Why Fiori UX is important for the SAP landscape
Originally, the expectation was that companies would work with ready-made standard Fiori apps. Today, it is clear that the in-house development of Fiori apps offers much greater potential.
If you look at the S/4 user interfaces or the current SAP Solution Manager, the advantages of the Fiori approach are immediately apparent. In combination with a sophisticated user experience design, applications are created that are very easy to use.
This creates a completely new user experience for users: Fiori apps are actually fun to use. In the SAP world, the lean interface is a drastic paradigm shift that is not always welcomed by all users.
It is often the experienced key users who have been working with their classic legacy application for a very long time who find the new Fiori apps too simple in terms of their interface.
Slim interfaces make it easier to get started
Fiori apps are not necessarily designed for use by power users. Nevertheless, they offer advantages that these experienced users often do not realize at first glance.
It is primarily about opening up processes to the new world of mobile devices and integrating new user groups along the SAP-supported company processes. On the one hand, Fiori applications give employees more freedom in their choice of workplace.
On the other hand, there are new opportunities for mobile working. For example, transfer times on buses and trains can be used to work on smaller tasks, or work can be carried out directly on a machine or at the customer's premises.
The mapping of internal processes in particular, such as time recording, vacation requests or travel expense recording, are popular and useful entry scenarios for all employees.
Tight SAP integration facilitates use
In addition to the selection of suitable application scenarios and user groups, the right landscape for the realization and implementation of these applications is crucial for a successful Fiori strategy in the medium term.
While the question of the database plays a rather subordinate role in the in-house development of Fiori, IT managers and architects should possibly plan for the use of an SAP gateway server.
Although not absolutely necessary, such a hub infrastructure is now a common infrastructure decision, especially for large SAP installations. In terms of development technology, the Abap-centric development platform Neptune UXP has established itself on the market alongside the cloud-based SAP Web IDE.
While the Web IDE tailored to web developers provides for the development of Fiori apps in the SAP Cloud Platform, Neptune, as a certified SAP partner, relies on a high level of integration into the Abap workbench and the use of classic SAP transport mechanisms from a technical perspective.
For this reason, SAP recently signed an official agreement with Neptune Software to work together to promote the Fiori strategy. A high degree of individualization at developer level through MVC-based Javascript development is set against the concept of standardizing Fiori development for established SAP teams.
This raises the question for those responsible as to which resources can be used and to what extent the two approaches can be scaled in the medium-term development of several dozen Fiori apps in the company.
Depending on the strategic orientation, scalability not only includes the initial development of the apps, but also the maintenance and expansion of the applications over the entire application life cycle.
Conclusion
Once these decisions have been made in line with the IT strategy, the Fiori concept is increasingly proving to be an important building block for companies in the digital transformation of the entire process spectrum.
The digitalization of value-adding and internal administrative processes is the core objective of all SAP customers, and Fiori enables the optimization and mobilization of the interface between employees and the digital core of the company.
