SAP Fiori is the new UX for SAP applications. It addresses present day UX attributes by following modern design principles to make consistent experience on all kinds of devices possible. From allowing fat paced insight-to-action principle to anytime anywhere accessibility, it addresses all present day UX requirements. There are countless apps that are presently using SAP Fiori to boost productivity and customization.
Key things to know about SAP Fiori
SAP Fiori in less than 2 years became the UX standard for majority of SAP apps by addressing typical user experience concerns in an environment dominated by enterprise mobility.
- SAP Fiori UX has been designed by the SAP internal design team. It has been developed in coherence to the SAP’s focus on developing enterprise software solutions with design playing a key role.
- In less than 2 years, SAP Fiori as an UX principle went from strength to strengths by expanding the scope for the new UX.
- According to Gartner, SAP Fiori UX is invincible and SAP customers must plan for implementing SAP Fiori UX across their apps.
Why you need to consider SAP Fiori?
There are few unavoidable reasons that make SAP Fiori so big a choice in enterprise apps. Here we would mention a few of them.
- Unmatched user experience.
- Responsive and mobile friendly design equipped for all major platforms and computing devices.
- With the absence of any additional licensing fees it is a cost effective solution.
- It is closely aligned with SAP strategy to optimize user experience.
- With SAP Fiori the enterprises can develop their own custom apps having consistent focus on quality and user experience across devices and platforms.
- SAP Fiori involves a very simple infrastructure being extended from the existing infrastructure of SAP.
Key Considerations
The deployment and implementation of SAP Fiori at an enterprises IT space needs a few crucial considerations related to the present technology in use, typical user requirements and security aspects. Let us have a look at the key considerations in implementing SAP Fiori.
1. SAP Fiori is not only for implementing backend functionalities
SAP Fiori should not be viewed as just the backend functionality simplified by SAP. It is a lot more than that. The scope of diversity in configuring SAP backend processes is really awesome. When setting up the mobile platform a vast majority of enterprises focus on customizing the backend process for different SAP applications to work in the desired way. In this backend customizing SAP Fiori can really play a positive role.
2. SAP Fiori UX is ultimately an organizational strategy, not a product strategy
From most other UX development efforts undertaken by SAP are different from SAP Fiori. The major difference lies in the fact that SAP Fiori has begun not as so called enterprise software product but rather as an UX principle designed to run with all SAP apps. SAP has developed Fiori UX in coherence with the company’s global focus in coming with a design led solution for enterprise IT apps and enterprise mobility. This design centric initiative from SAP has primary objective of transforming the whole user experience with SAP ERP system instead of delivering another product from the SAP platform. Improving the user experience with all existing and new SAP apps has been the primary motivation behind SAP Fiori.
3. Make sure all critical functionalities are tested
After the deployment, you should focus on the testing phase. The testing phase should be designed and planned as per the deployment strategy of organizations and diverse user requirements. In coherence with the organization’s infrastructure, security requirements and variety of other user requirements that your organization needs to address, you can device a test plan. The testing phase includes testing SAP Fiori apps on Fiori Launchpad, local sandbox as well as ABAP system.
4. Go hand in hand with SAP Fiori ramp up support
SAP Ramp Up has been unrolled by SAP to help SAP customers adopt to new products and user experience. By having close rapport with this program you can ensure better realization of SAP product benefits for users. Basically, SAP Ramp Up is a result of collaboration among developer and support teams to help making implementation easy and cost effective. Thanks to this support mechanism SAP Fiori customers can access a whole range of solutions that are already in the Ramp-Up or upcoming.
5. Make sure the UI is tested on all major browsers
Testing the SAP Fiori app UIs on all major browsers is a crucial requirement to ensure performance in different browser settings. The test should focus on aspects like browser compatibility, any performance issue, responsiveness of the UI and any unexpected behavior of the UI. As far choosing the browsers is considered, test app UI on all widely used browsers HTML-5 capability.
6. Make use of the SAP Fiori Launchpad to boost performance and stability
SAP Fiori Launchpad unrolled with objective of hosting SAP Fiori apps. The framework can run a single Fiori app or several Fiori apps. What app the user can launch and access depends on the type of apps and the type of access user wants. The Fiori Launchpad comes equipped with a range of value added services including embedded support, navigation, personalization and app configuration. By leveraging Fiori Launchpad you can boost the performance, stability and responsiveness of your app to a great extent. Some of the key things that Fiori Launchpad helps you to achieve include layout customization, responsive design, search capabilities, wide array of themes and brand specific design elements.
7. Address security concerns before it gets complicated
There are few security concerns that you need to address early before so called mobile access makes it complicated. You have to be authorized by the frontend server for implementing every single app for accessing app UI based on HTML5 and SAP Fiori Launchpad. This security architecture will save you from facing any performance issue or unexpected behavior.
8. Make sure SAP backend apps are always updated
Updating all your SAP backend apps is important for glitch free implementation. Actually with backdated SAP backend apps implementation of SAP Fiori apps will never be smooth. Meeting the basic requirements of your system is not enough. All components related to SAP Fiori apps should be updated for optimum performance and output.
9. Have a strategy to allow system instantly accessing internet
You need to have clear strategy concerning instant internet access from the system. Decide whether you would like to allow internet users to access Fiori development landscape beside PRD Fiori simultaneously. Secondly, make sure whether the client went through internal QA testing while by passing authentication in external URLs. By answering these two questions you can come with a solid strategy on allowing customers internet access.
The Bottom Line
You need to have clear strategy concerning instant internet access from the system. Decide whether you would like to allow internet users to access Fiori development landscape beside PRD Fiori simultaneously. Secondly, make sure whether the client went through internal QA testing while by passing authentication in external URLs. By answering these two questions you can come with a solid strategy on allowing customers internet access.
To conclude, we must say that since its launch in mid 2013, it continued to expand with most SAP apps having been transformed with the new design led UX approach. Beginning with only 24 apps now it went over 500 apps and still counting. This huge and expanding scope offered by SAP Fiori to incorporate centric UX elements in enterprise app will not come to a standstill any sooner.
Author Bio
Darshan Patel is a Lead SEO Analyst & Storyteller at Nimblechapps – The coolest android game development company and iPhone application company.
