How to Map the Relationship

Between SAP Enterprise Portal

and Homepage Framework for
Employee Self Service (ESS)

Applies to:
SAP Enterprise Portal - Employee Self Service, ECC 6 (Employee Self Service)

Summary
Through this document I have tried to give you a clear idea about the relationship between Homepage
Framework of ECC system and Enterprise Portal system for Employee Self Service (ESS). As a portal
developer or administrator many times we need to do some customization as per requirement on different
areas of ESS like Area, Subarea, Service, Picture etc. Before doing that kind of changes, it is very important
to know how the ESS is controlled from backend system and to do some customization where we need to
go.
Author:

Chandan Jash

Company: IBM India Pvt. Ltd.

Created on: 22 December 2008

Author Bio
Chandan is an application programmer for IBM India Pvt. Ltd. on SAP NetWeaver Enviornment(CAF-Core,
CAF-GP, Web Dynpro, Visual Composer, NW Portal, NWDI etc).

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

1

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Table of Contents
Procedure ...........................................................................................................................................................3
Overview of SAP Enterprise Portal - Employee Self Service .........................................................................3
Overview of Homepage Framework Employee Self Service .......................................................................5
Area Group......................................................................................................................................................7
Area.................................................................................................................................................................9
Assign Area to Area Group Page..................................................................................................................12
Subarea.........................................................................................................................................................13
Assign Subarea to Area ................................................................................................................................15
Service ..........................................................................................................................................................16
Assign Service to Subarea............................................................................................................................19
Resource.......................................................................................................................................................20
Assign Resource to Service..........................................................................................................................22
Summery.......................................................................................................................................................23
Related Content ............................................................................................................................................23
Disclaimer and Liability Notice..........................................................................................................................24

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

2

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Procedure
Overview of SAP Enterprise Portal - Employee Self Service

In this overview portion I have tried to give you an idea about the structure of Employee Self Service which is
visible in Portal side. In above diagram Overview page is displayed under the role, Employee Self Service. In
Employee Self Service structure Overview page acts as an Area Group Page which contains multiple Area
Pages like Employee Search, Work Time, Benefits and Payment, Personal Information etc. So, Employee
Self Service can contain Area Group page and Area Pages which is visible in above diagram.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

3

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

From the above diagram Employee Self Service is found as Role, this role contains multiple children which
are known as Areas. Here I have taken six areas (Employee Search, Work Time, Benefits and Payments,
Personal Information, Career and Job, Travel and Expanses) only but it can be more of this. Actually it
depends on your requirements. For a deep drive consider one Area, called Employee Search. Each Area
contains one or more than one Subarea. In above diagram we are getting one Subarea, called Employee
Search for the Area Employee Search. Each Subarea can hold one or more than one Service. For Employee
Search Subarea we are getting two services like Whos Who and Change Own Data. For the deep drive of
service we need to go in Homepage Framework which is described in next level.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

4

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Overview of Homepage Framework Employee Self Service

In this portion I will describe the overview of Homepage Framework. After that we will go for details of each
portion of Homepage Framework and we will map it with portal. The Homepage Framework enables you to
create Overview page known as Area Group Page, Area Pages, Subareas, Services and Resources and it
provides employees easy access to Web applications (services) that run in the SAP Enterprise Portal.
Overview page is displayed in the SAP Enterprise Portal. It allows employees to access ESS applications
(services) with greater ease. The Homepage Framework recognizes two types of overview pages:
Area Group pages
o

Area group pages are often referred to as homepages.

Area pages

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

5

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

From the technical point of view we can say the hierarchical structure as seen bellow
Area<1>
Subarea<1.1>
Service<1.1.1>
Service<1.1.2>
Service<1.1.3>
Subarea<1.2>
Service<1.2.1>
Service<1.2.2>
Service<1.2.3>
Area<2>
Subarea<2.1>
Service<2.1.1>
Service<2.1.2>
Subarea<2.2>
Service<2.2.1>
Area<3>
Subarea<3.1>
Service<3.1.1>
Service<3.1.2>
Service<3.1.3>
Area<4>
Subarea<4.1>
Service<4.1.1>
Subarea<4.2>
Service<4.2.1>
Service<4.2.2>
Subarea<4.3>
Service<4.3.1>
Service<4.3.2>
Service<4.3.3>

Now I will take you through the details of each item and describe you how the relationship is established for
each item between Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

6

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Area Group
For better understanding now I am starting from Enterprise Portal side. In overview portion we got the idea of
Area Group. Here also I am taking the same example. Under the role Employee Self Service we found
Overview which is an Area Group. Now see how same Area Group is controlled from Homepage Framework.
After login into ECC system use the T-Code spro and go to the following path
-> SAP Customizing Implementation Guide -> Personnel Management Click on
>Employee Self-Service ->General Settings ->Homepage for Self-Services ->Headers and Area Group
Pages

Now you reached upto Header and Area Group pages portion. This portion holds Area Group Pages for
ESS. So, in our case the Overview Area Group Page will be existed here. Now lets see where it exists.
Click in the icon
bellow

. Then you will get popup for Activity list which is looked like

From those activity lists double click on Define Area Group Pages (Add Entries) and you will get all the
entries like bellow

In my case I have used the Area Group Key called SAPDEFAULTESS_ERP2005. So if you again double
click on SAPDEFAULTESS_ERP2005, you will get details where Area Group Description is the text which
you are getting it into portal side.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

7

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

8

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Area
Here also I am starting from portal for better understanding. In overview section you got the ides of Area
page. The Area page can come under the Area Group Page or within the role. As we have seen for
Employee Self-Service role.

Now let see how the Employee Search Area page is mapped with Homepage Framework. After login
into ECC system use the T-Code spro and go to the following path
-> SAP Customizing Implementation Guide -> Personnel
Click on
Management ->Employee Self-Service ->General Settings ->Homepage for Self-Services -> Areas

Click on Define Areas and a new popup window will appear. From that window double click on Define Areas
(Add Entries) activity.

Now you will get the list of area pages. From the area pages list you will find the area page called Employee
Search like bellow.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

9

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Double click on EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_ERP2005 to get the details of EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_ERP2005.

Please find bellow picture to understand the relationship of different fields of area.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

10

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

11

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Assign Area to Area Group Page

In this Assign Area to Area Group Page section we will see how the Area page, Employee Search is
assigned to Area Group page, Overview. Please go back to Areas and click on (for maintaining activity)
Assign Areas to Area Group Pages.

From the new popup double click on Assign Areas to Area Group Pages (Find Entries). You will get the list of
Area Group Key, Area Key and Position like bellow

Here our target is to find where Employee Search Area page is assigned to Overview Area Group page. In
Area Group section we got the Area Group Key, SAPDEFAULTESS_ERP2005 for Area Group Role text
Overview and starting of area section we got the Area Key EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_ERP2005 for Area Link
text Employee Search. Now you will find this mapping from the list like bellow and also the position of
Employee Search area page.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

12

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Subarea
Here also I am starting from portal side for better understanding and taking the same example Employee
Search. Within the Employee Search Area page you will get the subarea called Employee Search as it is
shown in bellow figure.

see how this subarea is mapped with homepage framework. After login into ECC system use the T-Code
spro and go to the following path
Click on
-> SAP Customizing Implementation Guide -> Personnel Management >Employee Self-Service ->General Settings ->Homepage for Self-Services -> Subareas

Now click on Define Subareas to maintain activities and you will get a new popup which contains Define
Subareas (Add Entries) and Define Subareas (Change Entries) like bellow.

Double click on Define Subareas (Add Entries) and you will get a list of subarea key with text. From the list
we need to find out the subarea key for Employee Search. Please scroll down the page and you will find the
subarea key, EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 for Employee Search subarea (From
the list you will find two subarea key i.e. EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH and
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005. Please dont get confuse.
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH subarea key is used for previous version of ESS.
Currently we are using EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 which is marked in bellow
picture).

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

13

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Now double click on EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 and you will get the details of
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 subarea. Please find bellow picture.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

14

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Assign Subarea to Area

In this Assign Subarea to Area section we will see how the subarea called Employee Search is assigned to
area called Employee Search. Click on Assign Subareas to Areas to get the maintain activity popup as
shown in bellow picture.

From the pop up please double click on Assign Subareas to Areas (Find Entries) and you will get a list of
area key and subarea key with position. In Area section we got the area key for Employee Search which is
called EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_ERP2005. From the list you need to search the position of area key
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_ERP2005. Then you will get row which contains the area key with subarea key
(EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 which is used for Employee Search subarea) and
position like bellow picture.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

15

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Service
In this Service section I am again starting from portal side. Within the Employee Search subarea you will find
two services i.e. Whos Who and Change Own Data like bellow picture.

To map these two services with home page framework you need to go to the following path. Click on
-> SAP Customizing Implementation Guide -> Personnel Management >Employee Self-Service ->General Settings ->Homepage for Self-Services -> Services.

Now click on Define Service to get the maintain activity pop up and from the pop up please double click on
Define Services (Add Entries). Then you will get the list of Services with service key and service text. From
the list out target is to find out two services (Whos Who and Change Own Data) which we have seen in
portal side. Please scroll down the list and you will find two entries with service text called Whos Who and
Change Own Data like bellow picture.

To get the details of each service please double click on service key one by one. So here I am first taking the
service key called EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_WHOSWHO05. Double clicking on
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_WHOSWHO05 service key you will the details. Please find the bellow picture to get
the relationship with portal.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

16

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Now double clicking on EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_CHANGEOWNDATA05 service key you will the details.
Please find the bellow picture to get the relationship with portal.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

17

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

18

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Assign Service to Subarea

In this section our target is to find how the services are assigned to subarea. Please click on the Assign
Services to Subareas to get the maintain activity.

From the pop up please double click on Assign Services to Subareas (Find Entries). Then you will get the list
of subarea key, service key with position. Please scroll down the list or by clicking on position button you can
find the subarea key (EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005) for Employee Search
subarea which we have already got in subarea section. You will get two entries for
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_SUBEMPLOYEESEARCH_2005 subarea. There are two entries of subarea
because of two services (Whos Who and Change Own Data) are there.

Service key EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_CHANGEOWNDATA05 for service Change Own Data is assigned in

position 2 and service key EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_WHOSWHO05 for service Whos Who is assigned in
position 1.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

19

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Resource
In this resource section we will see how the resource is defined in Homepage Framework and the link is
established between resource and service. Here also I am taking the same example, Employee Search for
better understanding. After login into ECC system use the T-Code spro and go to the following path
-> SAP Customizing Implementation Guide -> Personnel Management Click on
>Employee Self-Service ->General Settings ->Homepage for Self-Services -> Resources

Now click on Define Resources to get the maintain activity. Then from the pup up please double click on
Define Resources (Add Entries) and you will get the list of resource object key with description. Here we
need to find out two resources called Whos Who and Change Own Data. Please scroll down the list and you
will find two entries like bellow.

Double click on resource key EMPLOYEE_WHOISWHO_SERVICE05 to get the details. Please find bellow
the picture to understand how the resource is used in portal.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

20

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Now let us see the relationship for another resource called EMPLOYEE_CHANGEOWNDATA_SERVICE05.
Double click on resource key EMPLOYEE_CHANGEOWNDATA_SERVICE05 from the list to get the details.
Please find bellow the picture to understand how the resource is used in portal.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

21

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Assign Resource to Service

In this section we will see how the resource is assigned to service. In service section we have learned how to
get details of a specific service. Please open the screen for details of service called
EMPLOYEE_SEARCH_CHANGEOWNDATA05 and you will get the link of resource called
EMPLOYEE_WHOISWHO_SERVICE05 like bellow picture.

Please find the bellow picture for another resource called EMPLOYEE_CHANGEOWNDATA_SERVICE05.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

22

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Summery
After going through this document you can summarize the whole concept of Homepage Framework like
bellow.

Related Content
For more information, visit the
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2005vp/helpdata/en/aa/9f75620a8d4a2e9181db37f2fa2a62/content.htm

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

23

How to Map the Relationship Between SAP Enterprise Portal and Homepage Framework for Employee Self Service (ESS)

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not
supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade.
SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document,
and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk.
SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or
code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials and
services offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of this
document.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK

2008 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com

24