Issue

This document recommends the choice of primary mechanism for end users to access and interact with the user interfaces of the core enterprise systems in scope of the ERP Rebuild program, while taking into account usability, security and broad coverage to as many applications as possible. This document will focus on Desktop-based experiences as this is the primary access mechanism for most users, but will also consider its impact on general-purpose mobile use cases such as occasional use of some S/4HANA functionality and accessing workflow tasks. Other KDDs will cover more targeted mobile user experiences (e.g. for Maintenance and Logistics) as well as a general decision-making process for the use of mobile applications. 

Recommendation

Use Build Work Zone Standard as the primary entry point for users of the enterprise systems in scope of ERP Rebuild. The Fiori Launchpad inside S/4HANA continues to be the primary UI for functionality provided by S/4HANA. It is used for both Fiori apps and traditional transactions accessed via GUI for HTML. Fiori Launchpad is dedicated to delivering the S/4HANA UI. Build Work Zone is required in addition to Fiori Launchpad due to the need for a solution that operates beyond S/4HANA alone. Build Work Zone will be used for launching applications and performing tasks spanning multiple enterprise systems (including S/4HANA).

Build Work Zone is SAP's future direction as the primary entry point for customers using multiple SAP systems including S/4HANA and SaaS applications, and is also designed to host cross-system applications such as SAP's consolidated workflow inbox "Task Center". The Advanced version of the product contains features not relevant for Syensqo, and thus the simpler and cheaper Standard offering is recommended. The SAP Mobile Start app for iOS and Android also requires the use of Build Work Zone. 

The traditional SAP GUI is a legacy technology and will only be offered by exception to certain users who, based on the specific applications required for their job function, face technical limitations in the use of browser-based UIs. 

Background & Context

The ERP Rebuild program is redesigning the core business processes of Syensqo which will be implemented on S/4HANA, as well as a number of SAP and non-SAP SaaS-based applications. The program aims to deliver end-to-end business processes that are simple and standardised; in many cases workflows will be used to implement standardisation and avoid both manual work and circumvention of controls. A single entry point to the various applications delivering these processes, and a single workflow inbox in which users can see the tasks pending with them, are seen as important in helping the ERP Rebuild program deliver on its charter values of Simplicity, Standardisation, and Future-Proofing.

Assumptions

• The browser-based Fiori/UI5 technology is the future user interface technology for SAP S/4HANA and other SAP applications; many functions newly introduced in S/4HANA no longer provide traditional SAP GUI transactions and can only be accessed using a browser. Combined with the sizeable footprint of SaaS applications, the use of a browser-based user interface is inevitable. 
  • Although the browser is the primary client, the use of certain Desktop client tools may be inevitable for specialised user personas. Where necessary, the ERP Rebuild program is able to deploy the required software and configuration into the Desktop computing environment of Syensqo. 
• The Private Cloud Edition of S/4HANA will be used by Syensqo in the future; this is covered by KDD026 - SAP S/4HANA Deployment Model. 
• Where traditional SAP GUI transactions must be used, rendering these using SAP GUI for HTML provides a good user experience. Prior experience of consultants on the ERP Rebuild program has shown this to be generally true. 
• The core components of Syensqo’s enterprise landscape are not separated by GBU. Each instance of S/4HANA, Ariba, SuccessFactors, etc. will cover multiple GBUs.
• Separate instances may be required based on strategic or regulatory requirements. If this is required then:
  • separation will occur along geopolitical lines (e.g. by country), and thus each instance would likely still contain data and processes for multiple GBUs.
  • users will be aligned to one instance rather than multiple instances, and thus will have one primary entry point into the landscape. 
• Although the ERP Rebuild scope encompasses applications besides S/4HANA, the vast majority of user-exposed transactions will be hosted by S/4HANA rather than the more focused SaaS products integrated to S/4HANA. 
• The ability to deploy a common workflow task inbox is an important requirement for a modern, integrated solution spanning multiple enterprise systems. It helps to prevent users having to visit multiple different systems to check for workflow tasks being assigned to them, reduces reliance on email, and helps to deliver the ERP Rebuild program's vision of a future-proof implementation of systems delivering end to end business processes.
• SAP's future direction for a common workflow inbox is the Task Center hosted on BTP, for which SAP Mobile Start is the iOS/Android app. 
• Build Work Zone could also be used the launching point for non-SAP applications, e.g. Salesforce, Kinaxis, etc. If these systems offer deep-linking directly to specific functions and screens, then apps and links can be exposed in a granular manner in Work Zone to support role-based access into the underlying non-SAP systems. 

Constraints

• SAP Start is a relatively immature product early in its development lifecycle: integration to S/4HANA Private Cloud was only released with S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 (released in early 2024). Thus several restrictions exist in the integration of these products when compared with the relatively mature Fiori Launchpad available since 2016.
• Integration of SAP Build Work Zone Standard with S/4HANA Private Cloud has been available since the 1809 release of S/4HANA, when the product was called SAP Launchpad Service or SAP Fiori Cloud. SAP have transitioning the integration mechanism to the “exposure mode version 2” protocol which introduces new and different constraints over this original integration. These constraints do not appear to be critically limiting, but issues could be discovered during detailed design and implementation. 
• Task Center hosted on BTP, which aggregates workflow tasks from S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur, etc. requires the use of Build Work Zone. If using only Fiori Launchpad as the primary access point, then use of Task Center is not possible. 
• The only common workflow inbox in Fiori Launchpad is MyInbox, which SAP have positioned as being limited to S/4HANA rather than as a cross-system common inbox. It is technically possible to integrate other systems to My Inbox through custom development, though this may require the use of undocumented APIs. 

Impacts

• The use of Build Work Zone as the central entry point places not only the Build Work Zone service but also the critical supporting service of BTP Identity Authentication Service on the critical path regarding user access to S/4HANA and other enterprise applications. This means that if any of these BTP services suffer an outage, or connectivity via Cloud Connector to the backend is disrupted, then users may be unable to access the S/4HANA system even if this remains technically available. The Availability SLA for both IAS and Build Work Zone is 99.95%, and thus will likely exceed the SLA of the underlying applications (e.g. SuccessFactors has an availability SLA of 99.7% for all modules apart from Employee Central, which offers 99.9%). 
• Use of Build Work Zone enables the use of SAP's Mobile Start app for iOS and Android - which features access to the consolidated workflow inbox from Task Center, support for push notifications delivered to the phone, and for access to mobile-enabled Fiori UIs from S/4HANA and other systems. 
• Build Work Zone (and SAP Start) impose a hard limit of 30,000 items per tenant. Items include roles, groups, catalogs, and apps. This should be sufficient for Syensqo in principle, but imposes a restrictions of the number of locales which can be enabled in the tenant. Each locale causes all content to be replicated, thus the enablement of multiple locales causes the total number of content items to multiply quickly. This could potentially limit the number of languages which can be supported by the system. Refer also to KDD055 - Multi-Language Support.

Business Rules

• Every system deployed by ERP Rebuild must have its user interfaces integrated into the common launchpad to provide a single entry point for end users. 
• As far as technically possible, functions, applications, or reports must be accessed via deep-linking. The application’s main UI must only be linked directly from the launchpad if deep-linking is not technically possible. 
• The browser is the primary UI client. Additional clients may be required for specialised use cases by exception only.
• SAP GUI is not considered to be a primary user interface and will not be generally available to end users.

Options considered

Desktop computers are considered the primary access mechanism for most of the users in most situations, and therefore must support all except highly specialised, role-specific functions. In modern SAP deployments there are four main starting points for a user’s interaction with SAP applications: the Fiori Launchpad embedded into S/4HANA, SAP Start, and SAP Build Work Zone, the latter being available in both Standard and Advanced versions. Of these, Fiori Launchpad is recommended by SAP to be embedded into S/4HANA while the other options are hosted on BTP. 

“Build Work Zone” is a brand name applied to two different products that are both running on SAP BTP, but have quite different heritages: Work Zone Standard is a re-branding of BTP Fiori Launchpad Service, while Work Zone Advanced shares a name but little technology heritage with the Standard edition and thus offers different features and limitations. 

Note: SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone is another product sharing the "Work Zone" brand name, but technically differs in some regards from the Build Work Zone products. SAP are in the process of transitioning this to the same stack as the Build Work Zone products. 

SAP Portal was not considered as an option as the NetWeaver Java stack on which it runs is scheduled to go out of support in 2027. 

Option A: SAP Fiori Launchpad in S/4HANA

Since the launch of Fiori-based user interfaces, the Fiori Launchpad has served as the common starting point for users of S/4HANA with a role-based menu structure, integration of Enterprise Search, a common workflow inbox, notification handling, and management of user preferences and defaults. Since the release of S/4HANA 1809, SAP have recommended an Embedded deployment running inside S/4HANA, rather than a separate stand-alone “hub and spoke” deployment using a dedicated Fiori Front-End Server. 

A Fiori Launchpad based on Fiori 3 broadly offers the following capabilities: 

• Role-based content including app launchers, tiles, pages, etc.
• Ability to integrate Web Dynpro and SAP GUI for HTML applications side-by-side with native UI5-based Fiori apps, including the use of semantic object navigation. 
• Integration of Enterprise Search provided by the underlying business systems
• Integration of notifications and workflow tasks from connected business systems.
• Integration of Fiori-like interfaces provided by SAP SaaS applications such as SuccessFactors.
• Ability to publish tiles with arbitrary URL targets to support any other application, as well as static content hosted elsewhere.

Option B: SAP Start

SAP Start is a simple “launching point” designed as an “out of the box” solution for customers whose end users access more than one SAP cloud-based application (e.g. SuccessFactors and S/4HANA Public Cloud). It prioritises speedy implementation and simplicity over functional richness and thus offers only relatively simple features such as: 

• Support for S/4HANA Cloud (both Public and Private editions), SuccessFactors, Fieldglass. Support for SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud is on the roadmap for late 2024.
• Search for and launch apps and functions across the connected applications.
• Limited search integration for content inside the connected applications. 
• Integration of workflow tasks from SAP Task Center, the BTP-hosted central workflow inbox. 
• Integration with Joule, the SAP AI chatbot and co-pilot. 

SAP Start is a relatively new product launched in late 2023. It is hosted on BTP and built using the same technology stack as Build Work Zone Standard. SAP offers an upgrade path from SAP Start to Build Work Zone Standard, although some technical migration work is required in addition to a licensing change.

Option C: SAP Build Work Zone Standard

SAP Build Work Zone Standard was formerly known as Launchpad Service - a BTP-hosted Fiori Launchpad able to surface Fiori apps from several underlying application providers such as S/4HANA, other ABAP-based systems, but also SuccessFactors, and selected other SaaS applications. It offers capabilities comparable to the Fiori Launchpad, such as: 

• Role-based content including app launchers, tiles, pages, etc.  
• Integration of Enterprise Search provided by the underlying business systems
• Support for Integration Cards which surface simple tasks from the underlying business systems into the Work Zone UI. 
• Integration of notifications and workflow tasks from connected business systems.

It is built on the same technology stack as SAP Start, but not using the same stack as Build Work Zone Advanced. Migration from one to the other requires not only a licensing change, but also work to align the content models. SAP plans to deliver a migration tool, but this is not featured in the roadmap yet. 

Several significant technical limitations remain, meaning Work Zone is not a full replacement for Fiori Launchpad, including restrictions on the use of Fiori 3 Spaces and Pages, merging of content from several underlying S/4HANA systems, and limitations on the use of SAP Analytics Cloud, CoPilot/Joule. Some of these limitations are resolved using “exposure mode version 2” which effectively causes S/4HANA applications to be launched in a separate browser tab; however this causes the Fiori Launchpad from the underlying S/4HANA system to then be loaded in that separate tab. SAP Note 3042853 contains further details on these limitations.

Option D: SAP Build Work Zone Advanced

SAP Build Work Zone Advanced layers additional functionalities on top of Build Work Zone Standard, adding: 

• “Citizen-developer” features that allow end users to build and share personalised, collaborative workspaces which can include external non-SAP content and collaboration features. 
• Integrate intranet-like, unstructured content such as Forums, ToDo lists, Knowledge Base articles, documents from a document management system, or static content.
• Create task-oriented workspaces which can be shared with external collaborators or made public. 
• Content packages delivered by SAP to integrate functionality from some SaaS applications. As of July 2024, this is only available for SuccessFactors. 
• Integration with Microsoft Teams and low-code applications built using SAP Build tools
• APIs and webhooks published for other applications to consume. 

As of July 2024, the underlying technology stack for the Standard and Advanced options of Build Work Zone are different. Migration from one to the other requires not only a licensing change, but also work to align the content models. SAP plans to deliver a migration tool, but this is not featured in the roadmap yet. Due to the differing technology stacks, some features of Standard are not available in Advanced; for example SAP Mobile Start is not yet supported for the Advanced version.

Evaluation

The evaluation below tries to focus only on significant differences between the various options. Where each option has the same Pros and Cons, these have been omitted to more clearly show the differences between them. 

	Weighting	Option A Fiori Launchpad	Option B SAP Start	Option C SAP Build Work Zone Standard	Option D SAP Build Work Zone Advanced
Alignment with SAP Roadmap	Low	Given the centrality of Fiori to SAP's long-term UX strategy, it's virtually guaranteed that SAP will continue to invest in expanding the capabilities of the embedded Fiori Launchpad, as evidenced by a full roadmap. However several cross-system functions such as consolidated notifications and workflow task management, are starting to require the use of Build Work Zone.	SAP Start is positioned by SAP as a free and simple "out of the box" offering which customers using one or more SaaS applications can quickly deploy without additional licensing requirements, and with only relatively simple configuration. Typically SAP do not consistently invest development effort into products not linked to earning revenue.	Since 2022, SAP have prioritised BTP-based solutions as the main entry point for end users. Significant new user interface products such as SAP Task Center and SAP Mobile Start require the use of Build Work Zone Standard. Although this product has been around for some years under different names, the shift to the exposure version 2 API with S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 has in some way degraded the functionality previously available in BTP Launchpad Service. Good integration capabilities for applications developed natively inside BTP using SAP Build, Business Application Studio, CAP, etc. which aligns well with SAP's Clean Core direction.	SAP appears to focus development and customer enablement efforts on the Advanced version of Build Work Zone, as evidenced by much of the customer-facing collaterals, online demos, Sapphire presentations, etc. showing the feature set of the Advanced edition.  Good integration capabilities for applications developed natively inside BTP using SAP Build, Business Application Studio, CAP, etc. which aligns well with SAP's Clean Core direction.
Solution Maturity	High	Fiori Launchpad has been available since 2016. SAP have continued to invest since in both the server-side (moving from a dedicated Front-End Server software component to integrating it into S/4HANA), and client side (evolving the UI5 libraries, adding features and evolving the information architecture with Fiori 3, etc.).	Very new product. SAP Start was launched in July 2023 for S/4HANA Public Cloud, and support for S/4HANA Private Cloud was added only in Q1 2024.	Functionality gaps and restrictions do not make this a replacement for Fiori Launchpad. SAP's stated intent is for Work Zone to sit on top of the Fiori Launchpad embedded into S/4HANA and serve as the main entry point for users. The roadmap supports this vision with integration with SaaS applications targeted at Work Zone rather than Fiori Launchpad.
Functional Fit	Very High	The full gamut of Fiori applications and functionality is available in the Fiori Launchpad, including Enterprise Search, the Joule AI Chatbot, Spaces and Pages, system-wide preferences and user defaults, Live Business apps ("KPI tiles"), etc.  Ability to link to other systems and functions, including with deep links where available from the target application, including non-SAP systems.  The new SAP Task Center central workflow inbox cannot be integrated into Fiori Launchpad. Only the older My Inbox is offered, which does not natively integrate workflows from SaaS applications such as SuccessFactors or Ariba. Integration cards provided by SaaS applications cannot be integrated without custom development.	Primarily a "jumping-off point" for users to launch into separate applications to do their work, rather than front-end in which they can perform work and execute business transactions.  Integration Cards (where supported, e.g. SuccessFactors) allow functionality from an underlying system to be directly exposed into the home page of Work Zone so that users can interact with the underlying system without leaving the Work Zone UI.  Does not support either Task Center or MyInbox, thus lacking a central inbox for workflow tasks. Does not support SAP Mobile Start, required to access workflow tasks on a mobile phone.	Integration Cards (where supported, e.g. SuccessFactors) allow functionality from an underlying system to be directly exposed into the home page of Work Zone so that users can interact with the underlying system without leaving the Work Zone UI.  Supports Task Center as a consolidated workflow inbox across S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur, etc. Required by SAP Mobile Start iOS/Android app; SAP's future direction of mobile user interface including for access to workflow tasks. Of the applications in scope for ERP Rebuild, content federation is supported only for S/4HANA and SuccessFactors (with some limitations). All other applications require some manual configuration for individual functions to be exposed to Build Work Zone, i.e. the effort to maintain this is no different than Fiori Launchpad.
					Provides a lot of functionality which is not relevant to the scope of ERP Rebuild (e.g. publishing of Intranet-like content, collaboration, forums, Knowledge Base), and for which Syensqo have existing applications. It is highly unlikely that SAP Build Work Zone Advanced would be chosen by Syensqo IT to host and intranet and team collaboration spaces. This functionality would need to be turned off and disabled. Does not support SAP Mobile Start but offers its own mobile app which SAP are planning to sunset.
Simplicity	High	Simplest-possible technology architecture with Fiori Launchpad running inside the S/4HANA system which also hosts 90+% of all functions in scope of ERP Rebuild. Greatly simplified user provisioning as the same user and role store is used for both S/4HANA transactional authorisations and the role-based access controls to the Spaces, Pages, and Apps of the Fiori Launchpad	Simplest BTP-hosted option available.  More complex than Fiori Launchpad, which must still be maintained anyways as all access to S/4HANA-hosted apps from SAP Start causes these apps to be opened in a new tab that loads the Fiori “shell” from S/4HANA. User authorisations in SAP Start must be kept in sync with the authorisations in the underlying S/4HANA system to ensure apps visible in SAP Start can be executed in the S/4HANA backend.	Does not remove the need to have a Fiori Launchpad configured and accessible in S/4HANA because navigation from Work Zone to any S/4HANA app occurs ex-place by opening a new browser tab which loads the Fiori “shell” and app into the browser.  Limitations in navigation between apps published by different systems (e.g. navigating from an S/4HANA-hosted Fiori app to Ariba) due to the ex-place navigation. Cross-app navigation using semantic objects or traditional links will occur inside this new tab, and therefore be limited to apps known to the S/4HANA instance serving this tab, rather than to all apps known to Work Zone. User authorisations in SAP Start must be kept in sync with the authorisations in the underlying S/4HANA system to ensure apps visible in SAP Start can be executed in the S/4HANA backend.
Security	High	Strong technical security controls (e.g. encryption, mandatory authentication, SSO support).  Very tight integration with the authorisation roles inside S/4HANA All users of Fiori Launchpad must have a user master record inside S/4HANA and must authenticate to the system.	Strong technical security controls (e.g. encryption, SSO support). Pre-delivered integration with BTP Identity management products (BTP Identity Provisioning Service and BTP Identity Authentication Service). Several hard limits on the number of items, apps, roles, etc. which could limit the authorisation design.
					Ability for Syensqo users to invite external collaborators into selected work spaces without those users needing to exist inside S/4HANA. Access is limited to functions provided by Build Work Zone itself (e.g. forums, collaboration content). Access to underlying business applications continues to require the user to hold an account.
Change management	Med	Simplest deployment model for users to understand - there is a single URL through which all applications are accessed.  Lack of a cross-system workflow inbox means users need to check multiple inboxes for workflow tasks, or monitor emails for notifications.	Potentially more confusing for users who will be aware that S/4HANA apps and other systems are launched in separate tabs with their own URLs. These URLs will also be directly accessible by bypassing SAP Start.	Potentially more confusing for users who will be aware that S/4HANA apps and other systems are launched in separate tabs with their own URLs. These URLs will also be directly accessible by bypassing Work Zone.  The SAP Mobile Start app could be proactively pushed to Syensqo-managed mobile devices using Ivanti Mobile Device Management.	Greater effort required to educate key users on the creation, management and sharing of collaborative workspaces More complex ongoing support by IT Operations due to the presence of user-generated structures and content that will require some support from IT.
Cost	Med	License included with underlying business applications (e.g. S/4HANA, EWM, TM)	License included with many SaaS offerings by SAP Included license is limited to 1000 Monthly Active Users; excess use is billed using the price for Build Work Zone Standard	Generate BTP consumption and requires an extra subscription license.	Generates BTP consumption and requires an extra subscription license which is more expensive than the license for the Standard edition. Simple interaction-based licensing model for external collaborators without a Syensqo user account in S/4HANA.

See also

Related KDDs

KDD042 - Mobile Application Framework Selection

KDD016 - Mobility Solution Direction for Enterprise Asset Management

KDD025 - Mobility Solutions in Logistics and Warehouse Management Processes

KDD055 - Multi-Language Support

Material by SAP

SAP Learning Journey for Build Work Zone Advanced

Blog post by SAP Product Manager for Work Zone with more details and links

SAP Help pages listing the various restrictions of Build Work Zone Standard and Build Work Zone Advanced

SAP Roadmap Explorer for SAP Fiori, SAP Start, Build Work Zone Standard, Build Work Zone Advanced

SAP Business Technology Platform Service Description Guide, mentioning availability SLAs and other important aspects of the service. 

SAP Fiori Deployment Options and System Landscape Recommendations

SAP Note 3345119 - Expose Fiori Launchpad content to BTP using Exposure Version 2

SAP Note 3429848 - Restrictions for the integration of SAP Start with S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

SAP Note 3042853 - Restrictions for the integration of SAP Build Work Zone Standard with S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

SAP Note 3450958 - Launchpad Content Exposure with Exposure Version 2

Change log

Workflow history