Replace Standard APO User Interface by Custom User Interface

[a_heut]

We are checking APO in SCM 7 and consider to start using APO for statistical forecasting + forecast maintenance. However, in our opinion the planning workbook UI is not very userfriendly. We know we could use Duet on top of it but for us that's not a real option to consider. I cannot find any release notes or information related to planned APO - Demand Planning UI enhancements (like moving to Web Dynpro ABAP like SAP already did for EM). Does somebody know if there are any plans to improve APO UI for DP?

We are also considering building a custom UI on top of the LiveCache database. Does anybody know if this is possible?

Another option I had in mind is to use the avaialble standard enterprise services currently available in SCM and develop a custom UI consuming these services?

Looking forward to your input!

kind regards

Angelique Heutinck

IFF

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

This is a very interesting requirement. What is the functionality you are looking forward in the new interface.

To answer your questions... we have so far have not heard of any UI enhancements in SAP's SCM roadmap.

Custom UI on top of Livecache database - are you suggesting not logging into SAP APO at all and using a third party front end to connect to Livecache database?? If yes, that might not be a optimal solution because only transaction data is stored in Livecache, Master data is still in the Database server and the various transaction screen contains the validations to keep them consistent.

Using standard Enterprise services to custom build a ZSCREEN inside APO is certainly a viable option, however I am thinking it might be a huge development. If you have the resources and the 'real' need to do so, it is technically feasible.

Hope this helps

Thanks

Mani Suresh.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

What are you going to achive by developing ZSCREEN. Is it really required?

[Former Member]

Angelique,

Good luck on your project.

User-friendly is a very subjective term. Any new software solution is un-friendly to the users, due to the users' unfamiliarity.

I have been both a user and a developer. In business, the only common denominator is money. I can say with confidence that I have never seen an implementation where the measurable payback of a customized user interface exceeded the total measuable cost of installing and maintaining that interface.

Perhaps your project will be the implementation that breaks the trend I have observed. Please keep us informed of your progress, I will be extremely interested in your results..

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Using DUET may be a complex option. Why do I write such.

DUET offers several scenarios to cover dedicated business cases. Among these ones, DUET proposes a specific scenario for APO-DP that externalizes planning book in XL. My answer here is just around that APO-DPscenario, not the other scenario whch I dont know.

Problem comes with the complexity of the proposed landscape compare to the limitation of the end result. In APO-DP scenario you have to know (as of Oct 2010, this may change in next releases) that you must implement a MS exchange server, which will make the link with APO server, on the way to you PC. You may even need citrix farm to cope with further version limitation (on exchange version at a time). That is for the IT part, that render the maintenance quite complex, in case of problem, is the problem coming from APO, MS-Exchange, Citrix, XL...??

Now on the functional part the result is still to be constructed by yourself. THe standard delivery only miror a planning book onto XL, not much more. In other words, you probably need to enhance your application on XL using additional VBA to really get a guenuine interest of the whole process.

From experience standpoint, I heard or observed 2 implementations. One is a succes but has been really costy and remain complex, whereas the second has gone over 2 years already with a lot of politic, discussion and still no results.

Important also is that the future of this APO-DP scenario is not clear.

Finally this scenario covers only the planning book purpose and nothing around master data maintenance or other transaction that would really give the idea of a new UI to the users.

This said, I have other experiences that allow benefiting of APO strong point (I am consultant in APO since 1998) whereas offering MS userfriendlyness and flexibility in user interface. Of course these one are more custom-spec oriented but work smoothly and are performant.

Feel free to ask more

Daniel

[a_heut]

Duet is not an option for our company. We are going to try how well the ES bundle APO-DP fits to our needs. We will first test drive the standard services and probably use Visual Composer in NW CE to consume one or more DP services and model an input and output screen. If this works, we will spend some time on building a pilot web dynpro abap user interface for the real custom solution

[Former Member]

Hi Angelique

We are using APO-DP for capturing customer demand and have the same request from business to provide a more intuitive and easy to use user interface. In this environment new sales employees take a long time to get used to the UI and then most personnel only use it to capture the final result, everything else gets done in Excel.

Planners using APO-PP/DS converting the demand into a factory plan also have similar requests and also need to constantly flip between four screens to complete the planning process. This is a barrier to final adoption of the developed PP/DS solution by all the planners and requires us to come up with a user friendly interface.

Duet is not an option for us and I am considering also using Visual Composer as a start and then a Web Dynpro ABAP development for the final custom solution. With this a much better use of APO functionality will release the value in the investment.

Please keep me posted on your results, we cloud probably share some learningu2019s in this process.

Regards

Johan du Plessis