LESSON OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
● Understand the new user experience
Traditional User Interface
Figure 23: Traditional User Interface
It does not matter how good an application is if the user experience is poor. In the past, user interfaces all suffered from the same problem: They were too complicated. The main reason for this is that interfaces were often designed around the business function, and not around the person. The result was a cluttered screen that tried to provide many features to many different job roles.
For example, consider a sales order screen: How many job roles does this screen support?
You might assume one: The sales order entry clerk. However, the reality is that the same screen is used by a large number of people who need to either check information or make adjustments to an existing order. Some examples are as follows:
● A quality assurance worker in the delivery department needs to release a blocked item in the order.
● A finance person needs to adjust tax assignments.
● A salesperson needs to adjust discounts.
A marketing employee needs to apply promotion codes.
● A project manager needs to check that costs have been assigned to the correct project phases.
Each of these people could find themselves using the same screen, but only a very small part of the screen. The screen ensures that they all work hard to navigate to the specific area they need, ignoring the options they do not need. Lots of clicks are required for very little high-value interaction.
Concepts and Influence Factors
Figure 24: Concepts and Influence Factors
The use of IT and electronic devices is no longer reserved for a group of expert users; it has spread throughout society to all social groups. People need high-performing hardware that can support a variety of software products, with different scope and potential. There is added pressure to supply an easy-to-use solution to the end user.
The main drivers of this development are smartphones and tablets, with their easy-to-use and flexible User Interfaces (UIs). The focus of these UIs is no longer on huge functionality but rather a comfortable User Experience (UX), which puts the focus on the consumer. Business software must adapt and transform to turn this trend to its maximum advantage for the roles of an enterprise. In this evolution, the UI plays an important role.
With regard to SAP software products, the challenge is to keep a clear view and to understand the overall SAP strategy in the area of UX. Furthermore, it is important to have a clear understanding of the goals and target groups of each UI technology, in order to avoid mistakes and frustrated users.
In the beginning, it is helpful to clarify the terminology used. A good place to start is with the terms UI and UX.
Lesson: Understanding the New User Experience
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UI versus UX
Figure 25: UI versus UX
The terms UI and UX represent two different ways of thinking. From a software perspective, UI describes the interface between a human being and a device. It aims to maximize the efficiency of the device when used. UX takes on the perspective of the end user, and aims to provide motivation and emotion, not only during use, but also before and after use. UX tries to achieve a sustainable, positive attitude, and to create a motivating experience.
Focus on Function
Figure 26: Focus Shift
Contrary to traditional interface design, the design approach with SAP Fiori is that the focus is now on the job role, rather than the function. SAP Fiori applications are always role-based.
There are many applications to choose from, and they are organized in easy-to-use catalogs, Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
Each SAP Fiori application is built around the user, rather than the function. As a result, the screens are very simple and uncluttered. A key goal of any SAP Fiori application is to ensure that a user can complete a task with as few clicks as possible.
In the past, users could find themselves working with many different interfaces, each one with a completely different look and feel, even when they only had one task to complete. With SAP Fiori, users require little training, because the simple screens are intuitive, with only the essential information and options available.
Imagine checking a customer inquiry from SAP CRM using the SAP Portal interface, and then moving to SAP GUI to check the stock availability in ERP. Completely different interfaces are used with their own style and features, with different buttons, menus, and tools. With SAP Fiori, users work with just one design.
Not all transactions from ERP are converted to SAP Fiori applications, so SAP GUI must still be used in some cases. The cloud edition uses only SAP Fiori applications, and there are no classic SAP GUI screens. SAP GUI is still available with the on-premise edition, and can be used alongside SAP Fiori, but we recommend using SAP Fiori to take full advantage of the features of SAP S/4HANA.
User Types
Figure 27: User Types
Depending on the industry and company, various user types can be found. There is a great variety of different user types available, depending on the structure of the specialized area and the IT department, as well as the degree of digitization.
However, in almost every company there are three basic types:
● Occasional users
An occasional user makes use of the system occasionally, and therefore needs simple and easy-to-use applications. In many cases single-step transactions are executed.
● Experts
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An expert user (or sometimes key user) is a fully-trained SAP user who knows the processes and the available applications in detail. An expert user very often uses multiple systems and different UIs.
● Developers
A Developer (or programmer) has detailed process and system know-how, and deals with the adaptation and extension of the existing applications. They look after several
applications with different UIs.
Deployment Types
Figure 28: Deployment Types
The deployment type defines the license model and operational environment.
In the On Premise type, the customer buys software and hardware, and operates the combination themselves. Therefore, the customer is solely responsible for implementation, the update extensions, and adaptation, as well as replacements and new investments.
In the Cloud type, the cloud company provides infrastructure (hardware and software) and business software, and rents this combination to the customer. The cloud company is responsible for the operation, updates, extension, and new investments. At SAP, different operational models are available (for example, public cloud, private cloud, and privately managed cloud), with different software and service provisioning.
In the Hybrid type, the customer runs certain parts of their business software on their own servers, and uses additional solutions from a cloud provider. This deployment type requires an intense integration between the On Premise parts and the Cloud types.
Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
Next Generation of UI
Figure 29: Next Generation of UI
A key theme of SAP S/4HANA is simplification, and this certainly applies to the user
experience. We use the term user experience , rather than user interface, because we need to consider the overall experience of the user, rather than just the look of the screen. For
example, if you went to a restaurant that was strong on food presentation, but where the service was poor, you would say that the overall experience was not good, and you would not be keen to repeat it.
It is important to provide not only a great-looking UI, but also features that help the user become more productive, resulting in a good overall experience. This is what SAP Fiori delivers.
SAP Fiori is a completely new user experience, rather than an upgrade to any existing interface, such as SAP GUI, SAP Portal, or SAP Business Client. It works on any device that allows users to have the same experience, regardless of the device they choose to use. They can set up a basic sales order in the office using their desktop, then visit the customer to complete the configuration and agree pricing using a tablet. SAP Fiori provides the same look, feel, and productivity features on all devices.
SAP Fiori applications are designed using a methodology called design thinking , which is a user-centric and solution-based approach to software and user interface design.
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Target: Unified UX Direction for all SAP Software
Figure 30: Target: Unified UX Direction for all SAP Software
The long-term goal of the SAP UX strategy is to offer SAP Fiori (as the unified UI) to all business and all analytic applications on SAP HANA.
Types of Fiori Applications
Figure 31: Types of SAP Fiori Application Details
SAP Fiori applications can be classified into different types. Examples include the following:
● Transactional
These follow an optimal design for fast transaction processing, such as purchase receipt entry.
Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
● Analytical
These provide the tools required for analysis, graphs, charts, exploration, data mining, and drill-down.
● Factsheet
These provide a 360 degree view of all key information related to a business subject. For example, enter an employee name and all information about that employee appears, such as working hours, vacation, pay, performance, manager, and awards.
Note:
This is a good example of the SAP Fiori approach, which is to use a limited number of consistent interfaces to keep things simple.
When a developer creates a new SAP Fiori application, they begin by selecting a template that is based on transactional, analytical, or factsheet, so they have a consistent look and feel.
Figure 32: Types of SAP Fiori Application
Here are the three most common types of SAP Fiori App:
● Transactional apps use ABAP to provide the classic approach for functions of a business system. They are available for S/4HANA and Business Suite on any DB.
● Analytical apps use the analytical capabilities of SAP HANA to provide insights in business data. They are available for S/4HANA and Business Suite on HANA.
● Fact Sheet apps use the enterprise search capabilities of SAP HANA to provide search results. They are available for S/4HANA and Business Suite on HANA.
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SAP Fiori Architecture
Figure 33: SAP Fiori Architecture
For the technical audience who would like to know about what goes on under the hood with a SAP Fiori application, the following is a quick view of the underlying SAP Fiori architecture.
One of the key technical principles is to de-couple the interface logic from the back-end application logic. This means that, technically, SAP Fiori can be used by any back-end application, as it uses industry-standard methods of connecting the applications to the interface. In this case, the back end is an ABAP-based application (SAP S/4HANA).
Front-end components identify the calling device (phone, tablet, and so on), so that you know which native template to use to present the application optimally to the device. The front end also identifies the type of foundation for the application, for example, whether the call comes from Launchpad, an SAP Fiori application, or Personas. (We will discuss Personas later.) For applications that access the back end via OData services, the SAP Gateway server is used.
Otherwise, HTTPS is used directly with the back end.
The Gateway component can be installed on the AS ABAP back-end server, but for production purposes we do not recommend this. The Gateway should be deployed on its own ABAP server. Otherwise, performance conflicts could arise. The database for the front-end server can be SAP HANA, SAP ASE, or SAP MaxDB. The back-end server database is always SAP HANA.
The data can be exposed to the ABAP S/4HANA application directly from SAP HANA tables, but it is more likely to be exposed through CDS views. CDS views provide a business-ready view of the data, ready for consumption, and is a new approach to reusable data entities. The CDS views sit on top of the database tables.
Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
Note:
For more detailed information on SAP Fiori technology, follow the training courses with the code SAPX__ (SAPUI5) and GW100 (SAP Gateway).
SAP Fiori Application Examples
Figure 34: SAP Fiori Application Example: Monitor Material Coverage
A SAP Fiori application called Monitor Material Coverage supports the user in both getting an overview of stock availability (or material coverage) and directly navigating to the current material’s stock or requirements situation.
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Figure 35: SAP Fiori Application Example: Sales Order Fulfillment Issues
An SAP Fiori application called Sales Order Fulfillment Issues supports the user in both seeing an overview of the issues in sales orders and navigating directly to the documents, to solve the issues.
Search
Figure 36: Search
SAP HANA Search is available via Launchpad at any time. You can avail of the following functions:
Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
● Search the result list across all business objects
● Specify result list per document type
● Navigate to related objects, showing an object page of the document
● Navigate to related transactional applications to start maintaining the business object With SAP S/4HANA, a global search across all applications, business documents and master data is provided. By providing a search term on the top of the screen, the system starts a google-like search across various entities.
The search result list is structured along categories like business documents (for example, purchase orders) or master data (for example, suppliers). The search term is highlighted in yellow. Depending on type of search result, either the related object page is started, or the transactional SAP Fiori application. To facilitate providing correct search results, a preview of data related to the search result is provided.
SAP Fiori Launchpad
Figure 37: SAP Fiori Launchpad
The SAP Fiori Launchpad is a role-based, personalized UI client that enables users to access SAP Fiori applications side by side with established UIs. The Launchpad is based on SAPUI5, and can be used on multiple devices to leverage the responsive design paradigm. It can be deployed on multiple platforms: SAP NetWeaver Application Server (ABAP Stack), SAP Enterprise Portal, and SAP HANA Cloud Platform. The SAP Fiori Launchpad comes with predefined content to streamline implementation processes.
The SAP Fiori Launchpad is aligned with the two main UI clients: SAP Enterprise Portal (available) and SAP NetWeaver Business Client (planned). Alignment with the SAP Enterprise Portal is achieved by running the SAP Fiori Launchpad UX within the SAP Enterprise Portal (also known as the SAP Fiori framework page), while also leveraging established portal infrastructure and best practices.
Note:
Alignment of SAP NetWeaver Business Client for Desktop (NWBC) with SAP Fiori Launchpad design is planned for future releases.
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The SAP Fiori Launchpad can be visually adapted and customized using the UI Theme Designer. It is designed according to the simple and intuitive SAP Fiori user experience, while supporting established UI technologies (such as Web Dynpro ABAP and SAP GUI for HTML).
Role Concept
Figure 38: Role Concept
The assigned user roles control which applications are available. The applications are available for a user depending on the roles that have been assigned to that user.
SAP S/4HANA Sales Business Roles with SAP Best Practices - Examples
Figure 39: SAP S/4HANA Sales Business Roles with SAP Best Practices - Examples
SAP has created some tailored user roles within the SAP Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA.
These roles include the relevant applications to fulfil the main tasks of the respective role, for example: maintain master data, and create documents within a certain process. Examples of SAP S/4HANA sales business roles with SAP best practice include the following:
● Internal Sales Representative
● Billing clerk Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX
● Pricing Specialist
● Shipping Specialist
● Sales Manager
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Unit 2: New User Experience: SAP Fiori UX