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Author's profile photo Peter Spielvogel

SAP Screen Personas 3.0 SP15 – cloud mindset drives innovation in usability

The addition of SAP Screen Personas capabilities to SAP S/4HANA Cloud has sparked a wave of both customer adoption and internal innovation. The “cloud mindset” of being more agile, thinking in smaller chunks, and soliciting feedback earlier, has shifted some of our internal processes. This will result in new, and potentially bolder, innovations in future versions of SAP Screen Personas. While we have always gathered customer feedback in our practitioner forum to improve usability, the addition of a new sounding board group is allowing us to get even closer to our customers and gather feedback on new ideas before we start development.

As with previous releases, we are focusing on improving usability for flavor builders and flavor consumers. In this summary blog post, we will focus on both design time and runtime improvements.

  • Parking lot in detachable window
  • Quick copy script and control IDs
  • Auto-transport of global scripts
  • Compact mobile menu in Slipstream Engine
  • Horizon theme support

Since we have a single code line for both our on-prem and cloud versions, these innovations apply to both delivery channels, except anything related to Slipstream Engine, which is only supported in the on premise delivery of SAP Screen Personas. With the majority of SAP Screen Personas customers still running on-prem, we will continue to plan on regular service packs to bring improvements in usability, performance, and ease of use

Parking lot in detachable window speed flavor development

The parking lot in the SAP Screen Personas flavor editor provides options to focus better on simplifying very complex and overloaded screens. Instead of trying to find room to “park” controls somewhere on the transaction (application) screen, the parking lot is a container to collect relevant fields before putting them in their final location in the flavor. For example, you might use the parking lot to temporarily store controls from different tabs as you are simplifying the screen.

With this release, you can now detach the parking lot as a separate window. This gives you more flexibility as you can see your entire flavor without anything covering it. You can move it back inside the flavor editor at any time.

The%20parking%20lot%20in%20SAP%20Screen%20Personas%20lets%20you%20temporarily%20store%20controls%2C%20often%20in%20conjunction%20with%20tab%20merging.

The parking lot in SAP Screen Personas lets you temporarily store controls, often in conjunction with tab merging.

 

By%20detaching%20the%20parking%20lot%2C%20you%20can%20move%20it%20a%20separate%20location%20that%20does%20not%20cover%20any%20part%20of%20your%20flavor.%20%28In%20this%20screen%20shot%2C%20we%20are%20showing%20it%20detached%20and%20outside%20the%20flavor%2C%20but%20currently%20on%20top%20of%20the%20flavor%20editor.%29

By detaching the parking lot, you can move it a separate location that does not cover any part of your flavor. (In this screen shot, we are showing it detached and outside the flavor, but currently on top of the flavor editor.)

 

Quick copy script and control IDs simplifies script creation

In scripting we added the capability to copy the script ID or control ID to the clipboard with a single click. If the item is underlined, clicking on it once will add it to the clipboard. This makes it faster and easier to build scripts.

Copying%20the%20script%20ID%20or%20control%20ID%20to%20the%20clipboard%20with%20a%20single%20click%20makes%20it%20faster%20to%20create%20scripts.

Copying the script ID or control ID to the clipboard with a single click makes it faster to create scripts.

Auto-transport of global scripts streamlines putting flavors into production

We now automatically detect and add global scripts to transport requests when they are referenced in local scripts of a flavor. Instead of adding items manually to your transport, SP15 will automatically include global scripts. This simplifies the deployment process.

Global%20scripts%20referenced%20in%20local%20scripts%20are%20automatically%20detected%20and%20added%20to%20the%20transport%20package.

Global scripts referenced in local scripts are automatically detected and added to the transport package.

 

Compact mobile menu in Slipstream Engine improves usability on phones

With this new service pack, we have greatly improved mobile rendering in Slipstream Engine. The focus is on maximizing the use of the very limited screen real estate. The menu tile is now movable; you can drag it to any location on the bottom of the screen, so it does not block your view of anything else. This compact mobile menu holds actions for applications, including all the mobile options for the application, access to the SAP Screen Personas switchboard, and the ability to view current and cleared messages. The switchboard allows you to change themes, including the new Horizon theme.

The%20compact%20menu%20includes%20application%20options%2C%20SAP%20Screen%20Personas%20switchboard%2C%20and%20access%20to%20messages%2C%20including%20those%20you%20have%20already%20cleared.

The compact menu includes application options, SAP Screen Personas switchboard, and access to messages, including those you have already cleared.

 

Horizon theme support aligns with SAP UX strategy

The Horizon theme, announced last year, is now generally available in some products. SAP Screen Personas introduces Horizon support with SP15, so you can deliver a consistent experience to your users, if you are using Horizon in your other SAP applications.

SAP%20Screen%20Personas%20uses%20SAPUI5%201.96%2C%20so%20you%20can%20now%20render%20the%20new%20Horizon%20theme.

SAP Screen Personas uses SAPUI5 1.96, so you can now render the new Horizon theme.

 

SAP Screen Personas fully supports SAP S/4HANA

Since SAP Screen Personas is now a standard feature in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, through the Adapt UI menu option for classic applications, it should be clear that SAP Screen Personas is a key part of SAP’s UX strategy going forward. We are seeing more SAP S/4HANA on-prem customers using SAP Screen Personas to simplify classic applications. In SAP S/4HANA, we use the term classic applications to refer to what we previously called transactions in ECC.

SAP Screen Personas brings the SAP Fiori user experience to classic applications by making them more simple, focused on a specific role, and compatible with any device.

Support through 2040

Here is our current support strategy for SAP Screen Personas 3.0.

  1. As a reminder, SAP Screen Personas 3.0 is aligned with SAP S/4HANA support. This is now through 2040. https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2900388
  2. The SAP Screen Personas release strategy note contains details on installation and support. https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2013453
  3. We support the current as well as the two previous Service Packs. What does this mean to you?
    • SP15 will receive continuous innovation
    • SP14 will get important fixes and selected down ports
    • SP13 will receive emergency fixes
    • SP12 and earlier will no longer be supported (time to upgrade!)

If you look in the product availability matrix, you will see the end of support date for a specific service pack. This is aligned with the “n-2” support outlined above.  Overall, though, we have committed to support SAP Screen Personas through at least 2040, as mentioned in a response to this specific question in one of our roadmap posts.

System requirements

SAP Screen Personas 3.0 SP15 works on a wide variety of systems from the latest SAP S/4HANA release to some much older versions of ECC. Specifically:

Basis Minimum Service Pack Additional Notes Required? Supported Kernels
S/4HANA All No 749+
750 All No 749, 753
740 SP03 Yes 749, 753
731 SP07 Yes 722
702 SP09 Yes 722
701 SP10 Yes 722
700 SP25 Yes 722

For SAP Screen Personas 3.0 SP15, the supported kernel releases and their corresponding minimum and recommended (as of June 2022) patch levels are listed below.

You do not need to update your kernel to move to the new version of SAP Screen Personas, if your system is on a supported kernel release.

Kernel release 785 –> No minimum patch level

Kernel release 781 –> No minimum patch level

Kernel release 777 –> No minimum patch level –> Recommended patch level 100 or higher

Kernel release 753 –> Minimum patch level 600 –> Recommended patch level 615 or higher

Kernel release 749 –> Minimum patch level 400 –> Recommended patch level 800 or higher

Kernel release 722 –> Minimum patch level 400 –> Recommended patch level 900 or higher

Kernel release 773 is out of maintenance, so it was removed from this list. The minimum patch level for kernel release 753 was raised to 600 due to a required correction delivered in this patch.

See the SAP Screen Personas 3.0 SP15 Main Note 3201065 for more details and updated recommendations.

Continuous improvement

We already have some exciting things planned for extending SAP Screen Personas functionality in SAP S/4HANA Cloud. If you have additional improvement ideas, please send us your requests (via email or as a comment to this blog) for anything you would like to see in upcoming deliveries.

Next Steps

 

For the SAP Screen Personas product team, Peter Spielvogel.

 

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      12 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Per Lundh
      Per Lundh

      Great work from the Personas-team as always.

      I really appreciate the consistency of the SP-releases and that you always bring something interesting.

      Looking forward to testing the mobile menu. Working with EWM/S4/FLP and the "mobile mess" I recently noticed that Slipstream Engine seems to be the best way to run mobile applications/screens (compared to GUI for HTML via FLP). So much better performance, possible go get "number key pad", live device preview, "SetFocus" seems to work on normal browser via Slipstream etc etc.

      So, the work you put in with Slipstream is appreciated and I hope that Slipstream will still be an option going forward. As I mentioned on another blog post, notes such as 3069276 makes it a bit difficult to know which way to go.

      Author's profile photo Tamas Hoznek
      Tamas Hoznek

      Hi Per,

      SE remains an integral part of SAP Screen Personas and will receive continuous improvements. We have no plan to abandon it, regardless of what could be concluded from the referenced note.

      Author's profile photo Per Lundh
      Per Lundh

      Hi Tamas!

      Thank you for the confirmation!

      Author's profile photo Huijie Zhang
      Huijie Zhang

      Hi Peter,

      On the topic of SAP GUI for Windows Supporting SAP Screen Personas 3.0, I looked at the SAP Note published in January 2022 below:

      https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2080071

      It has many constraints. Are there improvements released after that release?

      Thank you

      Huijie

      Author's profile photo Peter Spielvogel
      Peter Spielvogel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Huijie,

      We keep the SAP Note current, so the list of constraints is current.

      Most UX investments are in SAP GUI for HTML, so if you can move to the browser, you will have fewer limitations.

      https://blogs.sap.com/2021/07/01/choosing-slipstream-engine-or-web-gui-to-render-sap-screen-personas-flavors-on-mobile-devices/

      Here is some information on the roadmap.

      https://blogs.sap.com/2022/07/12/sap-screen-personas-roadmap-update-2022-july-sap-s-4hana-ready/

      Regards,
      Peter

      Author's profile photo Patrick Aagaard Andersen
      Patrick Aagaard Andersen

      Hi Peter,

      A customer just updated to SP15 enabling Compact Mobile Menu - unfortunately, this have ruined a live application where the now legacy footer menu contained the needed functionality. This still works on desktop, but we need it on mobile.

      How do you suggest we proceed?

      BR,

      Patrick

      Author's profile photo Peter Spielvogel
      Peter Spielvogel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Patrick,

      Please open an incident so we can look at the system and determine the best path forward.

      Regards,

      Peter

      Author's profile photo Per Lundh
      Per Lundh

      Hello Patrick. Did you find any solution for this? Can the Mobile Menu be disabled somehow?

      It will cause problems for me as well when going to SP15..

      Author's profile photo Antonino CANTARELLA
      Antonino CANTARELLA

      Hello Patrick, Per,

      Did you find any solution to disable the mobile menu ?

      Thank you, kind regards.

      Author's profile photo Per Lundh
      Per Lundh

      I have not heard anything back on this. But if you ask me, I think this is one of those examples where we need a toggle to switch between the two different options (classical menu or new mobile menu) 🙂

      Author's profile photo Frederick Lange
      Frederick Lange

      Hi,

      we currently have an issue with scanning a QR-Code.

      We add the Scan-Button using the build in function which create a script with "session.utils.startBarcodeScanner".

      On a iPhone using IOS 15.x everything works fine. If we use IOS 16.1 no QR- or Barcode is recognized in the scan-window on the iPhone.

      Does anyone else have such problems / experiences? We currently use SP14 - is it worth to switch to SP15 which will fix that problem? Or is this problem related to apple and a bug in IOS 16?

      Thanks a lot!

      Kind regards,
      Frederick

       

       

      Author's profile photo Krists Magons
      Krists Magons

      Hi Frederick,

      We are able to reproduce the barcode scanning issue with the latest iOS 16.1 release. All SAP Screen Personas 3.0 SP versions starting SP13 are affected.

      Please create a BC-PER incident ticket so we can communicate with you the progress updates.

       

      Thank you!

      Best regards,

      Krists Magons

      SAP Screen Personas Dev Team