Technical Articles
Documenting Fiori Launchpad with Fiori Tracker
This blog post should interest you if you have no doubts about the Reasons to document Fiori Launchpad configuration externally and Why you need a tool for Fiori launchpad documentation?
The blog post explains how to document your Fiori Launchpad configuration using a free Fiori Tracker tool (Apache License 2.0). Fiori Tracker is available to anyone for download and installation. Once installed in your system, you can start documenting your SAP Fiori launchpad contents.
To start documenting your applications and catalogs together with links between them, you need to install “Fiori Tracker Core,” which brings two new Fiori applications to your launchpad:
- FT Applications (with relation: To-be catalogs) – for keeping “To-be” records of applications in scope
- FT Catalogs (with relation: To-be apps) – for keeping “To-be” records of catalogs in scope
Fiori Tracker Core group tiles
Identification
Let’s start with addressing the need for application identification. The solution we have in Fiori Tracker is the following:
We identify applications by relying on the convention used by SAP when specifying the App Id in the Fiori Applications library. This approach tackles two key aspects:
– Identification of standard applications that represent the majority of applications in projects
– Linking an application to its official documentation
Standard applications already have their App ID in the convention:
- F<NNN> for SAP Fiori apps
- <SAP Gui transaction code> for the apps that SAP adopted for running in Fiori launchpad and are based on classic SAP Gui transactions
This naming convention leaves app IDs starting with “Z” and “Y” for custom applications and extensions of the standard applications. So, for example, “Z2342” where “2342” could be your WRICEF or change request number.
Whenever you add the application to your records, we recommend using the ID in the form described above.
Documenting Fiori launchpad-enabled applications
First, you need to record all applications you plan to enable in your Fiori launchpad. You do that with the “FT Applications” app. The app starts with the current list of all applications in your project scope.
Starting view of the “FT Applications” app
With the “Add” function, you can add a new application entry:
Create an application record form in the “FT Applications” app
The recorded details include the following:
- App ID – application prevents the creation of duplicates.
- Tile title – The title might be different from the official application name.
- Name – Contains the official application name.
- Area – You can choose a functional area. The area comes from the configurable list of areas specific to your project.
- Type – You can choose the type of application. The choice comes from the list of configurable types specific to your project. Fiori Tracker comes with predefined application types.
Technical catalog, Semantic object, action, and flags indicating if the app can start directly and is a lighthouse app is optional. They either serve as additional information, or you can use them after installing optional Fiori Tracker suite components.
Documenting Fiori launchpad catalogs
Once you finish with applications, you can create documentation entries for your launchpad Business Catalogs. The app to manage catalogs is called “FT Catalogs” and starts with the list of the catalogs in the project scope:
Starting view of the “FT Catalogs” app
Add button creates an entry for the new catalog:
Create catalog record form in the “FT Catalogs” app
The app uses the same functional area set to assign catalog and Fiori Tracker reports on a specific stream or assign a stream default person responsible for sing-offs.
Maintaining mapping between catalogs and applications
Once all catalogs are in, you can map applications to catalogs. You can do that from a catalog perspective by opening chosen catalog detail view and its “Applications To-be” relation and selecting “Edit”:
View with a chosen catalog record and its “Applications To-Be” relation in the “FT Catalogs” app
Edit view for mapping application in “FT Catalogs” app
Edit view for mapping catalogs in the “FT Applications” app
These two apps will significantly reduce the time the project and support team need to agree on and handle the launchpad catalogs and their apps. In addition, optional components link the application and catalog to other information records like roles, test users’ passwords, sign-off records, or application usage data.
I’m curious to hear your opinions on using Fiori Tracker – feel free to comment, contact me on Linkedin, or discuss on Discord with others using Fiori Tracker.
I hope I have inspired you to give Fiori Tracker a go, and I wish you all the best in keeping your SAP Fiori launchpad team and users happy.
You can download and learn more about Fiori Track on its help page: https://help.fioritracker.org/.
You can integrate the Fiori Tracker with the Fiori Apps Usage Report which will give you the application start count for each of your Fiori apps. You can read more about it in Apps usage report for SAP Fiori launchpad (Monitoring SAP Fiori applications).
Thanks for sharing.
If I understood correctly, the Fiori tracker is kind of a "Draft version" for the standard Fiori launchpad catalog/apps. Is that correct?
May you please elaborate on the documentation features, in comparison to the standard launchpad? I couldn't find it in the post despite its' title.
Hi Shai,
Yes, this is correct. Fiori Tracker keeps a draft or you can also call it a blueprint of your Fiori launchpad setup.
Regarding the comparison of Fiori Tracker records with Fiori launchpad configuration entries:
Fiori Tracker records are easier to read in comparison with Fiori launchpad entries. Fiori Tracker records goal is to serve as documentation for functional team members allowing them to get the most important aspects of Fiori launchpad content without bothering with too many technical details. At the same time, it gives non-technical users an overview of the Fiori launchpad "to-be" configuration. For example, your Project management office can easily see all the applications in scope and their assignment to each functional stream.
Also, have a look at the blog post: Reasons to document Fiori Launchpad applications externally
I hope this answers your question.
Regards
Greg
Hi Greg,
thank you for making this tool freely available.
What are the licenses of the components that are offered for free?
Regards
Hi Marian,
The license for free components is Apache License 2.0.
Regards
Greg