SAP Business ByDesign Mobile Strategy – Way Forwar...

pramod_sidlaghattajaiprak · ‎2022 Feb 23

We at SAP Business ByDesign always strive to serve our mid-market customers in the best possible way so that they can run their businesses smoothly. In this regard, there has always been a significant emphasis on bringing the powerful features of the solution to mobile devices.

SAP Business ByDesign currently offers support to five mobile apps – SAP Business ByDesign Mobile, SAP Manager Approvals, SAP Time Recording, SAP Project to Go and SAP Project Cockpit.

Recently, there have been adjustments to the SAP Business ByDesign mobile strategy to simplify access to desired features on smartphones for customers and enable SAP to innovate faster. We strongly believe that focusing our energies on improving one central app would help us in achieving these objectives.

Announcement

SAP has decided to focus on the SAP Business ByDesign Mobile app (iOS | Android) to access SAP Business ByDesign features on smartphones from August 2022 onwards. The decision is based on careful consideration of factors such as user adoption, customer feedback and growth potential.

Benefits

No more juggling among apps. Users can access all the desired features in one app – SAP Business ByDesign Mobile where business processes are streamlined

SAP can focus on delivering newer features to one app, rather than multiple apps. This helps in bringing innovations faster to the market

Consequences

After 1st May 2022, it will no longer be possible to download and install the SAP Project to Go (iOS | Android) and SAP Project Cockpit (iOS) from the app stores

After 1st August 2022, it will no longer be possible to download and install the SAP Manager Approvals (iOS | Android) and SAP Time Recording (iOS | Android) from the app stores

Existing installations on devices might still work if they are supported by the mobile operating systems. But it will not be possible to reinstall or update the apps anymore

We recommend removing the installations from all devices and switching to the proposed alternatives

Alternatives

SAP Manager Approvals and SAP Time Recording

The central SAP Business ByDesign Mobile app has made it possible for the users to access all the features of the two apps via its Manager Approvals and Time Recording tiles. We have noticed a steady increase in the usage of these two tiles signaling that they are now the preferred way to access the features offered by the individual apps. We recommend you switch to the SAP Business ByDesign mobile app as soon as possible.

SAP Project to Go and SAP Project Cockpit

Most of our customers are already using the Projects feature on the standard desktop UI (available for tablets and desktop devices) and the Project Time Recording feature in the SAP Business ByDesign Mobile app (Time Recording tile) on smartphones. We recommend you switch to these alternatives as soon as possible.

We are listening

Do you have questions or remarks? If yes, then please reach out to us via regular channels or by commenting below. We would look forward to receiving your feedback.

mariana_prusorova · ‎2022 Apr 19

Hi Pramod,

There is one feature in the App SAP Project to Go we are going to miss:

Our client's employees record times for projects using the mobile app. For some project tasks they are assigned to more then one service.

It is fine that the first service is preloaded in the app, but when the employee starts a second WT entry and wants to choose the second service he has to search for it.

In Project to Go the list is limited to the services available in the project. But in SAP ByD Mobile the employee has to scroll through all available services in the company.

Hope that you consider this for the future releases!

Best regards,

Mariana

Simon-Dismore · ‎2022 May 05

Are you saying that Launchpad > Start Project Cockpit is being deprecated too?

Thanks for feedback.

ricardobastiaan · ‎2022 May 30

Hi Pramod,

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but couldn't find a better alternative.

In our business we want to use ByD Mobile for the first time and for now aiming at approvals.

The one thing that bothers me is that I cannot switch language. It always comes up in Dutch and our business is run in English. So our standard language (also in the web version) is English.

Am I missing a configuration somewhere or isn't it possible (yet) with ByD Mobile?

ChristianBöhrer · ‎2022 Jun 24

Hi Ricardo,

Thanks for your interest in ByD Mobile. We intentionally try to keep our mobile app as easy to use as possible. Hence the device's language is the leading language for the mobile app and currently there are no plans to add a language configuration option. A similar improvement request (https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/236978/) has received limited support by other ByD Mobile users and not reached the minimum voting threshold required for development.

Nevertheless I hope you will enjoy using ByD Mobile to streamline your approval processes.

Regards,
Christian

ChristianBöhrer · ‎2022 Jun 25

Hi Simon.

Indeed SAP Project Cockpit could be launched from the desktop user interface under Project Management > Common Tasks > Start Project Cockpit or as shortcut tile on the launchpad. This was mainly intended to enable project leads to access their projects on iOS and Android tablet browsers as long as the desktop user interface was not touch-enabled. Since the desktop user interface is touch-enabled, we focus our investments on improving the standard desktop user interface which can be used on both tablet and other touch-enabled devices such as laptops alike.

Regards,
Christian

easinow · ‎2022 Jul 27

Hi

We have identified a flaw in switching from the currently used apps to the all in one solution, the access rights between the desktop tenant and the mobile app aren't mirroring, For example a user that only has access to record time in ByD also has access to claim personal expenses in the app, in this scenario my customer use an external system to create expense reports so this could be quite catastrophic if their field users started claiming expenses through the app.

SAP development team are working on a hotfix currently which can hopefully be deployed by the end of the week/month.

Regards

Nik.

ChristianBöhrer · ‎2022 Nov 23

Hi Nik.

Thanks for your feedback. In general access rights maintained for the desktop tenant are reflected in the ByD Mobile app. The small gap in self-services for customers, who are not using the in-built ByD capabilities in the 'Home' area of the mobile launchpad, has been closed as well.

Regards,
Christian

former_member792028 · ‎2023 Apr 04

Hi Pramod,

Can we access "Project Cockpit" under common task in project management if we login from web browser or is it available only in mobile application?

Regards,

Harsha

ChristianBöhrer · ‎2023 Apr 05

Hi Harsha.

"Project Cockpit" is no longer available. Previously it could be launched both from the web browser under Project Management > Common Tasks > Start Project Cockpit and as standalone mobile application. This enabled project leads to access their projects on iOS and Android tablet browsers and was mainly relevant as long as the desktop user interface (incl. the "Project Management" work center) was not touch-enabled. Since the desktop/web browser user interface is meanwhile touch-enabled, we focus our investments on improving the standard web browser user interface which can be used on both tablet and other touch-enabled devices such as laptops alike.

Regards,
Christian