In the old SAP Support Portal with its numerous applications, a point of criticism that was frequently (and justly) expressed was the need of multiple logins in certain circumstances. This was caused by the multitude of servers, both for content and applications. In your daily work, you often had to use more than one of them, and each would prompt you for ID and password.
On the plus side, this enabled customers and partners with several S-user IDs to work simultaneously with two of them: They logged on to a websmp1* server with one ID, to websmp2* with the other.
So how is authentication managed in the SAP ONE Support Launchpad https://launchpad.support.sap.com and its applications?
When you log on to the launchpad, a central system helps authenticate you: SAP Cloud Identity (SCI). SCI is also used on other SAP websites like SAP.com, the SAP Community Network (SCN), the SAP Support Portal or SAP Store. One of the benefits offered by SCI is
single sign-on: Once you are logged on to one SAP website using a particular ID – which is not necessarily an S-user ID but could also be an SCN user name –, you are signed in to others as well.
In particular, only one logon is required to use the new applications in the launchpad. However, please keep in mind that not all traditional applications have been replaced yet: If you open, for instance, a remote connection, you are routed to a websmp* server which hosts the legacy application, hence prompts you for your logon credentials.
Once all legacy applications have been retired, repeated logon prompts will be a thing of the past.
Even single sign-on can have its perils: If you are having
difficulties logging on to the launchpad, make sure that no session on another SAP website that also uses SCI is still open: Log out, close your browser windows, and perhaps clear all cookies.
If you are one of the SAP
customers or partners with several S-user IDs that you sometimes want to work with simultaneously, you have got two options:
- You can use different browsers, e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Apple Safari for different launchpad sessions.
- You can use your favourite browser, but open a second session in private mode. This allows you to work with two different IDs at the same time, which is usually sufficient.Apart from menu commands, there are keyboard shortcuts to activate private browsing mode:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer (“InPrivate Browsing”): Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows, Linux) or ⌘+Shift+P (Mac).
- Mozilla Firefox (“Private Window”): Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows, Linux) or ⌘+Shift+P (Mac).
- Google Chrome (“Incognito Mode”): Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows, Linux) or ⌘+Shift+N (Mac).
- Apple Safari: Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows, Linux) or ⌘+Shift+N (Mac).
Note: Piloting Program SAP ONE Support Launchpad
We invite interested customers and partners to a special piloting program for the SAP ONE Support Launchpad. In this program, we offer roll-out and feedback sessions where we present new functionality that has become available since the previous release, give an outlook and insight on what we are currently working on, and collect and discuss feedback and ideas with participants. Sessions are held every 6-8 weeks. All interested parties can participate without obligations. The only prerequisite is a valid Feedback Agreement with SAP.
In case you would like to be involved and invited to future sessions, simply send an email to my colleague
arno.helmling containing your name, S-user ID, e-mail address, and name of your company.
