SAP FIORI for SAP S/4HANA – Top 10 Myths to Avoid

SAP S/4HANA and SAP FIORI together have created significant effects on the future headings of the customer’s landscape. The two products are deeply entrenched as various SAP FIORI applications run entirely on SAP S/4HANA. The implementation groups of SAP S/4HANA are getting a response from SAP S/4HANA projects through many customers globally. Using this feedback, they can know which feature is functional, so that the SAP S/4HANA journey can be carried out smoothly and efficiently for everyone. Although most of the SAP clients are using S/4HANA, there are still various myths about SAP FIORI in SAP S/4HANA that hamper the customer’s journey to S/4HANA. As a client, these myths and misconceptions are acted like an uncertain block that hampers your voyage for attaining the business goals for digital transformation with SAP S/4HANA. Due to this interference, the businesses can miss the project abilities and assets; also it will lead to unstructured planning and unnecessary wastage of time in raising and settling the problems through SAP incidents.

It is possible to avoid most of the myths about SAP FIORI for SAP S/4HANA by providing them attention in the project strategies and project team enablement. If the myths and misunderstandings are known to the customer, it will help them in estimating their S/4HANA project correctly and to set up a good project team.  If you get stuck sometimes in half of your project and come across any of these myths, this can help you to move forward and progress your attempts towards accomplishing better results. This article presents some of the myths that can be avoided during the journey of SAP FIORI for SAP S/4HANA.

1. SAP S/4HANA can be used without SAP FIORI: This statement can be true depending on the condition that you are fine with restricting the business significance deriving from the SAP S/4HANA solution. Because most of the business inventions of SAP S/4HANA, that carry out the best digital transformation benefits are provided in SAP FIORI, these benefits are:

• It offers innovations, like machine learning, improved automation and exception processing. The example includes stock in transit app with SAP Leonardo predictive analytics option.
• It provides awareness to action paradigm i.e. embedded analytics associated with the transactional processing.
• Altered business processes which are simple, more effective and providing a better occupational mechanism.
• It provides an innovative user experience which is more straightforward, easier, and quicker.

The customers can gain a few significant advantages without using SAP FIORI from faster analytics and SAP HANA database, but SAP FIORI provides you with much more benefits.

2. All the SAP FIORI and SAP S/4HANA user experiences are dynamic: This statement is false. All the SAP FIORI and S/4HANA UX are introduced as a component of the S/4HANA solution which required some initiation and arrangement jobs to be practiced. There are around a thousand FIORI apps for SAP S/4HANA crossways one forty business roles, but it is not possible to turn on all the apps within a single day. So during your digital transformation journey, so you can choose:

• Which business process and roles should be enhanced?
• Which app can be accesible for use currently and later?
• Which business users have to access which apps?
• The scenarios to use those apps and the device they should use.

The majority of that impact which application must be initiate, design, and test and the application which is of no utilization should be deactivated. This is to be done to:

• Lowers user’s risks of accessing the incorrect app.
• Lowers the risk of data experience.
• Decreases effort in testing and security administration.
• It decreases support and maintenance effort.

The customer can have to make some interrelated choices about how they want to run the app because it’s their system environment. They can run the system from anywhere or with their VPN or corporate network. If they wish to execute FIORI app on mobile or desktop.

3. For every SAP GUI transaction there is an SAP FIORI app: This statement is false. The SAP FIORI design principles are role-based, adaptive, reasonable, simple, and attractive. These principles cannot be provided with a renovation of SAP GUI. SAP provides every FIORI app which can be selected for design-led enhancement, and it includes:

• Intensely knowing the business role and background i.e. use cases, working environment, etc. to know about how the task can be made simpler,  comfortable and effective.
• A prototype with real users is created, to design a new app which carries out useful innovations or meaningful improvements; this provides you with the FIORI apps:

• That can divide complex SAP GUI transactions into multiple SAP FIORI apps.
• That can recompose particular structures from numerous SAP GUI transactions to single FIORI app.
• FIORI provides various options which were not possible in SAP GUI.

4. The visual theme of FIORI changes standard SAP GUI transactions and Web Dynpro ABAP applications into FIORI apps: This statement is not true. The FIORI visual theme performs well to extract the crash factor while traversing between the FIORI apps and classic apps. Though the FIORI visual theme is a successful renovation for classic apps, it alters only the presence but does not make any significant variations to the operation or performance of the essential SAP GUI transaction or Web Dynpro ABAP application.

There are over thousands of FIORI apps that are now available for SAP S/4HANA, but most of the business roles will still utilize some classic apps. So, it is required to set some business prospects such as:

• The classic apps are not confirmed on mobile devices.
• There are few other behavior inferences for particular features.

5. The customer has to select the apps, and they can arrange their homepage accordingly: This statement is not always true. If you want great user implementation, which is typically a key driver for digital transformation. Let’s consider an example, on the first day you want your business users to log in to the new SAP S/4HANA solution and then start working. This means that each business user can have a look at their home page and will create direct intellect to them. Thus, every business user can recognize the link which they require to get their work done without any reluctance.

6. SAP FIORI apps should provide provision for each feature from the correspondent SAP GUI transactions: This statement is false. The SAP FIORI design has a business job and assignment effort that succeeds all the design of many SAP GUI transactions, this means that not bringing the heaviness of each developed SAP GUI feature across to SAP FIORI applications. There can be some substantial differences from old SAP GUI transactions when it is required to introduce new digital transformations as well. Development of all the new FIORI apps takes time, as FIORI apps are built from scrape by utilizing a design-led development discipline. There is a roadmap for developing FIORI apps; this roadmap involves consideration about which app and feature will be delivered and when; this FIORI roadmap has to be updated every three months so that you can get the latest version of the FIORI roadmap.

7. The SAP FIORI developers from Business Suite or Suite on HANA are prepared to progress on SAP S/4HANA: This statement may or may not be true. Most of the developers who worked on Business Suite or Suite on HANA solutions have to make a high pace to change their awareness of concepts and their best practices. SAP ECC or Suite on HANA, to SAP S/4HANA 1809, i.e., ABAP Platform version 7.53, from any Database or SAP HANA 1.0 to SAP HANA 2.0. From SAP FIORI 1.0 (SAP UI5 1.38 and below) to FIORI 2.0 (SAP UI5 1.40 and above). To be very useful the SAP S/4HANA developers should have an awareness of:

• ABAP Development tools for Eclipse
• FIORI elements vs. freestyle vs. hybrid design
• ABAP Programming Model for FIORI
• Extension options for SAP S/4HANA
• Special features and common services

8. Everything will go running on mobile devices deprived of any additional effort: This statement is false. Well, it is true that FIROI Launchpad and apps are receptive to mobile devices and will be familiarized with the correct form factor mechanically. But it is already mentioned earlier that classic apps are not definite for mobile devices. So it is requiring considering which apps will be accessible to the same user on different devices. With the help of FIORI Launchpad configuration marks, it is possible to find the relevant apps for a specific device, and the not relevant app for the device are automatically hidden. There are a few strategic, functional, and technical considerations that influence how your business users will incorporate with mobile devices.

9. HANA means not ever have to do performance modification ever again: This statement is false. When a business is executing on a thin client web browser, bandwidth and network are critical, irrespective of the power of the backend database. Even the bandwidth and network become crucial when the apps are running over mobile devices. If the customers are using container apps for mobile devices like SAP FIORI client, or apps executing over a VPN or Citrix connection which can also be more complicated. There are alternatives that are firmly prescribed to consider. They are particularly:

• By utilizing the Content Delivery Network, i.e. CDN for the FIORI bootstrap file which is required by the FIORI Launchpad and each FIORI application.
• Avoid using compatibility views in the custom code extensions and developments, because they are realized execution drain.
• Consider utilizing SAP Business client for desktop bound overwhelming clients of SAP GUI transactions. This provides them with a chance for using SAP GUI for Windows for GUI transactions.

10. Assuming that the user experience is a minor and technical part of any SAP S/4HANA project: This statement is not correct. The people component should be considered equally important as business process functionality and technology. Thus it is required to include in the S/4HANA project plan, that how to accomplish the user experience goals. It is similar to how you are accomplishing your business process and technology goals.

Go through our SAP FIORI interview questions to crack the Interviews.

The UX architect or lead is responsible for driving the user experience in your SAP S/4HANA project. The UX architect may belong to either a functional or technical background. The UX architect must be people-centric, i.e. he has to focus on how your S/4HANA user experience is practically working for business users in their real working environment. Even the UX architect should be great communicators because they have to coordinate with business stakeholders, selected business users, the technical team, and the organizational change management team.

Apart from this, the below-mentioned user experience-related activities should also be included in the project plan. The activities are:

• The user experience enablement activities for the project team.
• Creating your user experience planning and governance for S/4HANA UX, which can involve:
• Digital transformation goals for user experience
• Launchpad approach
• Prospects for various business goals
• Technical and infrastructure
• Device and browser requirements
• Governance approaches for FIORI common features, like FIORI search, the App Finder, and user assistance help
• Coordination activities to select FIORI apps
• Functional configuration and optimization activities
• Governance activities around extension options and custom developments

Conclusion

The SAP S/4HANA and SAP FIORI together have provided various benefits to the customers. However, there are some myths and misconceptions about using SAP FIORI apps in S/4HANA projects. Due to these myths, the businesses may miss out on the abilities and assets of the project, which will also result in unstructured planning in the project. If these myths and misconceptions are known to the customer, it will help in approximating the SAP S/4HANA project and even to set up a better project team.

I hope that by now you have had an overview of SAP FIORI. Before you enroll in ZaranTech’s certification course on SAP FIORI &UI5, do check out the SAP UI5 and FIORI Tutorial for Beginners:

Happy learning!