First thing you do is bookmark the SAP Fiori, Cloud Edition landing page!
SAP Fiori, Cloud Edition (SFCE) was Released to Customers (RTC) in a Controlled Availability program, but is now GA (Generally Available or General Availability?). Now how to get started with it, right? Fear not, there is a lot of help available to you. Let's start with keeping it aligned with Run Simple! First, read Aviad's blog which has the list of apps available for the Fiori, Cloud Edition. Nicely enough each of the apps listed is linked directly to the Fiori apps library entry. Second, go through the welcome package put together by Inbal Sabag (Someone in your organization should have received it in an email). I strongly recommend that you fill in the questionnaire included. There is a list of services available which I shamelessly copied and reproduced here:
- SAP HANA Cloud Platform account including support, storage, outbound bandwidth
- Selected Fiori self-service apps from HCM, CRM, Supply Chain, Inbox, Sourcing and Procurement covering the most frequently and commonly used use-cases: : SAP Fiori, cloud edition – SAP Help Portal Page > Available SAP Fiori Apps
- Administration user, site visits and Cloud Identity logons (
- SAP Fiori launchpad (cloud) as a role-based, personalized, single point of access
- SAP Web IDE for extending and developing Fiori-like apps.
- UI theme designer for branding
- SAP HANA Cloud Platform OData provisioning (HCP ODP) to consume business data from the backend system via OData services
- SAP HANA Cloud Connector to securely connect cloud account with an on-premise system (download here)
- SAP Cloud Identity for identity lifecycle management for SAP Cloud applications and on-premise applications.
In addition to the services listed, there are also two demo systems which can be used even before you receive your license (which unfortunately can sometimes take a while to make it through customer approval cycles). First is SAP Fiori, Demo Cloud Edition which will give you plenty of opportunity to exercise/configure/modify the apps and Fiori Launchpad. Second is the Developer Center | SAP HANA Cloud Platform where you can sign up for a developer's license and learn about the features of the HANA Cloud Platform upon which SFCE is installed. Along with the two demo systems, there are detailed instructions in the system configuration KIT which comes as an attachment to the welcome package email.
There are some basic tasks which come right after you have the licensing in place. An HCP account will be established automatically and Administrative ID and password provided by email to the person designated on the contract. So some other IDs and Pwds for your team members is likely the first task to complete. There are connections that you need to make to the back end systems. Connectivity via Reverse Proxy gives you insight into this alternative to HCC (HANA Cloud Connector as well as pros and cons for either method. The link also puts you square in the middle of the HANA Cloud Platform documentation, so read other topics as you desire.
Within the Fiori apps library entry (directly or from the links in Aviad's blog), you will see the product features displayed. Probably more of interest is the "Implementation Information" section (click on it right next to the "Product Features" in the center of the page). It has four subsections, Installation, Configuration, Extensibility, and Support. Read them to find out what is required of your system and the tasks you need to complete for each app.
If/When you run into problems:
If you have problems with any parts of getting your SFCE, post a Discussion in the SAP Fiori SCN community, marked as a Questions AND add fioricloud as a Tag. There are a lot of Fiori experts around now and in the SAP Technology RIG, there are also some of those experts familiar with both Cloud and On Premise versions of Fiori apps. We will respond promptly (rather faster than if you open a support ticket). If it is an issue with how to accomplish something, this really is the place to ask. If it really and truly is a bug in the product, we will direct you to open a ticket using the Component mentioned in the Support section above, but also make sure the title has SFCE in the title/subject line. It will help us to find it and make sure action is being taken on the part of the support teams.
And if you have tried these approaches and you do not see a response, you are welcome to contact me with the url of your Discussion (which I will see anyway) or your ticket number and I will see if I can help push it along. But please make that your last resort and after allowing a reasonable amount of time for responses.
NOTE: I am trying to use the SFCE acronym, but if I slip up and you see FCE, it is the same thing. Also, HCP ODP used to be HCI ODP as well as GWaaS (which is a little more generic of a term and really is not that accurate since HCP ODP does not fully reproduce all the functions of GW, at least not yet).
Have fun with the Fiori Cloud Edition and remember there are a lot of resources and people who will help you to succeed!
Last and most important, bookmark the SAP Fiori, Cloud Edition landing page!
Cheers, Mike (Moderator, Space Editor, curmudgeon ... ooops did I leave that in?)
SAP Technology RIG
