ABAP_to_the_Future

Using Floorplan Manager to Modify Existing WDA Components 12.3
Sales and Distribution, and Materials Management worked utterly independently
of each other.
FPM aims to reduce inconsistency by standardizing the way data is presented in
applications. The FPM framework also cate rs for various ways to improve existing
applications from a developer, admi nistrator (business an alyst), or end user
point of view. (Naturally, end users can change a lot less than developers, but it is
good that they can change anything if it makes their lives easier.)
FPM is organized around (you’ll be shoc ked to hear) the concept of floorplans.
The idea of a floorplan is best described by using an architectural analogy. If your
job in life was to design houses rather than starting from scratch each time, then
the logical approach would be for you to develop several templates in which the
kitchen and toilet are in the same plac e each time. This is why McDonalds (or
some pub chains in the UK) is so success ful: no matter what country you are in,
when you enter such a stor e it looks the same, and ev erything is pretty much
where you expect it to be. Conversely, if you have spent any appreciable time in
hotels, you may have noticed that the shower controls are never the same—so the
first part of every mornin g is spent thinking, how in the world does this one
work?
A floorplan in an SAP context is an exte nsion of the same principal. When users
see a new application for the first time, you don’t want them to have to struggle
to work out how to do basic things (e.g., expand an item in a list). If all applications
look the same and the menu option s are in the same place each time, then
life becomes a lot easier.
At the time of writing, SAP provides four floorplans to choose from:
왘 OVP (Overview Floorplan): An overview sc reen to show a big list of records
and let the user choose one.
왘 OIF (Object Instance Floorplan): A business object display screen to show a single
object (like a monster).
왘 GAF (Guided Activity Floorplan): A wizard-type application in which you have
X number of steps along the top, with the current step in the process highlighted.
(This is somewhat like the ideaSAP once came out with called “xApps,”
in which you could purchase a product to build composite applications, which
also had steps along the top.)
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