Portal On Device in 10 minutes

Intro

In our modern world, era of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and other weird idioms, all SAP-running companies struggle to adjust to technology changes and developments. A couple of years ago IT support would have one answer to all users - "We support only Internet Explorer". Today, the world, where users choose their own way of working and their own device, IT have no choice - the have to support Chrome, Safari, Firefox - all those that were non-SAP browsers, running on top of Macs and mobile devices, and not only Microsoft operating systems.

Let's see how SAP portal supports all this heterogeneous environment, and allows us accessing it from a mobile device. In most cases, customers have a very similar requirement - to fit a small part of portal content to mobile devices, and hide all that heavy desktop-oriented content from mobile consumers.

The approach that we will use is Portal On Device with content filtering - let's start!

Preparation

First of all, you portal version should be at least 7.30.8, or 7.31.5.

In order to see the right content on your tablet / smartphone, perform following steps in NWA:

1. Under Java System Properties, find a service called "Portal Runtime Container Extension" and set "html5.compliant" property to "iViewDependent"
   
   
2. Under Application Modules, find a module called "com.sap.portal.navigation.helperservice", select it's web module "navigation_events_helper", and set property "FilterbyDesktopView" to 2. Set the property "FilterByExcludedFilterIDs" to be "com.sap.portal.doNotFilter".
   
   All content marked with this value will not be affected by filtering mechanism.
   You can find more information about filtering entry points here
   
   
   
   * Restart the portal instance
3. Go to System Administration -> System Configuration -> Portal Display -> Desktops & Display rules, and copy-paste the following SAP standard folder with tablet desktop to you custom location:
   
   
4. Open the copied portal desktop, and add a framework page to it (by default there is no page assigned)
5. In the same place, set the following filter ID to this desktop: "com.sap.portal.tablet". Later on, you will add this filter ID to content that you wish to expose to mobile devices.
6. Go to System Administration -> System Configuration -> Portal Display -> Desktop & Display Rules, open main rules collection and create a new rule:
   
   
   
   Now you are ready to prepare some mobile-oriented roles and expose them to end users!

Set the desired content

1. Open your current desktop in use, and add following filter ID, which will allow existing non-filtered content to remain in place: com.sap.portal.emptyFilterID
   
2. Copy-paste the standard tablet role from this location:
   
   
   The role will have standard filter ID maintained, so tablet content will not be shown to desktop users.
3. Assign the created role to relevant users through User Management
4. Please note that this role will be filtered by portal desktop settings made during our preparation. Although you assign yourself this role, you will be able to see it's content only on your mobile device. 
   
   In case you receive the following screen, please make sure that you are assigned with a mobile role, and filters you added to portal desktop are not blocking the content.

Once the configuration is done, you will be rewarded with this one:

Full POD guide can be found here.

Next time we will talk about launcher & content modifications and branding applications.

Good luck!

SAP Portal as Mobile Gateway

Intro

This short post will give you an example of how SAP portal can provide collaboration tools with third parties. Click here to read more about collaboration through SAP Portal.

Before

This was my first mobile-oriented project, based on SAP portal. My customer (Sonol, gas station operator) was looking for a solution for insufficient workflow they had - all gas station malfunctions were processed manually by back office, interaction between all parties (gas stations, back office and technicians) was done by phone, which was unbearable. 

Gas stations had no tool to report malfunctions, technicians had no tool to process those malfunctions, and there was a back office in the middle, connecting between the two. You can imagine how inconvenient it was for everyone:

• Reporting malfunctions took a lot of time due to back office overload
• Assigning technicians required checking their availability and location
• Technicians' inventory was hardly maintained

After

The tool chosen for a end-to-end solution was SAP portal (Java WebDynpro applications), while system core is based on SAP ERP (CS module). Final solution included: 

1. Portal-based back office application to map service requests to technicians, monitor open requests and process them if needed
2. Convenient mobile application for personnel in the field

Integration of these components provides a perfect solution for all Customer Support requirements.

One of project goals was to provide a system convenient enough to be used by everyone without any training, without being familiar with SAP transactions and procedures, altogether with utilization of CS functionality embedded in the SAP ERP system. Nowadays the system allows the company to control all ongoing technical support routines.

Here is a general scheme of solution workflow:

Added values gathered as a result:

• Fast response time, and better Customer Support as a result
• More accurate problem descriptions, and faster malfunction resolutions as a result
• Control over inventory used by technicians in the field
• Work processes transparency and optimization
• On-line accurrate documentation
• Ability to fit SLA
• Strengthening the connection between involved parties

Vision

As part of portal upgrade and Portal On Device features, we are planning to add more functionality and improve the solution with new features. Subscribe to get updates about upcoming innovations, or contact me directly.

Short description (EN) at our company web site: click here

Project overview (HE) at People & Computes web site: click here