Latest Update: July 22, 2020 – added link back to Readiness Check 2.0
Note: This blog is applicable for all versions of SAP S/4HANA and options listed below is valid for hub and embedded architecture.
As more and more customers are adopting to SAP S/4HANA model company for rapid activation for digital transformation, question arises on methodology of SAP Fiori launchpad content development.
When it comes to SAP Fiori launchpad content development options, it is always recommended to follow SAP best practices in managing launchpad content design. The options mentioned here is based on the real life experience that will help customers to pick one option depending on the amount of SAP Fiori content (tiles) are in scope. Journey of identifying in-scope apps starts from identifying the scope items and standard business roles. Extract all SAP Fiori apps using SAP Fiori reference library either based on scope items or business roles. Below selection extracts the SAP Fiori apps for scope items J58, J59 and J60.
Customer can perform scoping of apps based on SAP GUI transaction usage by using Readiness Check 2.0.
Jump start the SAP Fiori activation using rapid activation tasks list but security of SAP Fiori content (catalogs & groups) still needs to be worked out based on customer job position and HR data. To accomplish this, security workshop is required between security, functional and business. Security workshop is divided into 3 parts
Design SAP Fiori catalogs & groups based on task role mapping sheet. Map task role id with SAP Fiori catalog id and group to come up with SAP Fiori design and choose one of the below option to create SAP Fiori catalogs.
Each of the options listed below has pros and cons, pick the one that is suitable to your project.
Option#1
This option is ideal if there are less SAP Fiori tiles and the idea is to create custom catalogs & groups and copy standard tiles. The process is straight-forward but have some limitation listed in pros & cons
Option #2
This option overcome one of the cons of option #1 (High development effort) by splitting catalogs creation in SAP Fiori designer and in backend using Mass Maintenance tool for App Descriptors. SAP Fiori catalogs contains all SAO Fiori apps (SAPUI5) and backend catalogs contain classic contents (WD ABAP & TCodes).
Option #3
This option overcomes all the cons of option #1 & 2. Idea is to create custom catalogs for SAP Fiori apps (SAPUI5) and WD Apps and leverage SAP Easy Access Menu to access transaction (t-codes) using APP Finder. In this way, custom catalog contains tiles (SAPUI5) and WD App tiles and all backend transaction are pulled using user menu via App Finder.
Option #4
This option is the mix of option 2 & 3, the idea is create custom catalog for SAPUI5 tiles using SAP Fiori Designer, create custom technical backend catalogs for WD ABAP Apps and SAP Easy Access for transactions (t-codes). If you have to deal with large number of SAP Fiori apps including hundreds of WD apps and tcodes then this option is the best fit for faster content creation.
The pros and cons is same as option #3.
Recommendation - which option to select?
Generally in SAP S/4HANA project for Model Company or Greenfield implementation, most of the times there are lot of SAP Fiori content to deal with. Review below use-cases based on this assumptions
Option #1 - Use Case: Mostly used if there are limited SAP Fiori content like ~10 Apps (SAPUI5), ~5 WD ABAP apps and ~10 transaction. Imagine if there are ~200 apps ~400 transactions and ~200 WD Apps, creating custom catalog and copying tcodes and WD apps is time consuming, this option is not recommended. Moreover during maintenance phase, if new transactions are required then catalog has to be updated and security team has to adjust the role to reflect the changes which result in high development and maintenance cost.
Option #2 - Use Case: Mostly applicable if there are less transaction (tcodes) in scope and have more WD ABAP apps in scope. Creation of backend technical catalog for WD ABAP apps using Mass Maintenance tool is quick and easy, same model can be used for tcodes but any change during maintenance phase required catalog to be updated and security team have to update the role which result in high maintenance cost.
This option will give better user experience because user homepage (Groups) can defined with most commonly used SAP Fiori Apps and Transactions.
Option #3 - Use Case: Most commonly used approach if there are less WD ABAP apps and large number of transactions and SAP Fiori apps (SAPUI5). It leverage SAP Easy Access which pulls the user menu role from backend into SAP Fiori launchpad app finder. Easy access is the one time setup and all tcodes related authorizations are taken care by security team and app finder is always in sync with user role menu removing dependency on SAP Fiori resource or catalog update. User training is required on how to search for transactions in app finder and add/pin into homepage.
This option does not provide good user experience, first time login user have to personalize his/her homepage by searching for most commonly used transactions in app finder.
SAP Fiori custom catalog contains SAPUI5 apps and WD ABAP apps, in case if there are large number of WD Apps then adding WD apps to catalogs is time consuming and result in high development time.
Option #4 - Use Case: This option is the best fit for large number of WD ABAP apps, developing backend technical catalogs for WD apps are much faster which result in faster implementation time.
All the benefits and use-case mentioned in option 3 is applicable to option 4 and it overcomes the limitation of option 3 (faster implementation time). I call this option as best of both world!!!.
Conclusion: Option 3 or 4 is recommended approach based on the use-cases mentioned above. I have seen customers using both the options. Pick the one which suits customer needs.
Note: This blog is applicable for all versions of SAP S/4HANA and options listed below is valid for hub and embedded architecture.
As more and more customers are adopting to SAP S/4HANA model company for rapid activation for digital transformation, question arises on methodology of SAP Fiori launchpad content development.
When it comes to SAP Fiori launchpad content development options, it is always recommended to follow SAP best practices in managing launchpad content design. The options mentioned here is based on the real life experience that will help customers to pick one option depending on the amount of SAP Fiori content (tiles) are in scope. Journey of identifying in-scope apps starts from identifying the scope items and standard business roles. Extract all SAP Fiori apps using SAP Fiori reference library either based on scope items or business roles. Below selection extracts the SAP Fiori apps for scope items J58, J59 and J60.
Customer can perform scoping of apps based on SAP GUI transaction usage by using Readiness Check 2.0.
Jump start the SAP Fiori activation using rapid activation tasks list but security of SAP Fiori content (catalogs & groups) still needs to be worked out based on customer job position and HR data. To accomplish this, security workshop is required between security, functional and business. Security workshop is divided into 3 parts
Design SAP Fiori catalogs & groups based on task role mapping sheet. Map task role id with SAP Fiori catalog id and group to come up with SAP Fiori design and choose one of the below option to create SAP Fiori catalogs.
Each of the options listed below has pros and cons, pick the one that is suitable to your project.
Option#1
This option is ideal if there are less SAP Fiori tiles and the idea is to create custom catalogs & groups and copy standard tiles. The process is straight-forward but have some limitation listed in pros & cons
- Create custom catalog (ex: ZF_PTP_MM_BC_BP_MAINT) and group (ZF_PTP_MM_BG_BP_MAINT)
- Copy Fiori App/TCode/WD App to custom catalog
- Assign catalog & group to PFCG role
- Assign PFCG role to user
| Pros | Cons |
| Simplicity – use this approach if there are less tiles (SAPUI5/WD/TCodes). | Not suitable if there are more tiles result in high development effort. |
| High maintenance efforts – involve SAP Fiori & Security resource for every change during maintenance phase. | |
| SAP Fiori App Finder performance may be impacted due to large volume of content. Performance of homepage may be impacted if number of tiles shown on homepage are not restricted. SAP recommend less than 50 tiles per catalog and not more than 100 tiles on user homepage. |
Option #2
This option overcome one of the cons of option #1 (High development effort) by splitting catalogs creation in SAP Fiori designer and in backend using Mass Maintenance tool for App Descriptors. SAP Fiori catalogs contains all SAO Fiori apps (SAPUI5) and backend catalogs contain classic contents (WD ABAP & TCodes).
- Create custom catalog (ex: ZF_PTP_MM_BC_BP_MAINT) and group (ZF_PTP_MM_BG_BP_MAINT) using Fiori designer and copy Fiori tiles (SAPUI5) to custom catalogs
- Create backend technical catalog using Mass Maintenance tool, include all in-scope WD ABAO and TCodes
- Replicate backend custom catalog in Fiori designer
- Assign tiles to group
- Assign catalog and group to PFCG role
- Assign PFCG role to uses
| Pros | Cons |
| Less development effort. | SAP Fiori App Finder performance may be impacted due to large volume of content. Performance of homepage may be impacted if number of tiles shown on homepage are not restricted. SAP recommend less than 50 tiles per catalog and not more than 100 tiles on user homepage. |
| High maintenance efforts – involve SAP Fiori & Security resource for every change during maintenance phase. |
Option #3
This option overcomes all the cons of option #1 & 2. Idea is to create custom catalogs for SAP Fiori apps (SAPUI5) and WD Apps and leverage SAP Easy Access Menu to access transaction (t-codes) using APP Finder. In this way, custom catalog contains tiles (SAPUI5) and WD App tiles and all backend transaction are pulled using user menu via App Finder.
- Create custom catalog (ex: ZF_PTP_MM_BC_BP_MAINT) and group (ZF_PTP_MM_BG_BP_MAINT) using Fiori designer and copy tiles (SAPUI5) and WD App tiles to custom catalogs
- Setup Easy Access Menu using steps describe in this wiki
- Assign tiles to group
- Assign catalog and group to PFCG role
- Assign PFCG role to uses
| Pros | Cons |
| Less development efforts due to Easy Access Menu. | Unable to add GUI(TCodes) tiles to user homepage by default (Groups). |
| Easy to maintain. | User training on App Finder Usage and Personalization. |
| Transactions (t-codes) are not added to user homepage by default(groups) result in less tiles which helps to increases performance. |
Option #4
This option is the mix of option 2 & 3, the idea is create custom catalog for SAPUI5 tiles using SAP Fiori Designer, create custom technical backend catalogs for WD ABAP Apps and SAP Easy Access for transactions (t-codes). If you have to deal with large number of SAP Fiori apps including hundreds of WD apps and tcodes then this option is the best fit for faster content creation.
The pros and cons is same as option #3.
Recommendation - which option to select?
Generally in SAP S/4HANA project for Model Company or Greenfield implementation, most of the times there are lot of SAP Fiori content to deal with. Review below use-cases based on this assumptions
Option #1 - Use Case: Mostly used if there are limited SAP Fiori content like ~10 Apps (SAPUI5), ~5 WD ABAP apps and ~10 transaction. Imagine if there are ~200 apps ~400 transactions and ~200 WD Apps, creating custom catalog and copying tcodes and WD apps is time consuming, this option is not recommended. Moreover during maintenance phase, if new transactions are required then catalog has to be updated and security team has to adjust the role to reflect the changes which result in high development and maintenance cost.
Option #2 - Use Case: Mostly applicable if there are less transaction (tcodes) in scope and have more WD ABAP apps in scope. Creation of backend technical catalog for WD ABAP apps using Mass Maintenance tool is quick and easy, same model can be used for tcodes but any change during maintenance phase required catalog to be updated and security team have to update the role which result in high maintenance cost.
This option will give better user experience because user homepage (Groups) can defined with most commonly used SAP Fiori Apps and Transactions.
Option #3 - Use Case: Most commonly used approach if there are less WD ABAP apps and large number of transactions and SAP Fiori apps (SAPUI5). It leverage SAP Easy Access which pulls the user menu role from backend into SAP Fiori launchpad app finder. Easy access is the one time setup and all tcodes related authorizations are taken care by security team and app finder is always in sync with user role menu removing dependency on SAP Fiori resource or catalog update. User training is required on how to search for transactions in app finder and add/pin into homepage.
This option does not provide good user experience, first time login user have to personalize his/her homepage by searching for most commonly used transactions in app finder.
SAP Fiori custom catalog contains SAPUI5 apps and WD ABAP apps, in case if there are large number of WD Apps then adding WD apps to catalogs is time consuming and result in high development time.
Option #4 - Use Case: This option is the best fit for large number of WD ABAP apps, developing backend technical catalogs for WD apps are much faster which result in faster implementation time.
All the benefits and use-case mentioned in option 3 is applicable to option 4 and it overcomes the limitation of option 3 (faster implementation time). I call this option as best of both world!!!.
Conclusion: Option 3 or 4 is recommended approach based on the use-cases mentioned above. I have seen customers using both the options. Pick the one which suits customer needs.
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