SAP Asset Performance Management 2202 was our first release for the rules engine, and for the 2205 version we made some usability enhancements which hopefully make it a bit easier to create and edit rules. Here is an overview of what we did:
More filter options to find technical objects
Per some customer requests we have added more filter options when pulling together the technical objects for a rule. You can now also filter by:
- Sort field
- Superior functional location
- Superordinate equipment
- Planning plant
Filter value help with search function
When you use the value help functions for the filter fields, and the value help is in a pop-up, you now have a handy search field at the top, to more quickly find the value you are looking for:
Viewing the data in the rule data set when rule is released
When a rule is released and thus in a read-only state, you can now see the data items in the data set. The system shows a "View Details" button, and when the rule status is changed to an editable status, the "Edit" button becomes active:
Improved performance
We made several tweaks to the back-end of the rules engine, and now the saving of a rules data set and the releasing of a calculation rule should be about 1/3 of what it was before, and it should be even faster for scheduled and aggregation rules. We will collect customer feedback how the current performance feels, and may look into further performance improvements.
Asynchronous UI while the rule is saving and releasing
For users who still do not want to wait for the rule to save and/or release, we have changed the UI. You now don't have to wait for the system action to finish, but the system indicates that it is busy when saving ...
... and releasing ...
... and the user can go to the other tabes of the rule ...
... or even leave the rule and come back later.
The only deviation from this is that when the user creates the rule data set for the first time, the user cannot go to the rule editor right away and type away on the rule condition, as the "vocabulary" has to be first transported to the rule editor.
Safety pop-up for unsaved data
When the user has unsaved data in a rule, there is now a safety pop-up asking whether to save or discard the changes:
Proper notification field labels
We made some technical changes and were finally able to show the proper descriptions of the notification fields in a scheduled rule:
What's Next?
For the SAP APM 2208 release we plan to release some new functional features (e.g. the creation of an alert from a rule), and have ideas for some additional usability enhancements.
Let us know if you have more ideas for APM rules functional and usability enhancements. The best way to do this is to enter it as an idea in the "
Influence Opportunity" for all things Asset Management, or you can comment here.