Navigation Concepts and Influence Factors

Interface Focus

One Entry Point

Domain Specific Information and Actions

User Types

Deployment Types

Concepts and Influence Factors

The use of IT and electronic devices is no longer reserved for a group of expert
users; it has spread throughout society to all social groups. People need high-
performing hardware that can support a variety of software products, with
different scope and potential. There is added pressure to supply an easy-to-use
solution to the end user.

The main drivers of this development are smartphones and tablets, with their
easy-to-use and flexible user interfaces (UIs). The focus of these UIs is no
longer on huge functionality but rather a comfortable user experience (UX),
which puts the focus on the consumer. Business software must adapt and
transform to turn this trend to its maximum advantage for the roles of an
enterprise. In this evolution, the UI plays an important role.

With regard to SAP software products, the challenge is to keep a clear view and
to understand the overall SAP strategy in the area of UX. Furthermore, it is
important to have a clear understanding of the goals and target groups of each
UI technology, to avoid mistakes and frustrated users.

In the beginning, it is helpful to clarify the terminology used. A good place to

start is with the terms UI and UX.

The terms UI and UX represent two different ways of thinking. From a

software perspective, UI describes the interface between a human being and
a device. It aims to maximize the efficiency of the device when used. UX takes
on the perspective of the end user, and aims to provide motivation and
emotion, not only during use, but also before and after use. UX tries to
achieve a sustainable, positive attitude, and to create a motivating
experience.

UI versus UX

Interface Focus
 Focus on the Person, Not on the Function

Contrary to traditional interface design, the design approach with SAP Fiori is
that the focus is now on the job role, rather than the function. SAP Fiori
applications are always role-based. There are many applications to choose
from, and they are organized in easy-to-use catalogs, supplied by SAP
S/4HANA. You simply need to assign the roles to the users.

SAP Fiori brings a consistent, harmonized look and feel across all SAP
products. It's embedded intelligence brings user guidance through Machine
Learning and dynamic home pages.

It has integrated, cross-product and cross-device integration through

comprehensive and adaptive home-pages, a digital assistant and notifications
for users.

One Entry Point

The SAP Fiori launchpad is the single point of entry to access all applications -
directly via tiles or links, or by using Search.

Each SAP Fiori application is built around the user, rather than the function. As
a result, the screens are very simple and uncluttered. A key goal of any SAP
Fiori application is to ensure that a user can complete a task with as few clicks
as possible.

In the past, users could find themselves working with many different interfaces,
each one with a completely different look and feel, even when they only had one
task to complete. With SAP Fiori, users require little training, because the
simple screens are intuitive, with only the essential information and options
available.

Imagine checking a customer inquiry from SAP CRM using the SAP Portal
interface, and then moving to SAP GUI to check the stock availability in ERP.
Completely different interfaces are used with their own style and features, with
different buttons, menus, and tools. With SAP Fiori, users work with just one
design.

Domain Specific Information and Actions

Users can quickly get an overview of what needs their attention with Overview
Pages, List Reports and Work Lists. Notifications provide an additional channel
for alerting on urgent tasks or requests.

Users can trigger quick actions – such as extending a contract, changing a

delivery date – or drill down to the next level of detail. Users can also invoke the
SAP CoPilot, an intelligent assistant supporting ad-hoc tasks in the context of
their business activity.

Not all transactions from ERP are converted to SAP Fiori applications, so SAP
GUI must still be used in some cases. The cloud edition uses only SAP Fiori
applications, and there are no classic SAP GUI screens. The SAP GUI is still
available with the on-premise edition, and can be used alongside SAP Fiori, but
we recommend using SAP Fiori to take full advantage of the features of SAP
S/4HANA. SAP GUI screens that are used in SAP S/4HANA are screen
personas that reference the back-end system transaction to run the
application.

User Types
Depending on the industry and company, various user types can be found.
There is a great variety of different user types available, depending on the
structure of the specialized area and the IT department, as well as the degree
of digitization.

However, in almost every company there are three basic types as follows:

Occasional users: An occasional user uses the system occasionally, and

therefore needs simple and easy-to-use applications. In many cases,
single-step transactions are executed.

Experts: An expert user (or sometimes key user) is a fully-trained SAP

user, who knows the processes and the available applications in detail.
An expert user often uses multiple systems and different UIs.

Developers: A developer (or programmer) has detailed process and

system know-how, and deals with the adaptation and extension of the
existing applications. Developers look after several applications with
different UIs.

User Types

Deployment Types

The deployment type defines the license model and operational environment.
In the On Premise type, the customer buys software and hardware and
operates the combination themselves. Therefore, the customer is solely
responsible for implementation, the update extensions, and adaptation, as
well as replacements and new investments.

In the Cloud type, the cloud company provides infrastructure (hardware and
software) and business software, and rents this combination to the customer.
The cloud company is responsible for the operation, updates, extension, and
new investments. At SAP, different operational models are available (for
example, public cloud, private cloud, and privately managed cloud) with
different software and service provisioning.

In the Hybrid type, the customer runs certain parts of their business software
on their own servers, and uses additional solutions from a cloud provider. This
deployment type requires an intense integration between the On Premise
parts and the Cloud types.

Deployment Types