SAP Fiori

SAP Fiori is the user interface/ user experience application launched by SAP. It can be considered as a user experience approach, adopted by users and business partners for apps. It was launched to offer a consistent user experience for all. Over the years, SAP Fiori has been adopted by companies to replace the traditional SAP GUI. This has enhanced their business revenue and growth.

Sounds interesting? Let’s dive into the details.

What is SAP Fiori?

SAP Fiori is a streamlined application and a design language used in SAP apps. This was launched for applications such as SAP HANA, SAP Data Hub, and SAP Analytics Cloud. It delivers a role-based UI. This can be personalized across different tasks, devices, and business operations. Moreover, SAP Fiori also offers mobile deployment capabilities for users. This way, they can work on their apps right on their mobile devices.

The SAP Fiori designs can be used along with any technology. For this, SAP provides you with user interface libraries in the SAPUI15 library and the SAP Cloud Platform SDK.

All these exciting features create a world of difference between SAP GUI and SAP Fiori UX. The SAP GUI was complicated and difficult to learn. Whereas, SAP Fiori is seamless, simple, and customizable like modern mobile applications.

History of SAP Fiori

After the launch of SAP S/4HANA, a new UI was developed. This was created for the presentation layer of the applications in this suite. It was called SAP Fiori. It was officially introduced in 2013 and with a mobile-first display. Back then, it had only 25 apps and can be accessed on various devices. Now, its features have been enhanced and have more than 7500 applications for users.

In 2016, SAP Fiori 2.0 was launched for SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP. It had an improved design and enhanced navigational features. In 2017, SAP Fiori 3 was introduced with better design and customization capabilities. It can be easily integrated with other SAP products.

SAP Fiori Pre-requisites

You must know the following areas to learn SAP Fiori

• OData and SAP NetWeaver Gateway
• SAP UI5
• ABAP program and objects
• SAP HANA
• HTML5
• ERP implementation experience
• JavaScript

You need to have a proper grasp of the SAP Fiori environment and good HTML5 and JavaScript skills. OData knowledge is necessary as Fiori uses it to fetch data from the SAP HANA database.

Principles of SAP Fiori

The principles of SAP Fiori are as follows –

• Role-Based - SAP Fiori has converted a variety of transactions into apps. These applications display relevant data to users.
• Responsiveness - Fiori apps run on multiple devices. Furthermore, if SAP Fiori is combined with SAP HANA, the response and query execution times are significantly enhanced.
• Simple - This is designed to be simple and to meet the user’s demands. Fiori uses a 1–1–3 situation. This means for 1 consumer there will be 1 use case and 3 displays. Moreover, the experiences can be personalized, so you can focus on the tasks at hand.
• Seamless Experience - SAP offers all Fiori applications based on the same language. Working with these apps on various devices is easy.
• Delightful - SAP Fiori can work easily work with ECC 6.0 to develop and deploy apps. Fiori offers easy-to-use features and a user-centric approach. This lets you focus on the important tasks and not worry about the technicalities.

SAP Fiori Apps

There are 3 types of SAP Fiori apps –

• Transactional apps
• Fact sheets
• Analytical apps

1) Transactional Apps

These applications let you perform SAP transactions on desktops and mobile devices. These apps are designed for interacting with business objects. These include sales orders, managing business lists, and processing financial documents.

Features of Transactional apps –

• These apps let you create transactional tasks such as invoices and sales orders
• Offer simple views and interactions for SAP processes and solutions
• These run great with SAP S/4 HANA and other databases with high performance

2) Fact Sheets

These are used for displaying relevant business information about different business objects in a single place. For instance, in the fact sheet app for the central purchase contract, you can view vendor contracts, terms, and associated entities.

Features of Fact sheets –

• Allows you to focus on key facts of your business operations
• You can navigate different fact sheets from a single fact sheet
• Fiori fact sheets run with SAP HANA and require an ABAP stack. They may not work with SAP HANA live architecture

3) Analytical Apps

These applications are used to analyze business processes and key performance indicators.

Features of Analytical apps –

• You can analyze a business question using real-time information about business operations
• These apps run on the SAP HANA database and use virtual data models
• Complicated calculations and aggregations can be performed that allows you to handle market situations
• Analytical apps can be integrated with SAP business suite and SAP HANA

SAP Fiori 2.0

SAP Fiori was launched in 2016. This was an upgrade to the original version and had new features. These included better system notifications and enhanced navigation. This version of the Fiori application offered a new interface and design that was well-suited for businesses.

SAP Fiori 2.0 had other features such as List Reports, Object Pages, an Overview Page, and a Launchpad. This is a very useful platform that allows users to launch apps and display important information. There is also a Viewport feature that lets you expand your desktop views from left to right.

The latest version of SAP Fiori, 3.0, enhances the design for all SAP products. This completely supports Intelligent Suite which might run on any device. SAP Fiori 3.0 also has Machine learning capabilities to execute complex tasks faster.

SAP Fiori Key Features and Capabilities

SAP Fiori has the following features and capabilities – 

Role-based

Tasks and applications can be assigned to users using role-specific business catalogs. It offers predefined groups for the FLP home page.

Personalized

Personalization is a big feature in SAP Fiori. You can add or remove apps from your homepage, change the titles, choose custom themes and rearrange tiles/ groups.

Search and navigation

Perform easy searches across your applications and business objects. Navigating through the different apps and functionalities is simple.

Responsive

The software is fully responsive that runs on multiple devices, be it desktop or mobile. Its configuration features let you work on device-specific applications.

SAP Fiori Elements

These are in-built templates that support different application patterns. You can use this feature to develop applications that are based on OData services. Elements also offer these features –

• Launchpad integration
• Supports multiple devices
• SAP Web IDE for app development
• Message handling

Business Benefits of SAP Fiori

The benefits of using SAP Fiori for businesses are –

• Users get easy access to the data they need through simple applications. This reduces the burden on IT support/ HR
• Its simplicity and interactivity reduces training costs, allowing new users to be as productive as possible
• The workflow is more intuitive as the UIs are designed to focus on business logic. This helps employees who are not versed in SAP
• Fiori offers high-class technology that increases customer satisfaction, which in turn, reduces the need for software optimization costs
• Fiori is designed to work well with SAP HANA. So, migration to SAP HANA is easier and efficient
• As Fiori UIs are designed with contextual support, work is less complicated. This enhances the productivity of employees
• Enhanced UI design and mobile compatibility lets work from anywhere – be it a shop floor or on the road
• Using Fiori, you can easily extend the existing applications or develop new customized apps. You can use tools such as SAP WebIDE and SAP Eclipse.

Become a Certified SAP Fiori Consultant

There are no specific certifications to be an SAP Fiori Consultant. The role requires you to know the following concepts –

• SAP Fiori application development and support experience
• Basic knowledge of OData and SAP NetWeaver Gateway
• Knowledge of SAP processes, ABAP workflow, SAP Basis and Authorization
• Software development lifecycle
• SAP ERP system and MVC framework

A related certification that you can opt for is the SAP Certified Development Associate - SAP Fiori Application Developer. This gives you comprehensive knowledge about SAP Fiori and developing apps using it.

At present, the average salary of an SAP Fiori Consultant is INR 473 K per year. As you gain experience and upgrade your skills in this field, the salary can go up to INR 701 K per year.

Conclusion

SAP Fiori has helped corporations across the globe to enhance their user experiences. Along with this, employee productivity has also improved. Furthermore, it has boosted application development. The ever-growing Fiori library and the Apple partnership offer a huge range of app options to developers. It is predicted that SAP Fiori will continue to change the UI/UX landscape.

SAP Fiori Important Resources

SAP Fiori Official Page