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Pretty silently, we went live with SAP Universal ID on SAP for Me, last weekend. During this year’s DSAG (German SAP User Group) congress, we have started to spread the news and excite first people for SAP Universal ID.
My quick explanation: It’s like the Apple-ID for everyone in the SAP world. You will be able to link your S-user and P-users under one ID and login to SAP tools just via this ID.
If you want to learn more about what SAP Universal ID is, I do recommend:
In general, what you can also read in the official SAP Universal ID page, the values of SAP Universal ID are.
In my own words, SAP Universal ID will help you in the following areas:
The major values now are:
Additional values will come as soon as additional tools beyond SAP for Me are connected. Next will be the SAP ONE Support Launchpad. Once tools like SAP community will be connected, this will also add values to P-users.
We wanted SAP Universal ID, like SAP for Me, to be available early so that we can consider your feedback for upcoming improvements. Both are currently in an open beta state. At the current point in time, our expectation is to end the open beta for both by SAPPHIRE 2020.
Be aware that some current facts can be a little confusing. I just experienced that over the last 24 hours, so I wanted to bring that into the blog, too.
There are currently two limitations you should be aware of:
Getting your own SAP Universal ID is a quite easy thing as shown in the 3 steps below.
Just let me summarize what you will do (which if of course also explained in the UI)
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
In the section “But what exactly is SAP Universal ID” above, I mentioned several phases to come. Let me outline a bit what these phases mean.
Phase 1 – (Authentication)
We are currently in phase 1, which is that SAP Universal ID is being implemented into key portals and tools of SAP. The new customer portal SAP for Me provided for us the best starting point.
Over the next months, we will add more portals and tools that will support the conditional login. Our focus will be driven by those tools integrated with SAP for Me. The next in our pipeline is SAP ONE Support Launchpad.
Phase 2 – (Interests and Consent)
Here we are currently in the planning phase.
Basically, the goal is to centrally store information connected to you as a person such as
I think we will be able latest by the end of Q1/2020 to talk about more details. Of course, the earlier we have more information, we are going to share it with you.
Phase 3 – (Authorization)
Also, in the planning phase is to provide a central authorization capability that satisfies today’s needs of our customers while considering and complementing existing authorization environments (e.g. S-User authorization)
Here we also need more time to share details, but at least I wanted to share the rough plan.
I hope this helps a bit to jumpstart with SAP Universal ID. Please just use the comment section of this blog to raise your questions or feedback. Obviously, SAP Universal ID is not a pure SAP for Me topic, and would close this blog by naming the two colleagues being the key contacts for SAP Universal ID:
All the best,
JJ
Chief Product Owner of SAP for Me
Twitter: @JJComment
What is SAP Universal ID?
My quick explanation: It’s like the Apple-ID for everyone in the SAP world. You will be able to link your S-user and P-users under one ID and login to SAP tools just via this ID.
If you want to learn more about what SAP Universal ID is, I do recommend:
The value for me, with SAP Universal ID
In general, what you can also read in the official SAP Universal ID page, the values of SAP Universal ID are.
In my own words, SAP Universal ID will help you in the following areas:
- Centrally manage your multiple S-User and P-Users and link them to SAP Universal ID (Phase 1 - available)
- Simplify your authentication on SAP for Me (Phase 1 - available)
- Simplify your authentication on other SAP tools (Phase 1 - coming soon)
- Manage your interests and consents centrally (Phase 2)
- Manage your SAP portal and tool authorization centrally (Phase 3)
The major values now are:
- Eliminate the users you don’t need
While generating your own SAP Universal ID to link your users to it, you might discover older users you don’t need anymore. Nice chance to get rid of them.
- Login to SAP for Me via multiple users through SAP Universal ID and password
SAP for Me supports SAP Universal ID and its account selector. Just remember one password and have access to through your linked users.Note: This is a benefit for S-users, as SAP for Me doesn’t accept P-users, yet. Linked P-Users will be displayed in the account selector, though SAP for Me won't let them in. This case will be solved once SAP for Me is using SAP Universal ID in the so called "native mode", later.
Additional values will come as soon as additional tools beyond SAP for Me are connected. Next will be the SAP ONE Support Launchpad. Once tools like SAP community will be connected, this will also add values to P-users.
Is SAP Universal ID GA or in a beta mode?
We wanted SAP Universal ID, like SAP for Me, to be available early so that we can consider your feedback for upcoming improvements. Both are currently in an open beta state. At the current point in time, our expectation is to end the open beta for both by SAPPHIRE 2020.
What are current limitations? [added Sep 20]
Be aware that some current facts can be a little confusing. I just experienced that over the last 24 hours, so I wanted to bring that into the blog, too.
There are currently two limitations you should be aware of:
- SAP for Me only supports S-users for login, by now
So, you can manage your ID and the linking of S-users AND P-users inside SAP for Me. But you cannot login to SAP for Me using the P-users. As we are in the middle of a couple of evolutionary steps in SAP for Me and SAP Universal ID, this is a side effect of the early implementation and will resolve over time.
- Other SAP tools must implement SAP Universal ID, too
If an SAP tool is not integrated with SAP Universal ID, it can’t support the login via your SAP Universal ID (mail address). So, you need to login to these other tools still with your existing S- or P-user. The number of tools being integrated will increase soon. So, also this side effect that leads to confusion at those early days, will resolve over time.
How can I get my own SAP Universal ID?
Getting your own SAP Universal ID is a quite easy thing as shown in the 3 steps below.
Just let me summarize what you will do (which if of course also explained in the UI)
Step 1
- Login to https://me.sap.com and login with your S-user
- Go to the user profile in SAP for Me and go to the “My Accounts”
- You will find the SAP Universal ID banner that invites you to start creating an SAP Universal ID. Just click the button and follow the instructions.
Step 2
- Once you are done, you will end up again in SAP for Me.
- Reload the page in your browser and you will see all your SAP Universal ID plus the linked S- and P-user accounts.
- From here, you can link additional accounts at any time.
- Logout and then sign-in again, to see the login screen and login with your SAP Universal ID for the first time. The account selector will appear.
Step 3
- You are now in SAP for Me, with the user account you have selected.
- Logout and login to use a different account. Note: Of course, in the very near future, the account selector will be embedded directly, to avoid logout/login procedure.
What’s next?
In the section “But what exactly is SAP Universal ID” above, I mentioned several phases to come. Let me outline a bit what these phases mean.
Phase 1 – (Authentication)
We are currently in phase 1, which is that SAP Universal ID is being implemented into key portals and tools of SAP. The new customer portal SAP for Me provided for us the best starting point.
Over the next months, we will add more portals and tools that will support the conditional login. Our focus will be driven by those tools integrated with SAP for Me. The next in our pipeline is SAP ONE Support Launchpad.
Phase 2 – (Interests and Consent)
Here we are currently in the planning phase.
Basically, the goal is to centrally store information connected to you as a person such as
- your interests in the SAP world that you want to be considered when interacting digitally with SAP through SAP for Me or other tools.
- Your consent to item like newsletter, mail communication and more.
I think we will be able latest by the end of Q1/2020 to talk about more details. Of course, the earlier we have more information, we are going to share it with you.
Phase 3 – (Authorization)
Also, in the planning phase is to provide a central authorization capability that satisfies today’s needs of our customers while considering and complementing existing authorization environments (e.g. S-User authorization)
Here we also need more time to share details, but at least I wanted to share the rough plan.
Who are the experts?
I hope this helps a bit to jumpstart with SAP Universal ID. Please just use the comment section of this blog to raise your questions or feedback. Obviously, SAP Universal ID is not a pure SAP for Me topic, and would close this blog by naming the two colleagues being the key contacts for SAP Universal ID:
- rosa.gast (Business Owner SAP Universal ID)
- cornelia.mitschke (IT Program Manager SAP Universal ID)
All the best,
JJ
Chief Product Owner of SAP for Me
Twitter: @JJComment
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