Tell us what guides you'd like to have GitHub enabled

[je-hal]

Whenever we introduce the Open Documentation Initiative to someone, we get very positive feedback. Some customers want to have this new feedback channel switched on for all documentation on SAP Help Portal.

Well, it's not that easy. First of all, there is no automated way to do that. Second, the approach is also new to our authors at SAP, so each new team needs to get familiar with the process. Last, but not least, the Open Documentation Initiative is targeted mainly at developers, because for many of them GitHub is a tool that they already use.

The bottom line is that we focus on documentation for services of the SAP Business Technology Platform. It seems best to have a look at services with many customers (so that many can profit from this new option), and completely new services (so that improvements can be made early).  

What guides would you like to see GitHub enabled? Although we cannot promise that it fits into our schedule, it's always helpful what users out there need, and maybe it will help us to make a decision when we need to prioritize things. 

[amontella96]

hey @je-hal i'm glad i logged back in to my sdn account to find your blogs. lately I'm focus on cloud integration (on foundry) and theres some tweaks to make there in help. about it... Here is the guide that I wish you enable in GitHub: https://help.sap.com/docs/CLOUD_INTEGRATION/368c481cd6954bdfa5d0435479fd4eaf/3b55fa7b83874b5ca3b6b6b... talks about creation of BTP destination type RFC we should update from "Enter the details for the parameters <Name>, <URL>, <User>, <Password>, and select <Type> as RFC" to "select <Type> as RFC and enter the details for the parameters <Name>, <User>, <Password>" (RFC destinations do not contain URL) 🙂

[je-hal]

Thank you @amontella96! I'm already in contact with the right colleagues to make this happen, and we're going to do it. The only question is when we can get started with the onboarding.
Cheers, Jens

[DominikTylczyn]

Hi @je-hal 

I'd like to make a contribution to TM documentation on Outer Volume: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/e3dc5400c1cc41d1bc0ae0e7fd9aa5a2/e646bb8b70d94473994...

The update is based on the findings related to the OSS ticket 1128482/2023 Incorrect gross volume in freight unit items.

In general S/4HANA documentation and especially in the areas of EWM and TM could greatly benefit from the open documentation initiative. Are there any plans to have S/4HANA business applications documentation enabled?

Best regards

Dominik Tylczynski

[je-hal]

Hi @DominikTylczyn ,
thank you for your input.
We do not have a strong focus on SAP S/4HANA documentation, because we assume that GitHub is not that popular amongst business users. As an example, this administration guide in the S/4HANA area hasn't been getting any feedback since we enabled the guide in 2021.

However, there was a new feature released this year on SAP Help Portal for exactly that target group: Comments. As a built-in feature it's easier to use and also allows engaging directly with the responsible authors. However, there is no dedicated process flow for contributions like in GitHub using pull requests (you could still make proposals in a comment, though). 

This new feature is not enabled everywhere, but if guide owners decide to do it, it's a matter of minutes to do it. There was a high interest in the new feature amongst colleagues writing documentation for SAP S/4HANA, but I cannot predict how soon the guides you're interested in will use that option.

The Open Documentation Initiative was mainly targeted at developers from the very beginning. Developers that already use GitHub then have a comfortable way to report and track documentation issues in the environment they use already anyway. I believe for them the initiative will remain valuable.

Cheers,
Jens

[DominikTylczyn]

Hi @je-hal 

Thank you for your response. That's too bad - I hoped open documentation initiative and improvement proposals with GitHub pull request would be enabled throughout the entire SAP Help documentation. I personally like GitHub and think it is a very straight forward, clean process to contribute to SAP documentation. 

Anyway, comments would be a viable option too, if they were enabled for business applications documentation. Unfortunately, I can't find them on S/4HANA or ECC help pages. Probably, as you said, the comments are not enabled there. 

Do you have any process to request comments enablement on particular help pages? I'm sure SAP Help could benefit a lot from users feedback. Right now, there is no way to post one.

Cheers

Dominik Tylczynski

[je-hal]

Hi @DominikTylczyn ,

if guide owners enable the available feedback option is also a matter of capacity. And what I got as a key-takeaway from our CEI sessions with customers last year was: the longer it takes to process feedback, the less valuable it is for reporters who might struggle with something in a running project. That's why it's no use to simply activate it everywhere.

The comments feature is still pretty new, and colleagues here need some time to evaluate what it means for them to use it. I forwarded your post so that they see there's a demand.

So unfortunately, the only option that is currently available for you is this widget for anonymous feedback. Since it's anonymous, no one replies to your feedback (even if you leave an email address). 


Hope this helps for now - I expect that over the course of this year, more areas will offer one or the other feedback option, but I am neither aware of a roadmap (except for the open documentation initiative, which is my project), nor of a process to request "comments" for guides.

Kind regards, 👋
Jens

[DominikTylczyn]

Hi @je-hal 

I send a negative feed back on TM SAP Help pages asking to enable comments. Let's see if anyone acts on that.

Cheers

Dominik