Overview of the process to amend business roles

Jocelyn_Dart · ‎2024 Jul 23

Executing a SAP S/4HANA upgrade means dealing with UX lifecycle changes, as explained in blog post SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – Managing app lifecycle impacts on users. To shorten your technical upgrade project, you will want to deal with these lifecycle changes as efficiently as possible. Especially when replacing obsolete or deprecated apps with their successors.

In the previous blog post SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – Why & When amend Roles with Obsolete or Deprecated Apps, you learned why and when replace obsolete or deprecated apps with successors. You also learned:

You need to amend your business roles in your target SAP S/4HANA release, where the successor apps exist;
What prerequisite steps in your source SAP S/4HANA release will shorten your upgrade time; and
Subsequent activities to complete in your target SAP S/4HANA release before you start regression testing.

In this blog post you will find a step-by-step example of HOW to amend your business roles. This answers another important question for upgrades:

What is the most efficient way to amend our custom business roles that have obsolete or deprecated apps?

Keep in mind that obsolete and deprecated apps includes both:

SAP Fiori apps ***and***
classic UIs such as GUI transaction codes, Web Dynpro ABAP applications, and Web Client UIs.

IMPORTANT: This blog post is relevant for customers running SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. For example customers running RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, or SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition tailored option. This blog post is also relevant for customers running the SAP S/4HANA product on other infrastructure such as on-premise server or hyperscaler.

Below is a quick diagram showing the 6 main steps for amending roles and the tooling needed.

You will find below:

Overview of the process to amend business roles
Tools you will need
Use case explanation for the step-by-step example
Step 1 - Find custom Business Roles that need to be amended
Step 2 - Find and add direct successors
Step 3 - Resolve and add indirect successors
Step 4 - Adjust impacted layouts
Step 5 - Remove references to obsolete and deprecated apps
Step 6 - Activate any additional services needed for successor apps
FAQ

IMPORTANT: Since you are most likely moving to SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 or higher, the example is focused on the latest tools available with SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01. Most of these tools have been available since SAP S/4HANA 2020 and some since SAP S/4HANA 1709, so if you are currently upgrading to SAP S/4HANA 2022, you can still follow much the same process.

Overview of the process to amend business roles

This is actually quite a straightforward process with the tools in your target SAP S/4HANA system. As you can see in the below diagram, the main tool you will need to do this efficiently is the Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific – transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CUST.

IMPORTANT: You only need to amend custom business roles and custom business catalogs. Only SAP can amend business roles and business catalogs in the SAP namespace.

Tools you will need

These tools are part of the Fiori Foundation Administration role.

Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific - Transaction /UI2/FLPCM_CUST

This is the primary tool for all business role and business catalog maintenance.
All role assignments are client-specific so you must use the client-specific tool.

SAP Fiori app F4512 Manage launchpad pages

This is the primary tool for editing launchpad layouts.
Hint: If you are still using Groups layout mode you can use the Launchpad Designer to edit your layouts. To reduce ongoing maintenance effort, as soon as practicable after upgrade, you should move to spaces and pages. Refer to Info Package: Making the Move from Launchpad Groups to Spaces (In SAP S/4HANA and in SAP S/4HANA Clo...

Launchpad App Manager – Transaction /UI2/FLPAM

This is the primary tool for technical catalogs where original entries for content are created cross-client.
These entries are referenced from cross-client technical catalogs

IMPORTANT: While Launchpad Designer is also part of the Fiori Foundation Administration role, this tool is deprecated should be avoided. Only use this tool if in your source release:

You created custom technical catalogs or custom groups using Launchpad Designer, that need to be amended for obsolete/deprecated content.
To reduce ongoing maintenance effort, as soon as practicable after upgrade, migrate technical catalogs and move to spaces and pages. Refer to: SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA - Technical Catalog Migration – Why and Getting Ready for Migration

You will also need:

Task List Execution – Transactions STC01 and STC02

Using transaction STC01, you execute task lists to activate services needed for successor apps.
You use transaction STC02 to review previously run task lists.

IMPORTANT: Based on customers experiences and feedback, using transaction PFCG as your primary tool to amend business roles during an upgrade can result in high efforts. The focus of transaction PFCG is maintaining role authorizations. The focus of Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific is maintaining launchpad content. You should use the best tool for the upgrade task you are executing.

Use case explanation for the step-by-step example

You have created a custom business role Z_BR_GL_ACCOUNTANT_SIMPL and some related custom business catalogs and layouts in your source SAP S/4HANA release.

Hint: This custom role was created by copying the SAP-delivered SAP Business Role SAP_BR_GL_ACCOUNTANT and refining the copy to reduce the content and adjust the layout to meet business needs.

When you ran the Upgrade Impact Analysis you noticed that several of the apps in this custom role are deprecated or obsolete in your target release.

In your target S/4HANA release, after your SAP S/4HANA software components have been upgraded, you need to adjust your custom role. You need to amend your custom role and custom catalogs to remove references to obsolete/deprecated content (apps and UIs) and replace them with their successors.

In the below screenshot you can see the role as it appears in the Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific showing the Transaction Status indicating deprecated and obsolete apps exist in the assigned business catalogs.

Step 1 - Find custom Business Roles that need to be amended

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager client-specific

Within your custom business roles, you need to find the assigned custom business catalogs with obsolete and/or deprecated content.

Procedure:

In the Roles tab, search for your custom roles.
Filter on column Transaction Status to find all custom roles with obsolete and/or deprecated content
Review the business catalogs assigned to these custom roles. Here again the column Transaction Status shows you which catalogs contain obsolete and/or deprecated content.
When you find a catalog that needs to be amended, select the catalog and go to the Catalog View to review the details.

Even Faster Hint: You can download the list of roles and/or catalogs that need to be amended to share the work among your team.

Step 2 - Find and add direct successors

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager client-specific

Procedure:

In the Catalogs tab, in the Content in Catalogs pane, review the column Transaction Status to find apps that are deprecated or obsolete.
Select the app row and then Other Functions > Show/Add Successors to find direct successors
If a direct successor is found, use the Add Tile/TM Reference option to add the successor to the current business catalog.
If no direct successor is found, go to Step 3 – Resolve and add indirect successors.

The screenshot below shows selecting an app in the Content in Catalog pane and then selecting the toolbar menu option Other Functions > Show/Add Successors.

The screenshot below shows selecting the successor app that was found, and using the Add Tile/TM Reference button to add it to the catalog.

The screenshot below shows that the successor app has been successfully added to the business catalog. At this point, both the deprecated and the successor app are in the same business catalog.

If all successors have been resolved and added to the catalog, you can go directly to Step 4 – Adjust Impacted Layouts. If there are apps without a direct successor, you need to resolve those in Step 3 - Resolve and add indirect successors.

Step 3 - Resolve and add indirect successors

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager client-specific + Upgrade Impact Analysis

If no direct successor was found, you need to check for indirect successors.

Hint: This is the step where you will need to call on the Upgrade Impact Analysis results that you ran against your source SAP S/4HANA release as explained in SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – Why & When amend Roles with Obsolete or Deprecated Apps.

Some typical reasons why there might not be a direct successor:

The app is no longer required due to process changes
You must choose between different successors depending on your process use case
The successor app is currently only documented in a SAP Note (please note SAP is working to include these as direct successors over time)

Example 1: An error message is shown when using Show/Add Successors for app F2741 in SAP S/4HANA 2023

The indirect was resolved by searching on keyword F2741 to find SAP Note 3081996 - Deprecation of SAP Design Studio Apps in SAP S/4HANA 2021 In the SAP Note, the successors are listed.

Example 2: When selecting obsolete app F1444 in SAP S/4HANA 2023, there is no option to Show/Add Successors

The below screenshot shows that when the obsolete app is selected, and the Content in Catalog toolbar button Other Functions is chosen, the Show/Add Successors feature is greyed out, i.e. not available.

This successor was resolved by reading SAP Note 2855790 - Release Information: Changes in SAP Fiori Content for Finance in SAP S/4HANA 2020 The SAP Note clarifies the successor app.

Procedure:

Check your Upgrade Impact Analysis results for advice on indirect successors., especially the Additional Information column with related SAP Notes explaining the successors. You will need to read the related SAP Note about the successors to decide what action to take.
If there is no SAP Note recommended by the Upgrade Impact Analysis, check the Simplification List of your SAP S/4HANA target release for further advice.
If needed, manually add indirect successors using feature Add Tiles/Target Mappings to selected catalog. Search for the successor, select it, and use Add Tile/TM Reference to add the reference to the current business catalog.

The screenshot below shows selecting the business catalog and then using the Content in Catalog toolbar button Add Tile/TM Reference to start adding the successor app.

In the screenshot example below, you can see the dialog Add Tiles/Target Mappings as References to Catalog <business catalog id> where you search for your successor app by id or name. Once you find your successor, you select the app then use button Add Tile/TM Reference to add it to the business catalog.

Even Faster Hint: You can resolve indirect successors in advance by working through the Upgrade Impact Analysis results.

When all successors have been resolved and added to the business catalog, you are ready to go on to Step 4 – Adjust Impacted Layouts.

Step 4 - Adjust impacted layouts

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager client-specific + Manage Launchpad Pages

IMPORTANT: If you were using Groups layout mode in your source release, you will adjust the layouts using the Launchpad Designer tool. As Groups layout mode is deprecated, you should aim to move to spaces and pages layouts as soon as possible after your upgrade project. In SAP S/4HANA 2021 to 2023, you can move to spaces and pages progressively role by role. Refer to blog post: Info Package: Making the Move from Launchpad Groups to Spaces (In SAP S/4HANA and in SAP S/4HANA Clo...

Procedure:

Select the obsolete/deprecated app then Display Usages in Pages (or for groups layouts use Display Usages in Groups).
If a layout is found, select the layout and open the layout editor. For example, Open in Manage Launchpad Pages.
Edit the layout to add tiles/links for successors; remove tiles/links for obsolete apps; and remove tiles/links for deprecated apps.

The screenshot below shows how you select the app in the Content in Catalog pane and use the toolbar button Display Usages in Pages to check where it is used.

Hint: If you are still using groups layout you would use the button Display Usages in Groups to check where the app is referenced in your groups.

The screenshot below shows the Usages in Pages dialog where you can see listed all pages in which the deprecated or obsolete apps is referenced. You select the tile and then choose the button Open in Manage Launchpad Pages.

Hint: If you are using Groups mode the Usages in Groups dialog is similar. You select the tile and then choose the button Open in Designer.

This screenshot shows an example of the age before adjusting the layout. The deprecated tile can be seen.

This screenshot shows the page in Edit mode to show how you adjust the layout. The successor apps are dragged and dropped from the recently updated business catalog assigned to the business role. Where tile names are very similar use the "i" information icon in Derived from Roles or the "..." icon on tiles on the page to confirm details. Use the "x" icon on the tile to remove tiles.

Considerations to keep in mind:

Optionally, you can keep the references to deprecated apps temporarily to ease the transition of users from the deprecated app to its successor. You can then remove the deprecated apps after your upgrade project.

If you choose this option, you need to make sure users can clearly distinguish which is the deprecated app versus the successor. There are a few easy ways to do this:

You can use different tile sizes to indicate which is the preferred app. You do this in the layout editor.
You can use different icons to indicate which is the preferred app. You do this in the technical catalog.
You can adjust the tile texts to keep users informed. For example, by adding to the deprecated app a tile information text “Retiring soon!”. You do this in the technical catalog.

In the screenshot below the obsolete app has been removed, the successor app has been added as a full tile, and the deprecated app has been reduced to a flat wide tile.

Even Better Hint:

Where you are referencing content from SAP technical catalogs you can use the Launchpad App Manager > Adaptation mode to safely override the tile texts and icons.

Refer to:

The below screenshot is of the Launchpad App Manager showing the Adaptation tab in Adaptation mode:

This below screenshot shows an example of the tile AFTER adjusting the information text:

You can also adjust the original tile texts/icons in custom technical catalogs in the Launchpad App Manager tool. You use this tool if in your source SAP S/4HANA release:

You created custom technical catalogs in the Launchpad App Manager
You created custom technical catalogs in the Launchpad Designer which you have migrated your technical catalogs in your target SAP S/4HANA release using the Technical Catalog Migration tool.

Hint: If you created custom technical catalogs in the Launchpad Designer, and have NOT yet migrated your technical catalogs, you should prioritize the technical migration for immediately after upgrade to reduce ongoing maintenance effort.

Refer to:

Step 5 - Remove references to obsolete and deprecated apps

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager client-specific

Once you have:

added successors to your custom roles, and
have replaced obsolete/deprecated apps with their successors in your layouts

You can safely remove references to obsolete and deprecated apps from your custom business roles.

Procedure:

On the Catalogs tab, in the Content in Catalog pane, select and remove references to obsolete and deprecated apps using feature Remove Tile/Target Mappings.
You will need to confirm the removal of each reference.
After removing the obsolete/deprecated content, check the Transaction Status of the catalog. If there is no more obsolete or deprecated content to resolve, the Transaction Status will be empty (blank).

The below screenshot shows an example of selecting an obsolete app and then, in the Content in Catalog pane, pressing the button Remove Tiles/Target Mappings to remove the app from the business catalog.

In the dialog Remove References from Catalog, you confirm that you want to remove the tile and target mapping of the obsolete app.

You should then see a success message confirming the tile(s) and target mapping(s) were removed from the catalog, similar to the example below.

Once all obsolete and deprecated apps are removed the Transaction Status of the business catalog will be empty.

Considerations to keep in mind:

If you have chosen to keep references to deprecated apps to ease the transition of users from the deprecated app to its successor, you must still remove any obsolete content during your technical upgrade. This is because obsolete content causes errors during role regeneration and user regression testing. Once you have transitioned to the successor app, you can use the same procedure to remove your deprecated apps after upgrade.

Step 6 - Activate any additional services needed for successor apps

Tool: Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific and Tasks lists for Activating Roles and/or Catalogs

You use transaction STC01 to execute new task list runs, and transaction STC02 to review/restart previous task list runs.

You can use:

task list SAP_FIORI_FCM_CONTENT_ACTIVATION to activate the delta services for business roles, or
task list SAP_FIORI_FCM_CATALOG_ACTIVATION to activate the delta services for business catalogs.

IMPORTANT:

There is no preference for activating by roles or by catalogs – the service activation is the same.
Only delta services will be activated.
Executing the task list for business roles, will activate all delta services for all business catalogs within the business role.
Optionally, in the task list for business roles you can ask to update the application groups.

Task: Activate services needed for successor apps

Procedure:

In tool Launchpad Content Manager Client-Specific, check the service activation status of custom business catalogs and/or custom business roles. From the Roles tab or the Catalogs tab, you can use the feature Check and Show Services to review the detailed services needed.
Review the ICF services, ODataV4 services, and ODataV2 services to check if there are any services NOT active – i.e. red circle icon
If needed, activate the delta of new OData services and ICF services for successor apps.
- From the Roles tab or Catalogs tab, you can select the role or catalog and then Activate Services to open the relevant task list.
- Alternatively, you can go directly to transaction STC01, select the relevant task list and manually enter the list of roles or catalogs you need to activate.

IMPORTANT: BEFORE executing the task list, refer to SAP Note 2902673 - Rapid Activation for SAP Fiori in SAP S/4HANA – Overview. Within this note, find and review the Composite Note for Rapid Activation for your SAP S/4HANA release and FPS. Scroll down through the note to check for any known errors/resolutions for related SAP business roles. You may need these to resolve any issues uncovered when running the task list.

Within the task list, select the package that will be used to capture and transport the activations across your system landscape.
Then execute the task list and check the log to ensure everything was activated successfully.
You can run Check and Show Services again to confirm everything is resolved.

The below screenshot shows the Services feature in the Catalogs toolbar where, for the selected catalog, you can select Check and Show Services and Activate Services. Selecting Activate Services will generate a new run of the relevant task list for the selected catalog or role.

Once your successors are activated, you are ready to move to subsequent activities a as explained in blog post SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – Why & When amend Roles with Obsolete or Deprecated Apps.

FAQ

My role is referencing a SAP business catalog that contains a deprecated or obsolete app – what do I do?

Copy the SAP business catalog to the customer namespace.
Replace the deprecated and obsolete apps as above.

Can I compare my custom business role or custom business catalog to a related SAP Business Catalog or SAP Business Catalog ?

Yes! Refer to SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster - More use cases for Launchpad Content Aggregator

How can I check if a successor app has dependencies, such as reuse apps, that need to be included in the catalog?

In the SAP Fiori apps library, find the app and check the tab Related Apps for any apps with Relation Type = Required apps.

Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru

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

SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – How to amend Roles with Obsolete or Deprecated Apps

Overview of the process to amend business roles

Tools you will need

Use case explanation for the step-by-step example

Step 1 - Find custom Business Roles that need to be amended

Step 2 - Find and add direct successors

Step 3 - Resolve and add indirect successors

Step 4 - Adjust impacted layouts

Step 5 - Remove references to obsolete and deprecated apps

Step 6 - Activate any additional services needed for successor apps

FAQ

My role is referencing a SAP business catalog that contains a deprecated or obsolete app – what do I do?

Can I compare my custom business role or custom business catalog to a related SAP Business Catalog or SAP Business Catalog ?

How can I check if a successor app has dependencies, such as reuse apps, that need to be included in the catalog?

Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru