Context
Users report repair orders themselves. There was no application for it, so the report went through an Excel file: around 200 orders a day were entered there and then transferred into SAP S/4 by hand. The checking was manual too, row by row.
Approach
A web application takes the order where it is reported. The checks are built in: an order is only saved when every entry is correct. Once it passes, the order goes into S/4 automatically. The file and the retyping are gone.
How it is built
The frontend is SAPUI5, the backend runs on SAP RAP. Checking happens in both places: in the frontend so the user sees the mistake while entering it, and in the backend so the same rule applies independently of the interface. A function module handles the transfer into S/4 and is called once the check has passed. The application is embedded in the intranet, authorisations govern access.
| Component | Technology | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | SAPUI5 | One form for the report instead of an Excel file |
| Backend | SAP RAP, ABAP | Validates the entry for good and saves only the complete order |
| Checks | Frontend and backend | Feedback while entering, a binding rule on saving |
| Transfer | Function module into SAP S/4HANA | The checked order reaches the target system without a manual step |
| Access | Intranet, authorisations | The users reach the application without a detour |
Learnings
- The detour was the file, not the report. The effort sat in collecting entries in Excel and retyping them into S/4, not in filling them in.
- Checking during entry saves checking afterwards. What the application never saves, nobody has to correct later.
- The automatic transfer carries the process. The function module turns the checked order into a document in S/4, with no second entry.