Lesson 3 of 5
SAP Fiori as the user experience
8 min
If SAP HANA is the engine, SAP Fiori is the dashboard. Fiori is SAP’s design system and user experience for S/4HANA: browser-based apps built around what a particular role needs to do, opened from a home page called the SAP Fiori launchpad. This lesson sets up the two navigation courses that follow.
From transactions to role-based apps
SAP GUI, the classic interface, is organized around transactions: each one a screen sequence started with a code such as VA01 (create sales order). A transaction often serves many roles at once, so it can be crowded with fields that most users never touch. Fiori turns that around. An app is designed for a role and a task: an internal sales representative managing orders, a buyer monitoring purchase orders, a cost accountant analyzing variances.
| Aspect | SAP GUI | SAP Fiori |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Installed desktop client (or SAP GUI for HTML in a browser) | Web browser, including tablets and phones for many apps |
| How you start work | Transaction code or Easy Access menu | Tiles and links on the launchpad, or search |
| Design focus | One transaction for many roles | One app per role and task |
| Analytics | Separate reports | Often built into the same app |
| Availability in S/4HANA | On-premise and Private Edition | All editions; the only business UI in Public Edition |
The launchpad and business roles
The SAP Fiori launchpad is the single entry point. What you see on it is determined by your business role: a bundle of apps and authorizations for a job. A Contoso internal sales representative sees order-management apps; a warehouse clerk at plant 1710 sees picking and goods movement apps. Two people logging on to the same system can see very different launchpads, and that is by design.
In current releases, the launchpad content is organized into spaces and pages, with sections of tiles on each page. Many systems also offer a personal My Home page with to-dos, favorite apps and insights. Course sap-fnd-103 walks through all of this in detail.
Kinds of Fiori apps
- Transactional apps let you create and change business documents, such as creating a sales order or approving a purchase requisition.
- Analytical apps show key figures, charts and drill-downs, such as sales volume by customer or inventory value by plant.
- Object pages and fact sheets show a 360-degree view of one business object, such as a customer or a material, with links to related documents.
Many Fiori apps are built on a common framework called SAP Fiori elements, which gives them a consistent layout: a list report with filters at the top and results below, and an object page with the details of one record. Once you learn one list report, you can use hundreds.
SAP GUI has not disappeared
Fiori is SAP’s strategic user experience, but SAP GUI remains available and widely used in on-premise and Private Edition systems. Many key users still run classic transactions daily, and some tasks have no Fiori equivalent yet. The launchpad can also open classic transactions in the browser through SAP GUI for HTML, so a tile can lead to a familiar transaction screen. In Public Edition, business users work only through Fiori apps.
What would you do?
Contoso’s inside sales team uses a Fiori app to create orders, while the Chicago customer service desk still uses VA01. A pricing change is ready for test. Which plan is best?
- SAP Fiori is the role-based, browser-based user experience for S/4HANA.
- The launchpad is the entry point; your business role determines which apps you see.
- Main app kinds: transactional, analytical, and object pages or fact sheets.
- SAP GUI remains available on-premise and in Private Edition; Public Edition business users use Fiori only.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What determines which apps a user sees on the Fiori launchpad?
2. Which kind of Fiori app is mainly used to create and change documents?
3. Can a Fiori launchpad tile open a classic SAP GUI transaction?