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Dear finance experts,
Sometimes you may be wondering which user assistance materials really exist, what they're all about and how you can provide feedback. So, let me give you a small overview.
So, what is it about? In the end, it's about you, the users of our product. User assistance is what we offer to support you in working with our solution. Even though the solution is built to be as intuitive as possible, some aspects are just complex. After all, we are talking about the financial close. Therefore, we want to give you some materials at hand, so you can find your way and find the information you need, such as the following:
And there is much more...
So, while some pages in the guides lead you through specific steps to achieve a specific setting or outcome, others are there to give you some more background.
You may already be familiar with the biggest parts of user assistance, such as the documentation on the SAP Help Portal, in-app help on the screens you're working on, and What's New information (on the SAP Help Portal and in-app). Even the labels on the user interface and other texts such as warning messages are part of a product’s user assistance created by a user assistance developer (also known as a technical writer) with a focus on making the product as easily understandable as possible. But did you know that there is actually more?
We also offer how-to videos, so you can have a more visual help. These videos are linked in the documentation. There is also a YouTube playlist with all our how-to videos.
Additionally, we also offer interactive tutorials where you can go through specific processes before doing these steps in your system.
And while we're on the topic of videos, we also created a highlight video summarizing the highlights released in 2022, and we have released a What's New video with each release this year so that you can get a quick overview of what's new.
Sometimes you may want to provide feedback. And we really appreciate that. Of course, we're quite happy about positive feedback regarding user assistance materials (remember, you might make someone - me - very happy with that) because it means we're doing our job right. However, you can also let us know where something could be better, we're always looking to improve the user assistance materials.
For the documentation, giving feedback is really easy. You can use the standard feedback option on the SAP Help Portal that is shown for each documentation page:
Since we can't reach out to you through this, just make sure to provide enough information. For example, if you didn't find what you were looking for, tell us what you were looking for. Maybe the information is already available, but I will know to add a link. If you're not happy with how information was presented, let us know what wasn't up to your expectations. There is a comment field where you can provide this information.
If you don't provide enough information, it can be quite difficult to figure out what needs to be changed.
For the administration guide, we have introduced a different feedback channel based on GitHub:
If you provide feedback, an issue in GitHub is opened. You can write your feedback and if we need to ask clarifying questions, we can reply in this issue. Find more information about this feedback process in the blog post about the open documentation initiative.
With this option, an Edit option was also introduced, which allows you to contribute to our administration guide. This action opens a pull request in GitHub. You can make changes and we check them. And if we agree with you, you can receive a badge for your contribution.
There is no integrated feedback channel. However, you can submit feedback by opening a ticket under our component.
For a more detailed introduction to the materials we offer, check also this blog post:
SAP Advanced Financial Closing: How to become an expert and stay current
For more information on SAP Advanced Financial Closing, check out the following links:
Follow us via @Sisn and #AdvancedFinancialClosing, or myself via evelyn.fromm.
Sometimes you may be wondering which user assistance materials really exist, what they're all about and how you can provide feedback. So, let me give you a small overview.
What Is User Assistance About?
So, what is it about? In the end, it's about you, the users of our product. User assistance is what we offer to support you in working with our solution. Even though the solution is built to be as intuitive as possible, some aspects are just complex. After all, we are talking about the financial close. Therefore, we want to give you some materials at hand, so you can find your way and find the information you need, such as the following:
- System setup
- Connection to your financial back-end systems
- Step-by-step instructions to set up and run your financial close.
- Concept information for more detailed information:
- The concept information is divided into four sections, covering background information about task list templates and task lists, folders, tasks, and some more general aspects.
- You can learn about how things work together, what a specific setting does and how it affects your workflow.
- Learn, for example, what happens during task list generation and release, how organizational unit folders work, what the difference between the dependency types are, how start date and time of tasks are calculated, and how tasks of the type Job are handled in advanced financial closing.
Overview Tree of the Concept and Settings Section
And there is much more...
So, while some pages in the guides lead you through specific steps to achieve a specific setting or outcome, others are there to give you some more background.
What Is Part of User Assistance?
You may already be familiar with the biggest parts of user assistance, such as the documentation on the SAP Help Portal, in-app help on the screens you're working on, and What's New information (on the SAP Help Portal and in-app). Even the labels on the user interface and other texts such as warning messages are part of a product’s user assistance created by a user assistance developer (also known as a technical writer) with a focus on making the product as easily understandable as possible. But did you know that there is actually more?
We also offer how-to videos, so you can have a more visual help. These videos are linked in the documentation. There is also a YouTube playlist with all our how-to videos.
Additionally, we also offer interactive tutorials where you can go through specific processes before doing these steps in your system.
And while we're on the topic of videos, we also created a highlight video summarizing the highlights released in 2022, and we have released a What's New video with each release this year so that you can get a quick overview of what's new.
- A Look Back at What Has Changed in Advanced Financial Closing in 2022:
- Highlight videos for the latest releases: Highlight Videos
We still recommend that you read the release notes though, since they provide more details and links to documentation.
What About Feedback?
Sometimes you may want to provide feedback. And we really appreciate that. Of course, we're quite happy about positive feedback regarding user assistance materials (remember, you might make someone - me - very happy with that) because it means we're doing our job right. However, you can also let us know where something could be better, we're always looking to improve the user assistance materials.
SAP Help Portal Documentation
For the documentation, giving feedback is really easy. You can use the standard feedback option on the SAP Help Portal that is shown for each documentation page:
Standard Feedback Option on the SAP Help Portal
Since we can't reach out to you through this, just make sure to provide enough information. For example, if you didn't find what you were looking for, tell us what you were looking for. Maybe the information is already available, but I will know to add a link. If you're not happy with how information was presented, let us know what wasn't up to your expectations. There is a comment field where you can provide this information.
If you don't provide enough information, it can be quite difficult to figure out what needs to be changed.
For the administration guide, we have introduced a different feedback channel based on GitHub:
GitHub-Based Feedback Option
Note that you need a GitHub account to use this feedback option.
If you provide feedback, an issue in GitHub is opened. You can write your feedback and if we need to ask clarifying questions, we can reply in this issue. Find more information about this feedback process in the blog post about the open documentation initiative.
With this option, an Edit option was also introduced, which allows you to contribute to our administration guide. This action opens a pull request in GitHub. You can make changes and we check them. And if we agree with you, you can receive a badge for your contribution.
In-App Help
There is no integrated feedback channel. However, you can submit feedback by opening a ticket under our component.
Conclusion
For a more detailed introduction to the materials we offer, check also this blog post:
SAP Advanced Financial Closing: How to become an expert and stay current
For more information on SAP Advanced Financial Closing, check out the following links:
- SAP Community Page
- SAP Help Portal (containing links to all guides, what's new information, how-to videos, interactive tutorials, and support information)
- SAP Roadmap Explorer
- SAP.com Page
Follow us via @Sisn and #AdvancedFinancialClosing, or myself via evelyn.fromm.
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