SSCUIs are public cloud versions of IMG activities. Some are identical but some are adjusted or constrained for public cloud use and may be different to their IMG equivalent. There are also some SSCUIs that are unique to public cloud. There are many more IMG activities than SSCUIs providing more flexibility but also more complexity.
Kind regards
Amin Hoque.
That's kind Amin, thank you. I tend to be a little bit cautious when distinguishing features between S/4HANA on prem versus the 2 Cloud editions, public and private. I've been using IMG for a good while now though more recently, getting better acquainted with the S/4 world.
Hi,
That's a wonderful article. Could you please confirm whether we can add a new custom field within SAP Business process content or addition of new SAP Business process. Which of the above is one of the customizing activity in SSCUI?
Thanks,
Pavi
Hello
In S/4HANA Cloud public edition new fields are added using Key User Extensibility.
https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/0f69f8fb28ac4bf48d2b57b9637e81fa/3ccb50e724b045508fea8b2cf1774b2b.html?locale=en-US
Kind regards
Amin Hoque