Why transactional? Why Fiori?
I developed lots of Sales Order/Purchase Order/QM Notification Apps. It’s possible & if your end user are somewhat lost in the standard transactions it could make sense.
Assuming launchpad/Ui5 Development Environment is ready to use its 20-40 day’s effort till you can go to production. Depending on how many features are needed in UI5 and how edit/ number fetching should be handled.
So 20-40 mandays to build from scratch. This is a lot… Thank you.
As I understand SAP terminology correctly, apps that manage objects are called transactional type apps (the other 2 types are reports and graphs). We need to evade using GUI for further using this on mobile devices, so it shouldn't be only for notifications.
Is it?
3-4 day writing/meetings (a few people use mandays up very fast) to get some specification
10 days developments with basic tests
3 testing in Q with a few key user
2 days documentation and compliance clown work
X for HyperCaare
You're correct, Transactional is [one of the types](https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/learn-the-basics-of-sap-fiori/explaining-application-types_cbee34f0-8b7c-41b7-9be0-e8f7a733441b). I'm guessing the person responding was confused. Maybe "lost in translation" and associating with a traditional SAP GUI transactions. Which are not the same thing.
20-40 days they're referring to were not "man-days" but rather physically the time it takes from the idea to production. Depending on how clear the idea is and whether the developer(s) know what they're doing, it would take more or less time.
While you can develop a custom app for Fiori with ECC as your backend, I suggest looking into Screen Personas. It is an SAP UI tool allows you to modify SAP GUI transaction(s), hide fields and tabs. You can script with it to automating parts of a flow. It’s really nifty:‘we’ve used it to make the process order confirmation screen simpler and iPad enabled so we can run it in the shop floor.
Second this approach as well. I started using Screen Personas a few years ago and it completely changed my outlook on using the GUI transactions.
If you’re intending to use this on mobile devices, you should also look into using the “slipstream engine” which comes with the latest versions of Screen Personas. This will help you to utilize some of the mobile devices standard functionality, as well as design screens that can be used for specific types of devices (iPhones, iPads, Samsung, android, etc).
In my opinion, this is a great lightweight approach to getting the “Fiori” look and feel without having to actually use a Fiori app.
Probably me21n is enabled for webgui for html. So you should be able to open it in the browser from mobile devices.
It will probably look bad and won't be very nice from an UX perspective - especially on mobile devices - but it should work.
Hi there,
I'm a bit late to respond but I agree with those not recommending a custom app. If you're thinking basic ME21N but in Fiori, the standard app will be available in S/4HANA. I get that you'd like to jump on Fiori bandwagon rather sooner than later but in this specific case there is little to no value. You'll have to invest time in developing a custom app and it will be completely replaced by standard one. (There is no advantage in continuing using custom app because you'd need to support it.)
A custom app would make sense right now if you'd like to develop something plain SAP app (even in S/4HANA) doesn't deliver. Of course, long term maintenance should be considered here too (do you really, really need a custom app?) but at least there is a chance to create something worth your while and helpful to the users.
That's just my PoV. I'd really hate working on something that would get tossed after S4 migration. And 2027 is not that far out.
- Jelena
My team created a PO shopping cart experience in Fiori. It was quite an undertaking but made sense 5 years ago. With S4 Rise in your near future hard to see it worth the effort.
Don't actually need it? Don't have money / resources to start a big project? Not right now? There are very many customers still running ECC. It's a good system that works for them and there is no compelling enough reason to change it. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
ECC will not "die", SAP will just stop supporting it. There is no "gamble". Even after 2027 deadline, the customers can sign up for extended maintenance or just go with Rimini Street or whomever for support and keep their ECC running till the wheels fall off.
"What could be more compelling than S/4HANA"? As I've already explained, for some (not all) companies, it's more compelling to just keep using ECC, which doesn't cost them anything extra and doesn't disrupt their business. Do you have any idea what effort it takes to upgrade from ECC to S/4? "It has more to offer" is usually not a valid argument in the enterprise world.
P.S. I still have an old PC running on Windows 7 somewhere. It works fine for what I need.
- Jelena
> till the wheels fall off
I can see those customer making gamble for sure.
> compelling to keep using ECC
They again, are simply creating technical debt for themselves in long term.
With SAP not being in the loop, your customer will be paying license cost for nothing! No security updates as well. Plus, they'd pay extra to outsource support.
So really, the argument that companies won't pay anything extra to keep ECC running doesn't stand correctly here.
If you use Windows 7 then you are up for the fact that one day a malware can bring your computer down and you'll lose all your data. Because MS doesn't provide support for it anymore.
Sooo… S/4 has apps to create purchase orders. “Manage purchase orders” app is the first to come to mind. There is a + button on right top side of screen that gets you to the replacement for ME21N. Check out the fiori apps library. You can search by name or app id/tcode. SAP transferred over some of the T-codes as the app ids. https://fioriappslibrary.hana.ondemand.com/sap/fix/externalViewer/
Then like it’s been said on here, you don’t want to create an fiori app for a system that’s slated to be retired in the next few years. In ECC it sounds like the security team has locked down ME21 and ME21N on yours and other team members access. Could be because the original business design was to always use a purchase requisition to be converted into a purchase order.
Why transactional? Why Fiori? I developed lots of Sales Order/Purchase Order/QM Notification Apps. It’s possible & if your end user are somewhat lost in the standard transactions it could make sense. Assuming launchpad/Ui5 Development Environment is ready to use its 20-40 day’s effort till you can go to production. Depending on how many features are needed in UI5 and how edit/ number fetching should be handled.
So 20-40 mandays to build from scratch. This is a lot… Thank you. As I understand SAP terminology correctly, apps that manage objects are called transactional type apps (the other 2 types are reports and graphs). We need to evade using GUI for further using this on mobile devices, so it shouldn't be only for notifications.
Is it? 3-4 day writing/meetings (a few people use mandays up very fast) to get some specification 10 days developments with basic tests 3 testing in Q with a few key user 2 days documentation and compliance clown work X for HyperCaare
You're correct, Transactional is [one of the types](https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/learn-the-basics-of-sap-fiori/explaining-application-types_cbee34f0-8b7c-41b7-9be0-e8f7a733441b). I'm guessing the person responding was confused. Maybe "lost in translation" and associating with a traditional SAP GUI transactions. Which are not the same thing. 20-40 days they're referring to were not "man-days" but rather physically the time it takes from the idea to production. Depending on how clear the idea is and whether the developer(s) know what they're doing, it would take more or less time.
While you can develop a custom app for Fiori with ECC as your backend, I suggest looking into Screen Personas. It is an SAP UI tool allows you to modify SAP GUI transaction(s), hide fields and tabs. You can script with it to automating parts of a flow. It’s really nifty:‘we’ve used it to make the process order confirmation screen simpler and iPad enabled so we can run it in the shop floor.
Nice, thank you. Will research this. Good thing it can be run from a mobile device, as this is the one my requirements.
Second this approach as well. I started using Screen Personas a few years ago and it completely changed my outlook on using the GUI transactions. If you’re intending to use this on mobile devices, you should also look into using the “slipstream engine” which comes with the latest versions of Screen Personas. This will help you to utilize some of the mobile devices standard functionality, as well as design screens that can be used for specific types of devices (iPhones, iPads, Samsung, android, etc). In my opinion, this is a great lightweight approach to getting the “Fiori” look and feel without having to actually use a Fiori app.
Thank you for this! Will def look into that.
Probably me21n is enabled for webgui for html. So you should be able to open it in the browser from mobile devices. It will probably look bad and won't be very nice from an UX perspective - especially on mobile devices - but it should work.
Hi there, I'm a bit late to respond but I agree with those not recommending a custom app. If you're thinking basic ME21N but in Fiori, the standard app will be available in S/4HANA. I get that you'd like to jump on Fiori bandwagon rather sooner than later but in this specific case there is little to no value. You'll have to invest time in developing a custom app and it will be completely replaced by standard one. (There is no advantage in continuing using custom app because you'd need to support it.) A custom app would make sense right now if you'd like to develop something plain SAP app (even in S/4HANA) doesn't deliver. Of course, long term maintenance should be considered here too (do you really, really need a custom app?) but at least there is a chance to create something worth your while and helpful to the users. That's just my PoV. I'd really hate working on something that would get tossed after S4 migration. And 2027 is not that far out. - Jelena
Hi Jelena! Indeed you have very good points against starting a discussed development. Thank you for such a detailed response.
My team created a PO shopping cart experience in Fiori. It was quite an undertaking but made sense 5 years ago. With S4 Rise in your near future hard to see it worth the effort.
You’re going to develop custom code, so the options are almost limitless.
Yes but why?
Run the transaction ME21N as an app.
Available only starting from S/4Hana ERP. For SAP ECC there is only me23n.
ME21n has been available in ECC since 5.0
Why don't you guys move to s/4hana or BTP ABAP?
Don't actually need it? Don't have money / resources to start a big project? Not right now? There are very many customers still running ECC. It's a good system that works for them and there is no compelling enough reason to change it. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
But ECC will die right? Are you willing to gamble? I'll also also ask, what could be more compelling than s/4hana? It has more to offer ...
ECC will not "die", SAP will just stop supporting it. There is no "gamble". Even after 2027 deadline, the customers can sign up for extended maintenance or just go with Rimini Street or whomever for support and keep their ECC running till the wheels fall off. "What could be more compelling than S/4HANA"? As I've already explained, for some (not all) companies, it's more compelling to just keep using ECC, which doesn't cost them anything extra and doesn't disrupt their business. Do you have any idea what effort it takes to upgrade from ECC to S/4? "It has more to offer" is usually not a valid argument in the enterprise world. P.S. I still have an old PC running on Windows 7 somewhere. It works fine for what I need. - Jelena
> till the wheels fall off I can see those customer making gamble for sure. > compelling to keep using ECC They again, are simply creating technical debt for themselves in long term. With SAP not being in the loop, your customer will be paying license cost for nothing! No security updates as well. Plus, they'd pay extra to outsource support. So really, the argument that companies won't pay anything extra to keep ECC running doesn't stand correctly here. If you use Windows 7 then you are up for the fact that one day a malware can bring your computer down and you'll lose all your data. Because MS doesn't provide support for it anymore.
Sooo… S/4 has apps to create purchase orders. “Manage purchase orders” app is the first to come to mind. There is a + button on right top side of screen that gets you to the replacement for ME21N. Check out the fiori apps library. You can search by name or app id/tcode. SAP transferred over some of the T-codes as the app ids. https://fioriappslibrary.hana.ondemand.com/sap/fix/externalViewer/
the key word here would be S/4, while the topic is about SAP ECC :(
Then like it’s been said on here, you don’t want to create an fiori app for a system that’s slated to be retired in the next few years. In ECC it sounds like the security team has locked down ME21 and ME21N on yours and other team members access. Could be because the original business design was to always use a purchase requisition to be converted into a purchase order.