For S/4HANA Sales, a variety of preconfigured apps are delivered that offer great added value out-of-the-box. Graphical representations and ease of use make it even easier for users to recognize and adopt the benefits of FIORI. Most of these apps are aligned with a global standard that a majority of companies in the world follow. However, not all industries and companies fall into this grid with their processes.
In such cases, where the delivered apps don't really fit, the tendency is to open the toolbox and start building your own apps. Without a clear concept and the cooperation of the requesting department, the latter can become a bottomless pit.
Deep customization without developers
However, there is another possibility to adapt the apps without having to carry out your own developments. This type of app adaptation can be carried out with standard tools and involves significantly less effort than in-house development.
Here's how it works: SAP delivers apps for flexible analyses in core areas of the sales business. These are available with a specific technical framework and without predefined views or selections. The content of the analyses can be completely self-defined with predefined KPIs. With a well-trained team of users, the department can help and supply itself in the best case.
The handling and orientation are the same in every app. The navigation area is located in the left part. Here, all available fields can be assigned to the columns or the row area. In the upper right part, fields are displayed for selection. In each app, certain fields are defined for mandatory selection. The lower right area displays the result. It is possible to switch between tabular and graphical views. Furthermore, sorting, hierarchies, drilldowns and totals can be created.
In order to preserve important, once defined selections and views for recurring purposes, they can be stored so-called bookmarks. These can contain information about the selection and the view. Key users can thus easily maintain variants to be used globally and make them available to end users. End users quickly get to grips with operating the app by selecting meaningful named bookmarks. For detailed analyses of individual objects such as documents, the "Navigate to" button can be used to jump to other apps. Furthermore, functionalities can be found that are basically executable in every FIORI app.
The following apps are delivered by SAP for this purpose:
- Sales quotations
- Incoming sales orders
- Customer returns
- Pricing elements
- Sales
Independent definition in the specialist area
The user-friendliness and comparatively large number of available fields in particular offer potential for defining your own reports without having to plan for programming effort. These apps are clearly aimed at being maintained and used by the business. Activities that were previously driven and implemented by IT personnel can thus be handed over to business departments and implemented under their own responsibility. Of course, these standard deliveries can also reach their limits within their scope of action. However, extensions are also possible here. The effort on the part of technical personnel can thus be limited to this. As soon as the framework has been expanded, the department can take over again on its own.
Summary
FIORI clearly shows that there is a strong push to involve the business and key users. At a time when cost-saving potential is constantly being sought in order to remain competitive, this development offers clear advantages. At the same time, it is increasingly closing the gap that has developed over the years between business and IT. Business departments often lean back when it comes to implementing their requirements. The end result is usually not accepted or only partially accepted. The reason for this is often not poor implementation on the part of the technical department, but the lack of cooperation from all parties involved. Modern project and change management has long recognized that a project cannot be implemented effectively without strong involvement of the business department. This realization is coming to more and more companies. With S/4HANA and its solution approaches as well as an experienced partner, the rethinking can be tackled and future-proof added value can be generated.
A project cannot be implemented effectively without strong involvement of the business department. More and more companies are coming to this realization. S/4HANA provides solution approaches with which the key users are more involved in shaping their requirements. Apps for flexible analytics is one such tool that can be configured and used by the business unit largely on its own to meet its requirements.
