SAP Community - SAP Task Center

SAP Mobile Start V2.0 - Release Update

2024-10-15T08:28:09.290000+02:00

With the latest release of SAP Mobile Start, you get significant enhancements that will make your usage of SAP Mobile Start even more enjoyable and efficient. Besides Spaces & Pages and declarative integration cards from SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, you will also get some nice enhancements for tasks.

Spaces & Pages – New Experience
Introduced for the web some time back, we now support Spaces & Pages also in SAP Mobile Start. This comes with several advantages for you, like an improved organization and categorization of your content - as you do know already from the web. You get a more structured view of your applications and information, making it easier to locate and access your relevant resources quickly.
If you use groups to structure your apps, your groups will also be shown on sub-pages on the Apps screen in the future, what significantly improves user experience.

Screenshot: Spaces & Pages

Cards
So far, SAP Mobile Start has supported insight cards from SAP Start. With the release 2.0, we do support the “New Experience” of SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition and you will get your declarative integration cards, embedded in the respective pages on the Apps screen. By tapping on the card, you navigate into the card details. Depending on the functional scope of a card, actions can be directly triggered from it. If you do use cards in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition already, then they will automatically appear for you within the SAP Mobile Start version 2.0.

Screenshot: Cards from SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

SAP S/4HANA Situations Handling
Situation Handling informs you about situations that need your attention. This includes for example upcoming deadlines, delays, expiring contracts, and so on. With SAP Mobile Start version 2.0, we now also support the standard framework capabilities of Situation Handling. You always find your latest situations in your Latest To-Dos section on the Start screen and all situations on the To-Dos screen.

Tasks
Tasks are one key element of SAP Mobile Start as they ensure that you are always on top of your relevant business workflows. Task-based notifications and widgets help to ensure that you never oversee or forget an important task. With the latest version of SAP Mobile Start, you can see URL attachments for tasks in the new links section within the attachments on the task details screen. By tapping on the link, the respective link is opened in a new window. Typical links are a link to a document stored on a file server or a link to an ISO document.

With version 2.0, the app also supports non-finalising actions for tasks. Those are mainly relevant for tasks that come from partner solutions. With a non-finalizing task action you can update the task without complete it. Typical non-finalising actions are to increase a task priority or change the task status.

Screenshot: Non-finalising actions for tasks

Finally, you get a new To-Dos detail page layout for Android! It was specifically designed for larger screens like tablets and foldable devices. With the booming market for foldables and tablets on Android, there's a growing need to optimize our layouts for larger screens.

Screenshot: Task details large screen on Android

I hope you will enjoy those new features in SAP Mobile Start.

For further information on the new topics, please check our SAP Mobile Start documentation.

SAP Mobile Experience offers intelligent native mobile solutions that help businesses build more efficient, resilient and sustainable end-to-end processes, improving people’s work life wherever they are.

Visit SAP Mobile Experience Community Page and click “follow” to get the latest development and innovation of our solutions. We look forward to hearing about your experience with setting up the solution in your landscape; please do share your thoughts and comments below. Enter here for additional questions regarding SAP Mobile Experience Applications.

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Enabling My Inbox Fiori App in SAP Build Work Zone: Streamlining Work Item Management with SAP Build

2024-11-08T09:51:06.773000+01:00

What is My Inbox Application?

The My Inbox application is an on-premise SAP Fiori app designed to help business users efficiently process requests directly from their SAP inbox. It provides approvers with all necessary information for reviewing, approving, or advancing business processes, enabling faster, more informed decision-making.

To integrate My Inbox with the SAP BTP Launchpad service, we manually activate the application. The SAP Cloud Connector then creates a secure link between the SAP BTP cloud environment and the on-premise system, enabling reliable and protected data transfer across environments.

Subscriptions

SAP Business Technology Platform Subscription
SAP Cloud Connector Setup
SAP Build Work Zone, Standard Edition
SAP Build Process Automation
SAP Fiori Front End Server/ Embedded in S/4 HANA

Prerequisite Configuration

Configure Cloud Connector with S/4 HANA On-Premise
Create Destinations in the SAP BTP subaccount for Cloud Connector
Configure SAP Launchpad Service in SAP BTP
Configure SAP On-Premise system

Prerequisite Checks

In your BTP subaccount you are subscribed to the following subscriptions

Cloud Identity Services
SAP Business Application Studio (automatically Added)
SAP Build Process Automation
SAP Build Work Zone, Standard edition
Environment – SAP Cloud Foundry Instance

Configure Cloud Connector with S/4 HANA On-Premise System with the following details -

Login to Cloud Connector with the Administrator user and navigate to the Cloud to On-Premise tab from the left window.

Here view the Mapping Virtual To Internal System and check the configuration settings, the result should be reachable.

From the Edit Settings you can review the configuration settings.

Here the Port numbers are for HTTP - 80XX and HTTPS – 443XX, where XX is your application server instance number

Make sure resources of the on-premise system are accessible with the Access Policy name “Paths and All Sub-Paths”

Your Work Zone, standard edition site is created

Execution Steps -

Create a Service Key for the SAP Build Process Automation Instance

Service keys allow you to create credentials for direct access to a specific service instance. By generating and configuring these keys you enable secure and authenticated communication between your service instance and external clients. This includes local development environments, applications in different deployment spaces, or external systems outside your cloud deployment.

Once configured, these keys provide the necessary permissions for these entities to interact with your service thus streamlining integration and access management across various environments.

Login to SAP BTP subaccount, under Services à Instances and Subscriptions select the instance you created for process automation and select the three dots àselect Create Service Key.

Once created, select View the key.

Once done, download this service key file.

These credentials are used to create a destination for SAP Build Process Automation

Configure SAP Build Process Automation Destination

To set up SAP Build Work, standard edition with SAP Build Process Automation, we will now start by creating an SAP BTP Destination for your subaccount. This Destination serves as a connection point, enabling SAP Build Work to communicate seamlessly with SAP Build Process Automation.

Choose Connectivity> Destinations> New Destination.

Here we will enter the credentials downloaded from our Service Key File.

Field	Value
Name	sbpa_wz_destination
Type	HTTP
Proxy Type	Internet
Authentication	OAuth2ClientCredentials
URL	<"endpoints"."api">
Client ID	<"uaa"."clientid">
Client Secret	<"uaa"."clientsecret">
Token Service URL	<"uaa"."url"> add /oauth/token

Note – Please do not use capital letters or special characters other than ‘_’ while providing the name of the Destination. And use the same Destination name as provided.

Additional Parameters -

Note - When copying the values -saasregistryenabled sap.cloud.service and sap.cloud.service.alias . Please select the values without the quotes.

Field	Value
AppgyverEnabled	true
BuildApps.RequiresCsrf	true
endpoints	endpoints copy the whole JSON structure including { and }
html5-apps-repo	html5-apps-repo copy the whole JSON structure including { and }
HTML5.DynamicDestination	true
saasregistryenabled	Saasregistryenabled
sap.cloud.service	sap.cloud.service
sap.cloud.service.alias	sap.cloud.service.alias
sap.processautomation.enabled	True
WebIDEEnabled	true

Perform Check Connection for the Destination.

You should receive this response message "401: Unauthorized"

Create My Inbox Application in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

Once the destination setup is completed, we will now navigate to SAP Build Work Zone Application.

Navigate back to SAP BTP Cockpit subaccount. Choose Services then Instances and Subscriptions. Choose Go to Application next to SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition.

A new application is now opened in another window.

From the main screen navigate to Channel Manager and reload channel HTML5 Apps, the content updates and the status changes to Updated.

If the Destination is configured correctly, here you will receive no error while reloading HTML5 Apps.

Select Content Manager. On the top tabs select Content Explorer and then select HTML5 Apps.

Select HTML5 Apps à from the drop down menu of applications select My Inbox and click Add.

Return to Content Manager and select Everyone item to edit it.

Now Add My Inbox Application to Everyone Role.

Once this is saved your My Inbox Application is added to your Work Zone Site.

Create a new group and assign the application My Inbox to the group

In Content Manager a Create new Group

Provide the Name of the new Group and a Description. Here you will have to add My Inbox Application to the group and Save.

Now when you navigate to your SAP Build Work Zone Site , the new Group and My Inbox Application is available.

Note - To ensure that workflow scenarios display correctly in the My Inbox application on a Work Zone site, you need to set the Asynchronous Module Loading parameter to NO. This adjustment is necessary for accurate and complete scenario display in the application. https://me.sap.com/notes/0003527309

Select Settings and Edit the Site Parameterà Asynchronous Module Loading value as NO and Save.

Additional Key Steps

Make sure to add the following key roles to your user ID in BTP Subaccount https://help.sap.com

Launchpad_External_User
Launchpad_Admin
Launchpad_Advanced_Theming
UAA_Token_Exchange

Check Cloud Connector Destination in SAP BTP

Thank You.

Why SAP Cloud Identity Matters for SAP Task Center: It’s About Trust and Global User ID

2024-11-25T09:44:06.854000+01:00

Click, read, type, send and repeat. Approvals look quick and easy, says the promotional video of SAP Task Center.

No doubt about it. The unified inbox for approvals across multiple applications offers a straightforward and intuitive interface. The real challenge, however, lies in the initial setup of all related services and applications. Let’s see!

For employee A in your company to approve tasks from business applications X, Y, Z in the SAP Task Center, you, as an integration expert, need to configure the following components to work together:

SAP BTP subaccount for SAP Task Center application
SAP Cloud Identity Services: Identity Authentication, Identity Provisioning and Identity Directory
Business applications, known as task providers
SAP cloud connector, if task providers are on-premise systems
Corporate identity provider (IdP) if present in the customer landscape

This blog post focuses on the key role of SAP Cloud Identity Services in ensuring that the right users will get access to the right tasks in the SAP Task Center. It aims to clarify some misunderstandings that customers face when setting up Identity Authentication as a proxy for delegating the authentication to the corporate IdP Microsoft Entra ID and using Identity Provisioning for replicating users and groups to SAP S/4HANA acting as a task provider.

1. Establish Trust with Identity Authentication

The identity and access management of SAP Task Center fully relies on SAP Cloud Identity Services (SCI). Therefore, you must configure Identity Authentication as the trusted identity provider for the SAP BTP subaccount for SAP Task Center. See Establish Trust and Federation Between SAP Authorization and Trust Management Service and Identity Authentication.

Proposed approach:

Use Identity Authentication as single identity provider for SAP BTP.

SAP BTP comes preconfigured with a default, SAP-managed identity provider (SAP ID service), which is different from Identity Authentication - a service that you, as a customer, can fully manage yourself. It is important to move to Identity Authentication and use it as your custom IdP. See Onboard to SAP Cloud Identity Services.

If more than one SCI tenants are available for establishing the trust, select the tenant that is used by your task provider (that is, SAP S/4HANA). Although customers may have several tenants for various reasons, the rule is: Your SAP BTP subaccount and all task providers must trust the same SCI tenant. Having one central tenant is key for SSO across applications.
Opt for the automatic, one-click Establish Trust option using the OpenID Connect protocol instead of manually exchanging SAML metadata. As a result, an OIDC application representing the SAP BTP subaccount for SAP Task Center will be created automatically in the SCI admin console.

2. Things to Consider when Configuring Global User ID

The correlation between users and their tasks in the SAP Task Center fully relies on the Global User ID attribute. Therefore, you must ensure that the logged-in user in the SAP Task Center application has the same Global User ID in SAP Cloud Identity Services and all task providers.

Proposed approach:

Although you can provide your own unique identifier, we recommend that you generate and distribute it using SAP Cloud Identity Services. See Global User ID in Integration Scenarios.
The Global User ID must be included in the token issued by the IdP. SAP Task Center uses the Global User ID from the user_uuid claim in the token to correlate the logged-in users with their tasks. It does not rely on the subject name identifier (SNI) for this purpose.

Claims in the token (or assertion attributes in SAML) are defined in the application representing the SAP BTP subaccount for SAP Task Center under: Trust -> Single Sign-On -> Attributes -> Self-defined Attributes. See User Attributes.

In principal propagation scenarios, when the logged-in user approves tasks on the task provider side, SAP Task Center must communicate the identity of the principal (user) to the task provider, which then determines whether to permit or reject the operation.

For identifying the user, the task provider relies on the Name ID in the SAML assertion, which is populated with the value of the subject name identifier. If the subject name identifier (e.g., email) is not unique within the task provider, you can configure the userIdSource destination property in the SAP Task Center to point to the user_uuid claim in the token. Once configured (e.g., userIdsource=user_uuid), the Name ID will be determined by the value specified in userIdSource.

3. Sync the Trusted IdP with the Cloud Connector

After configuring Identity Authentication as the trusted IdP for the SAP BTP subaccount, you must synchronize it as a trusted IdP in the SAP cloud connector, which serves as the link between the BTP applications and the SAP S/4HANA on-premise system. See Configure Trusted Entities in the Cloud Connector.

By default, the cloud connector does not trust any entity that issues tokens for principal propagation. If you forget to synchronize your IdP with the cloud connector, your users will get the 'SSO Token Validation Error' when opening their tasks in the SAP Task Center.

4. Establish Trust with MS Entra ID

Configure Microsoft Entra ID as the trusted corporate IdP in SAP Cloud Identity Services. For more information, see Configure Trust with OpenID Connect Corporate Identity Provider.

Do not configure the SAP BTP subaccount for SAP Task Center to directly trust the corporate IdP. Instead, establish trust between the subaccount and SAP Cloud Identity Services, which should then trust the corporate IdP.

If the subaccount for SAP Task Center trusts MS Entra ID directly, that is - bypassing the Identity Authentication proxy, users will be able to log into the SAP Task Center but will not be able to open their tasks.

Define the corporate identity provider to be the default IdP for the application representing the BTP subaccount. For more information, see Choose a Corporate Identity Provider as Default.

5. Enable Identity Federation

In this scenario, Identity Authentication is not just a proxy passing user attributes from the corporate IdP to the application during authentication. It plays a more active role by providing attributes from its own user store - the Identity Directory, to the token.

Configure Identity Authentication as the leading IdP for attributes sent to the application, while allowing the corporate IdP to provide additional attributes, if needed. Enable the Use Identity Authentication user store option under Corporate Identity Provider -> Identity Federation. See Configure Identity Federation.
Review the attributes expected by the SAP Task Center application in the SCI admin console and decide on their source and value. See Map User Attributes from a Corporate Identity Provider for Business Users.

Ensure the Identity Directory remains the source for user_uuid and groups, as illustrated in step 2. This is necessary if the IdP needs to provide information about the user's group membership to the Task Center application. For example, you might have created a user group in the Identity Directory for SAP Task Center admin users and mapped this group to the role collection that includes the TaskCenterAdmin and TaskCenterTenantOperator roles in the SAP BTP subaccount.

Note: SAP Task Center does not provide specific roles to end users for granting permissions to the application. All logged-in users have access to their task lists. If there are no tasks assigned to a user, their task list will simply be empty. By correlating users to tasks based on the Global User ID, users can only view their own list of tasks.

SAP Task Center provides roles for admin users: TaskCenterAdmin and TaskCenterTenantOperator. See Authorization Configuration.

6. Sync Users from MS Entra ID to Identity Directory

Users authenticating to SAP Task Center must be present in the user store of SAP Cloud Identity. Therefore, you need to import/provision your MS Entra ID users to the Identity Directory. Choose one of the following options:

Set up Microsoft Entra ID to automatically provision and deprovision users to SAP Cloud Identity. See Configure SAP Cloud Identity Services for automatic user provisioning.
Use Identity Provisioning for provisioning users from MS Entra ID to SAP Cloud Identity. See Microsoft Entra ID (Source) and Local Identity Directory (Target).

7. Sync Users from SAP S/4HANA to Identity Directory

In a standard scenario, customers have one system of origin for their identities and provision them to as many target SAP applications as needed using Identity Provisioning. In this particular scenario, SAP S/4HANA is the second system of origin along with MS Entra ID.

The goal of this setup - provisioning from SAP S/4HANA to Identity Directory and back to SAP S/4HANA - is to generate a Global User ID for every SAP S/4HANA user in the directory and then sync it back.

Proposed approach:

Start the user provisioning from SAP AS ABAP source system to the Identity Directory target system. This is needed because SAP AS ABAP serves as the user base for SAP S/4HANA. See SAP Application Server ABAP (Source) and Local Identity Directory (Target).

When using multiple sources to provision identities to one target (Identity Directory), refer to Merging Data from Multiple Sources to control which user attributes come from each source system and avoid overwriting them in the target system.

The default read transformation of AS ABAP does not support the display name user attribute. Since SAP Task Center requires every user to have the Display Name, E-Mail, and Global User ID, you need to modify an attribute mapping of your choice to populate it with the display name value. For example, map the ADDRESS.FIRSTNAME to the displayName as follows:

The first name of the user will be provisioned to the Identity Directory as its display name.

Always test your configuration with the Validate and Simulate jobs before running an actual provisioning job. For more information, see Validate Provisioning Job (verifies the content of the user) and Simulate Provisioning Job (estimates the number of provisioned users).

8. Update SAP S/4HANA Users with Global User ID

Sync back the users with their newly generated Global User IDs from the Identity Directory to SAP S/4HANA. Your target Local Identity Directory from the previous steps must now be configured as a source system for provisioning to both SAP AS ABAP and SAP S/4HANA On-Premise targets.

You might have created a user group, such as 'S4HANA', in the Identity Directory to group together your SAP S/4HANA users, allowing you to filter and provision only those specific users. To ensure proper filtering, refer to the supported filtering parameters in the Identity Directory API available on the SAP Business Accelerator Hub. Incorrect filtering may result in failed provisioning jobs.

Every integration scenario is unique and requires careful planning, customization and testing. Hopefully, this blog post offers you some guidance through the myriad of configuration options, choices, and alternatives.

Architecting Email Approval without My Inbox for SAP Build Process Automation Workflows: Part 1

2024-11-30T09:00:57.376000+01:00

Business Context

While working day in and day out on SAP BTP use cases, we have noticed a growing inclination among customers towards “Automation” specially with SAP BTP SAP Build Process Automation. This trend has led to the development of various side-by-side custom extensions on SAP BTP utilizing SAP Build Process Automation.

Problem Statement

One of the most common requests we receive from multiple customers is for a mechanism that allows email-based approval without the need to manually log into the My Inbox application.

Currently, there is no out-of-the-box capability available to fulfill this requirement. Therefore, we will be developing our own custom module to address this need.

In this three-part blog series, my colleague & BTP Architect @Adwait_Fadnavis and I will provide insights on how to implement Email-based approval using SAP Build Process Automation capabilities.

We have prepared the content for this series in three blogs, where we will be diving deep into Design, Development, and Testing.

Scenario Explanation

In this scenario, a workflow will be triggered using SAP Build Process Automation, which will send an email notification to the respective approver.

“The approver will receive the email notification and can reply to this email with either “Approve” or “Reject.”

Based on the response, the corresponding workflow task will be approved or rejected.

Important Considerations

Valid Approver Verification: The approver must be a valid approver, and the email must come from the approver’s registered email address. If the email does not come from the proper approver, or if the response is not “Approved” or “Reject,” the system must send an email back indicating that the response is not valid.
Unique Request Number: Each approval request must generate a unique request number. This number will be used to validate the response against the original request, ensuring that the approval or rejection is correctly matched to the corresponding workflow task.

Disclaimer: We can't recall the email after the approval/rejection.

End to End Business Process Flow: Streamlining Approval Processes with SAP BPA Email-Based Automation

End to End Process Flow : Email based Approval

Workflow Initiation

The process begins when an SAP BPA workflow is triggered. This could be due to various business events, such as a purchase order requiring approval.

Sending Approval Work Items : Once triggered, the workflow sends approval work items to the approver’s SAP BTP My Inbox. Simultaneously, an email notification is dispatched to the approver.
Email Notification Details :The email notification includes essential details like the “workflow instance ID” or “Custom Request Number” in the subject line. This ensures the approver & automation (which will elaborate later) can easily identify the request.
Approver’s Response Options: The approver has two options to respond:

Log into SAP BTP My Inbox: Approvers can log in and approve or reject the request directly.
Email-Based Response: Approvers can reply to the email with “Approve” or “Reject.”

Background Automation

An SAP BPA-based automation runs continuously in the background, monitoring the responses sent by the approver. This automation checks if the response is from a valid approver and corresponds to a valid work item.

Updating Work Items: If the response is valid, the automation updates the SAP BPA work item accordingly. This eliminates the need for the approver to log into My Inbox separately, streamlining the process.
Completion Notification: Upon completion of the process, an approval email is sent to confirm the outcome. This ensures all stakeholders are informed of the decision.

Benefits of Email-Based Approval Automation

Efficiency: Reduces the time required for approvals by allowing responses directly via email.
Convenience: Approvers can respond from anywhere without needing to log into the system.
Accuracy: Automated monitoring ensures only valid responses are processed, reducing errors.

Initial Setup and Configuration for Inbound SMTP-Based Approval

Implementing an email-based approval system using SAP Build Process Automation (BPA) requires a few essential setup steps. Below steps will walk you through the initial configuration to ensure a smooth and efficient process.

Outbound SMTP Destination in SAP Build Process Automation

To send emails from SAP Build Process Automation to users’ email accounts, you need to configure an outbound SMTP destination. This setup is crucial for enabling the system to dispatch approval email notifications.

Inbound SMTP Email Configuration

For receiving email responses from approvers, we will use Google for both inbound and outbound SMTP. This setup can also be adapted for Microsoft email or other email services. Here are the key steps:

Enable Access for Reading Gmail: Ensure that the Gmail account used for receiving responses has the necessary permissions enabled. For detailed instructions, refer to the relevant sap documentation.

Save Credentials JSON File: After setting up the Google Cloud Platform(GCP), securely save the credentials. These credentials are necessary for the SAP BPA to access and read incoming emails.External User Setup in SAP BPA Control Tower: Complete the configuration for the external user in the SAP BPA Control Tower. This step ensures that the system can correctly route and process incoming emails from approvers.

SAP BTP BPA Control Tower

Setting Up External Authentication for the Google(Gmail)

Desktop Agent Installation and External User configuration (SMTP Inbound)

The Desktop Agent must be installed in unattended mode to run background processes efficiently.

It is recommended to install the Desktop Agent on a virtual machine to ensure continuous operation. Follow these steps:

Desktop Agent Sub Account Setup: Configure the Desktop Agent within the appropriate sub-account.

Set to Unattended Mode: For real-time production scenarios, set the Desktop Agent to unattended mode. This setup is crucial for automating the approval process without manual intervention.
Configure External User: Ensure that the external user configured in the previous step is correctly set up in the Desktop Agent. This configuration allows the agent to process email responses and update the SAP BPA work items accordingly.

Desktop Agent - Registering External Authentication

By following these steps, you are all set for robust email-based approval system using SAP BPA, streamlining your approval processes and enhancing efficiency.

Design and Development Walkthrough for SMTP Inbound Email-Based Approval Automation

Once the initial setup and configuration are complete in the SAP BPA Control Tower and the unattended Desktop Agent is installed & configured, the next step is to design and develop the automation components.

Below is a summary of the key components involved in this process. My colleague @Adwait_Fadnavis will provide a detailed walkthrough in a subsequent blog post.

The first step is to create a BPA automation. This involves several key actions:

Invoke Google Authentication and Search for New Emails:

Authenticate External Gmail: Set up Google authentication to allow the system to access your Gmail account.
Search Gmail: Create a step to search for new, unread emails with the appropriate subject and request ID. Ensure that only unread emails are read to avoid processing duplicates.
Validate the Approver:

Check Valid Approver Validation : Validate that the response is from an authorized approver by reading the subject line for the request number.
Fetch Work Item Details: Use the SAP BPA API to retrieve work item details and match the approver. If the approver is not valid or authorized, send an error message.

Read the Email Body and Response:

Process Response: If the email response contains “Approve” or “OK,” call the SAP BPA API to update the workflow task accordingly.
Send Completion Email: Notify Stakeholders: After successfully processing the workflow approval or rejection, send an email notification to inform all relevant parties of the outcome.

In the upcoming blog post, @Adwait_Fadnavis will delve into the development flow in detail and provide valuable insights on how to effectively develop inbound SMTP. Final Development flow chart will look as below:

End to End: Development FlowStay tuned for a comprehensive guide that will enhance your understanding and streamline your Development process.

Regards,

Mohit Bansal, SAP BTP & S4HANA Architect

Architecting Email Approval without My Inbox for SAP Build Process Automation Workflows: Part 3

2024-11-30T09:01:16.528000+01:00

This is the third and final blog of the series, in which we would like to explain the testing part in detail.

We have kept testing separate in this blog to provide a comprehensive explanation of all scenarios and steps from a technical perspective.

We have prepared the content for this series in three blogs, where we will be diving deep into Design, Development, and Testing.

In the previous blog, @Adwait_Fadnavis walked you through the complete development process. Now, I would like to start with the testing part.

Detailed Example of the Testing Process

To illustrate the testing process in more detail, let’s walk through an example:

Automation Scheduling: The automation is scheduled to run every 15 minutes. The desktop agent is set up on a virtual machine to ensure it runs in unattended mode.
Dummy Workflow Setup: A dummy workflow is created with fields such as “Request ID,” “Requester Name,” and “Approval Status.” Upon submission, an email is sent to the approver.
Email Response Handling: The approver receives the email and responds with “Approve.” The automation script checks the email subject line and sender’s email address to validate the response.
1. Invalid Response / Invalid Approver Handling: If the response is not valid or from an unauthorized approver, the system logs the incident and notifies the relevant parties for further investigation.
2. Approver Handling: If the response is valid or from an authorized approver, Workflow task will be approved.
3. Rejection Scenario: If the approver responds with “Reject,” the workflow status is updated to “Rejected,” and an email notification is sent to the requester and other stakeholders.
Workflow Update: The workflow status is updated to “Approved,” and an email notification is sent to the requester and other stakeholders.
Sending Notification Emails: Email Notification to all stake holders involved.

Let's Deep dive above steps in Detail:

Step 1: Automation Scheduled as Background Job

In a real-time scenario, this automation can be scheduled as a background job at intervals of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or any custom-defined time interval.

The frequency can be adjusted based on the volume of approval tasks. This scheduling ensures that the system checks for new approval requests regularly and processes them in a timely manner.

As mentioned in the first blog, it is mandatory to have the desktop agent running in unattended mode. This setup is crucial for ensuring that the automation runs smoothly without manual intervention.

For real-time business scenarios, we recommend installing the desktop agent on virtual machines to ensure continuous operation and to handle high volumes of approval tasks efficiently.

Job scheduling : SAP Build Process Automation

Step 2: (Optional) Triggering the Workflow - Prepare the Dummy Workflow for Quick Testing

To facilitate quick testing, we prepared a small workflow using SAP Build Process Automation with a few fields. This dummy workflow simulates the real-time process and helps in validating the automation setup. Although in real-time, the workflow will be triggered via a valid application, here is a snapshot of our dummy workflow for demonstration purposes:

Workflow Trigger: Upon clicking the submit button, the workflow is triggered.
Email Notification: An email is sent to the approver for approval. This step involves configuring an SMTP outbound email, as mentioned in the previous blog post.

This setup allows us to test the end-to-end process in a controlled environment before deploying it in a live scenarioriggering the Workflow - Prepare the Dummy Workflow for Quick Testing (Optional)

Test for Sending Email for Task Creation

Sample Email Body

Triggering Workflow : Testing Demonstrations:

Process Triggered and Sent for Approval

Step 3: Handling Email Responses

Upon receiving the email, the approver will have three options: a) Approve b) Reject c) Not a valid response

Let’s say the approver starts with “ok” and responds with this in the email.

Upon receiving the response, our automation running as a background job will check if the response is coming from a valid approver and if the subject line is correct (the subject line should not be modified).

This validation step is crucial to ensure that only authorized responses are processed.

Validating Correct ApproverValidating Correct Approvers Response will be send if the Approver is not valid.

Response will be send if the Approver is not valid.

Validating Correct response: Validating Correct response

Step 4: Workflow Update on Approval

If the work item is approved, the workflow will move forward and update the task accordingly. This involves:

Updating the Workflow Status: The status of the workflow is updated to “Approved” in the system

Workflow Update on Approval

Notifying Stakeholders: All relevant stakeholders are notified about the approval via email.

Notifying Stakeholders

Workflow Update on Rejection

Similarly, if the response is “no” or “Rejected,” the work item will be updated, and the workflow will proceed with the rejected branch. This involves:

Updating the Workflow Status: The status of the workflow is updated to “Rejected” in the system.

Updating the Workflow Rejection Status

Notifying Stakeholders: All relevant stakeholders are notified about the rejection via email.

Step 5: Sending Notification Emails

An email notification will be sent to all involved parties to inform them of the status of the workflow request. This step ensures transparency and keeps everyone informed about the progress of the approval process.

rejection via email

We hope you enjoyed reading our blog series by me and @Adwait_Fadnavis on Architecting Email Approval for SAP Build Process Automation Workflows. We trust that this approach provides valuable insights into managing workflow approvals efficiently without relying on manual My Inbox / Task Center approvals.

Thank you for following along with us.

Regards,

Mohit Bansal l, SAP BTP & S/4HANA Architect , Linkedin

SAP Build 中的新增功能 – 2024 年第 3 季度版本

2024-12-02T14:10:51.154000+01:00

本文为翻译文，原文链接 What’s New in SAP Build – Q3 2024 Edition, 原作者 EsmeeX。

你好，开发者！我们很高兴为您介绍 SAP Build 第 3 季度的新增功能系列。在此版本中，我们将介绍针对以下内容的产品特定更新：

SAP Build Apps
SAP Build Process Automation
SAP Build Work Zone、SAP Start、SAP Task Center
SAP Build Code

SAP Build Apps

版本管理和项目生命周期管理：现在可以使用 SAP Cloud Transport Management 系统跨不同租户发布和传输项目。在隔离 SAP Build Apps 应用程序到其自有架构的开发、测试和生产部署时，您可以在子账户之间传输项目版本。要开始，请参阅此博客帖子。

包含 S/4HANA 中大型数据集的性能表列表：管理和显示应用程序中的大量数据可能具有挑战性并导致性能问题。查看此示例了解如何为具有 65k+ 记录的 S/4HANA Cloud 端点创建性能列表页面 - 请参阅博客帖子。

在一个项目中复制页面：此功能使用户能够在 SAP Build Apps 的项目中复制和复制页面，这是一个简单但功能强大的扩展组件，可进一步加快开发速度。

新的构建服务：我们最近推出了全新的改进体验来部署应用程序包。构建服务包括管理图像资产、iOS 使用字符串、移动服务启用、打包创建和配置管理。更新的 UI 在部署阶段为开发人员提供了更顺畅的体验，确保满足每个要求并且您的应用已准备好发布。试试吧！

另请查看路多·诺恩斯 (Ludo Noens) 系列视频，了解如何借助 SAP Build Apps 使用 SAP 解决方案，创建 CRUD 应用
详细了解 SAP Build Apps 路线图的最新动态。

SAP Build Process Automation

SAP Build Extensibility Wizard for SAP S/4HANA Cloud：SAP S/4HANA 公共云的 2408 版现在提供可扩展性向导。这使得并排扩展的创建更加简化，并允许您从cloud ERP 无缝导航到 SAP Build。第一个版本支持自定义流程创建，SAP Build 今年将提供更多选项。有关详细信息，请参阅博客。

Script Task Editor (脚本任务编辑器)：现在可以在新的脚本编辑器中编写 JavaScript 代码，从而允许在流程上下文中执行复杂的数据类型转换和附加操作。之前，这仅限于自动化 - 现在包括流程输入和自定义变量，有助于高级数据操作和转换。在博客帖子中查看更多信息。

计划触发器：现在，您可以在运行时根据用户定义的时间间隔和日期计划流程自动化。这允许您在创建自动化方案时启用以系统为中心和基于时间的流程自动化用例，例如工作日和非工作日，以避免资源不匹配。

表单中的附加结果和 UI5 任务支持：这使开发人员能够在流程中配置附加结果操作，以便在审批表单中缺少信息或信息错误时让审批人请求返工。您还可以通过引导式体验有效地开始填写多个表单。

通过手动说明上传创建高级事件项目：这允许用户上传业务事件规范，以在大厅中创建事件项目。新功能增加了对跨业务范围 (LOB) 和自定义事件的业务事件的支持，包括在运行时使用 SAP Event Mesh 支持的第三方事件。

流程可见性增强：包括切实可行的洞察、针对请求者的实例跟踪以及通过 CALM 提供的附加监控功能。现在，您可以将洞察转化为有意义的结果，并根据可见性洞察触发上报流，以直接响应和解决关键情况。这样可实现可审计和治理的上报解决方案，而不是在不同渠道断开通信。

了解有关 SAP Build Process Automation 的更多信息：

有关更多更新和改进，请参阅 What's New Viewer（新增功能查看器）。
有关更多即将推出的功能和重点区域，请参阅 SAP Road Map Explorer。

SAP Build Work Zone、SAP Start 和 SAP Task Center

SAP Build Work Zone（两个版本）

HTML5 业务解决方案作为内容提供者：通过 SAP Build Work Zone 中的最新更新，您现在可以以“通用数据模型”(CDM) 格式将基于 BTP 的应用程序公开为 Work Zone 内容，例如角色、空间和页面。因此，您可以轻松配置和启用从 Work Zone 实例访问 BTP 应用程序的功能，甚至可以跨子账户访问。请参阅帮助门户和此博客帖子中的更多信息。

SAP Build Work Zone（标准版）

定义页面和空间的排列顺序：管理员现在可以配置在 SAP Build Work Zone（标准版）的菜单栏上对空间和页面进行排序。仅当在空间和页面的新体验查看模式(new experience view mode)下工作时，此功能才适用。请参阅帮助门户中的更多信息。

页面和空间的导入和导出：将增强内容管理器工具，使管理员能够在架构之间导出和导入自定义（本地创建的）空间和页面。

SAP Build Work Zone（高级版）

跨 SAP Build Work Zone 和 Process Automation 的集成引导式体验：现在，引导式流程可用作 SAP Build Process Automation 中的部件。除了之前可用的“无模板”向导外，现在还可以在 SAP Build Work Zone 中创建基于流程的引导式向导。请参阅博客帖子中的更多信息。

SAP Start

直接导航到集成云解决方案的产品主页：SAP Start 站点提供了一个新产品分区，可以轻松查看和导航到集成解决方案的产品主页。这使当前用户的可用云解决方案透明化，并快速轻松地导航以启动所需解决方案的产品主页。

SAP Task Center

ITCE 合作伙伴页面：SAP Task Center 现在允许与第三方任务提供者连接。利用此功能的第一个解决方案是由 ITCE 与 SAP 架构师和技术顾问合作开发的 TaskConnect。该应用程序很快将在 SAP Store 中提供，提供全面的配置指南、安装手册和 BPMN 图表。有关 TaskConnect 的详细信息，请参阅此处。

有关 SAP Build Work Zone、SAP Start 和 SAP Task Center 的详细信息：

查看 SAP Build Work Zone 标准版和高级版和 SAP Start/SAP Task Center 的路线图
新增功能查看器：标准版/高级版/SAP Start/SAP Task Center

SAP Build Code

新增的 AI 功能：在 SAP Build Code 中，您现在可以使用 Joule copilot（我们的生成式 AI 助手）通过提供自然语言提示编写代码。关于Joule的详细解释,请阅读此文。在过去几个月中，我们为此功能添加了许多新功能，包括以下亮点：

支持面向数据模型和应用逻辑的 SAP S/4HANA Cloud 服务集成：现在可以使用Joule为集成的 SAP S/4HANA Cloud 服务生成代码。
SAP Build Code 中的 Joule 主要用户体验更新：借助 SAP Build Code 内的 Joule 的最新用户体验更新，我们提高了可用性，简化了工作流，并创建了更直观的界面，提高了生产力和满意度。
生产力工具的生成式AI 支持：我们现在允许您直接从故事板使用Joule。
使用Joule增强现有的数据模型和服务：现在可以使用提示修改现有的数据模型和服务实体。

为什么选择 SAP Build Code：查看产品经理 Rupa Maity 发布的博文，了解为什么迁移至 SAP Build Code。

了解最新的构建代码创新成果：您是否希望随时了解 SAP Build Code 的最新产品更新？在 SAP Community 上关注我们的标签，并订阅 SAP Build Code 简报。

请参阅 SAP Build Code 自 2024 年 9 月起的最新更新产品更新。
了解有关 SAP Build Code 社区的更多信息。

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请注意，此博客帖子提供了最新功能和增强的亮点。

有关所有更新的完整列表，请参阅 Help Portal SAP Build 中的新增内容。
加入 SAP Builders group，获取产品资源和社区问题。
不要错过 SAP Build-themed sessions 等。
这意味着 SAP TechEd 就在眼前！在 2024 年 TechEd 大会上，深入了解 SAP Build。

您最想测试哪些功能？请在评论中告诉我们！

Joule on Mobile & Start Screen Personalization: SAP Mobile Start V2.1 - Release Update

2024-12-05T07:12:58.497000+01:00

Just recently, Joule - our generative AI copilot turned 1!
In this one year, Joule has revolutionized the way how users interact with their business solutions, be it HR, Sales, Procurement or IT – but there was one significant piece missing: mobile access.

With our latest releases of SAP Mobile Start, you can now use Joule while being mobile. Instead of searching for the right app, opening it, and then looking for the info, you can now ask Joule in natural language.

While our teams add more and more business content/ scenarios and functions to Joule, we also plan to embed Joule into further mobile apps, like SAP SuccessFactors or SAP Service and Asset Manager.

But now, let´s have a look at how Joule within SAP Mobile Start helps you work faster, get smarter insights when you need them, and interact more smoothly with your business systems while being mobile.

The Joule mobile client is embedded within the SAP Mobile Start header bar and can be opened with a single tap from any main screen. It provides the same main functionality and content as the desktop client if the content is enabled for mobile usage.

Screenshot: SAP Mobile Start with embedded Joule

After opening the Joule client, you just enter your commands in natural language and Joule provides you with the respective answer.

Let´s have a look at three concrete examples:
Imagine you are in a meeting and need to check on your sales orders that have not been delivered so far. With Joule in SAP Mobile Start, you just ask “Show sales orders with delivery status not completed” and Joule will provide you the respective list.

Screenshot: Joule – Example open orders (SAP S/4HANA)

Or you are a consultant who is new to the role, and a customer asks you how to customize a sales order in SAP S/4HANA. With Joule in SAP Mobile Start, you just pull out your phone and ask Joule, and you will get immediately the right SAP Help pages listed.

Screenshot: Joule – Example documentation (SAP Help)

Finally, imagine you have a new team member, Maria, who has just joined from another team, and you want to quickly check when she has initially joined the company. Just ask Joule.

Screenshot: Joule – Example hiring date (SAP SuccessFactors)

Joule also allows you to navigate to other apps to get further details. Those could be web apps or native apps like the native SAP SuccessFactors app. So, if you want to learn more about Maria and her career so far, you just tap the “Profile” button and Joule will open Maria´s profile in the native SAP SuccessFactors app on your phone, with all the information about your new team member.

Screenshot: Example native app integration

To initiate a Joule conversation, you're not limited to type in the request. You can now use Siri and Siri Shortcuts to seamlessly interact with Joule - which even works better with Apple Intelligence. Simply say "Hey Siri, ask SAP. Show my sales orders with delivery status not completed" and Joule will provide you with the respective content within the app.

Joule truly changes the way you interact with your business systems – it becomes much more natural. You can articulate your business needs in natural language and Joule responds by swiftly providing seamless access to your enablement content what will help you to execute your tasks faster and in a far more convenient way.

As of today, not all your prompts and web apps are supported on the phone; but more and more Joule business skills and scenarios are added. We are also working on adding some valuable mobile-specific Joule capabilities, so stay tuned for more.

If you have enabled Joule in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, or SAP Start, the mobile Joule client will automatically be available in SAP Mobile Start. No additional steps are needed.

Do not miss our brand new Joule in SAP Mobile Start video: “Bring Joule Everywhere! SAP's AI Copilot is Now Available on Mobile”.

Besides bringing Joule to mobile, we have added more helpful features to further enhance your experience with SAP Mobile Start, like Personalization of the Start Screen. With the new release, you can easily move the Start Screen sections such as Insights or News up or down as they work best for you – and hide sections if you do not need them. As always, it is super easy and intuitive and will boost your productivity as you can adjust the Start Screen now, based on your preferences.

Screenshot: SAP Start Screen personalization

Finally, we have enhanced the Apps and To-Dos Screen. Now you can expand and collapse your spaces and pages section on the app screen, and we have provided an enhanced filtering experience on the To-Do screen that allows you to set multiple filters.

Screenshot: To-Dos Screen with filtering option

I hope you will enjoy those new features in SAP Mobile Start.

For further information on the new topics, please check our SAP Mobile Start documentation.
SAP Mobile Experience offers intelligent native mobile solutions that help businesses build more efficient, resilient and sustainable end-to-end processes, improving people’s work life wherever they are.

SAP Task Center integration with S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

2025-01-28T10:28:22.405000+01:00

Overview:-

SAP Task Center is a service available on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) that brings tasks together from different SAP applications into one place. It acts as a unified inbox where users can see and manage all their tasks, whether they come from cloud or on-premise systems.

Instead of logging into multiple applications or inboxes, users can access all their assigned tasks in one list through the SAP Task Center web application. This makes it easier and faster to approve, complete important tasks, improving efficiency and saving time.

For our scenario we are integrating task center with S4hana cloud private edition using manual setup.

Prerequisites:-

Initial setup of task center with build workzone standard edition or Advanced edition. In our case we are using Workzone advanced edition.

Reference Link:- Initial Setup | SAP Help Portal

2.Create SAP Task center Service Destinations

Reference Link :- SAP Task Center Service Destinations | SAP Help Portal

3. After the above two prerequisite steps I have the below two Task Center tiles in Workzone.

Implementation:-

1)Provision IAS UUID to S4hana external UUID

Reference link:- SAP Application Server ABAP | SAP Help Portal

2) Configuring principal propagation in cloud connector

Reference link:- Setting up Principal Propagation - SAP Community

3) SPRO configurations for Task Center

Reference link:- https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/0f18dddf28764f5b807ecd80549044cc/5117f21ef28f4e698d99fe3fdbc1be2a.html?locale=en-US&version=2022.000

4) Creating destination S4HANACloudPE in Buildworkzone subaccount cockpit

Reference link:- Connect SAP S/4HANA and SAP Task Center | SAP Help Portal

5) Checking connections in Task Center admin tile

6) Task triggered in Task Center tile

1)Provision IAS UUID to S4hana external UUID

1.1) Creating a “cloud to onpremise” system connection in IAS subaccount in cloud connector. and added the required resources.

1.2) Creating a destination in IAS subaccount in BTP cockpit. Use the virtual host of cloud connector while creating destination, the user which we are using to connect to backend system should have role SAP_BC_JSF_COMMUNICATION

1.3) Creating a source system as IAS in IPS . We need to create system user with administrator access in IAS.

1.4) Creating a target system for the backend S4hana system and given source system as IAS which we created before from step 1.3 and select destination name which we created in cockpit in step 1.2

1.5) Running read and sync jobs form source IPS. So that Global uuid will be provisioned to su01 external id of S4 SYSTEM.

1.6) Checking the provisioning logs

1.7) The external userid is provisioned to user in su01.

2) Configuring principal propagation in cloud connector

2.1) Create system certificate

2.2) Create CA certificate

2.3) Syncing IAS subaccount with cloud connector cloud to on premise

2.4 ) Creating cloud to on prem system in build workzone subaccount in cloud connector where i am using my task center tiles

2.5) Downloading the system certificate from cloud connector and uploading in strust ssl server standard

2.6)Setting up ”icm/trusted_reverse_proxy[0]” parameter value in rz10 and checking the parameter in smicm parameters , ”login/certificate_mapping_rulebased” needs to be set to 1.

2.7) Changing sample certificate subject from cn=$(email) to cn=$(user_uuid) in cloud connector and mapping it in "certrule" tcode in S4 system.

2.8 Restart the ICM

3) SPRO configurations for task center

3.1 ) Maintainace of url settings in spro

In the Implementation Guide (Transaction SPRO), choose SAP Customizing Implementation Guide > ABAP Platform > Application Server Business Management > SAP Business Workflow > Basic Settings (Workflow System).

Access the fiori tcode /ui2/flp and get the details from the url
url- https://<host>:<port>/sap/bc/ui2/flp

3.2 ) Publishing odata v4 service group for service group API_TASK_SPI_REPLICATION and API_TASK _SPI_DETAILS

In the Implementation Guide, choose SAP Customizing Implementation Guide > ABAP Platform > Application Server Business Management > SAP Business Technology Platform Integration > SAP Task Center Integration

3.3) Testing the two service groups

3.4) creating role Z_TASK_CENTER_API with the group id API_TASK_SPI_REPLICATION and assigning the role to TC_SRV_USR userid.

3.5) Creating role Z_TASK_CENTER_SPI with group API_TASK_SPI_DETAILS and assigning to users who are using task center tile app.

3.6) Assign the role created in step 3.5 to all business users who use SAP Task Center.

3.7) Create bgRFC Inbound Destination for Task Push Service (Tcode – SBGRFCCONF)

3.8) Maintain Destination to External Server for Task Push Service

In the Implementation Guide, choose SAP Customizing Implementation Guide ABAP Platform Application Server Business Management SAP Business Technology Platform Integration SAP Task Center Integration. Then choose the activity icon for Maintain Destination to External Server for Task Push Service. Alternatively, enter transaction code SM59.

In the Create Destination window that opens, enter the following data:
FieldData
Destination
Enter enter a name for the RFC destination.
Connection Type
Select G HTTP connection to external server.
Choose Continue.
In the Description 1 field, enter text, for example, the ID of the connected SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) subaccount.
Choose Enter.
On the Technical Settings tab, enter the correct target system settings:
FieldData
Host
Hostname of the API URL of SAP Task Center, available from $.endpoints.inbox_rest_url of the service key in the SAP BTP cockpit.
Path Prefix
/task-center-service
On the Logon & Security tab, select the following.
In the Logon section, select Do not use a user and Do not send logon ticket.
In the Security Options section, set SSL to active and choose the PSE (Cert. List) that contains the SSL certificate offered by your SAP BTP system.
Save your changes.

Connection test

3.9) Maintain OAuth 2.0 Client

In the Implementation Guide, choose SAP Customizing Implementation Guide ABAP Platform Application Server Business Management SAP Business Technology Platform Integration SAP Task Center. Then choose the activity icon for Maintain OAuth 2.0 Client for Task Push Service. Alternatively, enter transaction code OA2C_CONFIG.

In the OAuth 2.0 Clients window that opens, choose Create to create a new OAuth 2.0 client.

Enter the following data:

FieldData

OAuth 2.0 Client Profile	SWF_TASK_SPI_OAUTH_PROFILE
Configuration Name	Enter any name, for example, the name of the subaccount of the service.
Client ID	Enter the JSON value of $.uaa.clientid from the service key.

Choose OK.

Under General Settings, leave the Client Secret field empty to use the client certificate authentication. Otherwise, enter the JSON value of $.uaa.clientsecret from the service key.
Confirm your entries with OK.
Scroll down to Authorization Server Settings and in the Token Endpoint field, enter your endpoint in the format <your data center URL>/oauth/token. Your data center URL is contained in the JSON value of $.uaa.url in the service key.

Configure the authentication type.

- use basic authentication and maintain the Access Settings as follows:
  FieldSetting
  Client Authentication
  Select Basic.
  Resource Access Authentication
  Select Header Field.
  Grant Type
  Select Client Credentials.
Save your changes.

3.10) Maintain Connectivity for Task Push Service

In the Implementation Guide, choose SAP Customizing Implementation Guide ABAP Platform Application Server Business Management SAP Business Technology Platform Integration SAP Task Center Integration. Then choose the activity icon for Maintain Connectivity for Task Push Service. Alternatively, enter transaction code SWF_TASK_DEST.
Choose New Entries.
Under Task SPI Push Destination Maintenance, enter the following data:
FieldData
Destination
Enter the destination that you have created before. Use the F4 help.
Configuration
Enter the OAuth 2.0 client configuration that you have created before. Use the F4 help.
Save your changes.

4) Creating destination S4HANACloudPE in Buildworkzone subaccount cockpit

pick url from step (2.4) , user which we created in step (3.4) TC_SRV_...

tc.client id copied from – task center service key client id

5) Checking connections in Task Center admin tile

6) Tasks got triggered in Task Center tile

SAP User Experience Q1/2025 Update – Part 1: Many New Innovations Available (AI, Joule and More)

2025-02-10T19:24:47.116000+01:00

This series of posts gives an overview of user experience innovations in the cloud from the last six months, covering our whole portfolio, in particular SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2502. It also gives an overview of innovations in our UI technologies, making it ever easier to build and integrate UIs.

AI is revolutionizing user experience, giving users capabilities unheard of just a few years ago. SAP is harnessing the power of AI to help business users work more effectively: Joule is your copilot for seamless access to a variety of products a user needs, now covering 80% of the most-used transactions. Generative AI embedded in business applications gives users unprecedented insights and convenience. Beyond that, we continue to provide new applications with a great user experience, as well as UX-enhancing features.

How is AI, and especially generative AI, changing user experience for business users? Essentially via one or more of these patterns:

Summarizing business data in an easy to understand way – in text or graphical form.
Guiding and Recommending options or actions based on the current business context.
Creating proposals for texts or business data and entities such as assignments, performance goals with milestones etc., often based on natural language input.
Helping you write texts to people internally and externally, with our AI writing assistant.
Interacting via natural language with your application, e.g. search, filtering, analytical queries – as an alternative to established UI interactions.
Assisting you with all of the above, wherever you are, for all our cloud products – via Joule, your copilot for SAP systems.

Our overarching goal is to provide a great user experience everywhere. AI is a powerful means for achieving that, but of course you can also have a great user experience in applications without embedded AI.

A good user experience also needs to address teamwork, not just the experience of each individual – in other words, helping SAP users collaborate and work together.

I’ve collected examples from our latest releases to show how we are doing this – starting with our cross-product UX innovations in Joule and central entry points before looking at product UX innovations. Here is what the series will cover; as each part becomes available in the next couple of weeks I will update this list with links to each post:

Central UX Services (this post)
- Joule – latest UX innovations
- Central entry points and services:
  - SAP Start / SAP Build Work Zone
  - SAP Task Center
  - SAP Mobile Start
ERP: SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2502 and SAP Fiori launchpad (AI, Joule and More).
HR: SAP SuccessFactors (AI, Joule and More).
Spend: SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass.
Selling: SAP Customer Experience and SAP Industry Cloud – Retail.
Analytics and Platform: SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Business Technology Platform.
UI Design and Technology for web and mobile.

Before we get started: if you haven’t already seen them, do have a look at the overview of public cloud UX innovations I posted in February and July 2024:

This series of posts includes Joule and AI UX highlights from the above products, but for a more comprehensive overview of our recent AI innovations and SAP’s Business AI strategy, with many UX examples, have a look at:

SAP Business AI: Release Highlights Q4 2024
White Paper: SAP Business AI.

Joule User Experience Innovations

Joule is the AI-powered copilot for SAP systems, offering a powerful new user experience, using natural language to access our cloud products and providing a seamless flow for the user.

Now, Joule is generally available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2502, as well as for our central entry points in the web SAP Start and SAP Build Work Zone (both standard and advanced editions). You can find examples in the respective product sections in this series; this section focusses on generic capabilities recently introduced or coming soon for Joule. If you want an overview of what’s new, or want to set up Joule in your landscape, have a look at the documentation:

Joule already covers 80% of the most-used transactions in SAP systems and 1,200+ skills, tailored to business roles across SAP’s cloud portfolio such as hiring manager, billing specialist, procurement manager etc.

Joule Available on Mobile

Joule is also now generally available for mobile, running natively with SAP Mobile Start. Figure 1 shows examples of Joule running on a mobile phone.

Figure 1: Examples showing Joule integrated in SAP Mobile Start, showing from left to right: the start page, the informational pattern accessing SAP Help Portal, and the transactional pattern used to interact with SAP S/4HANA Cloud and then with SAP SuccessFactors. ALT Text: Four images are shown: the start page shows a “How can I help you” text, followed by some suggested prompts as buttons; the informational pattern shows the prompt “How can I customize a sales order”. Below that, the sixteen-line written answer is shown, followed by a “Search results” selector and three top search results. The navigational pattern shows the prompt “Show sales orders with delivery status not completed”, below that, the reply from Joule “Here’s what I’ve found” is followed by a card containing three lines and an “Open” button. A second transactional example with the prompt “Show profile of Maria Alvares”, followed by the result and a button for navigating to her profile.

On Apple devices you can now use Siri and Siri Shortcuts to seamlessly interact with Joule - which works even better with Apple Intelligence. Simply say "Hey Siri, ask SAP. Show my sales orders with delivery status not completed" and Joule will provide you with the respective content within the app.

Note that as of today, not all your prompts and web apps are supported on the phone; however, we are continuously adding further Joule business skills and scenarios.

Find out more here:

Joule on Mobile & Start Screen Personalization: SAP Mobile Start V2.1 - Release Update

Joule Analytical Pattern coming soon

In Q1/2025 we plan to provide a controlled release of the new analytical pattern for Joule, for those products listed above for which Joule is available. General availability currently planned for Q2/2025 (as usual for forward-looking statements, our plans are subject to change). It is powered by SAP Analytics Cloud, with data from models that are indexed by the Just Ask feature of SAP Analytics Cloud.

This means that Joule will soon support four interaction patterns, as shown in Figure 2.

Informational pattern, for querying written documents, such as SAP documentation in the SAP Help Portal, or customer policies etc.
Navigational pattern, for finding and navigating to applications.
Transactional pattern, for interacting directly with business applicatinos
Planned New: Analytical pattern, for answering analytical queries directly in Joule.

Figure 2: Joule Interaction Patterns. ALT text: four interaction patterns are shown: informational, with the prompt “what are the key rules for a team outing” followed by an eight-line answer and a link to a source document; navigational, showing a button “Go to Org Chart” after approving a position; transactional, with the text “Below are the new position details set to be hired starting today”, followed by a card summarizing the key details, and a prompt by the user “Send for approval”; Analytical, showing the prompt “What is the hiring versus attrition trend for this job role in the past 12 months?” and the answer shown as a chart with one line for hired and one for percentage attrition, plus numbers showing 124 similar roles hired and 6 role attrition.

Find out more about Joule for Analytics in this blog post:

Analytical Insights in Joule (powered by SAP Analytics Cloud), Controlled release in Q1 2025.

Outlook

We are working on making Joule available for further cloud products, as well as making it even more useful via agentic-AI, where Joule coordinates multi-agent systems. An AI agent can autonomously plan, reason, access external tools, work with other agents, and iteratively reflect on progress until it achieves its objective.

Joule will help SAP’s cloud users work faster, get instant insights, and achieve better outcomes by simply asking questions or telling the system what to do. Not only in English, but in their own language. We plan to allow users to interact with Joule in a growing number of languages including German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. To get an idea of what is planned and what it could look like, accessing multiple products, using English and Spanish (with subtitles), have a look at this:

Video: AI is the new UI (3:00).

For more details of what is planned, have a look at the road map for Joule in the SAP Road Map Explorer:

Joule Road Map.

Central entry points and services

SAP Start

The integration with Joule in SAP Start is now generally available. The purpose of SAP Start is to bring together relevant business information from SAP for each user in one central place, and also to provide the one place to go to start your SAP applications in the cloud. SAP Start:

Gives you quick access to all your applications via the simple yet powerful search field;
New: Gives you direct access to your product home pages, as shown in Figure 3.
Proactively informs you about your to-dos from all products which are connected to the SAP Task Center;
Gives you key insights via insights cards from products connected to SAP Start,
Assists you with Joule, your copilot for working with SAP.

Figure 3: SAP Start, now with direct access to product home pages. This example shows direct access to three product home pages in the “Products” section: SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Fieldglass and SAP SuccessFactors. ALT Text: Below the “Products” section the screen shows the To-Dos section, with four cards for pending tasks, the first three with Approve and Reject buttons on them. Below that, the Insights section is shown, with two rows of four cards, starting with lists of My Statements of Work, My Workers, My Team, List of Top 4 Customer Projects.

Now, SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Integrated Business Planning support SAP Start, in addition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Fieldglass. Other cloud products can be integrated to provide tasks via SAP Task Center. You can find out how to set up and integrate cloud products to SAP Start here:

Documentation: SAP Start.

SAP Build Work Zone

Joule is now also generally available for SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition:

Joule is Now Integrated into SAP Build Work Zone!

SAP Build Work Zone now allows you to integrate web UIs based on HTML5 from other SAP BTP subaccounts. This is done by creating an HTML5 business solution that acts as a content provider in the subaccount.

This business solution can be accessed not only by the local subaccount but also by remote subaccounts through destinations.
To set up an HTML5 business solution as a content provider, the provider subaccount needs to adjust the HTML5 code to include a cdm.json file, which defines the design-time business content such as roles, groups, spaces, and pages, along with destinations. Find out more here:
- Simplifying HTML5 Content Consumption Across Subaccounts.

In my blog post from February 2024, I explained that SAP Build Work Zone allows customers to define guided experiences, i.e. wizards, to guide users step-by-step through complex processes.

A major enhancement in the October 2024 release is the ability to model guided processes directly in SAP Build Process Automation, bringing powerful process automation to your SAP Build projects. Get an overview here:

Guided Experiences powered by SAP Build.

Just recently, a new wizard setting was added to allow the execution of the same wizard multiple times. This setting is available both in freestyle wizards and in wizards that are based on a Guided Process from SAP Build Process Automation. For example, an admin can enable this option on the Purchase Order wizard, and this will allow users to run this wizard multiple times to purchase different items.

Enhanced Page Builder Experience across SAP Build Work Zone:

The SAP Build Work Zone page builder experience has been significantly enhanced with new features. Users can now enjoy a widget context menu, the ability to move sections up and down, and a section configuration menu, as shown in Figure 4. Additionally, the option to show or hide section headers and various accessibility improvements make the editor more user-friendly and versatile.

Figure 4: SAP Build Work Zone enhanced page builder experience. ALT Text: the image shows a section of the Work Zone screen with a visual editor. The section is partitioned into three sub-sections, each with a button “Add Widget”, the rightmost one shows an open context menu for the button, which shows that you can also add a column. The leftmost section contains a simple list of items, the middle one a bar chart for Project Cloud Revenue, the rightmost a donut chart for Open SAP Incidents.

Here is the guide with recommendations and further details:

How to Build and Design a Workpage.

SAP Task Center

Users can conveniently access tasks from many different systems in one place – not only from SAP products, we also provide APIs for integrating tasks from 3rd-party products.

Even more conveniently, users can now be notified of new tasks via e-mail. Also, end user notifications can now be enabled if you are using SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition as central point of entry for accessing your business applications.

SAP Build Work Zone itself can also be set up as a task provider for SAP Task Center. This means that tasks created by SAP Build Work Zone will also appear in SAP Task Center.

Furthermore, SAP Task Center now allows users to forward approvals.

New Intelligent Recommendations Feature Available for SAP Build Process Automation Tasks

We are introducing AI to expedite task processing: intelligent recommendations leverage artificial intelligence to streamline and accelerate task approval processes. They assist users in making decisions by analyzing key attributes relevant to specific business cases and generating a confidence level in percent for their tasks. Figure 5 shows some approvals with a confidence level of 100%, and some with 97.5%.

Figure 5: New Intelligent Recommendations feature in SAP Task Center. ALT Text: An image of the task center list of tasks, with a filter bar at the top with seven fields available, and the field “Task Type” set to “Manager Approval”. The list shows six entries. The new column “Confidence Level” is highlighted, and shows 100% for the first four entries, and 97.5% for the last two.

Find out more here:

Enhance Task Approvals with the Power of AI.

SAP Mobile Start

Beyond providing Joule natively for mobile devices, SAP Mobile Start has recently introduced a number of user experience improvements with their 2.0 and 2.1 releases. Here, I would like to highlight the support for ‘new site experience’, giving users a more structured view of applications and information.

Figure 6: SAP Mobile Start with Spaces & Pages from new site experience. ALT Text: Two images of mobile phones. On the left the Apps page, which contains “My Apps Space” showing a list of three page names “Customer Management Page”, “Project management page” and “App Page”. On the right, the App Page is shown, with a list of six apps as cards, with an icon on the left of the app name. The first three (My Inbox, Monitor Situations, Manage My Timesheet) have coloured KPI values displayed on the right.

A further significant enhancement is the support of declarative UI integration cards, which are displayed embedded in the respective pages on the Apps screen.

Figure 7: SAP Mobile Start supports UI integration cards from SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition. ALT Text: Two mobile phone images. On the left Project Apps, which shows a flat card for Project Factsheet and below that a UI integration card showing overall status for active projects, with a list of five projects along with their overall status – four on track, one with “high risk” in red; at the bottom of the card a “See all” button. On the right two further UI integration cards are shown: a list of top 4 projects, and “Cost to Date – Timeline” containing a KPI number for the actual cost to date and below that a line chart of actual and planned cost per month.

For a good and satisfying user experience, being able to personalize the UI so that it fits with how you like to work is a key element. To this end, SAP Mobile Start has now introduced personalization of the start page, allowing you to rearrange the order of sections as well as hiding sections which you don’t need – take a look at it in Figure 8.

Figure 8: SAP Mobile Start personalization of the start screen. ALT Text: Four mobile phone images. On the left the start page, with the sections Insights and News visible. Next, an image of the edit screen, with five sections listed: Latest To-Dos, Favorites, Insights, App Suggestions (deselected), News. Next, an image of the five sections, all selected, now with Favorites first and Latest To-Dos second. On the right, the start page with the sections Favorites at the top (containing flat cards for apps), below that Latest To-Dos (containing larger cards for ToDos, one shocing a purchase requisition with Total Amount $799.99).

To find out more about recent innovations as well as what is planned in our road map, have a look at:

Continue Reading…

I hope you enjoyed this first part, covering cross-product UX services. Part 2 is now available:

SAP UX Q1/2025 Update – Part 2: SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2502 and SAP Fiori Launchpad.

I will post part three in the next few days, covering a large number of UX innovations in SAP SuccessFactors.

Do keep posting your experiences and recommendations yourself in the SAP Community, with the SAP Fiori and/or the User Experience tag! In case you are wondering how to get a list of the most recent blog posts on SAP Fiori and User Experience in our new SAP Community, use these links:

What’s New in SAP Task Center: Innovations and Updates

2025-03-04T15:32:53.804000+01:00

SAP Task Center revolutionizes how organizations manage approval workflows by consolidating tasks from various SAP systems into a single, intuitive inbox. This centralized solution is designed to streamline operational processes and reduce administrative overhead. It empowers users to swiftly handle approvals across multiple applications, whether on the web or via mobile devices. By unifying diverse approval items into one accessible list, SAP Task Center enhances efficiency and consistency, and minimizes implementation costs. It is the ideal tool for businesses seeking a seamless, cross-platform experience.

In this blog post, we'll dive into the latest enhancements in SAP Task Center. We're relentlessly refining the solution to ensure it stays ahead of the curve, and I'm excited to share the newest features and updates that further boost productivity and streamline your approval processes. Stay tuned as we explore the cutting-edge innovations designed to enhance your experience and drive operational excellence.

SAP Task Center is now included with SAP Build Work Zone

Starting January 2025, SAP Task Center is included in all editions of SAP Build Work Zone, extending its capabilities for our customers. This inclusion applies to SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition (both Subscription and Pay-Per-Use), SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition (Pay-Per-Use), and SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone (Subscription).

SAP Task Center in SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition

SAP Task Center in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition

Each licensed user is entitled to 20 tasks, aggregated at the Global Account level and shareable across users. For customers requiring additional tasks, SAP Task Center offers an extended licensing option via BTPEA. To take full advantage of this new commercial model, customers are required to use the updated Task Center service plans. The Cloud-only plan is designed exclusively for SAP Start and is limited to cloud tasks. All-tasks plan is available in conjunction with SAP Build Work Zone editions, supports cloud, on-premise, and third-party tasks. Existing customers on the previous Standard and On-Premise and Third-Party service plans can continue with their current plans until contract renewals, after which a deprecation plan will be introduced.

For the setup process check out this Discovery Center mission “Establish a central inbox with SAP Task Center”.

SAP Task Center Availability for Partners' Licenses

SAP Task Center is now also included with all editions of SAP Build Work Zone for partners’ licenses. Similar as above, it applies to SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition (both Subscription and Pay-Per-Use), SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition (Pay-Per-Use), and SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone (Subscription).

With the availability of the new service plans as part of the SAP Build Work Zone TDD licenses, partners can integrate SAP Task Center into their own environments for testing and development purposes. This inclusion enables them to showcase how centralized task management can streamline approvals and enhance workflow efficiency within SAP solutions, ultimately helping their customers improve productivity and collaboration.

Real User Monitoring for SAP Task Center

SAP Task Center now integrates with SAP Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) to deliver robust real user monitoring, empowering administrators with detailed insights into application usage and performance. This integration tracks all inbound and outbound communication events through the SAP Task Center REST API, capturing critical task management events that are essential for troubleshooting.

By monitoring both user interactions and server requests, the Real User Monitoring tool offers comprehensive visualizations, enabling proactive management of system performance and swift resolution of issues.

Read more about this on SAP help portal.

*****

I hope you enjoyed this blogpost. If you want to learn more, feel free to explore the additional resources listed below.

➤ SAP Task Center on SAP Community

➤ SAP Build Work Zone SAP Community

➤ What’s New for SAP Task Center

➤ SAP Task Center FAQs

➤ Getting Started with SAP Task Center on SAP BTP Blog post

Shape the Future of the Next-Generation Inbox

2025-03-28T10:57:42.354000+01:00

Attention My Inbox Users!

Welcome to the future of task management with SAP Task Center, the next-generation inbox designed to streamline your workflow and keep you organized. If you use My Inbox within SAP Build Process Automation or SAP S/4HANA, your input is vital for making SAP Task Center truly exceptional.

What is SAP Task Center?

SAP Task Center is a unified inbox for task management across multiple SAP and non-SAP solutions. It aims to provide a centralized hub where you can manage all your tasks efficiently, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.

Why Your Feedback Matters

As a user of My Inbox within SAP Build Process Automation or SAP S/4HANA, your feedback is crucial for our development process. By sharing your experiences - the good, the bad, and everything in between - you can directly shape the evolution of SAP Task Center. This collaborative effort ensures that the next-generation inbox is tailored to your specific needs and workflows.

How You Can Help

Participate in our survey and let us know what you think about My Inbox. Your insights will help us build a tool that truly understands and meets your workflow requirements.

Survey: Help Shape the Future of SAP Task Center

Together, we can make SAP Task Center an inbox that not only meets but exceeds your expectations. Your time and contributions are greatly appreciated.

If you’re curious to learn more about SAP Task Center, check out the SAP Task Center Product Page.

Thank you for being a part of this journey. Let’s build something remarkable together!

What’s New in SAP Build – Q1 2025 Release Highlights

2025-04-01T09:29:43.341000+02:00

SAP Build continues to evolve to support how modern teams work — now with more artificial intelligence, flexibility, and speed. In Q1 2025, we delivered a wave of innovations across SAP Build Code, Process Automation, Apps, and Work Zone to help developers and business users turn ideas into enterprise-ready solutions faster than ever.

Whether you're building custom apps, creating SAP S/4HANA extensions, or streamlining processes, these updates will help you move from concept to value more efficiently. Let's review the top 10 updates we selected from last quarter.

Licensing and Availability Updates

1. SAP Task Center Now included with SAP Build Work Zone

SAP Task Center is now embedded in all SAP Build Work Zone editions, giving users a unified view of workflow tasks from multiple SAP systems — right within their Work Zone homepage. No separate integration is required. This update also extends to partner licensing, making including Task Center in custom Work Zone scenarios easier. The result is faster approvals, centralized task tracking, and higher productivity for business users and managers — all in one workspace.

2. SAP Build Apps Now Available in More Regions

You can now deploy SAP Build Apps in EU11 and Sydney data centers, bringing your applications to more users. The increased coverage improves app responsiveness, supports region-specific compliance needs, and enables global scalability for your enterprise use cases.

Joule for Developers Updates

3. Generate End-to-End Workflows with a Prompt

In SAP Build Process Automation, developers can now describe business scenarios in natural language — and let generative AI create forms, decisions, and process flows automatically. Powered by SAP's purpose-built large language models (LLMs), this capability delivers contextualized, SAP-aware outcomes that speed up workflow creation and reduce manual effort. It also empowers business users to contribute to process design without writing code.

4. Generate UI Pages from Data in SAP Build Apps

SAP Build Apps now uses generative AI to propose user interface pages based on your data model. For example, if your app contains entities like Books, Authors, or Genres, Joule recommends corresponding screens, layouts, and controls. This helps teams move quickly from data modeling to interactive UI design, shortening prototyping cycles and improving design consistency.

5. Use Generative AI for Fiori UI Creation in SAP Build Code

Developers can now use Joule in SAP Build Code to generate Fiori-based UIs for existing CAP apps by entering the command /add-ui or selecting the Joule icon in the Storyboard. Joule understands your application structure and proposes relevant layouts, controls, and navigation patterns, helping you scaffold front-end apps quickly and focus on customization instead of starting from scratch.

6. Multi-Agent Support for CAP App Generation

SAP Build Code now uses multi-agent support powered by Joule to generate complete CAP applications. Each agent focuses on a specific part — like data models, services, or UI — so you get a more complete project from a single prompt. This enhancement saves time and helps you focus on business logic instead of building everything from scratch.

Enhance SAP Business Suite Applications

**7. Extend SAP S/4HANA with Custom UIs (Planned for Release Soon)**

Coming very soon in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition, developers will be able to use the SAP Build Extensibility Wizard to create side-by-side extensions—either by customizing existing SAP Fiori apps or building entirely new web applications. This approach enables teams to meet specific business needs while preserving the core system, supporting clean core principles and long-term agility.

See documentation: Using the Extensibility Wizard.
On setup, read the blog SAP Build Extensibility Wizard for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition by @Karthik-Thiru.

8. New Enhancements for Guided Experiences by SAP Build

New enhancements to Guided Experiences by SAP Build help simplify complex processes like employee onboarding, parental leave, procurement approvals, and IT service management, where multiple steps, systems, and stakeholders are involved. With this release, ready-to-use content packages for SAP SuccessFactors Employee Onboarding and Cross-boarding are now available in the SAP Build Store—enabling faster rollout of consistent, step-by-step guidance for new hires and internal transfers.

Read more: Taking SAP Build Guided Experiences to the next level by florian_buech.
Watch the 2-minute video: Navigating Parental Leave with SAP Build Guided Experiences.

9. Create a Wait for an API Call Trigger

With new support for intermediate message events, SAP Build Process Automation lets workflows pause until specific API-triggered inputs are received and resume automatically. This powerful capability reduces wait times and manual monitoring, helping teams design more adaptive and responsive processes with fewer errors and overhead.

See documentation: Create a Wait for an API Call Trigger | SAP Help Portal

Boost Developer Productivity

10. Revamped Project Overview in SAP Build Code

A redesigned Project Overview in SAP Build Code provides a clean, tree-based view of all app components, supporting CAP Java and CAP Node. This enhanced layout integrates with the Storyboard, making it easier for developers to navigate complex projects, onboard new team members, and stay focused while building.

See documentation: Project Overview | SAP Help Portal

Ready to See These Updates in Action?

These are just a few of the top updates rolling out this quarter. Want to explore the new features in more detail, see live demos, and get your questions answered by product experts?

👉Join us on April 15 for the What's New in SAP Build Q1 2025 webinar.
Reserve your spot to discover these updates in action. Register below:

📅There are two options to cover different time zones.
🕘9:00 – 10:00 AM CET → https://sap.to/604200bfg
🕔5:00 – 6:00 PM CET → https://sap.to/604500bfc

Learn More

For a complete list of new features, check out the following resources:

Please stay current and connect with fellow SAP Builders by joining our Application Development and Automation Community for the latest updates, activities, and challenges.

AI活用でも必須のSAP環境におけるグローバルユーザーIDとSAP IAS設定方針ガイド

2025-04-07T06:41:21.960000+02:00

はじめに

現代の企業において、業務のクラウド化・多様化、そしてAIによる高度化が進む中、複数のSAP製品を横断して利用するケースが増えています。こうした環境では、ユーザーごとの一貫したID管理が求められ、複数のシステム間で同一人物を正確に識別し、適切な認証・権限付与を行うことが重要になります。まさにSAPのAIデジタルアシスタントのJouleやSAP Task Centerも対象の一つです。

本ガイドでは、SAPのクラウド基盤であるSAP Cloud Identity Servicesの重要な一機能である「グローバルユーザーID」の役割と仕組みに加え、その実装を支えるSAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication（SAP IAS）の設定方法について解説します。特に、SAP SuccessFactorsやSAP S/4HANAといった主要なSAP製品との連携において、ユーザー情報の統合とシングルサインオンの実現をどのように行うかに焦点を当て、実践的なステップや注意点を紹介します。

1. グローバルユーザーIDとは何か

グローバルユーザーIDとは、SAPが提供する各種ビジネスアプリケーションやサービスを含む広範なランドスケープの中で、特定のユーザーを一意に識別するための共通IDのことを意味します。*1

このグローバルユーザーIDを持たないシステム構成では、システムAからシステムBにアクセスする際に、それぞれのシステムでのどのユーザーがどのユーザーと同じ人物であるのかを認識するために、それ相応の処理を実装する必要がありました。

しかしグローバルユーザーIDという概念と実装を導入することにより、こうした煩雑なIDマッピングに必要性を解消できます。技術的にはUUID（Universally Unique Identifier）/ GUID (Global Unique Identifier)形式で生成される識別子であり、例えば、SAP Cloud Identity Services 上のユーザーストアである Identity Directory service（以下IdDSとして言及します) 上でユーザーが作成される際に自動的に割り当てられます。

このグローバルユーザーIDは「関連付け属性 (correlation attribute)」として機能し、複数のシステムに存在するユーザーアカウント同士を裏側で紐付ける役割を果たします。

例えば、ある従業員がSAP SuccessFactorsとSAP S/4HANAの両方にユーザーアカウントを持つ場合、グローバルユーザーIDによってその人物であることが一意に結び付けられます。これにより、直接的にやり取りを行うシステムにとどまらず、その他のシステムも、特定の処理が同じユーザーに関連して行われていることを相互に認識でき、ユーザー情報やタスクの統合参照が可能となります。グローバルユーザーIDはあくまで内部的なIDであり、エンドユーザーがログイン時に入力するユーザー名やメールアドレスとは別物ですが、システム連携の中核となる重要な要素です。

2. なぜ今、グローバルユーザーIDが必要なのか？

現代のSAPを取り巻く環境では、複数のクラウドサービスやオンプレミスシステムを統合し、ユーザーにシームレスな体験を提供することが求められています。しかし各システムでユーザーIDがばらばらな状態では、ユーザーごとにデータやタスクを統合する際に対応関係を取ることが非常に困難となります。そこで、グローバルユーザーIDという単一の識別子を導入して効果的に利用することで、システム境界を越えたユーザー関連データの統合という課題に対処し、企業全体で一貫したユーザー識別を実現することができるのです。結果として、一度の認証で複数のSAPサービスにアクセスできるシングルサインオン (SSO) や、一貫した権限管理が可能となります。

具体的なユースケースとして、SAP Task Centerがあります。*2 SAP Task Centerは様々なSAPアプリケーション（例: SAP SuccessFactorsなど）からユーザー宛てのワークフロー承認依頼やタスクを集約し、一つの受信トレイに統合表示するサービスです。ここで鍵となるのがユーザーの一貫性であり、異なるバックエンドシステムから取得したタスクが同一人物に紐付いていることを保証する必要があります。グローバルユーザーIDがその共通鍵として機能し、各システムから集めたタスクを正しいユーザーに関連付ける役割を担います。もしグローバルユーザーIDによる統一がなければ、システム間でユーザーIDを突き合わせる複雑なロジックが必要となり、タスクの漏れや誤割り当てが発生しかねません。

また、SAPが提供する新しいAIデジタルアシスタントであるJouleの利用シナリオでもグローバルユーザーIDが重要です。JouleはSAP Business Technology Platform上で動作し、複数のバックエンドシステム（例えばSAP S/4HANA CloudやSAP SuccessFactorsなど）と連携してユーザーの作業支援を行います。*4

その前提として、各システムでユーザーが同一人物であることを認識できなければなりません。実際、Jouleを有効化するためには連携する全ての製品上で同じユーザーのグローバルユーザーIDが存在していることが必要条件となっています。*5 このように、SAP Task CenterやJouleのような横断的サービスでは統合認証基盤としてグローバルユーザーIDが不可欠であり、各ソリューション間でスムーズにユーザーコンテキストを共有する鍵となっています。

3. セットアップの概要

グローバルユーザーIDの導入とSAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication (通称 SAP IAS、以下SAP IASとして言及) との連携設定を行う際の概要ステップを以下に整理します。

前提準備: まず、グローバルユーザーIDを活用するためにシステム環境を整備します。SAP Cloud Identity Servicesのテナントが用意されていること、各SAP製品（例: SAP SuccessFactorsやSAP S/4HANAなど）がSAP IAS連携に対応したバージョン・設定になっていることを確認します。
ユーザーIDの一元化とプロビジョニング: 次に、ユーザーアカウント情報の一元管理を設計していきます。各システムに分散して存在するユーザーを統合するため、SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Provisioning (通称SAP IPS、以下SAP IPSとして言及) などのツールを用いてユーザー情報を同期させます。例えば、人事システムであるSAP SuccessFactorsをユーザーのマスタとして扱う場合には、SAP IPS経由でSAP Cloud Identity Services のユーザーストアである IdDS にユーザーをプロビジョニングすることで、同時にグローバルユーザーIDを生成・付与します。SAP IPS のSCIMプロビジョニングでは、SAP拡張スキーマの一部であるurn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User 内のuserUuid属性（グローバルユーザーID）が各ユーザーに含まれるため、これを用いて全システムで共通のIDを保持できます。*1
このように、マスタソースから IdDS へユーザーを流す形でプロビジョニングを行うと、各ユーザーに統一されたグローバルユーザーIDが割り当てられ、他のシステムへも同じIDを展開できます。その他のSAP IPSの利用シナリオでは、SAP SuccessFactorsやSAP S/4HANA CloudからSAP Build Work Zone（SAP BTP上の統合ポータルサービス）に対し、ユーザーのメールアドレス・グローバルユーザーID・所属グループなどを同期する、といったパターンが取られることもあります。
SAP IASでの認証設定: SAP IASを各システムの認証基盤（IdP）とするための信頼関係とユーザー属性マッピングを構成します。具体的には、SAP IAS管理コンソールで各アプリケーション（接続先システム）についてのSAML 2.0設定を開き、ユーザー識別に使用する属性を設定します。グローバルユーザーIDによる認証連携を行う場合、SAP IAS側でSAMLアサーション属性の一つとしてuser_uuid（表示名「Global User Id」）が含まれていることを確認する必要があります。もし既定で存在しない場合は、「カスタム属性の追加」機能からIdentity Directoryをソースとしてuser_uuid属性を追加し、その値にグローバルユーザーIDをマッピングする必要があります。*6 この設定により、ユーザーがSAP IASで認証された際にグローバルユーザーIDがSAMLトークンに含まれ、連携先のアプリケーション側でユーザーを一意に特定できるようになります。なお、EmailやLogin Nameといった他の属性も必要に応じてアサーションに含めますが、システム横断のユーザーの突合処理にはグローバルユーザーID（user_uuid）がキー項目となります。
各システムでの受入設定: 最後に、個々のSAP製品側でSAP IASから受け取ったユーザーを正しくマッピングする設定を行います。SAP SuccessFactorsの場合、SAP IASと統合認証を行うことでSAP SuccessFactors内のユーザーにグローバルユーザーIDが関連付けられます（SAP IAS上で生成されたIDがSAP SuccessFactorsユーザーに対応付けられる）ため、特別な追加設定は不要です。SAP S/4HANA等のシステムでも、クラウド製品であればSAP IASとのトラスト設定を行い、Name IDや属性としてグローバルユーザーIDを用いるよう設定します。オンプレミスのSAP S/4HANAをSAP Task Centerに接続するようなケースでは、ABAPユーザー管理(例えばSU01)上でグローバルユーザーID（SAPUSER_UUID）が取得できることを確認し、それを用いてTask Center側でユーザーを紐付けます。各システム固有の設定手順については製品ごとのガイドに委ねられますが、要点は「SAP IASから渡されたグローバルユーザーIDをキーとしてユーザーを識別する」ように受入れ側を調整することです。

4. セットアップにおける課題・考慮点

グローバルユーザーIDとSAP IASを設定する際によく直面する課題や注意すべきポイントを以下にまとめます。

ID概念の混同に注意すること
SAPシステムには、ユーザーごとに様々なIDや番号（例: ユーザーID、従業員ID、Person ID、User GUIDなど）が存在します。プロジェクトメンバーにはグローバルユーザーIDの目的と他のIDとの違いを周知し、名称の類似による混乱を避ける必要があります。
ユーザー同期と一意性の確保
各システムで同じユーザーに別々のグローバルユーザーIDが発行されてしまう事態は避けねばなりません。グローバルユーザーIDはSAP IASでユーザー作成時に自動生成されますが、例えば同一人物を異なるシステム上で個別に新規登録してしまうと、それぞれに別個のグローバルIDが割り当てられてしまいます。これを防ぐには、前述のように一元的なプロビジョニングでユーザーを管理するか、既存ユーザーの統合時にはメールアドレスや社員IDなど共通のキーで突合して単一のユーザーに紐付ける作業が必要です。特に、最初にSAP IAS側でユーザーを作成してグローバルユーザーIDを発行し、それをもとに他システムへユーザーを連携させるフローにすると安全です。
属性マッピングの誤り
SAP IASと各アプリケーションの接続設定において、グローバルユーザーIDが正しくマッピングされていないとユーザー対応付けの不整合が発生します。例えば、SAP IAS側でuser_uuidをアサーションに含め忘れたり、受入れ側で別の属性（メールアドレス等）をユーザーキーにしている場合、システム間でユーザーを同一人物とみなせず統合が破綻します。グローバルユーザーIDをユーザー識別の軸として用いる設定になっているかを念入りに確認する必要があります。
運用時のユーザー管理
グローバルユーザーID導入後は、ユーザーライフサイクル管理にも留意が必要です。ユーザーの入社・退職時には、SAP Cloud Identity Services (の中でもユーザーマスタであるIdDS) 上のユーザーアカウント追加・削除プロセスと、各業務システム側のユーザー管理がきちんと同期しているか確認します。例えば退職者のアカウントを、あるシステムで削除したがSAP IAS上には残っているといった場合、グローバルユーザーIDを介して不要なアクセスが残存するリスクがあります。また、企業内のIDプロバイダ（Entra ID / Microsoft Active Directoryなど）とSAP IASをフェデレーションしている場合、SAP IASをプロキシモードで利用するだけでは自動的にグローバルユーザーIDが各システムに行き渡らないため、別途SAP IPSでの定期同期や初回ログイン時の自動プロビジョニング設定を検討してください。

最後に

以上、SAP環境におけるグローバルユーザーIDとSAP IAS設定の概要とポイントを解説しました。複数のSAPソリューションを統合的に利用する際には、グローバルユーザーIDによる共通のユーザー基盤が成功の鍵となります。公式のSAP Help Portal や、SAP Communityのガイド記事も参照しつつ、自社のランドスケープに合わせた設計・設定を進めてください。

参考文献

*1) SAP Help Portal：SAP Cloud Identity Servicesを利用したユーザーIDの連携シナリオおよびその設定ガイド
https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-identity/system-integration-guide/global-user-id-in-integration-scenarios
*2) SAP Help Portal：SAP Task Centerとは？
https://help.sap.com/docs/task-center/sap-task-center/what-is-sap-task-center?locale=en-US
*3) SAP Community Blog：SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private EditionのJouleセットアップ手順に関するステップバイステップガイド
https://community.sap.com/t5/enterprise-resource-planning-blogs-by-sap/joule-for-sap-s-4hana-cloud-private-edition-a-comprehensive-setup-guide/ba-p/13786453
*4) SAP Help Portal：Jouleとは？
https://help.sap.com/docs/JOULE/3fdd7b321eb24d1b9d40605dce822e84/38636457acc346daa4ff7069f041a11a.html
*5) SAP Help Portal：JouleをSAP製品と連携する際の前提条件
https://help.sap.com/doc/de3af3c0f81642dbaa4d36172ed57a72/CLOUD/en-US/79bfc83ab386450c8cd9c7937ce26a3a.pdf#:~:text=services%20tenant%20and%20within%20all,based%20application%20and%20relies%20on
*6) SAP Help Portal：Jouleの設定手順 SAP Cloud Identity Servicesとの連携設定
https://help.sap.com/doc/de3af3c0f81642dbaa4d36172ed57a72/CLOUD/en-US/79bfc83ab386450c8cd9c7937ce26a3a.pdf#:~:text=groups%20Groups%20user_uuid%20Global%20User,Save%20your%20configuration

Global User ID and SAP IAS: Essentials for AI integration in SAP landscape

2025-04-07T07:15:25.482000+02:00

Introduction

Modern companies are increasingly using SAP across multiple products as their operations are becoming more cloud-based, diversified and advanced with AI. In these environments, consistent identity management for each user is required, and it is important to accurately identify the same person across multiple systems and to provide appropriate authentication and authorization. SAP’s AI Digital Assistant, Joule, and SAP Task Center also require consistent identity management.

This guide describes the role and mechanism of “Global User ID”, an important feature of SAP’s cloud foundation, SAP Cloud Identity Services, as well as how to configure SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Authentication (SAP IAS) to support its implementation. In particular, it focuses on how to integrate user information and enable single sign-on in collaboration with key SAP products, such as SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA, and introduces practical steps and notes.

1. What are Global User IDs?

A global user ID is a common ID that uniquely identifies a particular user in a broad landscape, including various business applications and services from SAP. *1

In this system configuration without a global user ID, when accessing System B from System A, it was necessary to implement appropriate actions to know which user in each system was the same person as which user.

However, by introducing the concept and implementation of global user ID, you can avoid the complexity of ID mapping across systems. Technically, global user ID is a generated identifier in UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) or GUID (Global Unique Identifier) format, which is automatically assigned when a user is created in the Identity Directory (referred to below as IdDS), the user persistency layer of SAP Cloud Identity Services.

This global user ID acts as a “correlation attribute” and acts as a back-to-back link between user accounts that exist in multiple systems.

For example, if an employee has a user account in both SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA, the global user ID uniquely connects the person. This allows other systems to know that certain actions are being done in relation to the same user, as well as to provide a consolidated reference to user information and tasks. Global user IDs are only internal, separate from the username and email address that end users enter when they log in, but they are a key element of system integration.

2. Why do I need a global user ID now?

The modern environment around SAP requires the integration of multiple cloud services and on-premise systems to provide a seamless experience for users. However, with disparate user IDs in each system, it is very difficult to have a corresponding relationship when integrating data and tasks for each user. So, by implementing a single identifier, the global user ID, it can be used effectively to address the challenge of integrating user-related data across system boundaries and to achieve consistent user identification across the enterprise. As a result, single sign-on (SSO) access to multiple SAP services with one authentication and consistent authorization management is possible.

One of the concrete use cases is the SAP Task Center. *2 The SAP Task Center is a service that consolidates workflow approval requests and tasks for users from various SAP applications (for example, SAP SuccessFactors) and displays them in a single inbox. The key here is user consistency and must be ensured that tasks coming from different back-end systems are tied to the same person. A global user ID serves as its common key and relates the tasks gathered from each system to the correct user. Without global user ID harmonization, complex logic is needed to match user IDs across systems, which can lead to missing or misallotted tasks.

Global user IDs are also important for use scenarios with Joule, our new AI digital assistant. Joule runs on the SAP Business Technology Platform and integrates with multiple back-end systems (such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors) to support users by providing intelligent assistance and insights. *4

The assumption is that each system must be able to recognize that a user is the same person. Indeed, in order to activate Joule, there must be a global user ID for the same user on all products that work together. *5 In this way, global user identity is essential as an integrated authentication foundation for cross-sectional services like SAP Task Center and Joule, and is key to smoothly sharing user context across solutions.

3. Setup Overview

Here are the high-level steps for implementing Global User Identification and setting up integration with SAP IAS.

Precondition Preparation: First, develop the system environment to take advantage of the Global User ID. Ensure that you have a tenant for SAP Cloud Identity Services and that each SAP product (for example, SAP SuccessFactors or SAP S/4HANA) is versioned for SAP IAS integration.
Centralize and provision user identity; then design central management of user account information. Synchronize user information using tools such as SAP Cloud Identity Services - Identity Provisioning (commonly referred to as SAP IPS, referred to below as SAP IPS) to consolidate users that exist across different systems. For example, if you want to treat SAP SuccessFactors as the master of users, as an HR system, you can create and grant global user IDs at the same time by provisioning users to the Identity Directory (IdDS) user store via SAP IPS. SCIM provisioning in SAP IPS includes the userUuid attribute (Global User ID) in urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User, which is part of the SAP extension schema, so that all systems can have a common ID. *1
In this way, provisioning users from the master source to the Identity Directory (IdDS) provides each user with a unified global user ID, and the same identity can be deployed to other systems. In other SAP IPS usage scenarios, patterns such as the synchronization of user email addresses, global user IDs and group affiliations from SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA Cloud to SAP Build Work Zone (Integrated Portal Service on SAP BTP) may also be taken.
Trust configuration with SAP IAS: Configure trust relationships and user attribute mappings to ensure that SAP IAS is the authentication foundation (IdP) for each system. Specifically, open the SAML 2.0 configuration for each application (connected system) in the SAP IAS Administration Console and configure the attributes to be used for user identification. For authentication linkage with global user IDs, you must ensure that user_uuid (display name “Global User Id”) is included as one of the SAML assertion attributes on the SAP IAS side. If it does not exist by default, you must add the user_uuid attribute as a source with Identity Directory from the Add Custom Attribute feature and map the Global User ID to that value. *6 This setting ensures that when a user is authenticated with SAP IAS, the global user ID is included in the SAML token to uniquely identify the user on the integrated application side. Other attributes, such as Email and Login Name, are included in the assertion as needed, but the global user ID (user_uuid) is the key field for the cross-system user reconciliation process.
Acceptance settings in each system: Finally, you make settings that map users received from SAP IAS correctly on the individual SAP product side. For SAP SuccessFactors, integration authentication with SAP IAS ensures that users in SAP SuccessFactors are associated with global user IDs (IDs generated on SAP IAS are mapped to SAP SuccessFactors users), so no additional configuration is required. Systems such as SAP S/4HANA also set up trust settings with SAP IAS for cloud products, and configure Global User IDs as Name IDs and attributes. In cases like connecting on-premise SAP S/4HANA to SAP Task Center, make sure that the Global User ID (SAPUSER_UUID) is available on the ABAP user management (e.g. SU01) and use it to link the user on the Task Center side. Although the configuration steps vary depending on the specific product, the key point is to ensure that each target system is configured to recognize users based on the Global User ID provided by SAP IAS.

4. Issues and considerations for the setup

The challenges and points to note when setting up Global User IDs and SAP IAS are summarized below.

Note the confusion of the identity concept: There are various IDs and numbers for each user in the SAP system (for example, user ID, employee ID, person ID, user GUID, and so on). Project members should be aware of the difference between the purpose of the Global User ID and other IDs, and avoid confusion due to similar names.
User synchronization and uniqueness: You must avoid the fact that each system issues a separate global user ID for the same user. Global user IDs are automatically generated when users are created in SAP IAS, but if you create the same person separately on different systems, for example, each has a separate global ID. To prevent this, you need to manage your users in central provisioning as described above, or connect them to a single user with a common key such as email address or employee ID when consolidating existing users. In particular, it is safe to first create a user on the SAP IAS side, issue a global user ID, and use it as a flow to link the user to other systems.
Wrong attribute mapping: User mapping inconsistencies occur if global user IDs are mapped incorrectly in the connection configuration between SAP IAS and the respective application. For example, if you forget to include user_uuid in the assertion on the SAP IAS side, or if the receiving side has a different attribute (email address, etc.) as the user key, the integration breaks across systems without considering the user as the same person. You should check carefully if the Global User ID is set to use as a user identification axis.
User management during production: After the introduction of a global user ID, user lifecycle management must also be kept in mind. When a user enters the company or leaves the company, verify that the user account lifecycle processes in the Identity Directory (IdDS), the user persistency layer of SAP Cloud Identity Services, are properly synchronized with the user management on the part of each business system. For example, if an alumni account is deleted in one system but remains on SAP IAS, there is a risk that unnecessary access remains via a global user ID. In addition, if you are federating your corporate identity provider (e.g. Entra ID / Microsoft Active Directory) and SAP IAS, consider regular synchronization in SAP IPS or automatic provisioning setup on first login, as simply using SAP IAS in proxy mode does not automatically route global user IDs to each system.

Conclusion

You now have an overview of global user IDs and SAP IAS configuration points in the SAP environment. When using multiple SAP solutions in an integrated way, a common user foundation with a global user ID is key to success. Please refer to the official SAP Help Portal and the SAP Community guide article to design and configure for your landscape.

References

*1) SAP Help Portal: User Identity integration scenario with SAP Cloud Identity Services and its configuration guide
https://help.sap.com/docs/cloud-identity/system-integration-guide/global-user-id-in-integration-scenarios
*2) SAP Help Portal: What is the SAP Task Center?
https://help.sap.com/docs/task-center/sap-task-center/what-is-sap-task-center? locale=en-US
*3) SAP Community Blog: SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition Step-by-Step Guide to Joule Setup Procedures
https://community.sap.com/t5/enterprise-resource-planning-blogs-by-sap/joule-for-sap-s-4hana-cloud-private-edition-a-comprehensive-setup-guide/ba-p/13786453
*4) SAP Help Portal: What is Joule?
https://help.sap.com/docs/JOULE/3fdd7b321eb24d1b9d40605dce822e84/38636457acc346daa4ff7069f041a11a.html
*5) SAP Help Portal: Prerequisites for working with SAP products
https://help.sap.com/doc/de3af3c0f81642dbaa4d36172ed57a72/CLOUD/en-US/79bfc83ab386450c8cd9c7937ce26a3a.pdf#:~:text=services%20tenant%20and%20within%20all,based%20application%20and%20relies%20on
*6) SAP Help Portal: Setup instructions for Joule Integration with SAP Cloud Identity Services
https://help.sap.com/doc/de3af3c0f81642dbaa4d36172ed57a72/CLOUD/en-US/79bfc83ab386450c8cd9c7937ce26a3a.pdf#:~:text=groups%20Groups%20user_uuid%20Global%20User,Save%20your%20configuration

Implementation of SAP Task Center for ERP ECC Systems (Non-S/4HANA using Third Party Connector)

2025-04-22T08:10:58.109000+02:00

Simplify Task Management with SAP Task Center’s Third Party Connector

Looking to simplify and centralize task handling across multiple ERP systems, including non-SAP platforms? With the SAP Task Center's Third Party Connector, you can seamlessly integrate non-SAP systems into a unified task management hub. Experience dynamic task filters, multi-language support, mass approvals, custom attributes, and much more—all in a single interface tailored to your needs.

We’ve successfully implemented and validated the SAP Task Center Third Party Connector for SAP ERP systems (non-S/4HANA). The POC was based on the great and detailed implementation Guidelines provided by SAP.

Proven Results with SAP ERP Systems (Non-S/4HANA)

We’ve successfully implemented and validated the SAP Task Center Third Party Connector for SAP ERP (non-S/4HANA) systems. Using SAP’s detailed Third-Party Adoption Guide, our proof of concept (PoC) demonstrated how the Task Center can efficiently manage tasks from diverse systems, creating a scalable and flexible solution for heterogeneous landscapes.

This article outlines the implementation of a Third Party Connector for ERP systems based on official SAP documentation. We’ll cover the fundamental configuration steps, highlight the achieved results, and showcase the benefits of this solution.

Prerequisites

In fact the integration of any Third Party System needs to fulfill the following prerequisites:

Interface definition as described in the adoption guideline provided by SAP. Having a deeper look on the definition it is mostly an oData v4 standard service
SAP Task Center Third-Party Adoption Guide
User Mapping between local user id and ID in IAS / CIS to assign tasks to the correct SCIM Global User ID. This could also be handled in a dedicated middleware.
Technical access to provide capabilities of the interface, task definitions and tasks as described here
SAP Documentation: Primary Destination with Technical User Third-Party Task Provider
The primary destination ensures secure and reliable communication between the Task Provider and the Task Center, using a technical user for authentication.
Single Sign On access for read further details like description, attachments, comments and to execute the actions on the tasks like approve or reject. Check the following link for more details:
SAP Documentation: Secondary Destination for Principal Propagation Third-Party Task Provider
This destination ensures proper user context propagation, allowing actions in the Task Center to be executed on behalf of the authenticated user.

All feature of a Third Party Connector, like attachment, comments, bulk or substitutions can be implemented step by step and switch on after implementation.

Implementation and Architecture

The implementation was split into three parts

SAP BTP based Cloud Foundry Service to handle the requests (mainly oData v4)
SAP ERP Task Center Backend Service (odata v2) to handle the requests from BTP based on a technical user
SAP Standard Task Processing Service used by Standard My Inbox Application to handle the SSO based requests

The following image shows up the final architecture of the implementation:

Integrating SAP Standard Task Processing Standard Service pushed the speed of the development dramatically. We didn't had to cover standard actions, like

Reading Attachments, Comments, Description of the task
Claiming, Forwarding Tasks
Performing Actions (approve, reject a.s.o.) on tasks
Integrate Detail Screens as used in My Inbox Scenarios (e.g. Approve Leave Request V3)

Now we are focusing on decoupling the Task Processing Service and moving more and more functionalities to our implementation. The following screen shows the integration the Approve Leave Request V3 Service in the Task Center:

The screen is split into three parts

Task Center View
My Inbox Scenario "Approve Leave Request V3"
Task Center Actions to execute them directly via Task Center

Achievements and Features

The implementation of the connector brings numerous benefits that significantly enhance task management:

1. Connector Setup for Standard ERP Systems

The connector enables the integration of tasks from ERP systems that are not based on S/4HANA, bridging the gap to modern task management.

2. Dynamic Task Filters

Through destinations, task filters can be flexibly configured, allowing users to view only the tasks relevant to them. This improves usability and reduces complexity. Additional filter parameter can be passed by configuring the destination properties to the backend logic in order to display dedicated tasks in a separate group e.g. Leave Request Only and to reuse the connector.

3. Multi-Language Support

The application supports multiple languages, which is especially advantageous for globally operating companies. Users can view tasks in their preferred language.

4. Inplace Display of Decision Scenarios (e.g. My Inbox Detail Screens)

Tasks such as leave requests can be directly displayed and processed within the Task Center without switching applications, enhancing efficiency and providing a seamless user experience. We are delivering enhancement spots to adjust the displayed content and integrate dedicated approval screens inplace

Inplace Approval View

Standard View

5. Custom Attributes

The connector supports displaying and processing custom attributes tailored to specific business requirements. This allows to take fast decisions especially when performing mass approvals.

6. Mass Approvals (Bulk Actions)

Users can approve multiple tasks simultaneously, reducing the workload for repetitive tasks (e.g., invoice approvals).

7. Substitution Rules

Tasks can be forwarded to substitutes during absences, ensuring uninterrupted workflows.

8. Additional Features

These include support for task delegation, adaptability to specific business needs, and the ability to integrate tasks from additional systems.

Flexibility and Scalability

With the Third Party Connector, SAP Task Center becomes a versatile platform for task management. It’s not limited to ERP systems—you can also integrate CRM, HR, and further custom or non SAP applications, ensuring a truly centralized and scalable solution for diverse business environments.

Next Steps

More integrations are on the way! If you’re interested in learning how the SAP Task Center Third Party Connector can transform your task management, feel free to reach out directly:

Connect with Christoph Kuczera on LinkedIn

Let’s simplify and scale your task management together! 😊

Task Center ECC Connector – Bridging the Gap During Your S/4HANA Transition

2025-06-20T14:14:36.202000+02:00

Are ECC-based workflows causing bottlenecks in your S/4HANA migration journey? You're not without a solution.

Introducing the ECC Connector for Task Center, delivered in partnership with MHP, a valuable enabler for customers navigating hybrid SAP landscapes. Whether you're mid-migration or working in a dual-system environment, this connector helps integrate your classic ECC tasks directly into the modern SAP Task Center experience on BTP.

What Is the ECC Connector?

The ECC Connector is a purpose-built solution designed to seamlessly pull tasks from ECC systems into SAP Task Center—your central inbox for all workflow items across SAP and third-party systems.

Built on SAP BTP CAP architecture and deployed directly into your SAP and BTP infrastructure, the connector supports:

Pulling ECC-based approval tasks
Operating through My Inbox actions (including bulk operations)
Detailed task data including attachments and notifications
Backend extensibility for customer-specific enhancements

What’s Delivered as an ECC connector?

As part of the implementation, MHP provides:

BTP CAP API Interface deployed on your SAP BTP instance
Backend Interface in the MHP namespace for ECC/SAP on-premise systems
Full implementation support
Tailored adjustments to your business requirements

Scope & Eligibility

Your organization qualifies if:

You have a BTP subaccount with Task Center and Backend Connectivity enabled (via Cloud Connector & Principal Propagation)
You're running My Inbox on ECC for existing approval processes
Your SAP system meets minimum version: SAP_BASIS, SAP_ABA, SAP_GWFND ≥ 750

Benefits and Roadmap

Current Capabilities Include:

Pulling tasks from ECC backend
Support for My Inbox actions (approve/reject)
Attachments, details, and multi-backend support
Easy display integration for My Inbox detail views

What's Next:

Adjustments based on early customer feedback
Enhanced support for multiple backend systems, clients, and 3rd party SaaS
Full SaaS readiness with 24/7 support, SAP Store listing, and standard rollout models

Why ECC Connector is crutial during S/4HANA Migration?

During your migration to S/4HANA, it's not uncommon to maintain hybrid landscapes where legacy ECC processes coexist with modern SAP BTP components. Instead of re-building workflows or forcing users into multiple inboxes, the ECC Connector provides a unified user experience, reduces disruption, and supports a smoother transition.

ECC Connector in action

Curious how this can work in your landscape?

If you're in the midst of an S/4HANA transition and struggling with disconnected ECC workflows, the ECC Connector for Task Center could be your answer. Reach out to SAP or our partner MHP to join the program and bring clarity and cohesion to your task management.

From My Inbox to SAP Task Center: A Customer’s Journey to Unified Task Management

2025-09-23T11:58:38.874000+02:00

In today’s enterprise landscape, employees often navigate multiple systems to complete everyday approvals - such as leave requests in SAP SuccessFactors, invoices in SAP Ariba, purchase orders in SAP S/4HANA, or workflows in SAP Build Process Automation.

For many organizations, SAP Fiori My Inbox has served as the go-to solution for managing workflow tasks. However, with the adoption of more SAP Cloud solutions, customers are looking for a central, scalable, and modern task hub that goes beyond the capabilities of My Inbox.

This is where SAP Task Center comes into play. And with the help of the official Transition Guide, customers can make this shift with confidence.

Why the Transition Guide Matters

One of our customers, a global manufacturing company, recently began their journey from My Inbox to SAP Task Center. For their IT team, the Transition Guide was an essential resource that addressed the most critical questions:

Feature Clarity: A direct comparison of My Inbox and SAP Task Center capabilities helped them map existing functionality to the new experience.
Migration Planning: Clear guidance on prerequisites, dependencies, and planning considerations made it easy to build a structured rollout plan.
Implementation Steps: Detailed instructions on setup, authentication, and connector configuration ensured the transition was straightforward and predictable.

“The guide made it feel less like a migration project and more like a natural upgrade path.” — IT Manager, Customer Project

Benefits of Moving to SAP Task Center

After adopting SAP Task Center, the customer quickly began to see measurable benefits:

Unified Inbox: All approvals and workflow items from multiple systems consolidated into a single, central inbox.
Time Savings: Reduced time spent switching between different applications for task approvals.
Resilience: Cached task storage ensured availability even if backend systems were temporarily unreachable.
Flexibility: Multiple service plan options allowed fine-tuning of task federation.
Mobile Enablement: Seamless integration with SAP Mobile Start provided executives with approvals on the go.

The result: higher task completion rates, reduced approval bottlenecks, and improved employee experience.

A Unified Future for Task Management

For organizations still relying on My Inbox, the transition to SAP Task Center is more than a technical migration—it’s a strategic opportunity to streamline work, empower employees, and prepare for future growth.

The Transition Guide ensures that this move is achievable and well-supported, regardless of IT landscape complexity.

How to Get Started

Read the official Transition Guide to SAP Task Center
Explore SAP Task Center in SAP Discovery Center
Join the conversation in the SAP Community for Task Center

SAP Task Center represents the next generation of task management for SAP landscapes—bringing together approvals, workflows, and actions from multiple solutions into one unified experience.

With the Transition Guide, customers can move forward with clarity, confidence, and a proven roadmap for success.

📢 Let's Make the SAP Task Center Documentation Even Better!

2025-11-05T14:57:52.392000+01:00

We’re eager to hear your suggestions—take our documentation survey and let us know what enhancements you'd like to see in the SAP Task Center documentation.

Why Should You Participate?

🔍 Better Docs, Better Experience: Your feedback will help us make our documentation clearer and more helpful.

🎯 Tailored Content: We’ll use your insights to create content that’s more relevant to what you do.

🚀 Easier Workflow: Enhanced documentation means less time searching and more time getting stuff done.

Who can participate in this survey?

This survey is for anyone who uses SAP Task Center, whether you are a daily user or occasional user. Your insights are valuable to us, and we want to hear from everyone.

What You’ll Be Asked

How easy it is to understand and navigate our docs
If the content is comprehensive enough for your needs
How well our docs align with your daily tasks
Any suggestions you have for making it better
Any general feedback on the documentation that you'd like to share

How to Participate

The survey is designed to be quick and user-friendly, taking just 5 minutes.

Scan the following QR code to access the documentation survey

or click here to take the survey.

Your participation is greatly appreciated. Your feedback will help us create a better product for everyone in the SAP community.

Warm regards,

Your SAP Task Center Documentation Team

Push UUID from IAS to S4HANA - Tasks list on BTP task Center is empty for S4HANA

2026-01-01T05:41:20.344000+01:00

Introduction:

After completing all prerequisites and following the SAP documentation to configure the Task Center for an SAP S/4HANA system, it is quite common to encounter a situation where no tasks are displayed in the Task Center—even though task creation appears to be working correctly in the backend.

This blog addresses one of the most frequently overlooked root causes behind this issue: the absence of a Global User ID (UUID) in the SAP S/4HANA system. Even when the Task Center is correctly configured on SAP BTP and tasks are visible in the pull cache, missing UUID mapping can prevent the Task Center from resolving the processor correctly, resulting in an empty Task Center UI.

In this blog, I will walk you through a critical but often missed step required to ensure tasks are displayed correctly in the Task Center. The focus is on establishing a one-way synchronization from SAP Identity Authentication Service (IAS) to SAP S/4HANA to push the UUIDs for existing users, without performing a full user provisioning or re-synchronization.

Solution:

Even after configuring the Task Center on HANA on-premise and completing all required steps on BTP, the Task Center may appear empty, as shown in the screenshot below.

When you check the Task Center pull cache, you can see that the task exists; however, it is still not displayed in the Task Center app. As shown in the screenshot below, the task appears with the processor name set to the SAP user ID. This situation occurs when a GUID (UUID) is not available in the SAP HANA system. In such cases, the system falls back to using the SAP user ID instead of the UUID. As a result, the Task Center is unable to correctly resolve the processor, and the task is not displayed in the Task Center app.

To resolve this issue, we need to ensure that a UUID is available in the SAP system. The steps to achieve this are explained below. Before updating the UUID in the SAP HANA system, the user profile in the SU01 screen appears as shown in the screenshot below.
SU01-->Goto-->External User ID(UID)

Please note that in this scenario, we are not synchronizing SAP users to IAS and then syncing the UUID back to the HANA system. Since the UUIDs and users already exist in IAS as a result of the SuccessFactors integration, we will establish a one-way synchronization from IAS to SAP S/4HANA solely to push the UUID into the system

To push the UUID (Global User ID) to SAP system please follow below steps.

Prerequisite:
1. Login to your Cloud Connector: Make sure your Cloud connectors connection from BTP to HANA has access to below BAPI/FM

PRGN_ROLE_GETLIST
BAPI_USER_GETLIST
BAPI_USER_GET_DETAIL
BAPI_USER_CREATE1
BAPI_USER_ACTGROUPS_ASSIGN
IDENTITY_MODIFY
BAPI_USER_DELETE
PRGN_ACTIVITY_GROUPS_LOAD_RFC

2. Create a technical user in SAP HANA, or reuse an existing technical user that is used to pull tasks for the Task Center. Ensure that this user is assigned the required role listed below. This technical user will be used to create the RFC destination in the BTP subaccount, which will later be used to create the target system in IAS

SAP_BC_JSF_COMMUNICATION

3. Create a RFC destination on the BTP account where your IAS is hosted by referring to below SAP guide.
https://help.sap.com/docs/connectivity/sap-btp-connectivity-cf/create-rfc-destinations

Note: If you prefer to create the RFC destination in a different subaccount - perhaps within the same sub account as SAP Work Zone or the Task Center- ensure that you create an Identity Access Management (IAM) service instance in that subaccount. This is required so that the RFC destination you create is visible in the IAS administration console.

After completing the prerequisites, log in to IAS and create the source and destination systems to perform the push.

Creating Source system: Because the users are already available in IAS, select Local Identity Directory as the source system.
Creating the Source system is straightforward.

{
    "user": {
        "mappings": [
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.id",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:sap:cloud:scim:schemas:extension:custom:2.0:User']['userId']",
                "targetVariable": "entityIdSourceSystem"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['userUuid']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['userUuid']"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.schemas",
                "targetPath": "$.schemas",
                "preserveArrayWithSingleElement": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.userName",
                "targetPath": "$.userName",
                "optional": true,
                "correlationAttribute": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.displayName",
                "targetPath": "$.displayName",
                "optional": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.groups",
                "targetPath": "$.groups",
                "optional": true,
                "preserveArrayWithSingleElement": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:sap:cloud:scim:schemas:extension:custom:2.0:User']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:sap:cloud:scim:schemas:extension:custom:2.0:User']",
                "optional": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['sourceSystem']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['sourceSystem']",
                "optional": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['sourceSystemId']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['sourceSystemId']",
                "optional": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['userId']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['userId']",
                "optional": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User']['employeeNumber']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User']['employeeNumber']",
                "optional": true
            }
        ]
    },
    "group": {
        "ignore": true,
        "mappings": [
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.id",
                "targetVariable": "entityIdSourceSystem",
                "correlationAttribute": true
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:sap:cloud:scim:schemas:extension:custom:2.0:Group']['name']",
                "targetPath": "$['urn:sap:cloud:scim:schemas:extension:custom:2.0:Group']['name']"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.displayName",
                "targetPath": "$.displayName"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.members",
                "targetPath": "$.members",
                "optional": true,
                "preserveArrayWithSingleElement": true
            }
        ]
    }
}

Create Target system: Here our target is SAP HANA. below refer below screenshots and code snippet to create the same. here the target system type is SAP Application Server ABAP. and please select the destination which you created in prerequisite step 3.
Make sure you skip operations for delete and create as we trying to do update only and you can also update the alias(email), groups roles to S4HANA along with UUID but here i am only focusing on UUID.

{
    "user": {
        "skipOperations": [
            "create",
            "delete"
        ],
        "mappings": [
            {
                "sourceVariable": "entityIdTargetSystem",
                "targetPath": "$.USERNAME"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$.userName",
                "targetPath": "$.USERNAME"
            },
            {
                "sourcePath": "$['urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:sap:2.0:User']['userUuid']",
                "targetPath": "$.SAPUSER_UUID.SAP_UID"
            },
            {
                "constant": "updateEntity",
                "targetVariable": "operationTypeVariable"
            },
            {
                "constant": "createEntity",
                "targetVariable": "operationTypeVariable",
                "scope": "createEntity"
            },
            {
                "condition": "$.active == false && '${operationTypeVariable}' == 'createEntity'",
                "constant": "X",
                "targetPath": "$.LOCK_LOCALLY"
            },
            {
                "condition": "'${operationTypeVariable}' == 'updateEntity'",
                "constant": "U",
                "targetPath": "$.LOCK"
            },
            {
                "condition": "$.active == false && '${operationTypeVariable}' == 'updateEntity'",
                "constant": "L",
                "targetPath": "$.LOCK"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Once the source and target systems are created, open the source system and perform a test run for a single user to ensure that everything is working correctly. After successful validation, you can remove the user filter and perform a mass update for all users in the system.

Once the update is completed you will be able to see UUID in SU01 user profile as below.

Also, The Task Center pull cache will have UUID for the processor field instead of the SAP user name and Tasks will be shown in the Task center as below.

Conclusion:

An empty Task Center—despite correct backend task creation and successful pull cache entries—can be misleading and time-consuming to troubleshoot. As demonstrated in this blog, the root cause is often the absence of a UUID in the SAP S/4HANA user master, which prevents the Task Center from resolving the task processor correctly.

By ensuring that the Global User ID (UUID) is pushed from IAS to SAP S/4HANA through a one-way synchronization, this issue can be resolved effectively without impacting existing user provisioning or SuccessFactors integrations. Once the UUID is updated in the SU01 user profile, the Task Center pull cache correctly reflects the UUID, and tasks become visible in the Task Center application as expected.

I hope this blog helps you avoid common pitfalls during Task Center setup and saves valuable troubleshooting time. Feel free to share your feedback or experiences, and happy learning!

Thanks and Regards,
Navyashree

SAP Task Center Updates: Global Settings in the Administration App

2026-01-21T14:00:09.041000+01:00

In this series of blog posts, we’ll walk you through the latest updates in the SAP Task Center Administration app, each one designed to simplify the administrative experience and save valuable time.

Today, we’re focusing on one of the most exciting updates, the new Global Settings tab, which significantly enhances the way administrators manage global configurations for the SAP Task Center Web app.

The Purpose of Global Settings in SAP Task Center

Global settings are essential for maintaining consistency in SAP Task Center. They allow administrators to manage key configurations that apply to all task providers, ensuring uniformity across the SAP Task Center Web app, and contribute to a unified user experience across all task providers. These settings impact things like supported languages, enablement of the Outbox feature, and the URL used in email notifications.

The Old Process of Updating Global Settings

Before the introduction of the Global Settings tab, administrators had to manage the global settings destination in the SAP BTP cockpit. This meant navigating to the Cloud Foundry subaccount, locating the Task_Center_global_settings destination, and updating specific values, according to the documentation. Any corrections required repeating the entire process, making it time-consuming and error prone.

The New Global Settings Tab

Now, with the introduction of the Global Settings tab in the SAP Task Center Admin app, administrators can manage these settings more easily and efficiently. The new process has been designed to save time and reduce complexity, allowing administrators to focus on higher-priority tasks.

Centralized Management
The Global Settings tab is now located directly within the SAP Task Center Administration app, providing a single, central place for administrators to access and maintain all global settings for all task providers.
Seamless Integration with SAP BTP
While the Task_Center_global_settings destination is still necessary, it can now be managed directly from the Global Settings tab in the Admin app. Any changes made in the Global Settings tab are automatically synced with the destination in the SAP BTP cockpit, ensuring consistency without any extra manual effort.
If you haven’t set up SAP Task Center yet, we recommend following the automatic setup, so all destinations, including Task_Center_global_settings, are created for you by the booster. This way you can directly update respective properties from the Global Settings tab.
Simplified Workflow
Administrators can configure and validate global settings more quickly, with fewer steps and less context switching. Built-in validation immediately highlights configuration issues, helping prevent errors, reduce trial-and-error, and ensuring that changes are correct before they take effect.

Interested in the UI? Take a look at the Global Settings tab.

This is an overview of the newly introduced Global Settings tab in the SAP Task Center Administration app.

The following demo shows how global settings can be configured directly in the SAP Task Center Administration app.

This update not only simplifies the administration tasks but also provides a more intuitive user experience that reduces errors and saves valuable time of the SAP Task Center administrators.

In our upcoming posts, we will cover other exciting updates to the SAP Task Center Administration app.

Stay tuned and stay efficient,

Your SAP Task Center Team

Destination	Enter enter a name for the RFC destination.
Connection Type	Select G HTTP connection to external server.

Host	Hostname of the API URL of SAP Task Center, available from $.endpoints.inbox_rest_url of the service key in the SAP BTP cockpit.
Path Prefix	/task-center-service

Client Authentication	Select Basic.
Resource Access Authentication	Select Header Field.
Grant Type	Select Client Credentials.

Destination	Enter the destination that you have created before. Use the F4 help.
Configuration	Enter the OAuth 2.0 client configuration that you have created before. Use the F4 help.