The Cloud for Customer solution offers 2 tools for customer extensions and UI adaptations:
- Key User Tools (KUT)–It is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) tool which can be used by IT
administrators to extend the C4C application via the browser without any
coding. The adaptations are valid not just for the desktop version of the
application but are immediately available for the mobile apps as well which greatly reduces implementation
effort compared to traditional app extension mechanisms.
- It allows adding new fields and queries. Changing
field properties like visibility, whether it is mandatory and/or read-only for
any field. It allows moving around and hiding tabs, fields, adding new sections
etc., with easy drag and drop controls. - It allows creation of “Master Layout” and “Page
Layout” for the C4C screens. The adaptations in the master layout affect all
users of the system. Page layouts can be assigned to specific business roles or
business process and can help define what user interface is seen by a
particular user group assigned to the business role - “Code List Restrictions” help to setup dependency of a value in a dropdown field
based on another field (control field), it also allows you to restrict the
values based on business role. This provides great flexibility to design
dependency between dropdown fields based on logged on user. - “Workflow Rules” can be defined per object which helps in sending notifications to
appropriate people when rule based data changes occur in an object. Update of
fields and calling actions based on conditions is also supported. - Using the “Language Adaptation” feature it is possible to change the terminology used in C4C to
suit your needs by changing the text of field labels, value helps and messages.
This is of immense values when your user base is familiar with terms different
from the ones used in C4C. Example, in healthcare, “Accounts” would be referred
to as “Patients”. - Via the “Custom Object Builder”, it is possible to model new business objects without worrying
about the technical infrastructure. The system generates the user interface (both desktop and tablet),
data sources (for analytics) and web services (for integration and consumption) for the custom objects,
thereby drastically bringing down implementation effort.
Information Links and Videos:
SCN Blog post on Creating Dynamic Screen Layouts:
http://scn.sap.com/community/cloud-for-customer/blog/2014/05/28/creating-dynamic-screen-layouts-in-s...
Adapting the Cloud for Customer Home Page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFj4aUkWAtI&feature=youtu.be
KUT info in the Cloud for Customer Admin Guide:
http://help.sap.com/cloud4customer?current=on-demand > Administrator Guide > Business Flexibility chapter
Administrator UI adaptation example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP7oLXy5pwk
2. SAP Cloud Applications Studio – It is a Software Development Kit (SDK) for enhancing
the functional capabilities of Cloud for Customer to fulfill customer
requirements, legal requirements or industry best practices. It is a
modification free method to enhance the application and provides support for
desktops and mobile versions of the app.
- It provides an “Integrated Development Environment(IDE)” based on MS Visual Studio
which among other feature allows enhancement of standard objects, creating new objects and provides a
wizard based approach to define UIs, forms, reports, workflows, web services
and business configuration.
b. It provides “UI Designer” which allows extension of Cloud for Customer standard UIs
and allows creation of new custom UIs.
c. It supports “mobile out of the box” with the same development environment being
used for desktop and mobile. This also incudes the” analytics” defined on the custom
objects associated with the standard content.
d. Support for “web services” to communicate (both Consumption and Provision)with
other SAP LOB Solutions or Cloud Solutions.
e. Support for “lifecycle management” in a customer environment which typically includes development
in a test tenant and then deployment in a productive tenant. Supports lifecycle for the Multi
customer solution where the solution after the development shall go through the
certification process before getting published in the SAP store.
Information Links and Videos:
SCN Community:
https://scn.sap.com/community/business-bydesign/studio
Best Practice Videos:
http://scn.sap.com/community/business-bydesign/studio/blog/2014/04/10/cloud-applications-studio-shor...
Product Documentation:
https://help.sap.com/studio_cloud
Studio Training (Select your country and search for ‘SAP Cloud Applications Studio’ or C4C30):
https://training.sap.com/us/en/
