Solution Manager Expert - A Guide to Improving Screen Layouts in ChaRM

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SAP Solution Managerconcepts, technology,

and best practices

A Guide to Improving Screen Layouts in ChaRM

by Avrohom H. Weissman, Senior Technical Consultant • May 12, 2010

Learn a strategy to make your SAP screen layouts in Change Request Management (ChaRM)

more intuitive and easier for end users to navigate. This strategy is based on SAP standard

customization that allows the changes to be easily maintained through upgrades. A streamlined

set of screen layouts allows end users to quickly reach their goals.

Key Concept

Well-designed screen layouts are vital to allowing users to easily accomplish their intended tasks in

Change Request Management (ChaRM). You should always review the standard screen layoutssupplied by SAP and identify which fields and buttons are required. You can then use SAP standard

customization to improve the usabilit y of the system. Once your improved screen layouts areimplemented, the system is easier for users to learn about and use.

A common problem m any companies face is end users becoming confused while en tering information

into SAP-provided layouts of input screens when they use Change Request Management (ChaRM).

Without significant training, an end user is often unable to identify what the correct input should be.

This can even be true for end users who are very familiar with the concepts and functionality but do not

use it on a regular basis. This si tuation often results in frustration or incorrect data entry.

Here’s an example: When some companies create a change request, they rarely create a correction that

is not an urgent one. If this is the case at your company, you could streamline the process by making

urgent correction the default entry. Another area of confusion is the change request s creen layout. For

example, the Product ID field and the icon next to it tend to confuse end users. Because thi s field and

button are not required by ChaRM, you can hide them. You can ease confusion with the use of

transaction and screen variants to make data ent ry simpler and easier. You can remove unnecessary

fields or buttons or default common values in fields to make the process of filling out the input screen

more intuitive.

In this article, I’l l show you how to make urgent corrections the default entry and how to remove

certain fields and buttons from your screen. You will learn how to decide which partners should be

displayed on the change request fast screen entry, how to copy the existing screen layout variant, how

to change your variant so it has mandatory fields and default values, how to remove fields or buttons,

and how to activate and deactivate screen variants.

Note

I describe the steps involved in this for ChaRM, but you can also apply the process of

changing the layout to the Service Desk. The steps are based on standard SAP configurationthat can be done by anyone with a basic technical understanding of an SAP system.

Start with the Change Request Screen

The example I’ll use is the fast entry change request screen, because in my experience this i s one of

the most frequently requested screens for customization (Figure 1).

ion Manager Expert - A Guide to Improving Screen Layouts in ChaRM http://www.solutionmanagerexpert.com/article_printable.cfm

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Figure 1 Standard fast screen entry for a change request

During the design phase of a ChaRM implementation, you define the process and the people (i.e.,

roles) involved in the process. When you start to create a change request, you must specify the roles

involved in the change process. For example, you need to specify the sold-to party (usually the

business unit), change requester, IBase/component (i.e., the production system that requires the

change), business analyst, s ystem analyst, developer, tester, and release manager. All of these are

called partners in the SAP system. You should define these partners early in the design of the change

request process to allow for a smooth transition from person to person throughout the process.

Therefore, it is important that the entry of these roles be mandatory for end users when they start to

fill in the entry screens. Once these roles are defined, the process is able to flow smoothly. I will show

you where to define these roles and how to make them mandatory so that when the end user runs the

process, it flows well.

In ChaRM, all partners can be found in the Partners tab within the Transaction data tab (a tab within a

tab, part of which is shown in Figure 1). There is no limit to the number of partners you can define in a

request, but there is only room to display four partners on the reference section of the fast entry

screen. For example, you could have 12 defined partners, but only four of them would appear on the

main fast entry screen. You see the other partners in the Partners tab.

In Figure 1 the Sold-To Party, Requester, Change Manager, and Current Processor are the four

partners that I chose to display in the fast ent ry screen. Which four partners are displayed on this fast

entry screen is determined by IMG settings that I explain in the next section. Because these partners

will be part of your fast entry screen layout, it is important that you decide which partners should be

displayed before creating any screen layout variants. If you change any of the four partners after

creating a new screen layout variant, it affects the screen layout. Therefore, you need to finalize which

partners are displayed on the fast entry sc reen before making the screen layout variant.

Define the Main Partners to Display

Navigate to the partner selection by following IMG menu path SAP Solution Manager > Configuration >

Scenario-Specific Settings > Service Desk > Service Desk > Partner Determination Procedure > Define

Partner Determination Procedures. Open the Partner Dete rmination Procedures folder under the Dialog

Structure on the left side of the screen (Figure 2). You’ll see many partner procedure entries. Each

partner procedure entry has partners associated with it and corresponds to different screen layouts. In

this example, you need to copy the screen layout for the change request screen. Select the change

request screen by clicking the Position button.

Figure 2 IMG area for defining partners

In the screen that appears, enter SDCR001 to se lect the change request partner determination

procedure (Figure 3). Then click the green checkmark icon.


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(Figure 6).

Figure 6 Select the Show Keys in All Dropdown Lists check box

Create the New Variant

You should not change the existing transaction and screen variant. Instead, copy the existing

transaction and screen variant and then adjust it for your requirements. A transaction variant contains

many screen variants, so copying all the screen variants can seem li ke a slow process because you

have to press Enter so many times. However, it gives you an opportunity to see all the parts of the

screen layout.

Start by executing transaction SDH0. Enter transaction CRMD_ORDER in the screen that appears

(Figure 7). Enter ZSDCR1 for the new Transaction Variant. Then, click the create icon at the top left

corner of the screen.

Figure 7 Create a new transaction variant


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The screen in Figure 8 appears. The system asks for the business transaction. It is not necessary to

specify the business transaction for the transaction variant. Continue by clicking the save icon at the

top.

Figure 8 Select the Change Request Business transaction

Enter the name of s creen variant and the screen variant short text ( Figure 9). Now you need to copy

the entries from the existing sc reen layout for the change request business transaction to your new

screen layout. Note that at this point, there are no entries in your new screen variant. Click the Exit and

Save button to start the process of copying the screen variant entries.

Figure 9 Confirm screen entries and variant name

The screen in Figure 10 appears. Enter the Sc reen variant short text. You now have a new variant

without any defined subscreen entries. The subscreens define all the fields, buttons, and labels, as well

as their properties on the screen.

Figure 10 Save the new transaction variant

The variant has been defined but not yet saved, so click the save icon to save your new transaction and

screen variant. Then, go back to the main screen of transaction SHD0. You need to copy all the

subscreens into your variant. In the version I am working with for this example , there are 34. You start

the copy by clicking the With processing button (Figure 11). This takes you to Figure 12

automatically.


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Figure 11 Create the subscreen entries

Figure 12 Create the change request business transaction

From the screen shown in Figure 12, select Business Transaction > Create from the top menu bar. This

takes you to Figure 13. If the system asks you at this poin t to confirm a screen entry, click the green

checkmark icon to continue. This happens when there is no main screen defined for the variant yet

In this example, you want to copy the variant for the change request screen, so select Change Request

under Service Process and click the create icon (Figure 13). This copies all the subscreen ent ries for

the existing change request s creen variant to your new screen variant.


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Figure 13 Select a business transaction

Step through all the subscreen entries and confirm each one by clicking the green checkm ark icon.

Every screen variant must have a name. You should use the transaction variant name as a prefix

(Figure 14). Usually the system fills this in for you. If it is not filled in, manually enter a name for the

screen variant and then click the green checkmark icon.

Figure 14 Add a screen variant field

Continue confirming the copying of the subscreen entries until all the su bscreen entries are added.

Eventually, you see what appears to be the change request screen (Figure 1) after all the variants

have been copied. It looks just like you are actually creating a change request, but it is simply a

display of the screen layout.

Press the enter key to proceed to Figure 15 and then click the save icon. You now have a copy of the

standard screen variant layout supplied by SAP. You can execute transaction SHD0 to displ ay or change

your variant.


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Figure 15 Variant with all the screen fields and their values

Set Your Own Default Values

Execute transaction SHD0 and enter the transaction code as CRMD_ORDER and the transaction variant

name (in my examp le, I used SDCR1). Press the enter key to display your variant (Figure 16). To

change the content of your variant, click the With processing butt on. The system asks you to confirm

the subscreen entries. Click the green checkmark icon to continue until you reach the change request

screen (Figure 17).

Figure 16 Screen variant with subscreen entries


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Figure 17 Change request input screen

This process mimics the c reation of an actual change request, but once again it i s only a display of the

screen layout. You now enter the values you want to set as the defaults. For this example, I chose the

value IBSDCR00010010 Urgent Correction from the Subject drop-down list. IBSDCR00010010 is the

technical value, and it is shown because of the setti ngs performed earlier in the “Show the Technical

Values of Drop-down Lists” section. The technical value is the value that you need to enter in the

screen variant. After you enter the values in Figure 17, press the Enter key. The system then asks you

to confirm the subscreen entries (Figure 18). Confirm each screen entry with the green checkmark

icon.

Figure 18 Confirm the screen variant field

Eventually you see a screen entry with your new default value (Figure 19). IBSDCR00010010 in the

Subject line is the technical value for an urgent request that you added in Figure 17. To make this the

default value for the subject, check the W.content box for the Subject line ( Figure 20). You have now

defined a subscreen entry with the subject defaulted to IBSDCR00010010 (the value for urgent

requests).


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Figure 19 Screen variant field containing content for Subject

Figure 20 Select the check box for W. content

You can use other attributes in the screen variant to customize the screen layout. If there are fields

that are not used and tend to confuse the end user — for example, the Product ID field and its

corresponding icon mentioned at the beginning of this article — you can select the Invisible check box

(as shown in Figures 19 and 20) and the system will no longer display them in the screen layout. If

you want to make a field mandatory, select the Required check box.

Note

Alternatively, there is another way to make the entry o f partners mandatory: You can dothis from the IMG under the Partner determination procedure mentioned earlier in this

article. The main difference between sett ing a mandatory field under partner determinationprocedure and with a transaction screen variant is that with partner determinationprocedure, an error is generated if there is no entry. With a transaction screen variant, you

cannot save the screen until a value is entered in the mandatory field.

After changing the screen variant, click the Exit and Save button. Because you made a change, the

system opens a pop-up dialog asking if these new changes should be saved (Figure 21). Click the Yes

button to confirm the changes.

Figure 21 Save all changes to the variant

You are taken to a summary of your screen variant with all i ts default values (Figure 22). The line

beginning with Subject shows the contents IBSDCR000100010 and the W.content box is checked. Click

the save icon to keep your changes.


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Figure 22 Your default value is now visible in the variant

Activate Your New Variant

Now that you have created a new transaction screen variant, you need to activate it. Up unti l this point,you haven’t changed anything in the operation of the system. The new screen variant layout only takes

effect when you activate the variant in the IMG by linking the SAP CRM transaction type to your

transaction screen variant. In this example, you link SAP CRM transaction type SDCR to your variant,

ZSDCR001.

Start by entering transaction SPRO and following menu path Customer Relationship Management >

Transactions > Basic Settings > User Interface Settings > Assign Transaction Types to Transaction

Variants. In the screen that appears, click the New Ent ries button (Figure 23).

Figure 23 List of the screen variants linked to business transactions

Enter a new entry with the t ransaction type (SDCR) and your new variant (ZSDCR1), and then click the

save icon (Figure 24). This activates your new customized screen variant layout. From now on, when a

change request screen appears, it will contain your screen layout. If you want to remove these changes

and revert back to SAP standard, you can simply delete this new en try.


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Figure 24 Assign the sc reen variant to a business transaction

Going through the above procedures gives you a good feel for what you can do with transaction screen

variants. You can create transaction screen variants for each business transaction. You should then

review exactly which fields need to be i n a screen layout and which ones you can hide. By reviewing

the change request process, you can determine which fields need to be mandatory and when they need

to added into the process. Implem enting such a strategy leads to a simpler and easier system to

maintain.

Avrohom Weissman received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Maryland. He has more than 30 years of professional computing experience, with 10 years of SAP

consulting experience ranging from a software developer to a technical architect. His experience has

been across many industries, including government, chemical, financial, and automotive. He has an

energetic drive and develops solutions using critical thinking and problem-solving skills. He has a

proven track record in quickly di agnosing problems and opportunities and developing s trategic and

realistic solutions. You may contact Avrohom via email at [email protected].


Documents

Solution Manager Expert - A Guide to Improving Screen Layouts in ChaRM