Do you ever feel overwhelmed from having to use many of the different SAP applications, such as HR systems, Finance dashboards and Sales tools?
Well, imagine if all of those applications were located in a single location, customized especially for you based on your job role, and made it easy for you to find the information you need when you need it. This is what the SAP Fiori Launchpad (FLP) can do for you.
The Fiori Launchpad is a digital command center allowing employees to view and access information that is only important to them. It allows employees to get live updates, view their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and see notifications that might interest them with the click of a button.
In this guide, I will take you from the beginning to the end of creating your own Fiori LaunchPad with each step of the way showing you how each individual component connects to form your complete, functional launchpad.
Understanding the Big Picture
Before jumping into the SAP cockpit, it helps to see the big picture of how everything connects. Imagine building a house: you do not start with the furniture. You start with the foundation, then the walls, then the rooms, and finally the decorations.
For Fiori Launchpad, the flow is similar. You begin with your SAP Cloud Platform environment. Then you create the launchpad site, organize apps into catalogs, display them in groups, assign applications, configure navigation, and finally assign roles to users. Each step builds on the previous one, and by the end, you will have a launchpad that is intuitive, organized, and user-friendly.
Step 1: Setting Up Your SAP Cloud Platform Environment
Everything starts with the environment. You cannot build a launchpad on a blank canvas. Start by logging into your SAP Cloud Platform Cockpit and selecting your subaccount. Using the Cloud Foundry environment gives you a modern and scalable foundation, which is perfect for building and maintaining your launchpad.
Next, make sure the right services are activated. This includes the SAP Fiori Launchpad service and the SAPUI5 or Fiori apps. You should also check that your user account has the right roles, such as FLP_ADMIN for full administration, FLP_DESIGNER for designing catalogs and groups, and FLP_USER for testing purposes. Think of this step as making sure you have all the tools you need before starting a project.
Step 2: Creating Your Launchpad Site
Once the environment is ready, it is time to create the launchpad site. The site is where all your applications will live. In the Fiori Launchpad Designer, create a new site and give it a meaningful name such as Corporate Fiori Launchpad. You can also add a description for internal reference.
Next, choose a theme. SAP provides Quartz Light and Quartz Dark, or you can create a custom theme with your company colors and logo. The site itself acts as the foundation of your launchpad. Everything else, including apps, tiles, and groups, will sit on top of it.
Step 3: Organizing Apps with Catalogs
Adding catalogs for app organization purposes is the next step after setting up your site. Think of catalogs as rooms within a building containing apps that serve a similar purpose.
For example, a catalog titled ‘HR’ could include both Leave Request apps and Payroll apps, whereas a catalog titled ‘Finance’ may contain both Invoice Approval and Expense Report apps. Catalogs are back-end objects; they do not appear on the launchpad, but they will allow you to manage applications and assign them to users more easily later on.
By organizing catalogs the proper way now, you will be saving yourself time and energy in the future.
Step 4: Creating Groups and Linking to Catalogs
After creating catalogs, you need to create groups. Groups are what users see on the homepage. You assign apps from catalogs to these groups, and users see the tiles according to the groups linked to their role.
For example, an HR group might show Leave Approval and Payroll tiles, while a Finance group shows Invoice Approvals and Expense Reports. Linking catalogs to groups ensures that users see only what is relevant to them and keeps the launchpad clean and organized.
Step 5: Adding Applications to Your Launchpad
The next step involves adding the applications themselves, which may be standard SAP Fiori apps, custom-developed UI5 apps, or even external urls.
Each app should also have an associated title, semantic object and action for navigation, application id or url, and optionally an icon to improve the visual appeal of each tile. When grouping apps by way of the app group assignment, you determine the users that will see these apps on their home page.
By this time, your launchpad should resemble and function like a valid working interface.
Step 6: Configuring Navigation with Target Mappings
Clicking a tile should take the user somewhere. Target mappings define what happens when a user clicks a tile. You configure a semantic object and action and link it to the correct application or URL.
For instance, clicking a Leave Approval tile opens the Leave Request Approval app directly. Target mappings make the launchpad intuitive and easy to navigate.
Step 7: Assigning Roles to Users
The Launchpad can be configured to only show the applications that you want a specific user to see. Assigning a Role to the user creates a personalized Launchpad for that user and ensures that the user has access to that application’s features based on their Role.
Step 8: Testing Your Launchpad
Testing your Launchpad before you go live is critical. You should log on as a Test User with your test account and ensure that all of the tiles are visible and respond to user clicks correctly, and that any dynamic tiles display real-time data correctly.
You should conduct tests on multiple devices to verify that your Launchpad is fully responsive and that the Theme and Branding will look the same across all devices. You can think of this as your last time walking through your home’s entrance to ensure that all of your things are in order and everything is functioning properly.
Step 9: Enhancing and Personalizing the Launchpad
After testing, you can enhance the launchpad further. Add corporate branding with logos and colors, enable dynamic tiles to show live updates, and include analytical tiles for dashboards or charts.
Allow users to personalize their layout by rearranging tiles or creating custom groups. These enhancements make the launchpad not just functional but engaging and user-friendly.
Conclusion
When building a Fiori Launchpad, you can think about how you would go about building a house. The first step in developing your Launchpad is to lay your foundation in the SAP Cloud Platform environment (i.e. establish a Launchpad Site).
After the foundation has been laid, you can then begin constructing the framework (i.e. establishing your Site), organizing your Rooms (i.e. Catalogs), arranging for your Furniture (i.e. Groups and Applications), configuring your Utilities (i.e. Target Mappings), and finally, allowing your Residents to occupy their Rooms (i.e. by assigning User Roles).
By following this construction methodology, you have created a centralized, intuitive workspace; thus allowing the employee to concentrate on their assigned job responsibilities and not have to navigate multiple systems. This is also how to ensure your launchpad is well-structured, role-based, and scalable to create a contemporary SAP experience that the employee will value.