This blog is for portal administrators who are implementing FLP on EP.

The content:

• Why to prefer Fiori Launchpad on Portal (FLP on EP) to ABAP Launchpad?
• Are there any differences between ABAP Launchpad and FLP on EP with regards to customizability and enhancement options?
• Does the concept of FLP on EP fit scenarios with dozens of applications? Is there a limit to the number of applications maintained in FLP on EP?
• Is a cloud portal able to replace an on premise portal?
• Portal Landscape Deployment Recommendations
• SAPUI5 Release for NetWeaver SPS
• Fiori iViews vs Remote Catalogs
• Locked Group Easy Maintenance
• BEx Reports in FLP on EP in IE
• Useful Notes

1 Why to prefer Fiori Launchpad on Portal to ABAP Launchpad?

• Fiori Launchpad on Enterprise Portal is targeted mainly to portal customers. It allows having one stop-shop for Fiori and portal content of SAP Business Suite, and providing end user access for SAP and non-SAP backend applications.
• Portal is a mature integration platform and has quite a few capabilities that the ABAP FES is still lacking (e.g. It is not possible to have in ABAP Launchpad system connection objects for SAP and non-SAP systems). 
• ABAP Launchpad is limited in UI technologies that can be integrated, whereas FLP on EP can integrate many more. 

2 Are there any differences between ABAP Launchpad and Fiori Launchpad on Portal with regards to customizability and enhancement options?

There are no major differences between ABAP and Portal Launchpad customizability and enhancement options. The two solutions share a large portion of SAPUI5 code and differ mainly on the administration and integration capabilities

3 Does the concept of FLP on EP fit scenarios with dozens of applications? Is there a limit to the number of applications maintained in the Fiori Launchpad on Portal?

An average user may have up to ~50 applications on his homepage and hundreds in the tile catalog. The idea is that filtering and search controls enable fast search in the user catalog. There are also new concepts coming in Fiori 2.0 to deal with content load (Overview pages, links, catalog enhancements and smart navigation).

4 Is a cloud portal able to replace an on premise portal?

For some scenarios yes, mostly the simple ones that can be covered by Fiori content provided by SAP or a few custom applications. In the future the Cloud solution will allow to integrate legacy content as well.

5 Portal Landscape Deployment Recommendations

For SAP Enterprise Portal:

• Landscape Deployment of SAP Enterprise Portal (EP)
• Landscape Deployment Recommendations for SAP Enterprise Portal
• SAP Enterprise Portal

The FLP on EP recommended landscape:https://eaexplorer.hana.ondemand.com/_item.html?id=11406#!/overview.

Landscape deployment scenarios and high level product overview:https://eaexplorer.hana.ondemand.com/rest/mimeRepositories/11427/file/Deployment_Recommendations_SAP_Portal_2016_final.pdf.

6 SAPUI5 Release for NetWeaver SPS

The information can be accessed by customers directly on Service Marketplace by clicking on the Info link for SPS/Patch Level:

Example for NW SAPUI5 in 7.31:

The result then looks like this:

7 Fiori iViews vs Remote Catalogs

You can implement Fiori integration in FLP on EP  in 2 ways:

• Creating Fiori iViews  in Portal content 
• Consuming Remote Catalogs from Frontend Server (FES).
• 
  

Fiori iViews  in Portal content are used when there is no Fiori Framework page (FFP) and the integration of Fiori apps is done in other Framework pages (e.g. AFP).

Remote Catalogs consumption from FESr  is possible only with FFP, and then Fiori iViews are not needed.

The further advantages of remote catalog consumption are:

• Easy tile maintenance on FES with Fiori Launchpad Designer
• Easy catalog and group maintenance on FLP on EP - the changes in the catalog on FES are visible on FLP on EP automatically
  
• Big variety of Fiori apps available via the catalogs
• New features available via the catalogs (e.g. dynamic tiles)
• Running better on Mobile access due to no-iFrame integration.

8 Locked Group Easy Maintenance

Locked group is a special group of tiles on the Homepage:

• Its content is determined by an administrator and cannot be personalized by an end-user.
• Any administrator changes in this group are reflected immediately on the Homepage.
• Only one locked group can be configured. It always appears at the top of the home page.
• The locked group content can be combined from Portal tiles and remote groups.

Locked group definition is located in one the role/folder/workset properties. Sometimes it is hard to find where exactly it was defined. To make the locked content transparent and easy to maintain we suggest the following:

1. Enable a locked group in FWP

2. Provide The ID and the title under the path Portal Users -> Standard Portal Users -> iViews -> Fiori Launchpad Configuration:

3. Create a role to hold locked group content

4. Create a folder with a property Included in Locked Group and mark it as an Entry point.

     Note: Only direct child of Folder/Role or workset will be seen in the locked group

5. Assign the relevant iViews to the folder:

This role can be included into relevant users’ roles.

9 BEx Reports in FLP on EP in IE

If you have Fiori iViews for BEx reports in FLP on EP, the recommended navigation mode for them is Display in headerless portal window (standards mode), especially in Internet Explorer browser.

The reason is that BEx reports launched from FLP on EP in Internet Explorer browser, change UI mode to Quirks mode, and when coming back to FLP, the UI might be corrupted.

10 Useful Notes

2031108 - SAP Fiori Integration with SAP Enterprise Portal - Central note

2261419 - Maintenance Strategy for FLP on Portal

2008931 - Known issues for Fiori Framework Page (FLP on Portal)