Curious? Previewing the SAP Companion (formerly Web Assistant)

[KristinaKunad]

Hello SAP Enable Now Community!

There is a question that many customers have been asking me once they got going with the SAP Companion (formerly Web Assistant): "Is there a way to preview the next release?" Short answer - yes! This blog post will take a look at what is currently possible.

Some background information to start with. The SAP Companion release dates are independent of the major SAP Enable Now releases (which happen twice a year, see the release cycle info). Usually we see about one release every 6 weeks for SAP Companion, but it varies.

You can find the latest release information for the Factory SAP Companion release in the Infocenter. To make it easier for you, we have a section with release links on our main SAP Enable Now community page (scroll down to the expert section). If you want to stay informed, sign up for the SAP Companion Newsletter here.

The SAP Companion uses two landscapes, one is called Canary (preview) and one Factory (production). Each landscape has its own framework URL.

So if you want to set up a preview of the new SAP Companion features you need to connect your target application to the preview URL of the SAP Companion framework instead of to the standard production URL.

We suggest you use your target application test tenant/system for the preview of SAP Companion instead of the production tenant/system. Because production should be, well, productive, and the whole point of having a sneak peek is so that you know about the new features before your learners or end users do.

SAP Companion Preview

Now the only thing you need are the preview URLs, listed below. Applications where the SAP Companion is available by default and cannot be configured (like S/4 HANA cloud and similar systems) can unfortunately not switch to the preview URLs easily. Please contact your S/4HANA support to see if this is possible in your case.

For SAP Cloud Platform and SuccessFactors you can use the following URLs:

Release URL: https://webassistant.enable-now.cloud.sap

Preview URL: https://webassistant-outlook.enable-now.cloud.sap

For your SAP S/4HANA on-premise system you can use the following URLs:

Release URL Servlet: https://xray.hana.ondemand.com/xRayControls/resources/sap/dfa/help 

Preview URL Servlet:  https://xraycontrolstebofwk.int.sap.eu2.hana.ondemand.com/xRayControls/resources/sap/dfa/help/wpb/He...

Please be aware that the preview is a test release and is also used internally to test the release. It can be updated with fixes and it may contain bugs.

I hope this blog helped you to set up your SAP Companion preview and will make it possible to have a look at the awesome new features that are coming with each release!

Please leave your feedback and comments below and like if this blog helped you!

Take care,

Kristina

[Anton_Mavrin]

And here goes the first comment! Great post, Kristina! Especially, revealing S/4HANA Web Assistant preview URL, as it had been a mistery for so long….

[KristinaKunad]

Thanks Anton! Exactly, that's what I thought when I recently found out 🙂

[darwin22]

Hola Kristina, te felicito, muy buenos aportes en este blog, especialmente la funcionalidad de la vista previa de S/4HANA Web Assistant.

Gracias por los aportes

 

[DirkManuel]

What would the parameter be for S/4HANA cloud? (Specifically, I’m thinking about what would need to be added to the URL generated by the Web Assistant Link Generator)? I tried adding help-resourceUrl=… as above, but it declined to show the (?) at all…

[KristinaKunad]

Hi Dirk,

since we need to switch the framework server for this, it can only be done in the configuration and not via a parameter. The URL for the preview framework server would be the same as for S/4 HANA on-premise.

Take care,

Kristina

[Beatrix]

unfortunately I get a 404 Error when using  https://xray.hana.ondemand.com

could you might check on it?

 

thank you kind regards

Beatrix

[KristinaKunad]

Hi Beatrix,

thanks for raising the topic - I have replaced the incorrect URLs which have been updated recently. These new ones should work now. Please contact me directly if there are still any errors.

Take Care,

Kristina

[nicolesehrndt]

After receiving the latest Companion newsletter I wanted to check out the Preview in our SAP S/4HANA on-premise system. Unfortunately it doesn't work. The links in this blog post differ from the links in the info center (https://enable-now.sap.com/ic/wa/ext/%7Etag/published/index.html?show=slide!SL_6CDFB53AC05E0DA0). Which link is correct and where in the configuration I have to put it in? Maybe it would be a good idea to take over this information in the Companion integration guide (https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_ENABLE_NOW/502d46c81ecd4ce29cd29a7c47f1e057/47f091576dac101493dab7b16f...) in a structured way? Thanks a lot.

[nicolesehrndt]

A further question from my side: when will the new functionalities from preview will be transferred to production? In "general SEN" the preview instance is available for four weeks before it will be imported to production.

[peterpopovic]

Hello @KristinaKunad ,

as I want to configure the preview instance on our environment, I'm asking my self the following question: Which SEN Manager backend is configured with the "outlook-instance" once we are "playing" with the preview-system? Means on which workarea is the "in-app (auto created) folder and content stored? Can we access this content or is it just about "playing around" with the new features?

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Best regards

Peter 

[KristinaKunad]

Hi @peterpopovic ,

the "outlook" option for the SAP Companion only changes the server from which the SAP Companion framework is loaded. It doesn't change the other parameters like the base workarea. So it would use the same productive workarea as you other content, unless you specify it differently for the duration of the testing. 

Take care,

Kristina

[peterpopovic]

Hello @KristinaKunad ,

thank you so much for your feedback. Out of your feedback I unterstand, that when configuring SAP Companion for an application, there should be a config field where I can enter the prefered SAP Companion Framework. Either the "factory" or the "canary" (URL's mentioned in this note). But when I check the implementation guides, not all implementations have dedicated URL-fields for the SAP Companion framework. As a pattern see the implentation guide for SAP HANA Cloud Setting Up Manager as Content Server | SAP Help Portal. I can't see a field where to enter the prefered SAP Companion URL. Are not all SAP applications able to be switched to the preview-instance?
As example for integration of SAP Companion to SFSF I see the relevant field to be configured to the "outlook"-framework: Enabling SAP Companion for Custom Content | SAP Help Portal.

I hope my question is clear to you...

Thanks a lot again for your help.

Best regards

Peter

[nicolesehrndt]

Hello @KristinaKunad ,

i would like to re-post my question:

After receiving the latest Companion newsletter I wanted to check out the Preview in our SAP S/4HANA on-premise system. Unfortunately it doesn't work. The links in this blog post differ from the links in the info center (https://enable-now.sap.com/ic/wa/ext/%7Etag/published/index.html?show=slide!SL_6CDFB53AC05E0DA0). Which link is correct and where in the configuration I have to put it in? Maybe it would be a good idea to take over this information in the Companion integration guide in a structured way? Thanks a lot.

One further question: where can I find the companion version in Fiori?

Thanks in advance and kind regards

Nicole

[KristinaKunad]

Hi @peterpopovic ,

Indeed, not all of the integrated applications offer the URL field for SAP Companion configuration. This is due to the different implementation models and scope of implementation per target application which is decided on by the target application product team itself.

Take care,

Kristina