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SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Upgrade Faster – Major shifts in SAP Fiori implementation

Jocelyn_Dart
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
‎2024 Sep 04 5:09 AM
8,535

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Upgrading your SAP S/4HANA is often a rare opportunity to shift your user experience fundamentals.  Knowing which shifts to make with your technical upgrade or post-upgrade simplifies planning effort and resources. 

Image of a forklift moving a container - Image source: SAP 

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In this post are some practical tips on timing when to shift assuming:

  • your source system is a SAP S/4HANA 2022 or lower, and
  • your target SAP S/4HANA system is SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 or higher

These are the major shifts in SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA user experience as at SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 or higher:

  • Move from standalone (hub) FES to embedded FES
  • Move custom technical catalogs from Launchpad Designer to Launchpad App Manager
  • Move launchpad layouts from groups to spaces and pages
  • Move to SAP Build Work Zone, including the optional move to SAP Mobile Start.

Hint: 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.

 

Moving from standalone (hub) FES to embedded (FES)

Important: You only need to do this move if you are NOT already using embedded FES. Most RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition will already be using embedded FES. If you are not sure, check with your technical team.

A very simplified diagram below shows the difference. Essentially:

  • With standalone FES your SAP Fiori front-end server is a separate server to your SAP S/4HANA server
  • With embedded FES your SAP Fiori front-end server is a software component of your SAP S/4HANA server

Jocelyn_Dart_1-1725417733779.png

 

RECOMMENDATION: Do WITH your technical upgrade

 

Why move to embedded FES as part of technical upgrade 

While the benefits are considerable, this is still a disruptive architectural shift. You will need to:

  • Add new components to your SAP S/4HANA server
  • Adjust sizing on your SAP S/4HANA server for the additional usage
  • Adjust configuration on your SAP S/4HANA server and Web Dispatcher
  • You may need to adjust some integrations, for example move standalone apps to SAP Build Work Zone
  • Re-deploy any custom-built apps to your SAP S/4HANA server or to SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)
  • Rework business-as-usual support procedures for security authorizations transports, maintenance, and troubleshooting
  • Retire your existing SAP Fiori front-end server

IMPORTANT: Standalone FES will continue to be supported in SAP S/4HANA 2025. Refer to the references below for official information. Embedded FES remains SAP's recommended deployment mode. Several of the rapid activation tools will not work or can only provide limited benefits in standalone mode.  Standalone mode also requires significant additional effort due to the dual system approach, for example, in role/user maintenance and OData/ICF services activation & transport. 

Refer to:

Embedded FES reduces system landscape complexity:

  • By installing the SAP Fiori front-end server (FES) directly on the (backend) SAP S/4HANA server
  • By applying strict release relationships between FES and backend server

Embedded FES typically reduces architecture costs:

  • Due to a reduced number of servers in the landscape
  • You also reduce associated operational costs, such as patching, managing transports, and managing security authorizations.
  • You should note that the backend SAP S/4HANA server may need to be resized to cover the additional frontend usage. Refer to SAP Quick Sizer tool and guidelines.

Refer to:

Embedded FES provides agility-at-scale by providing rapid activation task lists and other improved operational tooling. that reduce effort and speed up managing your SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA content. For example,

  • Task lists for setting up the Fiori launchpad, activating/updating SAP and custom content, updating security authorizations for custom business roles
  • Tools for managing content at scale, including launchpad app manager, launchpad content manager, manage launchpad spaces and manage launchpad pages
  • Simplified configuration, for launchpad features, for the user help provided by SAP Companion (and optionally SAP Enable Now)
  • Improved diagnostics and performance monitoring, via tools such as App Support, and STATS_FE

Customer experiences suggest that this shift is easiest to manage as part of a technical upgrade. Expect:

  • major impacts on your support team, particularly basis administrators and security authorization administrators
  • minor to moderate impacts on your business users, such as the loss of some personalization

 

How to move to embedded FES 

Option 1: Do a formal transition from standalone (hub) FES to embedded FES.

IMPORTANT: The guides  Moving from Standalone to Embedded Deployment in SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA and SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA - Rapid Activation Transport Move to Production Strategy have been updated for SAP S/4HANA 2023. 

Refer to:

Option 2: Consider setting up embedded FES from scratch.

This can be a good option that saves time, especially if you currently use less than 100 SAP Fiori apps, including custom-built apps based on SAP Fiori UX, such as SAP Fiori design, SAP Fiori elements, and/or SAPUI5 development.

You have the advantage of using new rapid activation tools immediately to set up your embedded FES to current best practices.

To migrate your current content, consider that:

  • Custom-built apps can be exported/imported to change where they are stored (i.e. to move from one SAPUI5 ABAP Repository to another, or using SAP Fiori Tools to re-deploy the app to SAP BTP)
  • Fiori launchpad personalization can be exported/imported.
  • There are some restrictions on moving app views (aka app variants) – read the Additional considerations at the end of this section.

Refer to:

Option 3: You can use a Hybrid approach that includes a move to SAP Build Work Zone alongside option 1 or 2.

This can be useful if you have a large number of custom-built apps, 3rd party apps, standalone (non-S/4HANA) apps), or SAP Cloud solutions that you want to manage side-by-side on SAP Build Work Zone.

Important: SAP Build Work Zone is NOT a replacement of embedded FES for SAP S/4HANA. Your SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA content must still be deployed on your SAP S/4HANA server and federated to SAP Build Work Zone via content exposure from SAP S/4HANA.

 

Additional considerations for moving to embedded FES

Considerations for your support team

Make sure your team is skilled up in the latest recommended tools and processes. In most cases, moving to the embedded server provides many opportunities to simplify and speed up business-as-usual support. For example, by using rapid content activation for SAP Business Roles and custom business roles.

Considerations for your business users

Set an expectation that some user personalization is likely to be lost.  There is some migration tooling for personalization however customer experiences so far suggest that almost always you lose some personalization. The degree of loss depends on the number of apps used, personalization features used, and the difference between your source and target SAP S/4HANA releases. 

Be aware that there some restrictions on moving app views (aka app variants), partly due to lifecycle shifts in how public views are managed. You may want to take the opportunity to downgrade public views to private views where needed. You can explicitly recreate new public views using Adapt UI. Refer to:

How to evaluate your current app usage

SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition and on-premise customers can find some statistics on your current app usage through SAP Early Watch. Refer to:

 

Technical Catalog Migration – moving technical catalogs from Launchpad Designer to Launchpad App Manager

Important: You only need to do this move if you have created custom technical catalogs using the Launchpad Designer on SAP S/4HANA 2022 or lower releases and are now upgrading to SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 or higher.

Customers starting on SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 or higher are recommended to use Launchpad app manager only.  You should avoid using Launchpad Designer.

 

RECOMMENDATION: Do WITH your technical upgrade

 

Why migrate technical catalogs with your technical upgrade

This is a minor technical shift which is quick to complete. Typical expected effort is a few hours to a few days, depending on the number of custom catalogs created.

Moving to the launchpad app manager makes business-as-usual support and maintenance of launchpad content easier. That is, the launchpad app manager provides features that support agility at scale, such as:

  • a strict alignment of tiles and target mappings
  • adaptation features to maximize reuse of SAP technical catalogs

There is typically no impact on business users, so it is difficult to justify the activity as a separate functional project.

 

How to migrate technical catalogs

Run the Technical Catalog Migration tool across all of your custom technical catalogs.

Refer to:

 

Additional considerations for technical catalog migration

There can be extra effort involved if you do not have a clear separation between your cross-client custom technical catalogs and your client-specific custom business catalogs. For example, if you have custom technical catalogs assigned directly to business roles, or if you have separated tiles and target mappings into different catalogs.

The migration tool will help identify catalogs that need to be adjusted prior to migration.

 

Interim measures on your source SAP S/4HANA release to minimize migration effort on upgrade

  • If you have a single-level catalog design, start to split out into technical catalogs (cross-client) and business catalogs (client-specific)
  • Only create new custom technical catalogs in Launchpad App Manager
  • Avoid rework by locking as many people as possible out of Launchpad Designer

 

Moving from Groups to Spaces and Pages

Important: You only need to do this move if you are currently using Groups layout mode for your launchpad and are now upgrading to SAP S/4HANA 2021 or higher. 

Customers starting on SAP S/4HANA 2021 or higher are recommended to use spaces and pages only.

Be aware that functionality and features will depend on your SAP S/4HANA release. For example, new My Home page is available from SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01.

 

RECOMMENDATION: Do Post-Upgrade

 

Image: Summary of Groups versus Spaces and pages with My Home - key differences and benefits as at SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01. Source: SAP.

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Why move to spaces and pages post-upgrade

There are significant, mostly positive, impacts on business users:

  • Provide lean, consistent, hierarchical pages that reflect your work responsibilities
  • More tile size options to reduce whitespace
  • Improved productivity - by introducing My Home for SAP S/4HANA with: ToDos (tasks and situations), Favorite pages/apps/insights, and advanced options to export/import your preferences and share them with other users
  • Improved personalization options, such as space personalization to hide/show and sort space tabs
  • User personalizations automatically merged with administrator changes, supporting process changes over time
  • Option for merged spaces or pages for complex business roles
  • Improved performance, as only the current page is loaded at runtime

Image: Key benefits for spaces and pages for the business user.  Image source: SAP.

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You have better process control by using spaces and pages to reflect desire work practices:

  • Reduced training for new recruits, because spaces and pages reflect job responsibilities
  • Reduced re-training for existing staff after process changes, because administrator changes to spaces and pages reflect process changes over item
  • For example, some customers use spaces, pages, and tiles to reinforce their BPMN process models. When processes change, layouts can be adjusted to reinforce the process change. This simplifies change management activities.

Hint: From SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01, spaces and pages include the very attractive new Home page. In other words, it is an obvious disadvantage to be using Groups layout from SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01.

Image: Spaces and pages in a nutshell - key features and behaviours. Image source: SAP.

 

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There are significant, mostly positive, operational impacts on administering security authorizations:

  • Spaces (and their assigned pages) can be reused across multiple roles, including composite roles
  • WYSIWYG editors and role-context preview checks to support role alignment
  • Administrator changes automatically merged with user personalizations, supporting process changes over time
  • Read-only report Overview of Roles, Spaces, and Pages that can be shared with business stakeholders and auditors
  • Where-used support in maintenance tools such as launchpad content manager

Image: Key benefits of spaces and pages for administrators. Image source: SAP.

Jocelyn_Dart_5-1725417733822.png

Step-wise user-by-user or role-by-role move is supported. This is definitely worth discussing with your business sponsors and stakeholders:

  • Stages are controlled by launchpad configuration parameters
  • You can use the “Enable Spaces” setting option to permit users to toggle between groups and spaces for piloting purposes
  • To speed up your move, you can use SAP delivered spaces and pages as a starting point; create your own custom spaces and pages; or convert current groups to spaces and pages via the migration tool
  • Turn on My Home for SAP S/4HANA early to promote productivity and encourage users to make the move to spaces. 

 

How to move to spaces and pages post-upgrade

You should consider how you will govern your spaces and pages design. This maximizes business effectiveness, minimizes rework; minimizes maintenance effort, and reduces training for business users. 

For example,

  • Consider who should be responsible/accountable/consulted/informed for administrator-controlled space and page content. For example, you may want your business process experts to take ownership of the page design.
  • Consider how spaces and pages will be updated as process changes are introduced
  • Consider how spaces and pages will be updated when you upgrade to future releases

You should discuss with your current business stakeholders:

  • Whether current groups are meeting business needs, i.e. are they worth the migration effort
  • Whether SAP delivered spaces and pages for equivalent business roles are an effective starting point for business needs
  • Whether a fully custom design is needed, and how to minimize the effort of this approach
  • Discuss whether the business should take ownership of page layouts. You have the option to grow this ownership over time. For example:
    • Initial review and sign-off
    • Proposing changes to layouts and testing them
    • Making changes to layouts as a key user (technical team would still have responsibility for transports)

For any custom-built spaces and pages, you should use a templated approach to the id, title, and content of spaces and pages.

For example:

  • Consider using space and page templates, where available for your release
  • Consider naming conventions for space/page ids for the administrator
  • Consider naming conventions for space/page titles for users
  • SAP delivered spaces typically include an Overview page for daily tasks
  • SAP delivered spaces typically include one or more pages named for regular business processes, e.g. Purchase Requisition Processing
  • SAP delivered spaces may also include pages named for seasonal or exception processes, e.g. Tax Declaration

 

Additional considerations for moving to spaces and pages

You should consider moving users step-wise to spread the migration effort over time.  You can use the launchpad configuration parameters to control default features. For example:

  • Leave your current groups as-is. There is no need to delete them. 
  • Technically activate the spaces features with your technical upgrade or immediately after upgrade, but leave “groups” as the default for all users
  • Turn on the My Home for SAP S/4HANA with its improved personalization/productivty options to encourage users to move to spaces and stay there! 
  • Move first users who will be assigned urgent new innovations.
    • For example, you can Enable Spaces settings option to enable users to toggle between groups and spaces while they get used to the new layouts
  • Defer moving users whose current roles have no or minimal changes
    • Consider a simple templated approach for these users
  • Once all users are moved make spaces the default.

Refer to:

Interim measures on your source SAP S/4HANA release to minimize effort on upgrade

You can start moving role-by-role earlier, if you are on SAP S/4HANA 2021 or higher.

You can technically activate spaces and pages in your current release, but leave groups as the default. This enables you to start to exploring the main features and review differences in your target SAP S/4HANA release.

Hint: From SAP S/4HANA 2020 it is technically possible to use spaces and pages.  However for most customers is likely to be too early as there are no SAP-delivered spaces and pages for business roles as a starting point, and only basic features available.

 

Moving to SAP Build Work Zone and SAP Mobile Start

 

RECOMMENDATION: This move is optional and can be done any time.  You may want to defer this shift to post-upgrade.

 

Image: Example screenshots of the entry page to SAP Build Work Zone and SAP Mobile Start. Image source: SAP.

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Why move to SAP Build Work Zone post-upgrade

SAP Build Work Zone provides an additional layer to:

  • Provide internet access to selected roles
  • Provide mobile access to selected roles
  • Provide external partner access to selected roles
  • Provide access across multiple cloud and on-premise solutions

Refer to: SAP Help - SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

You may need to consider commercial aspects, such as the use of your RISE BTP credits.

You will need to consider architecture and cyber security aspects.

You will need to consider current restrictions, such as which content can be exposed, and which content can be federated from SAP S/4HANA. Refer to: SAP Help - SAP Build Work Zone - Restrictions

  • Be aware that these restrictions change frequently so review the roadmap when making plans.
  • You need to review content exposure options and implications. For example, using Spaces and Pages versus Spaces and Pages – New Experience

Refer to: SAP Help - SAP Fiori launchpad - Exposing Launchpad Content to SAP BTP

 

How to move to SAP Build Work Zone

You will need to configure the SAP Build Work Zone site to support your use cases.

You will need to federate the content from SAP S/4HANA using the content exposure. Refer to: SAP Help - SAP Build Work Zone - Integrating Business Content and SAP Help - SAP Fiori launchpad - Exposing Launchpad Content to SAP BTP

You will need to test your configuration from multiple entry points including:

  • Different web browsers
  • Different device types
  • Different user types – e.g. internal versus external

 

Additional considerations for moving to SAP Mobile Start

SAP Mobile Start is an optional component to provide a native launchpad for mobile devices on Apple (iOS) or Android. Refer to: SAP Help - SAP Mobile Start

You will need to consider mobile device types supported and any current restrictions.
You should update your mobile device strategy to cover any impacts to your operations, such as procedures for deploying SAP Mobile Start.

 

Becoming a SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA guru

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

Other helpful links:

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

 

 

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