SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Fit evaluation resources worth knowing

It’s been quite some time since we released blog post SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Best UX Resources for Functional Consultants.  Some recent experiences with our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition and SAP S/4HANA on-premise customers has confirmed it’s time for an update.

Evaluating a SAP Fiori app can be frustrating when you don’t know how to get started. In this blog you will find some resources worth knowing to get you started.

You will also find some general advice on questions to ask during fit analysis, and some checklists you can execute off-system (e.g. while you are your system is being prepared and installed) and on-system (e.g. once you have a sandbox in place).

Fit evaluation – a necessary step before using an app in your organization, just as getting an evaluation from a coach is necessary before taking part in strenuous exercise. (SAP standard image)

The topics covered are:

• Current best fit evaluation resources
• Fit checklists:
  • Off-System Pre-checks
  • In-System Checks – Basic Functions and Features
  • In-System Checks – Key User Extension options
  • In-System Validation Checks – Advanced Extension options
  • Good Questions to ask during Fit Analysis
  • Managing expectations during Fit Analysis

IMPORTANT: Looking for further advice on how to scope which SAP Fiori apps, features, intelligent use cases, and even custom use cases you should include in your fit evaluation? Then the  recommended reading is:

• SAP Activate – Introducing UX Value Goals for your UX adoption roadmap

Current best fit evaluation resources

These are a few places to get you started:

• SAP Activate
  • General advice on fit evaluation, and key user extension options
• SAP Best Practices Explorer
  • Process diagrams with business roles, and matching test scripts with the apps/UIs recommended for each step
• SAP Fiori apps library
  • List of apps and related configuration information
• SAP Help Portal
  • Detailed app documentation, extensibility documentation, feature comparisons, and information on intelligent use cases.
• SAP Community topic SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA
  • Blog posts and Ask a Question

And below is a quick summary of what to look for in each of these resources.

Where to look in SAP Activate

In SAP Activate you will find general advice on fit evaluation, extension options, and even how to shift users from SAP GUI to SAP Fiori mindsets.

You will find the Quick Guide to Evaluating SAP Fiori apps in the SAP Activate Roadmap SAP Activate Methodology for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.

IMPORTANT: The user experience advice in this roadmap also applies to SAP S/4HANA on-premise.

SAP Activate Roadmap Explorer highlighting the roadmap SAP Activate Methodology for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition

For a summary of ways to personalize and extend apps you will also find in the same roadmap Enhancement using in-app extensions feature map

If you would like to find other related UX resources, refer to blog post:

SAP Activate – Introducing the User Experience tag

Where to look in SAP Best Practices Explorer

Whether you are new to SAP, or just looking for some inspiration for how to improve your processes, the Best Practices explorer contains many process diagrams and matching test scripts.

Go to the website https://rapid.sap.com/bp and make sure you login with your S-UserId !

IMPORTANT: Logging in gives you access to the full content.

SAP Best Practices Explorer entry page highlighting the SAP S/4HANA best practices

For both on-premise and private cloud edition:

• Select the option “SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA on-premise”
• Select the line of business area
• Select your SAP S/4HANA release and country
• Then choose the process you want to review.

SAP Best Practices Explorer solution scope page highlighting where to select your country and release, and where to expand and select scope items for your process

Within each process you will find multiple resources such as process diagrams, test scripts, and task tutorials. Test Scripts are one of the best resources for fit analysis as they contain for each process information on the business roles, apps, configuration, master data, and even a step-by-step example.

Best Practices Explorer showing typical accelerators included for a scope item

Where to look in SAP Fiori apps library

Go to the website https://sap.com/fiori-apps-library 

On the entry page, you will find the link to the SAP Fiori lighthouse scenarios deck. This contains a tailored selection of the highest value SAP Fiori apps for customer’s coming from SAP Business Suite. They are a starting point to discussions of what is possible. The list is updated from time to time as new apps are added with new SAP S/4HANA releases.

SAP Fiori apps reference library highlighting the lighthouse scenarios link

Within the SAP Fiori apps library itself, the most useful main filters are:

• All Apps for SAP S/4HANA – SAP Fiori apps and classic UIs
• SAP Fiori apps for SAP S/4HANA – SAP Fiori apps only
• SAP Fiori lighthouse apps – the list of the current lighthouse apps

SAP Fiori apps library highlighting the main filters on the home page

Most useful sub-filters within the main filters:

• By Roles – template of curated collections of most relevant apps for a business role

SAP Fiori apps library showing the sub-filter By Roles

The most efficient fit analysis both off- and on-system starts by considering what is available for a business role.  A business role is like a completed jigsaw puzzle of what is available for someone who performs a certain job within your organization. That is, it’s not just a list of apps, it’s also the navigation points, features, and authorizations that go with them.

You can search for a role by name or technical name.

SAP Fiori apps library within the By Roles sub-filter showing the search area and where to select a role

Once you have a general understanding of the role, you can start to refine it to fit your real-world business roles by:

• Copying the role to a custom role
• Removing apps or features you don’t want
• Adding additional custom content or content from other roles

For more on business roles refer to SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Understanding SAP Business Roles. For more on refining business roles refer to SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Creating your custom business roles – the end-to-end process and video playlist

In the SAP Fiori apps reference library, within a role or within any of the the sub-filters, you will find details on each app.

Each app contains links to:

• App Documentation – in the Product Features tab
• Extensibility Documentation – in the Implementation Information tab
• Related Apps – in the Related Apps tab

SAP Fiori apps library – where to select an app and the main tabs in the app details

Additional links that appear on many (but not all apps) include:

• Solution Capability – typically appears in the Product Features tab
• Best Practice Scope items – typically appears in the Product Features tab
• Feature Comparison – typically appears in the Product Features tab

SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Not sure which app? Feature Comparison to the rescue

Where to look in SAP Community topic for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA

You will find the SAP Community topic page for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA at https://community.sap.com/topics/fiori/s4hana

SAP Community topic SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – top of the page showing featured blog posts

The SAP Community topic is an entry point to the latest blog posts, videos, courses, and other references for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA.  You can also ask questions using the Ask a Question link.

The main topic page holds a summary of the recommended starter blog posts for the main phases of deploying SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA.

SAP Community topic SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – further down on the page you see the featured links for the main phases highlighting the phase Activate and Explore

Fit checklist

Off-System Pre-Checks

These are checks you can do in the SAP Fiori apps reference library, SAP Help Portal, and SAP Best Practices Explorer. You don’t need a system to do these, so they are useful when planning your move to SAP S/4HANA or planning your upgrade to a higher SAP S/4HANA release.

Check	Reason for Check
App Description	View a high level description of the app’s purpose and intended audience (business role)
Best Practices scope item (where available)	Scope items in the Best Practices Explorer contains process flow diagram., test scripts, and task tutorials (where available). These give an insight into configuration advice, step-by-step examples of the process, related business roles, recommended apps/UIs, master data, and other considerations.
App Type	The App Type determines what in-app extensions are available and where the app is configured. For example, SAP Fiori elements apps support Adapt UI features, SAP Smart Business KPIs are configured in SAP Fiori app Manage KPIs and Reports
App Documentation	Review the detailed documentation – particularly note any mention of configuration options, and any related functionality that can be used with the app (such as notifications, workflows, situation handling, etc.)
Feature Comparison documentation (where available)	The feature comparison gives a summary of major feature differences between similar apps, and/or between similar SAP Fiori apps vs closely related GUI transactions.
Extensibility Documentation (where available)	Extensibility documentation can be found in: ·       The SAP Fiori apps reference library Implementation tab for the app in section Extensibility. Look for the link “Extensibility Documentation for this app” ·       By searching the SAP S/4HANA product assistance in the SAP Help Portal for the term “App Extensibility” The Extensibility documentation lists any available key user extensions and advanced extensions.  An app may have both types of extensions, or none. ·       For Key user extensions: An app may list the business context scenarios that can be used with SAP Fiori app Custom Fields and Custom Logic.  Example: App Extensibility: Process Sales Orders ·       For Advanced Extensions: An app may list frontend controller hooks or backend BADIs. Example App Extensibility: Manage Purchase Orders
App History (where available)	This lists any major changes between releases that might affect a now vs. later decision E.g. Track Supplier Invoices IMPORTANT: Changes due to upgrades in the floorplan are not included, e.g. new features export to Excel/PDF. IMPORTANT: In many cases, significant new features are only introduced with a Successor app.
Successor and Predecessor apps (where available)	You will find any successors and predecessors in the Related Apps tab of the SAP Fiori apps reference library. The successor app is the current app for this task.  Predecessor apps are earlier versions of the app, that were created for an earlier SAP S/4HANA release.  The predecessor app may or not be available for your SAP S/4HANA release, i.e. it may be deprecated or obsolete. If you are upgrading from an earlier SAP S/4HANA release: Where a successor app is available for your SAP S/4HANA release you should move to the successor app.  The predecessor app will not be improved further and may be made obsolete (removed) in a future release. If you are moving to SAP S/4HANA:  avoid using predecessor apps if a successor is available for your SAP S/4HANA release.
Required and target navigation apps (where listed)	You will find any required and target navigation apps in the Related Apps tab of the SAP Fiori apps reference library. These include static (always relevant) navigation links that you must include these apps in your scope to provide full usage of the app. If you wish to exclude certain apps you will need to check on your system the impact of excluding the app, e.g. is the card hidden? Or does the user get a message that this app is not included in the navigation? IMPORTANT: Dynamic (always optional) navigation links are not included. That is, many apps contain a Related Apps button or a list of links dialog that provides dynamic navigation links to all apps listed against a specified Semantic Object). You can find the Semantic Object of an app in the Configuration section of the Implementation Information tab in the SAP Fiori apps reference library.
Task Tutorial or Demo video (where available)	You can experience a touch and feel example of using the app. You can find these in the SAP Fiori apps library in the Product Features tab or in the Best Practices Explorer.

In-System Checks – Basic Functions and Features

These are checks you can do in your sandbox system or SAP S/4HANA CAL trial system

Check	Reason for Check
Does this app use a standard floorplan	Floorplans guarantee consistent basic functionality, behaviour, and personalization features. They often indicate typical configuration and in-app extension features. With standard floorplans you can shortcut fit analysis by focusing on app-specific data and app-specific actions. You can find the main floorplans and their features in the SAP Fiori Design Guidelines section Layouts and Floorplans
If app has filters, check Adapt Filters	Review default filters. Identify which additional filter fields are available. Confirm how the filter is used, e.g. text, date, value help, define conditions, etc.
If app has table(s), check Table Settings	Identify additional table columns available. Identify additional sorting, filter, and grouping options available. IMPORTANT: If you need to create a hierarchical list, check the grouping options carefully.  Grouping creates a hierarchical report – this often automatically includes totals and subtotals for numeric fields.
If app has chart(s), check Chart Settings	Identify additional dimensions and measures, and available chart types.
If app has cards, e.g. Overview Page apps, review the available Cards	Identify any cards which should be hidden (not relevant, not appropriate or noise). Identify any cards/links which should be added via extension. IMPORTANT: Depending on the app, visibility of cards may be dependent on authorizations.  Many overview pages provided Adapt Ui extension options for adding additional cards or adjusting features.
Check the available actions that can be performed within the app	Review the available buttons or hyperlinks. Especially check for any app-specific actions. IMPORTANT: Remember that: Actions are controlled via authorizations Undesired actions can often be removed via extensions, usually via key user extensions, such as App Variants.
Check navigation features	Review the available links and icons (e.g. Expand row icon “>” ). Especially check for dynamic navigation features that can be tailored with configuration and authorizations for preferred/additional targets, e.g. hyperlinks/icons that launch the list of links dialogs and Related Apps icons.
Capture the Technical id using About or App Support	The technical id uniquely identifies the app or UI. You can use the technical id to determine the list of apps to include in your custom business role(s). Refer to SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Finding the technical name of an app

In-System Checks – Key User Extension Options

These are checks you can do in your sandbox system or SAP S/4HANA CAL trial system

Key User extensions are changes made on behalf of other users by authorized persons. These authorized persons can include business process experts, central process governance group, change advisory group, or your IT team.

Key User extensions typically take minutes to hours and depending on the type of extension being made.  Key User Extensions are either/or:

• Made in the SAP Fiori app itself, e.g. using advanced personalization and Adapt UI
• Configured in a central SAP Fiori app, such as Manage KPIs and Reports, Custom Fields, Custom Logic, Custom Analytical Fields, etc.

You can find a list of the central configuration apps in blog post Refer to: SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Yes you need SAP Fiori to Configure, Adapt and Extend SAP S/4HANA

Key User Extensions are persevered on upgrade of your SAP S/4HANA system. They have very few other TCO (total cost of operation) costs. Even these costs are minor (minutes to hours). Examples of typical additional configuration costs needed are:

• Update of a launchpad content entries and
• Assignment of App Variants to roles.

Key user extensions do have a few prerequisites, including:

• Set up of the Adaptation Transport Organizer in transaction S_ATO_SETUP, and
• Some SAP Fiori apps will need to be available to your IT team to manage transports, e.g. Register Extensions for Transport, Extensibility Inventory.

Refer to: SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Yes you need SAP Fiori to Configure, Adapt and Extend SAP S/4HANA

Check	Reason for Check
Does this app provide Views for filter, table, or chart settings	Save preferred settings for all users. Save role-specific preferred settings (from SAP S/4HANA 2021).
Does this app provide Adapt UI extension options	Adapt UI lets you add, remove, rename, and reorganize fields, sections, cards, actions and other features. Control visibility of optional fields – both standard SAP and custom fields (added with SAP Fiori app Custom Fields) Adapt UI lets you create App Variants – role-specific variants of the app with preset adjusted features. App Variants must be added to launchpad content, then assigned to users via their business role before they can used. This is a similar process to any other app, i.e. create the cross-client Launchpad App Descriptor Item (aka tile/target mapping combination), reference it in a client-specific business catalog, which is the assigned to a business role that is assigned to the user.
Does this app provide Custom Fields	Identify additional table columns available, identify additional sorting, filter, and grouping
Is this a classic UI that can be adjusted with SAP Screen Personas	You can add/hide/reorganize fields and features on most SAP GUI transactions and Web Dynpro screens. Hint: SAP Screen Personas provides similar capabilities to Adapt Ui in SAP Fiori, however SAP Screen Personas applies to classic UIs only. In SAP Screen Personas you create Flavors – which are role-specific variants of classic UIs. These are typically applied to the classic UI by copying the original Launchpad App Descriptor Item (aka tile/target mapping combination), and adding a parameter specifying the flavor id. In other words, Flavors must be added to the launchpad content, then assigned to users via their business role before they can used.
For analytics, know where to adjust the KPI or Report	Tiles that show KPIs and drilldown reports are managed in SAP Fiori app Manage KPIs and Reports.
What additional capabilities can be used with this app/process?	Workflow, notifications, situations etc. are typically mentioned in the App Documentation for the app.

You can find a quick example of how to use Adapt UI on the openSAP microlearning platform:

Adapting the UI of List Report Apps – SAP S/4HANA User Experience

If you need to create custom analytics, you should enroll self-paced in the openSAP course:

OpenSAP course: SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics – week 2

• Unit 1: Analytics specialist – Role overview and details on the View Browser
• Unit 2: Custom CDS Views app and creating a data source
• Unit 3: Creating an analytical query
• Unit 4: Creating a multidimensional report and date functions
• Unit 5: Creating a KPI and a report
• Unit 6: Creating an embedded SAP Analytics Cloud story

In-System Checks – Advanced Extension Options

IMPORTANT: As per the keep the core clean mantra, and to minimize effort, you should look to use a Key User Extension first, before even considering an advanced extension. 

Advanced extensions require development skills and knowledge.  They typically take days to weeks and need to be planned carefully.

Advanced extensions can have considerable have ongoing TCO costs – e.g. transport and regression testing on upgrade – somewhat similar to creating a custom app or UI.

Check	Reason for Check
Is this app supported by in-app extensions?	If the app supports key user extensions via Adapt UI, then more advanced extensions are possible
Does this app use CDS Views that can be extended?	You can add additional fields (and associations to related data) through a technical extension of the CDS View.
Does this app provide extension hooks?	If the app’s Extensibility Documentation mentions any hooks or adaptation project options, then a developer can use these to add additional features. You must read the Extensibility Documentation carefully to understand what types of extensions are supported.

You can find more on understanding when to use key user versus advanced extensions for analytics in:

Analytics in S/4HANA – real shape of embedded analytics and beyond embedded analytics

And on how to extending CDS Views in:

Example: Custom CDS View using predefined Virtual Data Model and Extend View in S/4HANA

Good Questions to ask during Fit Analysis

These are business questions that guide your thinking in how to deploy your user experience.

Question	Why you should ask this question
What triggers this task for the user… How do they know they should start it?	This helps you understand what information the user has available to them when they start the task.  It also gives you some idea of the user’s mindset – is this an urgent task or an everyday activity?
Where should the user start the task?	The best place to start a task is not always an app. Search, notifications, situations, or workflows can be better alternatives, especially for occasional (when needed) or urgent (asap) tasks.
How does the user get to the next step?	Is there a navigation link or button they can use? Worth considering: If not could an additional navigation be added, e.g. using dynamic link options on Related Apps buttons or list of link dialogs.
How does the user know they have reached the end – what tells them it is done?	The end of the task should be clear so the user gets some closure and can confidently move on to other work. For example, a success message, something created, a status change, a situation marked as resolved or dismissed.
How does the user handle interruptions (stop / restart) and how?	How can they find what they were working on and restart it? Is this via an app or Search or a notification or something else?
Could this task be automated?	Look for mass change apps and robotic process automation options
How frequent is the task? How important?	Is it an entry task that needs to be on a launchpad page?
What should we optimize to encourage high productivity?	Are there any default values or views we can preset? Are there any workflows or situations that would smooth the flow?

Managing Expectations during Fit Analysis

Know your alternatives for managing the most common expectations.

Typical Gap Statement	Know your alternatives in SAP Fiori
We need to minimize data entry	For commonly used values across many apps, review the available User Defaults in User Actions/Profile menu >  Settings For filters create public or role-specific views to preset default values
We need want to pre-set the display to minimize personalizations	Views can be used for filters, tables, and charts To preset filters, tables, and charts for multiple users, create public or role-specific views
We need to know asap when …	Check for notification options. These can come from notification provider class, a situation handling scenario, a workflow notification, subscription to a Smart Business KPI tile, etc,
We need a regular report	Consider using an Analytical app, such as a Smart Business KPI tile/report, Multidimensional report, Analytical List page, or Overview Page Or create your own report e.g. using SAP Fiori apps Manage KPIs and Reports or Custom Analytical Queries . Lesser options: tile counts – it can be better to centrally create a custom tile in your role if multiple users want it. However be careful! The tile count comes from an OData Service call on the tile itself.
We need download to MS Excel	Download to spreadsheet is included as a standard feature in apps that use the List Report and Analytical List Page floorplans
We need upload from MS Excel	Check for apps with Import or Upload in the name
Others….?	< Feel free to suggest what else we can add here in the comments of this blog!>

Find out more…  

Below are some other references you may find helpful:

SAP Fiori Launchpad objects, tools and content evaluation

Understanding the difference between local SAP S/4HANA launchpad, SAP Launchpad service and SAP Work Zone.

SAP Launchpad service and SAP Work Zone: Frequently Asked Questions

Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru

You’ll find much more on the community topic page for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA

Other helpful links in the SAP Community:

• Follow our tag SAP S/4HANA RIG for more from the SAP S/4HANA Customer Care and RIG
• See all questions and answers about SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA
• Follow SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANAfor more blogs and updates
• Ask a Question about SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA

Brought to you by the SAP S/4HANA Customer Care and RIG.