Thought Leadership

SAP Build Apps Challenge: Can You Enable a Dropdown With an Options List in Under 20 Minutes?

Posted by WSS on July 5, 2023   |   Comments Off on SAP Build Apps Challenge: Can You Enable a Dropdown With an Options List in Under 20 Minutes?

Originally published on the SAP Community

The purpose of this SAP Build Apps blog is to foster ideas, share innovations, and encourage the sharing of experiences with fellow business professionals and coding experts. 

Low-Code/No-Code Is an Ongoing Journey

The best way for a Citizen Developer (aka business practitioner) to gain hands on experience with SAP Build Apps is to learn how to develop an app beyond drag-and-drop.

The 5-step “dropdown with an option list” capability below is (a) guaranteed to work; and (b) helps build confidence in empowering business users.

The benefit of learning SAP Build Apps and Low-Code/No-Code overall is that business professionals, as activity and process experts, can develop applications without the technical coding skills. Given the current and projected global shortage of skilled IT and technology talent, there is an enormous opportunity for data-driven business users to respond quickly to digital-first requirements.

As a result, here’s what I have done before and after teaming with two outstanding Drexel University student interns (co-ops), Kai Thompson and Mari Cincotti who helped take my skills to the next level:

  1. Learn – Reviewed the SAP Low-Code/No-Code Learning Journey (Units 1 & 2)
  2. View – Completed the SAP Build Apps “in-apps tutorials” (located at the bottom of the UI Canvas) –  Learned new terms and concepts such as logic, variables, data, and formulas.
  3. Proof-of-Concept – Identified and built a use case that provides value and impact.

The more of us Citizen Developers who successfully take small steps forward to develop SAP Build Apps, which are impactful, the better we can build our knowledge around Low-Code/No-Code app development throughout our ongoing learning journey!

As result, business practitioners (with occasional help) can deploy proof of concepts, pilots, and full deployment (within an IT governance framework), which provide value to our organizations, customers, partners, and employees.

Building a Dropdown With an Options List in 5 Steps

Dropdowns are very common on PC, Tablet or Mobile apps so let’s build one!

By definition, they are the way to show the user what selections they can make to help pinpoint their search results.

Step 1: UI Canvas Set-up

a) Drag the “Dropdown Field” component onto the UI canvas
b) Click anywhere on the “Dropdown Field” component to open the Properties field on the right.
c) Click under “Label Text” to rename the Dropdown.


Step 2: Set-up the list labels

d) Click on the “Option List”
d) Add labels (in this example we’ll use Food A, B, …)
Note: Make sure to use lower case for values, as it makes it easier to reduce errors later on when leveraging a backend / database.

e) Click on “Save”


Step 3: Return to the UI Canvas and click (1) “Save” and then (2) “Launch”


Step 4: Preview Your App

f) Click on “Open Preview Portal”

g) Click on “Open Web Preview” and “Open” the SAP Build App you are working on.

Step 5: Congratulations! You did it!


Where do “you” go from here?

In my case, every time I have built a part of SAP Build Apps, such as dropdowns, I feel a sense of victory!:-)

One building block of success leads to another.

Next, I suggest learning about backend / database (hosted in Visual Cloud Functions). I would have written a blog on it, but the two that were written, by Daniel Wroblewski are excellent and highly recommended:

Both blogs represent an excellent step-by-step explanation.

Once you get further along, A Business User’s Guide to Becoming a Citizen Developer with SAP AppGyver (now SAP Build Apps) by Kimay Ramnarain provides an intermediate level explanation of variables, conditional logic, and REST APIs.

As business practitioners seeking this knowledge, she makes it easy and straight forward to understand concepts, which otherwise might feel daunting.

Overall, I encourage you to have a hands on understanding of how to use SAP Build Apps and focus on a use case or scenario that adds value and interests you, your team, and your organization.

Where do “we” go from here?

First, as Citizen Developers let me know if you succeed with this challenge!

Recognize that there are 2 key personas who both need to collaborate and foster ideas together:

  • Software Developer/Engineers (e.g., professional coders) can provide insights on the more technical aspects of SAP Build Apps.
  • Business Professionals (low- or no-coders) who have an expertise around processes, change management, and/or a specific activity requirement.

For us Citizen Developers we must realize that SAP Build Apps goes beyond drag-and-drop to make it work at an optimal level with backend data, REST APIs, automation and more.

And that’s O.K. We can do it!

Keep in mind.. Low-code does not mean low effort! 

Remember that according to leading analysts from Gartner, Forrester, and IDC, the Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) market will grow exponentially over the next few years! All the more reason for business professionals to start LCNC development and help their organizations respond quickly to digital data-driven requirements.

A few questions or comments?

  • Are you a business professional leveraging SAP Build Apps? Yes or No?
    – Where are you in the process? Beginner, Intermediate, Expert?
    – What can you build confidently now?
  • What do you want to learn?
    – What use cases or scenarios are you considering or working on now?
    – What other how-to’s or tips are you looking for from a Citizen Developer perspective???

Let’s continue this discussion.

Greatly appreciate your comments below along with any insights, so that more Citizen Developer related content and how-to’s can be shared with a straight forward way to follow the steps and put them into action.

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Useful Links

Business Teams Can Create Their Own Apps (with Occasional Help!)

Posted by WSS on April 30, 2023   |   Comments Off on Business Teams Can Create Their Own Apps (with Occasional Help!)

View the original blog on the SAP Community.

Inspired by the growing opportunity for business professionals to leverage Low-code/No-code (LCNC) tools, I decided to take the SAP Build LCNC Learning Journey, share a few thoughts, and encourage fellow business Citizen Developers to join the SAP Builders group to connect to peers and experts.

Reprioritizing Opportunities

As inflationary pressures and marketplace conditions are challenging business leaders to focus on game changers and reprioritize investments, the need to move faster, increase automation, and become more productive is more important than ever.

As a business practioner, professional coding with SAP ABAP, JavaScript, Python, and Swift are incredibly admired, but too complicated and out of reach to work with hands on.

Until recently leveraging the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to gain access to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors, and other SAP and third-party apps and data was best left to the professional coders.

For many of us, it was like standing on the side of a swimming pool and watching all the experts (aka coders) swim. We business people were stuck on the side to watch, admire, or hire a professional programmer to do the work.

With less professional coders than business experts, SAP Build represents a substantial opportunity for business teams to create their own apps (and yes, professional coders can give much appreciated tips and guidance).

Over time it has become apparent that Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) apps, platforms, and tools are an important, growing part of the IT landscape. According to Statista, the LCNC platform revenue will grow from $22.5 billion (USD) in 2022 to ~$32 billion in 2024 (CAGR: 26.1%).

That stat along with many other indicators show that there is an enormous opportunity for business people to set free their expertise, provide significant value, and help their organizations do more with less.

Learning LCNC Requires Effort

Given this market trend I started on the SAP Build Low-Code/No-Code Learning Journey. It’s exciting to learn about the three key apps:

Keep in mind that Low-Code / No-Code does not mean no effort. It takes focus and time to learn about these tools and put them to use. Each week I set aside some time to learn and deep dive into the Learning Journey concepts.

The good news is that the learning exercises to build these tools along with the free access to an SAP Build Apps sandbox makes it all very accessible.

For example, for years I wanted to work with certain SAP and third-party apps to set up connections to the open data application programming interface (Odata API) to fetch data, but didn’t have the coding skills or knowledge.

With SAP Build Apps I created my first mobile app using the scenario of scanning a barcode and pulling data (using the JSON format) from an OpenFoodFacts API to populate data around products and calories. I jumped for joy when it worked knowing that as a business practitioner the possibilities are endless.

Going forward – Unleash Expertise

Thankfully, the SAP Community provides many resources for Citizen Developers to connect, collaborate, and learn including:

The future is bright where SAP Build apps and tools can make incredible impact in working with organizations, customers, and strategic partners.

Afterall, when working in SAP environments, leveraging SAP tools is a big advantage.

Clearly the teaming between business practitioners and professional coders is very helpful and worthwhile in terms of gaining LCNC insights related to expertise, support, tips, security, governance, and enterprise compliance.

In this business climate where doing more with less is paramount, business Citizen Developers can use their knowledge and experiences to work with SAP Build to leverage SAP and third-party apps, data, and tools, which were previously out of reach to unleash their expertise!

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Appreciate any comments…

  • Are you taking the LCNC Learning Journey now or in the near future?
  • What are your experiences with any of the SAP Build products? What have you built?
  • Are you working on any interesting use cases?
  • Please leave any comments below!

RISE with SAP and Capgemini: Spotlight Interview with David Lowson

Posted by WSS on July 29, 2021   |   Comments Off on RISE with SAP and Capgemini: Spotlight Interview with David Lowson

Originally published on the SAP Community

Many organizations are assessing the best ways to address digital transformation holistically.

SAP and Capgemini are teaming with customers around the globe as trusted partners, to go beyond technical migration, and address intelligent business processes and new business models as part of the RISE with SAP initiative.

Capgemini’s Renewable Enterprise with SAP S/4HANA approach which is designed to put the user experience at the center. It uses modern approaches such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and embedded analytics, DevOps, Cloud architecture, APIs and Microservices to help organizations reimagine themselves, unlock business value, and outpace competition.

Recently I had the pleasure to meet David Lowson, Capgemini’s head of SAP Center of Excellence (COE) Europe, to learn more about his journey and views related to RISE with SAP and the digital core.

Philippe Schmitt (PS): What inspired you to get into the field of consulting and high tech?

David Lowson (DL): When I worked in high-tech, I found I was a very poor engineer so when I had an opportunity to work on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project, I took it. This experience proved I was quite good at this kind of work and is why I made the move to consultancy.

PS: In your blog Consumer Intelligence Products and Retail Therapy, you shared, “As countries around the world reopen, we observe four priority themes emerging with consumer products: sustainability, digitalization, efficiency, diversification.” How does the RISE with SAP initiative enable these themes based on Capgemini’s expertise?

DL: RISE with SAP reinforces many of the messages we have been giving to the market about the renewable enterprise, a standard core, savvy use of a cloud infrastructure and application program interface (API) led architectures. These features have been provoking more activity in the market and shifting SAP to be a platform for digital transformation.

PS: You presented at the SAP Global Partner Summit and shared that you, “believe SAP needed to launch the RISE initiative to remain relative for digital transformation for the next 25 years.” What makes this initiative so impactful to the success of customers?

DL: SAP and Capgemini are in position to address business process redesign, technical migration, and building the intelligent enterprise in one package to simplifies customers’ journey. By focusing on innovation and differentiation taking place in the SAP Business Technology Platform surrounding it, the RISE initiative is a clear statement of the importance of providing accelerated business outcomes with integration, data to value, and extensibility. It opens the door to exciting new consumption models.

PS: You’ve recently commented that the market has responded positively to RISE with SAP. Can you share one or two examples of this positive reaction from Capgemini customers?

DL: As you can appreciate, I can only speak of overall projects vs. individual projects. We have started RISE based projects all over the world. With the use of the RISE model, I have seen customers become more confident that we can deliver and provide a standard core, as well as an architecture that does not build technical debt.

PS: When Capgemini refers to the Renewable Enterprise with SAP S/4HANA, it refers to the “S Curve of Innovation” and Intelligent Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Block Chain, and the Customer Experience power by data and driven by people. What are one or two examples of how customers are adopting these intelligent technologies to support their customers and keep a competitive advantage?

DL: There are so many user cases, and we keep a library of them available for our clients and partners to access. They are also published every week by our innovation leader, Alex Bulat, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer of Global SAP Business, but the two I would pick out are:

  • Servitisation – Where clients move from selling products to selling services. Think of a connected car or washing as a service; this is a perfect solution for the new away of thinking. Multiple products orchestrated to deliver new digital businesses that flex as the market develops.
  • Sustainability – So many of our large engagements are driven by this concept, especially the desire to operate in new, low carbon markets. This requires greater connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), use of data and a fast-agile core.

PS: When students and recent graduates contact you for informational insights what guidance do you give for them to pursue a career in consulting and high tech?

DL: I see SAP consulting as a three-legged stool:

  • Be nice and have good people skills
  • Know about the industry you’re working in
  • Learn about SAP products and solutions

A company like Capgemini can provide the third bullet, but the other two can be done on your own. Also, read business papers and the SAP website at least once a week. Do a bit more to engage with and understand the direction of the company and products that stand out.

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Thank you for sharing comments on the Renewable Enterprise, Digital Transformation, or advanced Intelligent Technologies.

Please post any feedback below.

Useful Links

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud
• RISE with SAP
• SAP Analytics Cloud
• SAP Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

SAP Champions & SAP Mentors Spotlight Interviews

Posted by WSS on July 2, 2021   |   Comments Off on SAP Champions & SAP Mentors Spotlight Interviews

Check out the SAP Spotlight Interviews which combine a combination of videos and Q&A format. These blogs help showcase SAP Community experts and advocates. View >>

SAP Mentor Spotlight Interview: SAP Learning

Posted by WSS on May 30, 2021   |   Comments Off on SAP Mentor Spotlight Interview: SAP Learning

Originally published on the SAP Community

The SAP Mentor Spotlight Series highlights key strategic topics, such as learning, and provides insights from Mentors and SAP leaders on turning ideas into innovative approaches that impact people, process, and technology.

Empowering Transformative Outcomes Through Continuous Learning

Staying on the cutting-edge during times of change is more important than ever. One of the keys to success is the lifelong pursuit of knowledge and learning.

As business, technology, and user experiences change, there are a wide range of ways to continually refresh existing skills, acquire new ones, and evolve new ways to think about business and IT challenges.

To reflect on how to take advantage of SAP and SAP Community learning resources, Max Wessel, EVP & Chief Learning Officer at SAP, caught up with Tammy Powlas, Senior Business Analyst at Fairfax Water and SAP Mentor, to discuss what role learning has played in her life, and how she has furthered her knowledge through the SAP Community.

During their session they discussed:

  • Enabling learning, whether experiential on the job, or formal learning to help one progress in their career.
  • Adapting to many changes given the realities of the last year to address digital transformation and embrace the importance of continuous learning.
  • Pressing one’s skills; pushing forward to take expertise to the next level.
  • Turning to the SAP community to get inspired and engage in peer-to-peer learning.
  • Assessing RISE with SAP and how members of the SAP Community can keep their digital transformation initiatives moving forward.

As Max shared during the session, “When driving transformation, the more value we bring to the table, the more guidance we can deliver that helps people step forward, the better it is for all of us.”

SAP and the SAP Community provide many learning resources to support building knowledge, driving innovation, and staying agile.

How do you learn? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Links

COMING SOON: Science & Innovation: 11 Ways to Orchestrate Your Next Job!

Posted by WSS on May 1, 2021   |   Comments Off on COMING SOON: Science & Innovation: 11 Ways to Orchestrate Your Next Job!

Author’s Note: This blog has been adopted into a Job Seeking book which will be announced and published in the upcoming months. The book, which is written and designed, is going through the final review process. Stay tuned! 

Explore Featured Assets:
 – Target Multiple Organization – Template
– Interview Preparation Sheet >>
– Job Interview Preparation: A Winning Formula!
– Networking Preparation
– Interviewing Tips

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Whether you’re a new graduate or long-time worker the best practices required to succeed have many common characteristics.

In sales and business development you must sell a product, solution, or service while in the job hunt you must sell one thing: yourself.

Back in the day, when I graduated from Drexel University, it was beyond hard to find a job that I truly enjoyed. Years later I learned that my graduating class landed in the middle of a BIG recession which added to the challenge.  My path took me on travels through Europe, Middle East, and Hawaii over a year’s time so it was not easy to jump start my career upon my return.

While I found work it was more about “settling” vs. directing my searches. After paying a former professor big money to coach me in “how to get a job” I made a vow, “If I ever learned how to find a job” based on a scientific and innovative approach, “I would share it with others who would follow in this path.“

As a result, I have compiled this top 11 list for all who are interested:

  1. NETWORK:  Identify successful people who are in the field that interests you. Make connections and request “informational interviews” to learn about how they got in their positions and background on the challenges they face.  Ask for referrals and knowledge; understand that they “may not have a job” or know of one but they can point you in the right direction. Send everyone who helps you a thank you!
  2. TRENDS:  Research compelling business issues and marketplace conditions which impact organizations that you are targeting. Send notes to those quoted and their teams to make meaningful connections on current and emerging opportunities. Find out where investments are taking place – “Follow the money!”
  3. TARGET:   Confirm a target list of companies and roles that interest you. Connect with the economic decision makers (i.e. VITO = “Very Important Top Officers“) and their teams around posted and non-posted opportunities. Minimize primarily going to Human Resources and Job Board postings. See book list below.
  4. PLAN:  Develop a spreadsheet which tracks your progress. Set goals for each day and week and show your progress to yourself and perhaps one or two friends (or coaches) (Review: JOB_PLANNING_TEMPLATE). Learn the proper way to prepare for an interview.
  5. TIME UTILIZATION: Spend 70% of your time networking and outreach (on-line and in person), 15% with recruiters, 15% with job boards (i.e. Monster.com, etc.).  Too many job seekers have these time ratios in reverse and don’t take charge of their own destiny. Note: If you see a job on a job board focus on a 3 prong approach: (1) Post; (2) Identify who you know (i.e. alumni / friend / colleague; (3) Confirm the economic decision maker. 
  6. SOCIAL MEDIA:  Update you’re Social Media sites such as  LinkedIn and others so they can help you network and build your brand. Makes sure your resume is impeccable and consider new ways to connect including Twitter, YouTube videos, thought leadership blogs as well as building your own website to showcase your skills, work experience and related professional passions. Take down any photos from your sites that are not professional. Prospective employers will check out your Facebook / Social Media posts.
  7. ALUMNI:  Leverage the resources that you have earned as a graduate of a university.  Reach out to your alumni office and career services; make connections via the directory, events, and/or volunteer opportunities.
  8. VOLUNTEER:  Provide weekly and monthly service to a non-profit (i.e. association) or charity around the skills and work experience that you have now or seek to secure in your next job. Find a cause that connects you to leaders, professionals, and the community. Also, make sure you have some part-time work that pays a few dollars as well.
  9. PERSIST:  Expect to receive rejection and a few set backs. When you run into trouble step back and move ahead. It takes small steps to achieve goals; understand there is a process – you can not easily (or practically) leap frog to the end result; start with the end in mind. Remember the famous saying, “When one door closes another will open.”
  10. ACCOUNTABILITY: Accept self ownership. No one owes you a job.  You must wake up each day and make forward progress. Stay disciplined and focused and the results you seek will come to you…but they may take a bit longer then you would like… remember, “patience is a virtue” (just not too much of it!)
  11. 3 PRONG APPROACH:  When you post for a position (i.e. LinkedIn, Indeed, Job Board) make sure you ask yourself:  Who do I know or connect to (i.e. Alumni)? Who is the top economic decision maker (i.e. VITO, CEO, Chief Marketing, Finance, Operations, Information Officer or their teams)?

As you contemplate this list ask yourself what are you passionate about? Where do your skills, education, and work experiences point you to?

Think of a job as an exchange of time and services in return for money. What can you provide that is worth the time and money to an employer who is investing in you?

During your search create small amounts of value along the way. Give your skills to others for free in small amounts. Chip away and success will be yours!

Remember…everything on this list takes time and hard work.

Over the years when I have shared these points with friends and colleagues looking for work they yield results 100% of the time, BUT only a small percent are willing to do what it takes.

It takes discipline and persistence to search for the right position.

If you are willing to climb the steps vs. expect an easy elevator ride to the top than you can secure a great job based on a proven scientific methodology and practicing an innovative approach along the way.

Reading List:
Selling to VITO (“Very Important Top Officer”) – Anthony Parinello
Winners Dream – Bill McDermott
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

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Richard D. Blumberg, President, World Sales Solutions, writes this series of blogs to help senior executives and their teams, leaders, influencers, educators, and students develop effective strategies and tactical execution which results in more revenues, profits, growth, jobs, and value. More >>

 
 
 

 

Elevating SAP Collaboration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint

Posted by WSS on July 17, 2020   |   Comments Off on Elevating SAP Collaboration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint

Originally published on the SAP Community.

When SAP and Microsoft announced they are building integrations to Microsoft Teams across solutions many of us were inspired. With the new reality of remote and hybrid work, the importance of elevating collaboration has grown significantly.

While the advancements of this integration are impressive, it is important to deploy these solutions the right way to achieve tangible business outcomes.

Since today’s globally distributed workers are no longer confined to office buildings, the “workplace” has transformed into a digital “workspace” allowing colleagues to meet, collaborate, and connect virtually across organizational boundaries. A great user experience is a necessity versus a “nice to have.”

Christian Klein, SAP CEO and member of the Executive Board, said it best that this partnership will address, “New ways of working, collaborating and interacting to completely transform how we operate,” and bring collaboration to the next level.

Collaboration is changing rapidly. Each of us are collaborating more often, increasingly mobile, and working on a schedule that enables us to connect more virtually.

Disparate information kept in silos and organized in ad-hoc ways becomes an impediment to performance and productivity. One of the challenging things to do is to keep Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, along with the SAP portfolio, organized so that the content is valuable to users.

Thoughtful leaders step back and ensure that SAP Collaboration represents how the business works both in the short-term and going forward.

The Information Architecture Pre-Request 

Each time you create a new Microsoft Teams you automatically get SharePoint with the Microsoft 365 Apps including Power App, Power BI, OneNote, and Exchange with email and calendaring.

Project teams working with SAP applications such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Digital Supply Chain, SAP SuccessFactors and learning communities, SAP CRM and Customer Experience, Industry 4.0 solutions and/or SAP Activate Methodology should prioritize and implement a well-planned information architecture as a pre-request for a high quality, high-performing intranet, central hub, or group.

It’s important to understand the audience and help them find what they need quickly to support them in getting their work completed efficiently. One expert once referred to it as “help the user get to where they need to go in ONE CLICK versus many clicks and endless folders to assist in completing a task.”

Putting in the time to address Information Architecture helps improve user satisfaction and adoption while reducing information overload.

Customer-Centric Enablement

In this video, “Remove Barriers for Your Sales Teams with SAP and Microsoft it shows the power of the integration,” there are many exciting front-line capabilities, but the power is in the information architecture that supports the tangible outcomes.

Could a sales, marketing, consultant, pre-sales, operations, services or other front-line worker to customers, strategic partners or suppliers have everything they need by primarily using their own individual OneDrive or SharePoint?

Clearly, they need the right resources (“assets”), at the right time for effective engagement including:

  1. Access – Enable secure private, enterprise, and/or external access.
  2. Central Hub – Deploy one location for individuals, teams, and the enterprise to find pertinent information.
  3. Teamwork – Allow for collaboration, chat, video conferencing, calls, meetings, and surveys.
  4. Content – Ensure easy to find central hub for content, information, contributions, and useful links.
  5. Components – Leverage multiuse calendars, planning, notebooks, and other tools and web parts.
  6. Collaboration – Microsoft Teams, comments, surveys, discussion treads, and news updates.
  7. Communications – Engagement and outreach to bring the audience to the central hub and share news, planning, announcements, updates, and access to key assets.
  8. Continuity – Plan that the collaboration continues versus the initial excitement and the investment in a quality set-up drop off months later.

When these items are brought together in full or part, the sum is truly greater than the parts.

Digital Transformation Realized with SAP Collaboration

Collaboration is nothing new and yet it remains a critical success factor for every organization.

Enabling workers to leverage and build upon the work of others is a fundamental principle. When team members work in a silo, they reduce productivity and have a higher probability of duplicating efforts.

With SAP Collaboration, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint the goal is to…

  • Help elevate workers to take advantage of modern platforms and digital transformation environments
  • Increase high quality teamwork, cooperation, and communications
  • Impact the value, growth, revenues, services, and outcomes with a focus on exceeding customer satisfaction.

Working together, people feel more connected to their work and their organization.

With these integration capabilities in place, combined with a well-deployed information architecture, users will always have access to the right content at the right time, to find what they are looking for more quickly and consistently, and support their business requirements.

Purpose-Driven Design for the SAP Build Work Zone Digital Learning User Experience

Posted by WSS on April 30, 2020   |   Comments Off on Purpose-Driven Design for the SAP Build Work Zone Digital Learning User Experience

Written by Elle Savage on the SAP Community.

When deploying SAP Build Work Zone and related SAP HR/Learning solutions, there is a great need for design solutions that are positioned to support business processes and add value to the user’s experience.

The challenge is to create high-quality graphic designs that turn ideas and missions into visuals that engage and excite employees, customers, partners, and other stakeholders, while also optimizing the business objective.

According to a recent McKinsey Quarterly study, “The Business Value of Design,” companies that address all four of the following design priorities are rare, but those that have, reported increased revenues and total stakeholders returns compared to their counterparts. These four key elements include:

  • Analytics – Bringing data to life
  • Cross-Functional Teams & Talent – Enabling visuals to go beyond the silos of a respective group or organization
  • Continuous Iteration – Continued review, improvement, maintenance, and testing to optimize the user experience
  • User Experience – Design a seamless user experience that adds value to their business requirements

In order to achieve the best user experience, designers must be closely aligned with a project’s business leaders and subject matter experts to ensure they understand the mission and design with purpose.

Assessment of the Design-Driven Maturity Curve

Purpose-driven design should be an integral part of a project’s strategy from day one. In today’s increasingly digital world, users have come to expect an interface that is both attractive and easy to use.

There are many corporate tools at our fingertips to satisfy this expectation such as company libraries of images, icons, videos, font guidelines, etc., which should be leveraged to develop standards, repeatable processes, and efficiencies. Still, it is highly recommended that a project’s core team includes a design professional who understands how to maximize the benefits of available design elements.

Setting high-quality standards, per the “Design-Driven Maturity Curve,” sends a message to your audience that a SAP Build Work Zone custom home page or group landing page is valuable, credible, properly maintained, and well thought out.

What is the SAP Build Work Zone Design Value?

Throughout a project’s development, it is important to recognize design as a priority versus as an afterthought. The most forward-thinking organizations will strive to make it a substantive part of their activities because they see the value of design at both a strategic and tactical level.

Designing an intuitive user experience will increase efficiencies and generate higher value by enabling site visitors to quickly navigate the interface and find essential information, therefore optimizing businesses processes.At the same time, the interface must maintain the organization’s brand and messaging throughout the experience.

While a high-quality UI (User Interface) fulfills a user’s wants by delivering an attractive digital environment, an excellent UX (User Experience) fulfills their needs by allowing them to efficiently complete the task they set out to do quickly and with ease.

The Delivery Methodology for Optimizing Design Elements

When building a new digital learning community, group, or site, it is vital that the delivery methodology has user testing baked in to the team’s approach from the start (“Initiate” and “Assess”) to finish (“Deploy,” “Post-go-live,” and “Adoption”). Taking an agile approach allows project leaders to incorporate users’ feedback throughout development in order to create the best user experience possible.

Incorporating a Purpose-Driven Design Approach

Business process mapping enables teams to understand the project requirements and objectives before developing the interface design.

When key participants come and go from the project, there should be guidelines in place, by way of standardization, procedures, and protocols, that can be leveraged while still maintaining the team’s ability to be creative.

Organizations and teams that prioritize design addressing the four key elements discussed (Analytics, Cross-Functional Teams & Talent, Continuous Iteration, and User Experience) as a core part of their strategy outperform groups that take a more ad-hoc or even intermediate design level approach.

A purpose-driven design combined with the proper delivery methodology streamlines organization operations, which allow business leaders, subject matter experts, and contributors to focus on creating high-quality content, boosting productivity, and providing a consistent, impactful user experience.

Sources:

  • “4 key stats on the importance of design for business.” Adobe Blogs. Harmer, Tony. October 2015.
  • “The Business Value of Design.” McKinsey & Company. Sheppard, Benedict; Sarrazin, Hugo; Kouyoumjian, Garen; Dore, Fabricio. October 2018.
  • “The Value of Design.” Design Management Institute.

The CEO’s Role with HR in the Digital Learning Workplace Powered by SAP Build Work Zone

Posted by WSS on April 22, 2020   |   Comments Off on The CEO’s Role with HR in the Digital Learning Workplace Powered by SAP Build Work Zone

Compelling business trends and transformation happens every day. New customer requirements. Markets change. Mergers and acquisitions. Government regulations and compliance. Competitive pressures. Advancements in technology and innovation.

Winning CEOs help these transformations succeed by communicating their vision and strategy, setting up the business model with their leadership team, and making strategic learning an organizational priority.

How can HR / Learning professionals respond?

First, it starts with the Chief HR (or People) Officer and their team, who partner with the CEO, to provide access to the vital skills, expertise, and resources required.

Employees who understand the mission and are trained to perform at the highest level are more likely to achieve tangible outcomes, value, and performance which helps drive the top and bottom line of the business.

For the CEO to achieve transformation 4 key factors must be in place:

  1. Showcase the importance of learning as a pillar of the organization’s success.
    – Believe in the content and its impact.
  2. Create an employee-first culture where learning enables incredible upside with customers.
    – Empower career development.
  3. Develop quality learning programs that are linked to strategic direction.
    – Ensure true commitment and accountability.
  4. Amplify top experts, leaders, knowledge (i.e. videos, playlists, podcasts, thought leadership, blogs, books, presentations, key assets, mentoring, etc.) as a central hub to provide context to formal learning.
    – Extend formal learning to optimize the experience.

Maximizing the Digital Learning Workplace Opportunity with SAP Jam provides a powerful, robust, mobile platform which represents an industry leading, complimentary approach to formal Learning Management Systems (LMS).  SAP Jam fulfills an important, unique niche amongst other learning tools to provide clear value which is highly visible with 53+ Million licensed users.

LMS provides the foundation for courses, certifications, testing, scheduling, and formal e-Learning, classroom, and virtual instructor-led training. The key is to combine LMS with a collaborative, business process, mobile enabled platform (“app”) powered by SAP Jam to achieve success. How would you rate your organization in using these tools?

To realize success, the CEO must go beyond the vision and communications by putting the right strategic learning system and approach in place.

As a result, the performance of the entire organization will elevate.

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Useful Links

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is a SAP Jam Practice leader who works with both SAP and SAP Services. He is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) (www.WorldSalesSolutions.com) providing 29+ years of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.

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How SAP Build Work Zone and Google Analytics Extend Decision Support

Posted by WSS on March 17, 2020   |   Comments Off on How SAP Build Work Zone and Google Analytics Extend Decision Support

Customers often ask, “How do we know our SAP Build Work Zone group, portal/internet, activities are providing the best results?”

Many times, executive management and stakeholders want to know how the investments in SAP Build Work Zone are working, and what decisions should be considered to optimize the experience for employees, customers, and partners.

Until we started using the combination of SAP Work Zone admin reports (& dashboards) with Google Analytics the raw data, assets (i.e. documents, videos), experts’ knowledge, and the business process (& models) deployed were extremely hard to measure.

Extending SAP Work Zone to Google Analytics is like “turning the lights on” to help identify audience behavior, understand the engagement with content, and make better business decisions.

Given the rapidly changing nature of an organization using SAP Work Zone, along with both structured and unstructured information, it’s easy to lose track of how to analyze audience behavior in relation to goals and campaign tracking.

Five Overall Benefits

  1. Achieving deeper data exploration to uncover trends & patterns
  2. Operationalizing reporting insights to optimize processes and achieve greater impact
  3. Reducing complexity by understanding what’s working and what needs improvement
  4. Providing governance to have consistent views both in the real-time and by way of regular reporting (i.e. bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly)
  5. Delivering high quality insights to executive sponsors and key stakeholders

The first bit of good news is that the SAP Work Zone Collaboration platform does not share employee (or user) profile information with Google Analytics. That gives us all a great sigh of relief when addressing the importance of data privacy and security standards.

Examples of what Google Analytics does very well to enhance the SAP Jam reporting experience:

  • Real Time Custom Reports – Addressing visitors’ locations, traffic sources, content
  • Audience – Tracking active users, geo, languages, behavior, new vs. returning, frequency, technology, mobile, devices, user flow
  • Acquisition – Measuring channels, sources, campaigns
  • Behavior – Understanding the flow, site content (views – what content is most engaging) as well as insights on all pages, exit pages, and problematic pages (i.e. bounce rates) and the time of day that receives the most traffic

When you consider the quantity of assets, data, and traffic on a Jam group, intranet or portal, along with growth and scalability, extending SAP Work Zone to Google Analytics is an essential tool.

With a consistent governance the decision makers (i.e. business leaders, company or group admins) can have a consolidated view, and be in a more informed position, to continuously improve and refine the SAP Jam group(s) or portal/intranet.

Once analyzed, SAP Work Zone decision support may require…

  • Improving communications (i.e. focusing on outreach & awareness)
  • Recognizing completeness of content / information (i.e. auditing a holistic vs. fragmented view. What are the audience’s priorities?)
  • Improving maintenance (i.e. accountability by content contributors to update or archive old information)
  • Assessing process improvements (i.e. ensure the company-wide, line of business or group’s business model is optimized on SAP Work Zone for the audience goals & objectives)
  • Leveraging knowledge (i.e. ownership and contribution from experts, mentors, peers)
  • Refining the user experience and design (i.e. make it easy for the audience to find what they want quickly and with the most value. Also, eliminate and reduce problem areas.)

When used the right way, SAP Work Zone and Google Analytics are a great combination which should be deployed to support data-driven decisions, metrics to inform executive sponsors and stakeholders, and help make decisions which ensure successful outcomes

Useful Links

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is a SAP Jam Practice leader who works with both SAP and SAP Services. He is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) (www.WorldSalesSolutions.com) providing 29+ years of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.


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