SAP Community - SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

What's New for SAP Build Apps - Enhanced Fusion Development

2024-02-02T01:59:59.585000+01:00

Greetings, fellow Builders! We are pleased to bring you the first SAP Build Apps release news of 2024. Recently, we published two major updates that will affect backend projects and enhance the fusion development experience:

Roles and access management in visual cloud functions
Deploying a project with backend to SAP Build Work Zone

Roles and access management in visual cloud functions

We have now added user authorization to visual cloud functions projects, a robust feature which enhances our built-in governance capabilities. This allows a system administrator or developer to create user roles within a backend project and assign specific permissions.

You can create roles for individual users or user groups to determine which actions are allowed. For example – admins can create a role for the entire sales team and allow them to update data entities and add new records but restrict them from deleting records.

To get started, you can now find the ‘Roles’ tab visible in visual cloud functions, where you can manage and assign user roles for your projects.

See the documentation: Visual cloud functions - User Authorization

Deploying a project with backend to SAP Build Work Zone

For your applications that include a backend project in visual cloud functions, we’ve now introduced a simplified method for integrating with SAP Build Work Zone. To get started with this feature, you will need to enable the Identity Authentication Service (IAS) tenant in SAP Build Work Zone, as this is a requirement for SAP Build Apps. We have included instructions for this below.

🔔 Important considerations for your current projects

If you currently have an SAP Build Apps project deployed to SAP Build Work Zone, you should not encounter any issues. However, once you update your app, create a new build and deploy it to your SAP Build Work Zone page you will notice that access to the app will not work.

Note: All SAP Build Apps users must make the changes described below before you deploy and integrate a new app version to SAP Build Work Zone, otherwise you risk losing access to your projects.

Steps to complete with your SAP BTP/SAP Build Work Zone Admin team

1. Enable IAS in SAP Build Work Zone.

Start by navigating to the SAP Build Work Zone manager and choosing Settings. Click the checkbox and choose Enable.
This is a one-time setup with implications for all SAP Build Work Zone assets that are used in the same subaccount.
Note: The change needs to be made for each SAP BTP subaccount where SAP Build Apps applications are being deployed to (also for free tier instances of SAP Build Apps).
Documentation: Switch to SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication

2. Establish trust in IAS between the SAP Build Work Zone IAS application and the SAP Build Apps IAS application.

To enable SAP Build Work Zone to consume the APIs of SAP Build Apps applications, applications can request tokens with access privileges for APIs of another application. With this configuration, you authorize SAP Build Work Zone to consume the API of SAP Build Apps. The trust between the SAP Build Work Zone IAS application created in the previous step and SAP Build Apps needs to be established in the customer IAS tenant as visible on the screenshot.
Select the SAP Build Work Zone app and go to the Dependencies.
Add a new Dependency as visible on the screenshot:

Important: Make sure to use this Dependency Name (case sensitive): sap-build-apps-api
If you have several entries under Application please select the SAP Build Apps entry for the current SAP BTP subaccount.
This configuration needs to be done for each SAP Build Work Zone instance (subaccount) where SAP Build Apps applications are being deployed to.
IAS documentation: Configure integration between applications

3. Deploy your application to the SAP Build Work Zone application router:

After the successful deployment, you can add the newly created app to your SAP Build Work Zone page! 🎉

Step-by-step instructions for this can be found in these tutorials:

For SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition: Integrate Your SAPUI5 App into Your Site | SAP Tutorials
For SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition: Create a workspace with apps, information and processes

See the documentation for this setup: Visual cloud functions - Deployed Applications

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These new features aim to bring our SAP Build portfolio even closer together and promote collaboration between teams, also known as fusion development.

We appreciate your continued efforts to innovate with SAP Build Apps and look forward to bringing you more exciting developments this year! Our product roadmap has also been updated for the year – feel free to check it out on the Roadmap Explorer.

To see all recent SAP Build Apps releases, visit the What’s New Documentation.

Have any feedback or questions about this update? Let us know in the comments. 👇

SAP Builders Spotlight: How is low-code transforming businesses in Latin America?

2024-02-02T15:55:46.104000+01:00

This blog series highlights success stories from our SAP Builders community. Do you have a project you’d like us to feature? Reach out to us or comment on this post.

Meet Erick Gomez, an SAP Builder from Mexico. Erick is passionate about low-code, and is inspired to share his experience with SAP Build in businesses in Latin America.

“Using low-code, we can work together at a lower cost” - Erick Gomez.

Hear more from Erick and how businesses in Latin America are using SAP Build:

Found this video useful or would like to be featured in our series? Reach out to us or comment below. 👇

Top 5 product updates for SAP Build Work Zone I Q4 2023 News

2024-02-08T17:47:15.378000+01:00

Welcome everyone! In this blogpost I will bring you the top updates for SAP Build Work Zone from the previous quarter.

SAP Build Work Zone is part of the SAP Build family and is running on SAP Business Technology Platform multi-cloud environment. It brings the capabilities of previously known SAP Launchpad and SAP Work Zone into one unified solution, facilitating the rapid creation of engaging and personalised business sites.

The top 5 updates from Q4 2023 are as followed:

1️⃣ SAP Build Work Zone at SAP TechEd 2023

The excitement of TechEd 2023 is still reverberating through the industry. With both in-person in Bangalore and a virtual event, attendees were treated to a comprehensive overview of SAP Build Work Zone and SAP Start. From roadmap sessions to hands-on workshops, all SAP Build Work Zone focused sessions gave an overview of our product vision of a modular offering for SAP central entry point based on Work Zone technology.

If you missed out, don't worry – you can catch up by watching the virtual session recap.

2️⃣ Translation feature

With the new site experience in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, users can now create pages and spaces locally within the content manager, offering greater flexibility and customization. With the new feature release the platform now supports translation capabilities. The relevant tiles or strings can be translated utilizing the tools in the Work Zone content manager.

3️⃣ Import and export capabilities

Administrative productivity are now more streamlined with the introduction of import and export capabilities for the menu builder across SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition and SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone. These capabilities enhances efficiency and improves user experience.

4️⃣ Flexible access control for folders

Dynamic access control and visibility settings have been further refined with the addition of support for private folders across different workspaces available in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. Users can now control who has access to specific folders, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure while optimizing the user experience by displaying relevant content based on permissions.

5️⃣ Enhanced workspace functionality

Workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition are now more versatile with the introduction of new visibility settings. Non-members can now be given access workspaces, opening up opportunities for further collaboration and knowledge sharing. Additionally, workspaces can be placed in a read-only mode, hiding certain collaboration capabilities and membership information for non-members, thereby expanding control options.

In conclusion, the latest updates to SAP Build Work Zone underscore SAP's commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. With enhanced features and functionality, the product continues to empower organizations to drive digital transformation and achieve their business objectives. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to evolve and enhance the SAP Build Work Zone experience.

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Thank you very much for reading through the latest product updates.

Would you rather enjoy watching a video? Head over to the video👇

Learn More:

SAP Build Work Zone on: sap.com / SAP Community
Discovery Center missions: standard / advanced edition
SAP Build Work Zone on SAP PartnerEdge

A glimpse at our product strategy for Application Development, Automation and Integration

2024-02-14T17:27:19.047000+01:00

First, even if we are already mid-February, I consider that it is not too late to wish you a very happy year 2024!

And from my new role as Head of Product Management for Application Development, Automation and Integration in SAP BTP, I would like to start this new year by sharing with you the major directions we have chosen for our product strategy.

Where do we come from?

Let’s look back to what we have already achieved during the last 2 years: a bit more than a year ago, during his keynote at SAP TechEd 2022 in Las Vegas, our CTO Juergen Muller launched our low-code suite SAP Build:

If you did not try out SAP Build already, just read this blog post to have a quick overview, and then join our SAP Builders Community to get all of the updates, tutorials, and our SAP Builders Group to engage with a community of peers!

3 months ago, we announced at SAP TechEd 2023 SAP Build Code, our new solution for those who prefer a code-first approach with a simplified experience, optimized for SAP development, and enhanced fusion team collaboration. If you missed it, read Bhagat Nainani’s blog post to understand why it is a true game-changer for SAP developers. Indeed, SAP Build Code offers a turn-key environment for coding, testing, integrations, and application lifecycle management, optimized for Java and JavaScript, and is powered with AI code generation by Joule copilot, as I will present below. The solution is a combination of tools, application services and runtime services providing a cohesive experience for developers and fusion development teams. Great news: SAP Build Code will be Generally Available in March 2024, so in a month from now!

What will come in 2024?

What to expect in 2024 for our product area focused on Application Development, Automation and Integration?We have defined 3 key directions that I will present you:

1. Fusion Development:

At SAP, we firmly believe in the power of the developer continuum to increase the speed of innovation at our customer’s organizations. The developer continuum consists of IT experts and professional developers on the one end and the business experts, key users, or citizen developers on the other end. Each stakeholder on this continuum has their own strengths and skillsets:

SAP Build, our low-code toolset for business experts, is of course also a way to provide the power of a low-code approach to professional developers. When talking to customers, I like to make this statement below to explain that all types of developers use the appropriate tools to “get the job done”:

“Even professional developers are human beings: and human beings are in general happy
when they can use simple tools to manage complex problems!”

Now, after we introduced SAP Build Code, it might seem that SAP Build and SAP Build Code are twins trudging the identical path. Let me clarify: SAP Build on the one hand, SAP Build Code on the other hand serve distinctive purposes catering to developers of different intentions and proficiency.

Our customers have been leveraging their fusion teams – a combination of professional and business experts/citizen developers – to build their extension applications, thereby ensuring that the more technically complex pieces are taken up by the professional developers, while those that require business expertise can easily be built by the business process experts and key users. That is what we are calling Fusion Development.

SAP Build Code alongside SAP Build is a key milestone showing our commitment to foster Fusion Development by teams where business and IT work together, hand in hand:

Our strong portfolio of application development products ensures that each developer on this continuum can use their skills to deliver mission critical innovations without compromising on governance and security best practices.

To deep dive on Fusion Development with SAP Build and SAP Build Code, you may read Franziska Mickley’s blog post “SAP Build and SAP Build Code: Comprehensive Tools for Novice to Expert Developers”and Rupa Maity’s blog post “Fusion development – when professional and citizen developers come together”. I mention also 2 blog posts from Kanishka Raghuraman, a business user, and Chinmaya Gorachanda Chaudhury , an SAP BTP integration expert, sharing a very concrete example based on SAP Build and SAP Integration Suite, presented end-to-end: A Tale of Fusion Development with SAP Build – The Beginning + The Conclusion.

Let me share two other examples:

Easily consuming APIs from SAP Build

When automating a process with SAP Build Process Automation, a business user might need to access data available in an SAP system, for instance in SAP S/4HANA. We introduced the Action concept in SAP Build Process Automation to simplify the experience to consume APIs without coding. An action reflects a single operation or method of an API but hides its complexity and allows for easy configuration and testing.

To learn more, read Thomas Jentsch’s blog post “Extensions for SAP Build Process Automation – Actions from CAP Node.js Service”

Extending an SAP solution UI with UI5 in SAP Build Code

When extending an SAP solution, such as SAP S/4HANA, it is important to keep UI consistency for maintaining a good end-user experience. Thanks to SAP Build Code, these extensions go beyond what is possible with key user tools for achieving a highly customized user experiences while keeping the SAP S/4HANA core clean. SAPUI5 flexibility in SAP Build Code provides capabilities for business users, key users, and developers to extend SAP standard applications built with SAPUI5 / SAP Fiori elements. Indeed, different user groups can shape the UI of these apps without touching the source code.

To deep dive on this topic, read Oliver Graeff’s blog post “SAPUI5 Development with SAP Build Code”.

2. Enterprise Automation

You may have heard about Enterprise Automation already. If not, this prominent topic was brought on stage by our CMSO Julia White during SAP Sapphire 2023 opening keynote, and by Juergen Mueller and Thomas Saueressig in their Future-Proof Innovation keynote. It has been introduced by JG Chirapurath in a news article as well as by Angela Harvey in a deep-dive blog post.

Today, I would like to emphasize that Enterprise Automation is not only Signavio + SAP Build Process Automation: indeed, SAP Integration Suite is playing a key role, with capabilities such as Edge Integration Cell and Advanced Event Mesh. Because, ultimately, you cannot improve or automate what is not connected:

Edge Integration Cell

Edge Integration Cell is a hybrid solution that is offered with the SAP Integration Suite to enable API-led integration. The hybrid model supports control plane in the BTP while providing the flexibility to the customer to have the runtime deployed on customer’s private cloud / on-premise.

The control plane on BTP enables user to design, configure and monitor APIs and Integration Flows. Edge Integration significantly enhances the API lead integration capability by providing API management functionalities such as security, traffic management, along with mediation features.

Advanced Event Mesh

Advanced Event Mesh for SAP Integration Suite is a complete event streaming, event management, and monitoring toolset that makes software event brokers available as a service. With advanced event mesh you can create event broker services in minutes, build a model of your event mesh to design and help implement it, and monitor your services and event mesh to ensure everything runs smoothly.

This platform incorporates best practices, expertise, and technology for event-driven architecture (EDA) on a single platform. Our platform is offered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) which:

gives you everything you need to accelerate your organization’s EDA adoption, allowing you to fulfill modern use cases that demand real-time, intelligent event streaming
provides an intuitive, unified interface to design, deploy, manage, monitor, and govern your event streaming infrastructure (including the events that flow over it) in the most secure manner.

Browse our Help Portal content on SAP Integration Suite, Advanced Event Mesh and learn with Advanced Event Mesh missions available in SAP Discovery Center.

3. Generative AI

Of course, Generative AI is now everywhere, and our Application Development, Automation and Integration offering with SAP Build + SAP Build Code + SAP Integration Suite must leverage AI to bring the best value to our customers: clearly, we are building a cohesive development platform for business experts and professional developers, powered by advanced AI capabilities.

In SAP Build we are leveraging AI capabilities through chatbot and voice command integration. With that, we will

provide citizen developers and IT administrators with in-app help provided by Joule, as digital assistant
facilitate collaboration of users with stakeholders during the lifecycle of the project, thanks to voice command integration

To further improve developer efficiency, we are also integrating Generative AI capabilities in SAP Build Code. In an extended product demo shown at SAP TechEd 2023 in Bangalore, we presented a use case for Code Generation including "capGPT" where Joule is able to generate code in Business Application Studio based on text description in natural language.

You can have an overview in Pierre Col’s blog post: “SAP Build | SAP Build Code – When Generative AI comes to help!”.

For more details you can watch this TechEd session, read this presentation and this blog post. Further down the road, we intend to introduce GenAI capabilities as well across the Low Code and Pro Code and Integration platform, so that users can generate process models, integration artefacts and get recommendations for content and actions.

Keep in touch!

So, here we are, I just shared with you where we are heading to in 2024 regarding Application Development, Automation and Integration on SAP BTP.

To stay updated throughout the year, regularly browse our public roadmaps for SAP Build + SAP Build Code + SAP Integration Suite and… feel free to follow me here and/or on LinkedIn to be notified of my next blog posts! 😉

SAP Build Work Zone - Transport Route

2024-02-16T08:56:37.857000+01:00

In this example, we are trying to establish the transport route for the application content type using the build work zone.

In this case we will have Dev, Test, Prod and CTMS subaccounts.

Below will the be structure of the transport setup

Step 1: Create the directories Dev, QA, Prod and CTMS.

Step 2: In the Dev, QA, Prod create the subscription and instance of the SAP Build Work Zone standard Edition.

Step 3: Create service keys for the build Workzone instance in Dev, QA, Prod instances

Step 4: Repeat step 2 and 3 in QA and Prod Subaccounts.

Step 5: in CTMS directory subscribe to the SAP Cloud Transport Management Service.

Step 6: In CTMS directory create an instance of the CTMS with the service key.

Step 7: Copy the service key details, and create a destination in the dev, qa, prod subaccounts, Navigate to the destinations and click on the create destination option and provide the below details

Name : ctms_destination

Description : destination to ctms

URL : copy the URL from the service key of the ctms - uri from the service key

Authentication type: OAuth2ClientCredentials

Client ID: Copy from the service key of the ctms

Client secret: Copy from the service key of the ctms

Token service url: copy from the service key and append /oauth/token

Additional properties : node-name : PORTAL_DEV/PORTAL_QA/PORTAL_PROD

Step 8: in CTMS create destination for Dev, QA, Prod Subaccounts. Copy the service key details of the each of the Build work zone instance and provide the details as below

Name:

Description:

URL: portalservice(from servicekey)+ /cdm_import_service

Client ID:

Client Secret:

Token Service url:

In CTMS,you should have destinations to the Dev, QA, Prod as below

Step 9: Now , navigate the global account ==> Boosters ==> select Configure Access to the Authorization Service ==> create the destination for each subaccount Dev, Qa, Prod,ctms which will be like below

Step 10: Login to the CTMS application and create the nodes as below - the transport node name should match with the node-name of each the destination created in dev, qa, prod subaccounts

Step 11: Create the transport routes from Dev ==> Qa and Qa ==> Prod

Route will look as below:

In this way , we can setup the transport route for the SAP BTP Build Work Zone using the CTMS.

What's new for SAP Build Work Zone - Wizard

2024-02-21T12:46:40.771000+01:00

Business users are sometimes required to complete complex processes, such as when they join a new company. As a workspace owner, you can assist them by embedding a wizard-like predefined process that will guide them through the required steps.

When creating the wizard, you can choose whether to embed the wizard in a workpage or open it as a dialog. Then you can define how many stages and steps the wizard will contain and which steps are mandatory. You can also embed widgets and cards in the wizard.

How to Create a Wizard

Add a new wizard to your workpage

In the workpage, switch to edit mode.
Click the + to add a new section.
Click the arrow next to the Add Widget button, and select Add Wizard.
Note that this menu item is available only in an empty section.

Define the wizard properties

Add stages and steps

Enter a name for the stage/step.
Enter a description for the step.
Choose if the step is required or optional.
Choose if the step is visible or not. For example, you can choose to hide the Done step in stages that are not the final stage of the wizard.

Add widgets and cards to each step

Publish your change

The final wizard can look like this:

Translating the Wizard

You can also translate the wizard text:

Click the icon on the right corner of the wizard header to enter the wizard translation editor.
Enter the translated text. Repeat this for any additional language you need. Once you're done, you can publish the translation or save it as a draft.

Interacting with Wizard Events and Context Updates

Card developers can configure their cards to interact with a wizard on a workpage.

As a card developer, you can interact with the wizard to leverage wizard events and context updates. For example, you can subscribe to the “Next Step” event to trigger data validation and then submit the content to the server.

A full Developer Guide with sample cards is available for you in Github. For more information, see Wizard Developer Guide

[INVITE]: Join us in driving development forward with SAP Build and SAP Build Code

2024-02-21T15:55:30.490000+01:00

[Call to Action] The SAP Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI) is carrying out a project to validate capabilities and concepts around how to create SAP extensions in fusion teams with SAP’s low-code development offering, SAP Build, and the code-based development offering, SAP Build Code. Registration period ends on 8th March 2024. SIGN UP for the CEI project now!

✔ What does this CEI aim to achieve?

In this exciting project, we'll dive into the dynamic synergy between SAP Build and SAP Build Code, uncovering their collaborative potential within fusion development teams, where business experts, key users, and professional developers find their place. We’ll be looking into example scenarios, future concepts, and as for your input on how to improve our offerings so they fit your needs on your transformation journeys.

The following SAP solutions will be in focus:

SAP’s low-code offering: SAP Build with SAP Build Work Zone, SAP Build Apps and SAP Build Process Automation
SAP’s pro-code offering: SAP Build Code

This CEI is for customers looking to speed up their digitization journey into the cloud by learning about extensibility options, and how to power their SAP application and process development with generative AI. This is your chance to give feedback on the current offering and share your use cases and needs to influence the product roadmaps. The CEI will also focus on scenarios which are and potentially will soon be available in the products in focus.

✔ What is SAP´s Customer Engagement Initiative?

SAP Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI) is a part of SAP Customer Influence Program and provides customers with the opportunity to gain early insights into upcoming SAP product development. This means you will get the opportunity to collaborate with SAP experts in adopting innovations early on, provide direct input to the roadmap as well as give feedback to new features.

This initiative facilitates and fosters a close interaction between SAP and its customers through a cooperative model and established legal framework. The customers can support SAP in shaping the future of innovation, making it mutually beneficial for both sides.

✔ What are the next steps?

The customer registrations are open until 8th March 2024. After your successful registration you will receive a welcome email in a few weeks and will be invited to an introductory session with our SAP project leads. This session will focus on answering all your questions and initiate further process. Until this point your participation in the project will be optional.

Please be informed that all customer engagements and activities are governed by the Feedback Agreement with SAP.

🚀Are you ready? JOIN US!

Witness Thomas Volmering Unveil Fusion Development: SAP Build in Action

2024-02-27T14:17:58.537000+01:00

In the fast-paced world of ERP, innovation isn't just about introducing new features: innovation is about optimizing existing systems while preparing for future demands. A recent webcast led by @Thomas on February 15 delved into this very topic, showcasing the power of SAP Build and SAP Build Code.

However, beyond just demonstrating features, the session provided valuable insights into strategies for maintaining a clean core and extending on SAP BTP.

Clean Core Strategy

The concept of a "Clean Core" was a central theme throughout the webinar. This approach emphasizes keeping the core system as standard and untouched as possible. With a Clean Core strategy, organizations can ensure that their ERP systems remain agile and adaptable to changing business requirements. Upgrades become easier, requiring less manual effort for testing and adapting existing structures.

Streamlined development of extensions and tailored functionalities on SAP BTP with SAP Build simplifies the extension creation process, expediting time-to-market and promoting collaborative efforts.

Fostering Collaboration through Fusion Teams

The concept of collaboration brings Fusion Teams, where individuals with varying expertise collaborate seamlessly toward common goals. Fusion Teams represent a departure from traditional siloed approaches to software development. By bringing together diverse skill sets and perspectives, these teams foster collaboration and creativity, resulting in solutions that are not only technically robust but also closely aligned with business objectives.

A key enabler of collaboration within Fusion Teams is the lobby area of SAP Build – a central hub for fusion development. Here, team members can seamlessly consume components created with SAP Build Code, leveraging the power of pro-code efficiency within the intuitive framework of low-code simplicity. This integration empowers teams to rapidly prototype, iterate, and deploy solutions, accelerating time-to-market and ensuring alignment with business objectives.

Insights for Innovation

If you're ready to unlock the full potential of your ERP system and to drive innovation within your organization, consider utilizing the insights shared in this webinar. Explore SAP Build and SAP Build Code on YouTube to discover how you can maintain a clean core, streamline development, and foster collaboration through Fusion Teams.

To stay updated throughout the year on Application Development and Automation on SAP BTP, regularly browse our public roadmaps for SAP Build + SAP Build Code and… feel free to follow Thomas here on SAP Community and/or on LinkedIn to be notified of his next blog posts!

What is new for SAP Build Work Zone? Product Highlights in January and February 2024

2024-03-05T11:26:01.183000+01:00

Welcome to my first product update of the year 2024. This blog post will provide you with the product news and highlights for SAP Build Work Zone in January and February 2024.

You might know what SAP Build Work Zone is? If not, here is a short introduction: SAP Build Work Zone empowers IT professionals and line of business experts to easily build and design engaging business sites for employees, partners and customers with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. It connects to all systems (SAP a non-SAP) by creating a single access point to applications, processes, information and data on any device,from desktop or mobile, and it maximize team productivity by enabling guided experiences and knowledge sharing.
SAP Build Work Zone is coming with two editions: SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition and SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. The latest addition to the SAP Build Work Zone family is SAP Start, which became generally available in July 2023. If you have more questions on SAP Build Work Zone, visit our FAQ page on SAP Community.

Roadmap Updates

We recently updated the roadmap for SAP Build Work Zone standard and advanced edition. You can find updated information for Q1, Q2 and Q3 2024:

Note that the information on the roadmap can be subject to change at any time, check out the Roadmap Explorer for the latest information.

Administration Experience

SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

Translation in the new site experience with pages and spaces:
The translation capabilities are now available in the productive systems: Content managers can enable end users to view their sites in selected language, and they can support the translation of spaces and pages:

Role Assignments by usage of Identity Provisioning
For role assignments, there is now an alternative option that we recommend: using the identity provisioning part of SAP Cloud Identity services, instead of creating role collections:

This new capability allows to provision the user role mapping from a source system - such as as SAP S/4HANA - directly into the Work Zone stack via an dedicated API. Note that this new role assignment option is available across all Work Zone editions as well as for SAP Successfactors Work Zone.
There is a new Admin UI that allows the administrator to analyze the roles that were assigned to a specific user and provisioned by the Identity Provisioning service of SAP Cloud Identity Services.

Support of new common Super Domain workzone.cloud.sap
The new workzone.cloud.sap common super domain is now supported to bring applications under one aligned domain name. Administrators can configure the workzone.cloud.sap common super domain for exposing a site instead of using the default ondemand.com domain. In the first step this features is only available for the standard edition, the introduction of super domain is planned for the advanced edition in upcoming releases.

SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

New Wizard Layout in Workspaces
This feature is now also available in productive systems (in Q4 2023 it was only available in the preview systems). Workspace administrators can create wizard-like predefined processes, to help users complete complex business flows. The wizards can include multiple stages and steps, and cards and widgets can be added to them.
By providing a flexible framework for defining process steps and by enabling content managers to create and configure UI card-based, interactive experiences, business users can be guided through a wizard-like predefined process:

Public Workspaces: Access Levels for Non-Members
A non-member visibility is now available for workspaces to give non-members access to the workspace content. Workspace admins have the choice: (1) to give non-members the same collaboration settings as members or (2) to use a new read-only mode for non-members. This will hide the different membership & collaboration related features for the non-members across the workspace and its content. Workspace administrators can define specific users lists and users who can access the workspace as non-members. This is only available for public workspace as a first step.

Public Workspace: Role-Based Access for Non-Members
Company administrators can define role-based access to workspaces for non-members. Workspace admins, who are not company admins, can view the settings but cannot modify them. To set this option, you go to the Participation tab of the workspace settings, then go to the Non-Member Settings section, and in the Access Policy options you choose Specific roles.

Integration with Notification Service and Task Center
Site administrators can choose whether to use the default notification mechanism available in their site, or to enable the integration with the central notification service of SAP BTP, and show notifications from multiple notification providers. One of the supported notification providers is now also SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition.

Note that - as part of this change - some notifications will be migrated to the Task Center. On the Help Portal you will learn about notifications that were previously visible in the notifications area of a site and are now moved to SAP Task Center.

With the support of dynamic KPI tiles, you can now see Task Center information on tiles in this way:

Business User Experience

SAP Companion Content - Expanded Support (only relevant for the advanced edition)
SAP Companion provides on-screen help for end users. Activating this capability enables end users to view help content, that is specific to the screen. Additional integration content is now added out of the box, provides on-screen help, documentation & selected guided tours.

Developer Experience

We are happy to announce a Central GitHub repository for SAP Build Work Zone providing templates for SAP Build Work Zone code samples as a starting point for developers:

For the standard edition the repository contains content package samples providing information about how to create custom content for SAP Start and SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition (new site experience). UI Integration Cards and the corresponding CDM (Common Data Model) descriptions are covered within this samples. For the advanced edition the repository contains code samples for these two main areas: Content Package and Guide Experience (Wizard).

Deploying a SAP Build App project with backend to SAP Build Work Zone
For applications that include a backend project in visual cloud functions, we have now introduced a simplified method for integrating with SAP Build Work Zone. For more information and instructions, check out the blog post What's New for SAP Build Apps - Enhanced Fusion Development.

What is Coming Next?

I would like make you aware of some upcoming new innovations for SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. A new workspace creation dialog is planned as well as the removal of external workspace as a separate workspace type combined with a consistent experience between private and public workspaces. The access control concepts will be expanded, and external users can access public and private workspaces both as members and non-members.
The full feature set supporting this innovation is planned to become available in the preview systems in March 21, stay tuned for further information. You can find more details already now in the What's New Viewer, see also this blog post explaining some of the new concepts.

More Information on new Features and Functions

Check out the roadmap for standard & advanced edition.
You can find more information in the What is new Viewer for standard edition and advanced edition.
The availability date of the new features on the preview systems and the information about how to use them can be found in the What's New on Preview Systems.

Learn more

SAP Build Work Zone on: sap.com / SAP Community
Discovery Center missions: standard / advanced edition
SAP Build Work Zone on SAP PartnerEdge

Follow SAP Build on Social Media and Join the SAP Builders Group

Twitter (hashtag #SAPBuild)
LinkedIn

Join also the SAP Builders group and engage with a community of peers to unleash innovation by building apps, process automations, and creating business sites.

Dream big, execute smart with the Use Case Buddy - Your Key to Streamlined IT Governance!

2024-03-06T09:00:00.039000+01:00

"Use Case Buddy" - A tool to streamline the ideation phase of use cases for fusion development with SAP Build

In today's complex IT landscape, governance is paramount. This is especially true for low-code technology such as that offered by SAP Build, which is a great way to empower key users (also known as citizen developers) to create innovative solutions for their business needs, and to support the work of professional developers by collaborating in fusion teams – but, how to govern this new development paradigm?

As the volume of use case ideas for consideration quickly grows from a few to a dozen to hundreds, the IT teams responsible for governing the use of SAP Build need to manage ideation and use case selection at scale. Therefore, characterizing the complexity of a use case before development begins is critical to prevent redundancy, avoidable costs, quality issues, and potential security risks.

Selecting use cases requires a clear and efficient process to ensure that they are feasible, aligned with IT standards, and suitable for fusion collaboration. That's why we are excited to introduce the SAP Builders "Use Case Buddy", a framework to specify how complex a use case idea is to develop and maintain.

What is the Use Case Buddy?

The Use Case Buddy is an app for builders to define their use case idea and then automatically submit it to IT for review and to also list it on a repository.

It serves as:

An enablement tool for IT admins to provide to key users/citizen developers
An ideation tool for developers to think through requirements for building their use case ideas
A validation tool that routes submitted use cases to reviewers for initial assessment and alignment on the business need and technical requirements

The Use Case Buddy consists of an app, based on SAP Build Apps, an automated workflow based on SAP Build Process Automation, and a repository page in SAP Build Work Zone. It is packaged as a set of "private label” templates that you can download and then customize for your own organization. You use the templates to build the solution, and then host it in your organization’s landscape for internal use.

Let's take a closer look at how the main components work together to streamline your low-code development and collaboration!

The app: Describe and score use case ideas

The app is built with SAP Build Apps and it allows your users to answer a set of practical questions to describe their use case idea. The questions cover four categories: data & metrics, collaboration & access, timing and routes & logic. Based on their answers, the app will calculate a score and a complexity level for their use case, ranging from easy to very high. The score and the complexity level will help but the requestor and IT to approximate the effort and collaboration needed to build the use case. Lastly, the app forwards the entered data to the automated process.

The process: review and approve your use case idea

The process is built with SAP Build Process Automation and it automates the workflow of reviewing and approving use case ideas. When your users submit their use case idea from the app, an email, and an inbox notification will be sent to the IT admin to review the details. The IT admin can see the answers provided and thus analyze the technical requirements and decide whether to approve or reject. This will be done based on the respective IT bandwidth, requirements, and compliance factors specific to an organization. When the IT approves or rejects a use case idea, users will receive an email with the outcome and the summary of the project. Afterwards, the use cases are automatically submitted to the repository as a centralized reference.

The repository: manage and collaborate on your use case portfolio

The repository is built with SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition and it hosts a use case listing with all the ideas that have been submitted and reviewed by IT. Users and IT teams can view the details of each use case, and comment, contribute, and exchange ideas with other users. The repository is a great way to manage a use case portfolio and collaborate with IT and other stakeholders on your low-code development projects.

Make it your own!

The Use Case Buddy is a set of pre-built content packages that are templates for SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. It has been pre-filled with questions and calculations based on best practices, however everything can be changed and customized to the needs of your organization.

Do you need different questions? Do you want to have other reviewers than IT included? Do you want to change up the branding? Do you like to weigh different factors of complexity more than others? - all these things can be customized by following the tutorial and change up the templates.

Click here to do the tutorial and make the Use Case Buddy your own!

How to get it?

You can get the content packages for the Use Case Buddy from the SAP Build Governance Resource Center (get Early Access here) and follow the tutorial to build your own Use Case Buddy! We hope you will enjoy using the Use Case Buddy and we look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions - how can we improve the template and what is still missing for you?

Also check out the Discussion on the Use Case Buddy within our SAP Builders Group - let us hear what you think.

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 1

2024-03-08T16:51:01.697000+01:00

Hi SAP Builders!

In this blog post, I will showcase 'how to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to different environments in SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform).

In Part 1, let's see how to do this when all the required services (SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Work Zone, Standard Edition) are running as part of the same Subaccount in BTP.

Pre-requisites

You are familiar with creating an application using SAP Build Apps and deploying it to the CF (Cloud Foundry) Space of your Subaccount.

For your quick reference, access the SAP Discovery Center and check out the mission ‘Keep the Core Clean Using SAP Build Apps with SAP S/4HANA’. Here in the area ‘Project Board’ under the section ‘DEVELOP’ you can find a tutorial to ‘Create a No-Code Application using SAP Build Apps’.

You may also refer to the SAP Build Apps help portal content to learn about Building a SAP Build Apps application and deploying it.

Verify that the newly deployed app is available in your Subaccount

Before we add your application to the different BTP environments, let us verify that the right version of the app is available in your BTP Subaccount.

For this you need to look up for your app in the HTML5 Applications repository section of your BTP Subaccount.

Spoiler

The direct url of the deployed application can be always found here!
Take a note that the Application Name is constructed as a concatenation of 'buildapps' with your SAP Build Apps project id: '86796'

The direct url of the deployed application can be always found here!Take a note that the Application Name is constructed as a concatenation of 'buildapps' with your SAP Build Apps project id: '86796'

Hint: It is also possible to launch and test the application from here.

Integrate your SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Standard edition

Preparations before integration!

Select the SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition from the list of subscription.

NOTE: Only users assigned to the Role Collection: Launchpad_Admin have access permission to SAP Build Work Zone, Standard Edition to create artifacts at design time.

Refer to Initial Setup | SAP Help Portal -> Procedure-> 3. Assign users to the Launchpad_Admin role collection for some hints in case of any issues while accessing the SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition in the first place.

From the Channel Manager, refresh the HTML5 Apps to update it with the newly deployed app content.

Next, we need to access the Content Manager and go to the Content Explorer and select the HTML5 Apps from there.

Here you should be able to find your newly deployed SAP Build Apps application!

To add your application to the content of this Subaccount, select it and click on Add.

Finally, add this application to all the required roles of your end user via Content Manager -> Roles and save it as illustrated below.

Now, we are good to get started with adding the application to the different flavors in the SAP Build Work Zone, Standard Edition.

Spaces and Pages New Experience

Create a Site using Site Manager, choose the Display mode 'Spaces and Pages - New Experience and add all the necessary settings for this Site and save it.
Create a Page and add the application to it.
Create a Space and add the Page to it.
Add the Space to the Role.

Go to Site settings and add all the required role(s) containing this app and this space to the Site and to the end user via BTP Cockpit.
Check the Site for this app under this Space and Page and launch it at runtime.

Classic Launchpad with Groups

Create a Site using Site Manager, choose the Display mode 'Groups' and add all the necessary settings for this Site and save it.

Create a group or select an existing Group and add the application to it.
Check for the app under this group in the Site and launch the app at runtime.

(OR)

Create or select an existing Catalog and add the application to it.
Go to the Site settings and add all the required role(s) containing this app to the Site and to the end user via BTP Cockpit.
Edit the Launchpad and select the app from Catalog to add it to a new group or under any existing group.
Click on back button or navigate via SAP logo to Home page and launch the app from runtime.

New Launchpad with Spaces and Pages

Create a Site using Site Manager, choose the Display mode 'Spaces and Pages' and add all the necessary settings for this Site and save it.
Create or select an existing Catalog and add the application to it.

Go to the Site settings and add all the necessary role(s) containing this app to the Site and to the end user via BTP Cockpit.
Edit the Launchpad and select the app from Catalog to add it to a new section or under any existing section.
Click on back button or navigate via SAP logo to Home page to launch the app from runtime.

With this, I hope that you would also be able add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Standard Edition.

Spoiler

Coming up next ...
In the Part 2 blog, you will learn to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition.

Coming up next ...In the Part 2 blog, you will learn to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition.

Stay tuned and Happy building!

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 2

2024-03-15T13:46:29.333000+01:00

Hi SAP Builders!

This is a follow up blog to Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 1 and here I will continue to showcase 'how to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to different environments in SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform)', when all the required services (SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition) are running as part of the same Subaccount.

Integrate your SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced edition

Preparations before integration!

Ensure that the SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition is available in the list of subscriptions and is accessible.

Spoiler

Users need to be assigned to at least the following 2 role collections to be able to create artifacts at design time in SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition and access it later at runtime.

Workzone_Admin

Workzone_End_User

Refer to Onboarding to SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition - Setup and Configuration ,[SAP BTP Onboarding Series] - Step-by-Step guide to activate your SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition for some helpful hints in case of any issues while accessing the SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition in the first place.

For additional detailed reference feel free to consult the Implementing and Administering SAP Build Work Zone | SAP Learning - Explaining the Implementation Methodology - Explaining the Prepare Phase and About Administrators | SAP Help Portal.

Users need to be assigned to at least the following 2 role collections to be able to create artifacts at design time in SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition and access it later at runtime.Workzone_AdminWorkzone_End_UserRefer to Onboarding to SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition - Setup and Configuration ,[SAP BTP Onboarding Series] - Step-by-Step guide to activate your SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition for some helpful hints in case of any issues while accessing the SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition in the first place.For additional detailed reference feel free to consult the Implementing and Administering SAP Build Work Zone | SAP Learning - Explaining the Implementation Methodology - Explaining the Prepare Phase and About Administrators | SAP Help Portal.

Design-time setup

Access the SAP Build Lobby and select the option to create a business Site, ‘Build a Business Site.’

Further select the option to ‘Configure Site Content.’
Switch to Channel Manager.
From the Channel Manager, refresh the HTML5 Apps to update it with the newly deployed app content.
Next, we need to access the Content Manager and go to the Content Explorer and select the HTML5 Apps from there.

Here you should be able to find your newly deployed SAP Build App application. To add your application to the content of this Subaccount, select it and click on add.

Finally, add this application to all the required roles of your end user via Content Manager -> Roles and save it as illustrated below.

Now, we are good to start with adding your application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition, Business Site.

Add and access the application at run time

Access the SAP Build lobby again, this time click on the option ‘Manage Workpages and Workspaces’.
Create a ‘New Workspace’.
Provide the required details and click on create.
Alternately you can also edit an existing Workspace.
Create a Workpage and save it.
Alternately you can just access the Home page and add your content it.
Add a section and add a widget to it.
Here, our SAP Build Apps application can be found under the widget type 'Tiles'.
Select your SAP Build Apps application and add it.
Finally publish it.
Now, we can launch our application by clicking on the Tile.

Spoiler

Design Your First SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition Business Site | SAP Tutorials
SAP Build Work Zone | SAP Community

As our goal is to add a deployed SAP Build Apps application to our Work Zone Site, we did not deep dive further into enhancing it. If this is interesting for you, please refer to the following materials on SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition to explore further.Design Your First SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition Business Site | SAP TutorialsSAP Build Work Zone | SAP Community

With this, I hope that you would also be able to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced Edition.

Spoiler

Coming up next...
In the Part 3 blog, you will learn to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to different environments in SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform), when the SAP Build Apps service is running as part of a different subaccount in your global account (or) running as part of a different global account.

Coming up next...In the Part 3 blog, you will learn to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to different environments in SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform), when the SAP Build Apps service is running as part of a different subaccount in your global account (or) running as part of a different global account.

Stay tuned and Happy building!

SAP BTP - A Deep Dive into SAP Build Capabilities

2024-03-21T15:36:03.932000+01:00

A Deep Dive into SAP Build Capabilities

Citizen development is transforming the way businesses build applications. SAP BTP Build sits at the forefront of this movement, empowering everyone, not just professional coders, to create custom applications that address specific business needs. In this comprehensive blog, we'll delve into the intricacies of SAP BTP Build, exploring its core services, functionalities, and the benefits it offers.

Demystifying SAP BTP Build: A Suite of Powerhouse Services

SAP BTP Build isn't just a single tool; it's a unified platform housing three robust services, each catering to distinct application development needs:

SAP Build Apps (formerly SAP AppGyver):
- Visual Development Paradise: Unleash your creativity with a drag-and-drop interface. Build web and mobile applications intuitively, using pre-built components and functionalities. No coding experience required!
- Seamless Integration: Connect your applications seamlessly with existing SAP and non-SAP systems using pre-built connectors and APIs. This eliminates the need for complex integrations, saving time and resources.
- Offline Functionality (Mobile Apps): Keep your mobile applications operational even without an internet connection. This ensures uninterrupted workflows and enhances user experience, especially in scenarios with limited connectivity.
- Advanced Features: For those with a coding background, SAP Build Apps offers JavaScript extensions for more granular control and customization.
SAP Build Process Automation (formerly SAP Process Automation):
- Wrangle Repetitive Tasks: Feeling bogged down by repetitive tasks? Automate them with SAP Build Process Automation!
- Intuitive Flow Builder: Design automated workflows visually using a user-friendly interface. Connect various steps, decision points, and actions to streamline complex processes.
- Pre-built Connectors: Leverage pre-built connectors to integrate with diverse systems like SAP S/4HANA, Salesforce, and more. This eliminates the need for custom coding and accelerates automation implementation.
- Advanced Monitoring and Error Handling: Track the performance of your automated workflows, identify errors promptly, and configure robust error handling mechanisms to ensure smooth operation.
SAP Build Work Zone (formerly SAP Work Zone and SAP Launchpad service):
- Centralized Information Hubs: Create captivating business sites with SAP Build Work Zone. These sites serve as central hubs, providing users with easy access to information, applications, and processes.
- Branding and Customization: Tailor the look and feel of your business sites to match your company's branding. Embed logos, customize colors, and layouts to create a cohesive user experience.
- Single Sign-On Integration: Streamline user access by integrating SAP Build Work Zone with your existing single sign-on (SSO) solution. This allows users to access all applications and resources with a single login.
- Personalization Capabilities: Cater to individual user needs by personalizing the content and functionality of business sites. Deliver a more relevant and engaging experience for each user.

Unveiling the Benefits of SAP BTP Build: A Citizen Developer's Dream

By leveraging SAP BTP Build, businesses can unlock a treasure trove of benefits that empower employees and streamline operations. Let's explore some key advantages:

Empowering Citizen Developers: Bridge the gap between business needs and IT capabilities. Anyone can now build applications without writing code, fostering a culture of innovation and problem-solving across the organization.
Increased Productivity: Automate manual tasks and streamline workflows, freeing up valuable time for employees to focus on more strategic initiatives. Employees can also build custom tools to enhance their daily tasks, leading to significant productivity gains.
Enhanced Agility: Respond quickly to changing business requirements by rapidly building and deploying custom applications. This allows businesses to adapt to market shifts and seize new opportunities with greater agility.
Improved User Experience: Build applications with a user-centric approach. SAP BTP Build's visual development tools ensure applications are intuitive and user-friendly, leading to higher user satisfaction and adoption rates.
Reduced Development Costs: Eliminate the need for extensive coding resources and complex development environments. Build applications faster and at a lower cost compared to traditional development methods.

Who Can Benefit from SAP BTP Build? A Wide Spectrum of Users

The beauty of SAP BTP Build lies in its accessibility. Here's how different user groups can leverage the platform's capabilities:

Business Users: Build custom dashboards, reports, and approval workflows to streamline their daily tasks. Imagine a sales manager creating a mobile app to track leads on the go or a finance professional building a dashboard for real-time budget insights.
HR Professionals: Automate onboarding processes, manage leave requests, and build self-service portals for employees

To delve deeper and explore more use cases relevant to your organization needs, technical configurations for complex scenarios or to know more on value add feel free to connect.

SAP BTP Innobytes – March 2024

2024-03-28T08:36:07.858000+01:00

SAP Business Technology Platform brings together application development, automation, data and analytics, integration, and AI capabilities into one unified environment optimized for SAP applications. Learn more: sap.com/btp

We are closing out the end of the first quarter with another round of exciting SAP Business Technology Platform innovations! This month's SAP BTP Innobytes features the highly anticipated, vector engine in SAP HANA Cloud, a wealth of new top enablement content with the Reference Solution Architecture for SAP Master Data Governance, and the fresh wizard layout for workspaces in SAP Build Workzone. Watch the video and explore the details below!

Data & Analytics Innovations on SAP BTP

Reference Solution Architecture for SAP Master Data Governance

Many of you have been looking for an easy-to-follow visualization of Master Data Management process flows. We are very excited to introduce our new Reference Solution Architecture for SAP Master Data Governance, cloud edition running on the SAP Business Technology Platform.

The various diagram types provide insights into the solution components, value, data, and process flows. They provide you with a sound understanding of the different use cases of our solution. The diagrams can help you to find out, for example, how to create or change a business partner in SAP MDG, cloud edition. In addition, you can discover the different integration options between components.

To learn more, check out:

Master Data Management in the SAP Business Accelerator Hub
SAP Signavio Process Navigator
Explore the reference solution architecture for SAP Master Data Governance SAP Community blog post
Webinar including Demo on YouTube

Topic Expert: @C_Lindner

New Vector Engine in SAP HANA Cloud

Long time awaited and now finally live: we are happy to introduce you to the vector engine within SAP HANA Cloud. Giving you the chance to combine your relational business data not only with graph, geospatial and JSON document data, but now also with vector data, all on a singular platform.
With the vector engine included into our multi-model database platform, you can store, process, and query vector embeddings seamlessly, especially via the powerful similarity search. You are able to retrieve contextual information for GenAI use cases and intelligent data applications as vector embeddings and benefit from the combination with native machine learning, text mining, and other advanced functions; all integrated into one platform, in a trusted and reliable manner.

To learn more about the new vector engine, check out:

Join the Better Business Outcomes with SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine webinar on April 4
Vectorize our data SAP Community blog post
From developer’s desk: SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine SAP Community blog post
Early Adopter Care Program for SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine
SAP HANA Cloud vector engine Demo Video

Topic Expert: @thomashammer

Application Development Innovations on SAP BTP

New Wizard Layout for Workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone

You have been looking for predefined processes to help complete complex business flows. We are very excited to announce the new wizard Layout for Workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition running on SAP Business Technology Platform. This feature is now available for productive use.

Workspace administrators can create wizard-like predefined processes, to help users complete complex business flows. These wizards can include multiple steps and several stages. It also includes the possibility to add widgets and UI cards to each step. This ensures that business users are seamlessly guided through a wizard-like predefined process. For example, during the employee onboarding process, the new employee can be welcomed onboard with a smooth step-by-step process supported by this feature.

To learn more, check out:

What's New in SAP Build Work Zone SAP Community blog post
SAP Build Work Zone SAP Community topic page

Topic Expert: @Yumnahabbasi

Share Your Thoughts

We would love to hear what you think about the series. How do you like the video? Are there any SAP BTP topics that you’d like us to share more about? Leave your comments down below and we’re happy to connect with you.

Thank you for your support and happy viewing, sharing, and enjoying!

If you like SAP BTP Innobytes, you may also be interested in:

SAP BTP Ask Me Anything: monthly LIVE Q&A series with hot topics and product experts
SAP BTP Garage: monthly LIVE webinar with hands-on use case walkthroughs and demos
SAP BTP Talk Podcast: monthly podcast covering all things SAP BTP
What's New with SAP BTP: quarterly LIVE series for SAP BTP innovation highlights, with demos and time for Q&A

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 3

2024-04-10T15:12:58.956000+02:00

Hi SAP Builders!

This is a follow up blog to Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 1 and Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 2, here I will continue to showcase 'how to add your deployed SAP Build Apps application to different environments in SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform)'.

In Part 3, let's focus on how to do this when the required services (SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition) are running in different subaccounts in SAP BTP (either within the same Global account or in different Global accounts).

Pre-requisites

As indicated in the Solution diagram above, both Subaccounts must be connected to the same IAS configuration for SAP Cloud Identity Service.
You know the URL of the deployed SAP Build Apps application.

Hint: The direct URL of the deployed application can be always found in the HTML5 Applications repository section of your BTP Subaccount.

* NOTE: If a new version of the application is deployed to CF the URL would change, so we need to check for it again here to adjust any bookmark reference to your application. Only then we can continue to access the application without any issues.

Spoiler

If the URL is from an earlier deployment then the application will no longer be available for access.

Integrate your SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

Design time configuration of SAP Build Apps in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

Create an application via ‘Content manager’.
Provide the required details, important is to copy the latest deployed URL of the SAP Build Apps and add / adjust * it under the field 'URL' in Configuration.

Add the application to all the required roles of your end user.

Integrate the application to the runtime

To add your application to the desired runtime environments in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, refer to my previous blog post Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 1 under the sections:

Spaces and Pages New Experience
Classic Launchpad with Groups
New Launchpad with Spaces and Pages

Launch your SAP Build Apps application at runtime

When we configure our SAP Build Apps application as a URL application and launch it at runtime, we will be prompted to login. This is expected behavior as the SAP Build Apps service is running in a different Subaccount and is essential for metering.

If this is not desired, then configure the Default IDP for your organization to enable Single Sign On (SSO) login automatically.

With this, I hope that you could also bookmark your deployed SAP Build Apps application (from a different Subaccount) to your SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition (in this Subaccount) and use it successfully.

Disclaimer: Bookmarking is a work around approach to use the SAP Build Apps application and may not function optimally at all times. Yet we are sharing this 'Know-how' as SAP Build Apps services is currently not supported in all data centres and accessing SAP Build Apps across different subaccounts (either within the same Global account or in different Global accounts) is a possible use case.

Spoiler

Coming up next,
In Part 4 of this blog series I will cover the same scenario for SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition.

Coming up next,In Part 4 of this blog series I will cover the same scenario for SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition.

Stay tuned and Happy building!

What’s in SAP Build for our Partners? Insights from sovanta AG

2024-04-18T10:30:11.505000+02:00

sovanta AG, our esteemed partner, plays a crucial role in our collaborative efforts. Join us for an engaging interview with sovanta, where they will shed light on empowering customers through innovative SAP Build portfolios. Be prepared to be inspired as Christian Heinrich, Executive Board Member, and Lisa Keller, Senior Project Manager at sovanta, share their valuable insights!

SAP has recently launched Enterprise Automation with SAP; how do you perceive its importance in the context of your customers' journey?

Process Automation is certainly one of the most important topics for our customers now. On the one hand, it is a topic with extremely high potential. Every customer can name off the top of their head a multitude of processes within their company or their department where there is potential for improvement. And all the customers we talk to quickly realize that SAP Build Process Automation can help them with exactly those challenges. On the other hand, the topic is an excellent opportunity to get started with BTP. Many of our customers have used it to gain initial experience with the platform and the cloud and have ventured into other topics from there.

SAP and sovanta at DSAG Technologietage 2023 in Mannheim: Official launch of the sovanta Innovation Factory

What are the biggest issues your customers are facing now?

We have many clients that we are privileged to serve on BTP. Some are already well advanced on their BTP journey, while others have just started their journey. We repeatedly hear similar challenges from customers who are still very new to BTP. On the one hand, they wonder how best to get started on BTP. On the other hand, they don't know which expertise they need to get started or they simply do not have the resources available to get active on BTP. Many companies have a lot of expertise with traditional SAP, but do not yet have enough employees with expertise in BTP. In my view, SAP Build can be an important pillar in answering these challenges, as many of the tools offer a quick and lightweight introduction and employees have a steep learning curve.

How do you consider low code generally at sovanta?

The topic of low code plays a decisive role for us. As a member of the AppHaus Network, we have been pursuing the human-centered approach to innovation for years, in which close coordination with end users and their involvement in IT projects is of crucial importance. Up to now, we have relied heavily on visual prototypes for coordination with users. Low Code offers us completely new opportunities to involve business users even more closely in projects. Not only do we get results even faster, but we also increase commitment, because it's always different when you've worked on a solution yourself.   

In addition, the issue of speed cannot be overestimated. On the one hand, low code gives us the opportunity to integrate other user groups into the solution creation process and thus scale it differently, and on the other hand, we are increasingly able to convince pro developers of the advantages of low code and thus make their work even more efficient. Low Code is a great addition to the toolbox for developers.

Christian Heinrich on stage at the SAP Build Experience Day in the sovanta Innovation Factory

How did you start with SAP Build?

We started a lot of activities before the actual announcement of SAP Build. We worked actively with customers in SAP Work Zone and SAP Workflow Management, and we tried SAP Build Apps for internal solutions.

What is SAP Build for in your portfolio?

We have integrated the entire SAP Build portfolio into our sovanta portfolio. Because in the end, for us it is always about improving the user experience. SAP Build is an excellent tool for this. We help customers to implement employee or customer portals based on SAP Build Work Zone. We modernize and improve processes for our customers with the help of SAP Build Process Automation and we help to implement extensions based on SAP Build Apps. Of course, SAP Build Apps cannot support all our extension projects, for many of them we continue to rely on the established Pro Code support such as SAP CAP or SAP Fiori (Elements). But where it makes sense, we have had good experience of working in "fusion teams" with the citizen developers on the customer side. We have developed a special solution for this called "SAP Build Apps Bootcamp" in which we realize a solution together with business experts on the customer side in just three weeks. The customer does the actual low-code work, and we provide support with UX design, integration, and expert consultations.

SAP & sovanta speakers at the SAP Build Experience Day in the sovanta Innovation Factory

Can you share an example on how SAP Build Process Automation helped in a customer project?

We all must admit, paper-based processes are still around a lot. While those scenarios might not be the shiniest ones, they are the ones with a lot of potential and clear business cases. One of our customers from the real estate management sector has really taken a liking to process automation and we have already been able to improve several processes together with them. One of these processes involved a classic of process automation - approvals. Investments as part of renovation work must be checked and approved by several people. However, the associated documents can sometimes fill several folders. Instead of carrying these across the company as before, the process can now be mapped completely digitally thanks to process automation.  

Can you share an example on how SAP Build Apps helped in a customer project?

If it's ok, I'd like to use a sovanta internal example here. This example shows very well the challenges that SAP Build Apps can help with. It involved the implementation of a solution within our Innovation Factory. We wanted to provide employees with all relevant information and assets from our Innovation Factory in one central location. However, sometimes it is difficult to find the right experts for a new internal topic even within a software company at short notice, especially when everyone is heavily involved in customer projects. So, we thought, let's just try it out ourselves based on SAP Build Apps. And I have to say, it worked very well. Sometimes SAP Build Apps simply opens new possibilities for tackling projects quickly, even when resources are scarce.

Hands-on session at the SAP Build Experience Day in the sovanta Innovation Factory

Can you share an example on how SAP Build Work Zone helped in a customer project?

SAP Build Work Zone is great whenever you have processes span multiple systems. Having relevant data sitting in separated systems can lead to scenarios where there is a lot of room for improvement. This was also the case within a project we realized together with one of our customers in the retail field. Within one of their core processes the customers employees had to touch multiple systems to get their jobs done. By using SAP Build Work Zone for a central cockpit, we now allow the users to have all relevant information at hand and to trigger all needed steps for the process from one central cockpit.

How do you plan to use SAP Build in the future?

For us SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Build Work Zone are really a no brainer. They are well established within our portfolio; our experts know how to handle it and are always up to date when it comes to new features.

 For SAP Build Apps we are currently figuring out how we can further support the decision process. A lot of customers ask us about parameters that indicate whether a planned solution should be realized by Low Code or by Pro Code. Whereas we worked out a set of criteria to support that decision there is still the need to give even better guidance, maybe by introducing a clear decision tree.

In addition, we are really interested in getting our hands dirty with SAP Build Code, how GenAI and Low Code can be integrated into the everyday work lives of our Developers.

Could you kindly provide insights into your methodology and activities for assisting customers in migrating from SAP Intelligent RPA and SAP Workflow Management to SAP Build Process Automation?

It is possible to make processes easily available in the ‘new world’ via the appropriate APIs. However, we recommend using the moment to challenge and improve the process and remodel it with the SAP Build artifacts - this way customers benefit from the advantages of Low Code.

We want to give a big thank you to Christian and Lisa for taking the time to join us in the interview. Their commitment to connecting with customers through SAP Build solutions is truly impressive. We appreciate their efforts and can't wait to work with them in the future.

Additionally, SAP Build has organized an insightful interview with Maria Woydich, Senior Software Engineer, and Christian Bernhardt, Senior Project Manager, both from sovanta. Don't miss out on their fantastic insights:

▶️Learn more about sovanta’s SAP Build solutions: https://sovanta.com/en/simplify-it/process-automation/

Thanks for reading! Enjoyed the highlights or have feedback? Press thumbs up and reach out to us in the comments. Follow and engage with us on LinkedIn, X and YouTube and sign up for SAP Build newsletter to avoid missing updates!

First Half 2024 Release: What’s New for SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone?

2024-04-24T00:16:57.503000+02:00

SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone

We're thrilled to share some big news about the latest enhancements in SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone. A brand new wizard layout is now available to simplify setting up business processes, especially those that span multiple systems. Think of this as your GPS guiding you through the construction of a complex model. The wizard layout provides step-by-step instructions, allowing workspace admins to craft multistep processes with ease, significantly reducing the need for manual effort. This feature is especially helpful for tasks like creating an onboarding process for new hires.

Additionally, we’ve made further improvements by integrating SAP SuccessFactors homepage content right into Work Zone and SAP Start. This means no more switching back and forth between apps to complete HR tasks. Employees can now enjoy direct access to new engagement cards like birthday celebrations, work anniversaries, and bonus updates, all in one spot.

Lastly, we've introduced some quick actions in Work Zone. Employees can now easily update their contact information, such as phone number, email, and home address.

Dive Deeper Into Our Latest Release!

For those excited to explore all the innovations from the SAP SuccessFactors First Half 2024 Release, we've got plenty of resources:

Join the SAP SuccessFactors Community: Here you can find detailed release documentation, engaging product videos, and comprehensive blogs about different solution areas.
Watch the 2H 2024 Release Highlights Video: Catch Bianka Woelke, our Head of Product Management, as she highlights the major updates in an informative video.
Read the 1H 2024 Release Highlights Brochure: This brochure provides further details about each solution area.
Watch our Product Area Release Videos: These videos cover a range of topics, including Business AI Innovations (coming soon!), Benefits Enrollment Experience, Experience and UX, Recruiting and Onboarding, Time Management, and Learning giving you a closer look at what’s new.

If you have any questions or want to discuss these updates further, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below. We always enjoy hearing from our users and look forward to your feedback!

How to embed SWZ portal into an iFrame?

2024-04-24T18:54:14.805000+02:00

How to embed SWZ portal into an iFrame? Where to insert my embedding domain into the list of SWZ trusted domains?

When trying to embed the entire SWZ portal into an iFrame I get the following error:

Refused to frame 'https://btp-tenant.workzone.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com/' because an ancestor violates the following Content Security Policy directive: "frame-ancestors 'self' https://teams.microsoft.com https://btp-tenant.cpp.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com https://btp-tenant.launchpad.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com https://btp-tenant.workzone.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com https://btp-tenant.workzonehr.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com https://btp-tenant.mobile.workzone.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com https://btp-tenant.mobile.workzonehr.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com".

The list in the frame-ancestors is a list of SWZ trusted domains. Thus, for instance, I can embed the same SWZ portal into MS Teams. This works because https://teams.microsoft.com is already on the trusted domains list above.

Worth mentioning, this is a different trusted domain list from the list of the trusted domains maintained in SWZ's SAP IAS. The latter is used when embedding 3rd party content into SWZ.

Q. So the question is how do I get added any custom domain to the list of trusted domains to embed SWZ into?

A. Eventually I figured out how to do it with either SAP Workzone edition, namely free/standard and advanced.

You have to edit the list of relevant security headers in the site manager settings as depicted in the screenshot below. Then you can embed SWZ in your website;

Voila; that's it.

PS.

The following links were helpful:

https://help.sap.com/docs/build-work-zone-standard-edition/sap-build-work-zone-standard-edition/security

https://help.sap.com/docs/build-work-zone-standard-edition/sap-build-work-zone-standard-edition/using-security-headers

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Content-Security-Policy

Free SAP Build account error "Creation Failed: Couldn't create an instance..."

2024-04-26T18:12:58.540000+02:00

When trying to create a free SAP Build free account, the error "Creation failed" stop the process.

This issue is due to the Sub-account doesn't find an Identity Provider to make everything works.

To solve it:

1. Go to your Trial subaccount > Service tab (side panel) > Instance and Subscriptions > Create

2. A new windows will open. Then we will install the Cloud Identity Services into our subaccunt. This will help us to have an Identity tool to make everything works.

You will receive a welcome email from IAS. Follow the IAS procedures (not described at this bolg)

3. Once the Cloud Identity service is installed you can try to reinstall your free SAP Build application.

If you liked it give me a Kudo!

New Card Upload Process and Role-based Filtering of Cards in Work Zone Adv

2024-05-03T08:13:03.711000+02:00

Background

From SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition U2404 Release, Cards are now supported as a visualization type of local apps and are maintained in the Content Manager.

It is no longer possible to manually upload standalone cards or update cards through the Admin Console. Remaining functionality in the Admin Console is configuring the card and enabling/disabling the card.

It is no longer possible to directly deploy a card created via the Development Tools for SAP Build Work Zone extension in SAP Business Application Studio to the subaccount.

Card Management

1. Go to Content Manager

With the admin access, you can go to Work Zone Adv system -> Admin Console. Go to the Business Content Tab -> Open Content Manager.

2. Upload Card

You can package and download the card zip from the Development Tools for SAP Build Work Zone extension in SAP Business Application Studio.
In Content Manager, Click Create -> App

In App Creation, directly go to Visulization Tab, Choose Visualization Type as "UI Integration Card" and Upload Card zip.

3. Setup Role Filtering

3.1 Make Card Available to All Users

To make this card available to all users, you need to assign Everyone role to the app.
In Content Manager -> Find out Everyone Role -> Edit -> Toggel On your app.

3.2 Make Card Available to subset Users

To make this card available to a subset of users, you need to create your own role, assign your app to your role, assign your role to the Work Zone site and assign your role to the requied users in the BTP Subaccount.
In Content Manager -> Create -> Role -> Toggel On your app.

Go to Site Directory -> Open Settings for "SAP Build Work Zone"

Edit the Site -> Add your role to the site assignments

Go to BTP Subaccount -> Role Collections -> Find out your role -> Configure Users or User Groups to your role who should see your App/Card.

4.Enable Card

Before the end user can see or use the card. One last step is to enable the card in Admin Console.
Go to Work Zone Admin Console -> UI Integration -> Cards, Find out your card -> Toggel On the card

5. Use Card

The end user go to Work Zone Adv system, go to any Workspaces and edit any Workpage.

If the end user have the role, he can see this card in widget picker and also see the card the workpage.

If the end user do not have the role, he should not see the card in the widget picker and workpages.

Tips for Admins

When the admin go to Content Manager/Admin Console, he can see all the apps/cards regardless of his own roles.
When the admin go to Home or any workpages, he will behave like a normal user representing himself, thus he can only see the cards based on this own role.

SAP Community - SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

What's New for SAP Build Apps - Enhanced Fusion Development

SAP Builders Spotlight: How is low-code transforming businesses in Latin America?

Top 5 product updates for SAP Build Work Zone I Q4 2023 News

1️⃣ SAP Build Work Zone at SAP TechEd 2023

2️⃣ Translation feature

3️⃣ Import and export capabilities

4️⃣ Flexible access control for folders

5️⃣ Enhanced workspace functionality

Learn More:

A glimpse at our product strategy for Application Development, Automation and Integration

Where do we come from?

What will come in 2024?

1. Fusion Development:

Easily consuming APIs from SAP Build

Extending an SAP solution UI with UI5 in SAP Build Code

2. Enterprise Automation

Edge Integration Cell

Advanced Event Mesh

3. Generative AI

Keep in touch!

SAP Build Work Zone - Transport Route

What's new for SAP Build Work Zone - Wizard

How to Create a Wizard

Translating the Wizard

Interacting with Wizard Events and Context Updates

[INVITE]: Join us in driving development forward with SAP Build and SAP Build Code

Witness Thomas Volmering Unveil Fusion Development: SAP Build in Action

Clean Core Strategy

Fostering Collaboration through Fusion Teams

Insights for Innovation

What is new for SAP Build Work Zone? Product Highlights in January and February 2024

Roadmap Updates

Administration Experience

SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

Business User Experience

Developer Experience

What is Coming Next?

More Information on new Features and Functions

Learn more

Follow SAP Build on Social Media and Join the SAP Builders Group

Dream big, execute smart with the Use Case Buddy - Your Key to Streamlined IT Governance!

"Use Case Buddy" - A tool to streamline the ideation phase of use cases for fusion development with SAP Build

What is the Use Case Buddy?

The app: Describe and score use case ideas

The process: review and approve your use case idea

The repository: manage and collaborate on your use case portfolio

Make it your own!

How to get it?

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 1

Pre-requisites

Verify that the newly deployed app is available in your Subaccount

Integrate your SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Standard edition

Preparations before integration!

Spaces and Pages New Experience

Classic Launchpad with Groups

New Launchpad with Spaces and Pages

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 2

Integrate your SAP Build Apps application to SAP Build Work Zone, Advanced edition

Preparations before integration!

Design-time setup

SAP BTP - A Deep Dive into SAP Build Capabilities

A Deep Dive into SAP Build Capabilities

Demystifying SAP BTP Build: A Suite of Powerhouse Services

Unveiling the Benefits of SAP BTP Build: A Citizen Developer's Dream

Who Can Benefit from SAP BTP Build? A Wide Spectrum of Users

SAP BTP Innobytes – March 2024

SAP Business Technology Platform brings together application development, automation, data and analytics, integration, and AI capabilities into one unified environment optimized for SAP applications. Learn more: sap.com/btp

Data & Analytics Innovations on SAP BTP

Reference Solution Architecture for SAP Master Data Governance

New Vector Engine in SAP HANA Cloud

Application Development Innovations on SAP BTP

New Wizard Layout for Workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone

Share Your Thoughts

Tips to add your SAP Build Apps application to different BTP environments - Part 3

What’s in SAP Build for our Partners? Insights from sovanta AG

SAP has recently launched Enterprise Automation with SAP; how do you perceive its importance in the context of your customers' journey?

What are the biggest issues your customers are facing now?

How do you consider low code generally at sovanta?

SAP Business Technology Platform brings together application development, automation, data and analytics, integration, and AI capabilities into one unified environment optimized for SAP applications. Learn more: sap.com/btp

How do you consider low code generally at sovanta?