New openSAP course on SAP Screen Personas for SAP S/4HANA Cloud

We are now putting the final touches on our next openSAP course for SAP Screen Personas. As you may recall, we recently added the SAP Screen Personas functionality to SAP S/4HANA Cloud as a way to adapt classic applications. This openSAP course, “Adapting the UI in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Using SAP Screen Personas”, focuses on the version for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, but also includes an optional week for customers using SAP S/4HANA (on-prem), SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, and ECC. The core functionality for adapting classic application screens (called transactions in ECC) is the same, but the administration is different.

Sven Denecken, COO of SAP S/4HANA and head of product success did the course introduction video.

For SAP Fiori apps that are shipped with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you can adapt those screens with SAPUI5 flexibility. In the final week of the course, you’ll learn how to extend a standard SAP Fiori app to meet your specific needs using SAPUI5 flexibility.  In this way, you’ll gain a full understanding of how to adapt any screen you encounter in your SAP S/4HANA Cloud system.

This course uses the latest version of SAP Screen Personas (SP15) that is pre-integrated into SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Our last openSAP course for SAP Screen Personas is from 2017. This is roughly 10 service packs ago. We have introduced *many* new features for flavor builders, script creators, and business users. So, this is a great refresher course for all SAP Screen Personas customers, whether you are planning to use the product with SAP S/4HANA Cloud or the add-on version for on-prem systems.

The SAP Screen Personas editor is part of SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

Here is some of what we will cover:

• Week 1: Adapting Screens for Classic Apps in SAP S/4HANA
  business scenario, flavor editor, merging tabs, simplifying tables, using templates
• Week 2: Building Flavors and Adding Automation
  local and global scripts, script and screen events, adaptive flavors, embedding HTML into screens, handling dynamic screens
• Week 3: Enabling and Administering Business Roles
  assigning flavors to business roles, moving flavors into production, allow lists, and other admin functions
• Week 4 (optional): SAP Screen Personas in the Private Cloud Edition or On-Prem
  installing SAP Screen Personas, differences in administration, adding flavors to the SAP Fiori launchpad, combining data from several apps, using flavors on your mobile phone

The course runs three weeks with an optional week for customers that run SAP Screen Personas in on-prem environments.

The final exam covers only weeks 1-3.

Behind the scenes in the course development

We followed the lessons we learned from creating previous openSAP courses, which helped us minimize the amount of rework during the course development process. This time, we finalized the unit names in the planning document before creating the slides. It was much easier to make several updates in one Excel worksheet than in 24 separate PowerPoint files.

The recording setup was a bit more complex than in previous courses. Pre-2020, we recorded all the units in a studio using specialized equipment with experts capturing the video and audio. As a presenter, I could focus on my content and leave the production to the professionals. During most of 2020-2021, we did all remote recording. The openSAP team provided detailed specifications for everyone to use at home. Some of my recordings from that period had a bed sheet as the backdrop in my garage. This course used a hybrid approach. Units were recorded in various settings, including using iPhones in the office. Making all this consistent added another burden to the production team.

In spite of our careful planning, we still encountered some issues (which the exceptional team smoothed out).

1. At one point, I thought I was done recording, until the video team informed me there was no audio. Easily fixed with a redo. With various vacations scheduled, this delayed our “recording complete” victory celebration by around six weeks.
2. Another colleague recorded in the office to obtain a professional setup. The fan noise ruined all his videos and he had to re-record all his units in a different location with a better microphone.
3. There was a slight change to the SAP logo during our course development, which, of course occurred after all the slides and videos were done. This was a light edit, but spread some rework across all the units.
4. We realized after recording that some information on a few the slides was not 100% correct, so we handled that by updating the content in post-production.

One thing that make the course development fun and very rewarding was working with such a talented group of colleagues.

Presenters

• Vadims Bondarenko – lead backend developer is usually based on Latvia but is currently spending some time in our Walldorf headquarters. I had not worked with him much before the course, but really enjoyed learning from him and absorbing his contagious energy and enthusiasm for the product.
• Tamas Hoznek – development architect, has also worked with SAP Screen Personas since 2014. We have done training sessions together in several states and worked the booth at a number of TechEds. I look forward to when travel comes back so we can go on the road again to meet more of you in person.
• Krists Magons – lead architect, has been working with SAP Screen Personas since 2014. He spent several months working with us in Palo Alto, before moving to Berlin. It was great to get to know him during that time.
• Katrin Polloczek –product owner, joined the team in 2021, after many years working in SAP Fiori and other UX topics. She ramped up so fast on the product and already has lots of credibility with both colleagues and customers. It is a pleasure working with her. I’m hoping to pick up some of her amazing habits for keeping everything organized.
• Peter Spielvogel – product marketing, I have been working with SAP Screen Personas since pre-release versions in 2011. I have met so many interesting customers and partners over the years. Running the monthly practitioner forum is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

 Behind the scenes

In addition to the faces you see in the course videos, there were several colleagues that were instrumental in creating the course and bringing it to you.

• Gabriela Bueno – video production
• Marcus Erb – SAP Design project manager, quality assurance
• Mohanraj Nanjappan – course development
• Jayanthi Prabhala – openSAP project manager
• Julia Queck – video production
• Julian Rayner – copy editor, quality assurance

We hope you enjoy taking the course as much as we enjoyed creating it. Please register now: https://open.sap.com/courses/sps5

We’ll see you online in the forums starting in September.

On behalf of the entire Adapting the UI in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Using SAP Screen Personas course development team, Peter Spielvogel.