People have been asking general questions in comments on unrelated posts. If you have a general question, please post it as a comment here, and I’ll reply to it. If I help, consider showing your appreciation by buying me a coffee!
Alternatively, you can post a question in the SAP-hosted SAP Enable Now Community.
Hi Dirk, I am in the process of working to identify and make changes to the standard templates being used in Enable Now for a specific client. The client already has existing projects to which we would like to apply the new template. Is there a mass update feature in Enable Now that would allow us to apply the new templates to existing projects in one shot? Any direction you can provide is greatly appreciated because to date nobody seems to know this answer, and we haven’t been able to find anything about this in the Enable Now documentation.
It depends on what you mean by ‘templates’. I assume you’re only talking about simulation projects? In which case there are basically two things you can directly influence (other than default content included in a Project used as a template): the bubble format, and the bubble text. For the bubble format, there is a handy macro (under Tools) that you can run against a Group to change all bubbles in all Projects within that Group (there’s options for mode and bubble type).
For the bubble text, there is the content and the formatting. The content (i.e. the words) is controlled by the Recording Dictionary. This is applied at the time of creation (hence “Recording…”), and as far as I am aware, it is not possible to ‘apply’ a new Recording Dictionary to an existing simulation project, so you are stuck with whatever it was when you created it. What you may be able to do is create a ‘translated’ version but choose the same language as the destination, and it would pull in the new (default) Recording Dictionary text… But this would only replace the ‘default’ text – so any manual edits you made to bubble text (basically, any time the Translate Manually flag is set) will NOT be converted.
For the bubble formatting, IF you had previously applied styles to bubble text and then changed the style, the new styles should automatically get picked up (or you may need to delete the playback modes and re-save them; I’m not sure so you’d have to test). Note that if you had links to the existing version you would need to update these to point to the new ‘translated’ version – or use the Replace Content feature, which is very handy.
If you’re referring to anything else (like Book Pages…) let me know and I’ll try again. Hope this helps.
Hi Dirk, Thank you for the direction. Based on what I have found and what you are saying, it looks like there is no clean way to update existing projects with new templates. This is for simulation projects, and specifically for the published simulation demo and practice modes as well as the published document. Some things we were trying to change were default wording (e. g, Type “X” in the [field name] field); update the company logo; have text entered into fields display in a different color; remove automatic cropping, etc.
Hello SEN Expert: I have multiple ANCILE uPerform clients who are considering moving platforms to SAP Enable Now. Many of them have used uPerform for over 10 years and have amassed a huge library of documents, simulations and courses. To the best of your knowledge, is there any type of conversion tool available that would enable my clients to convert from the uPerform .UDC / .ULC / .UDT files (document/course/template) to an SAP Enable Now format? Switching platforms at this stage will be a major undertaking unless we are able to find some automated tools that can help us along the way. Thanks very much for any insight that you can give me. Best Regards, Shaun
Shaun:
There is no import-and-convert utility built in to Enable Now that you can use, but there are third party vendors who offer this conversion as a service (for a fee – but certainly cheaper than re-creating). I have used Abreon for converting UPK simulations, and they have done a pretty good job, and have been very accommodating of client-specific quirks. I know they can also convert uPerform, but I haven’t used that service myself.
One caveat I would add with conversions – specific to UPK conversions, but likely also true for uPerform) is that SAP Enable Now has very good field-level context recognition/re-recognition, whereas UPK only captures the application/screen context (it captures field/object names/images but not technical details to allow it to be re-recognized). This means that you may not be able to create a Desktop Assistant Guided Tour from an SAP Enable Now simulation project that was converted from a UPK simulation – although the simulations themselves play perfectly well (so you can use, for example, Concurrent Mode in the DA). Basically whatever information is present in the source recording can be carried over to the conversion, but the conversion utility cannot magically invent more detailed information. May or may not hold true for uPerform; I don’t know.
I know that there is a company somewhere that will basically re-record simulations created in one application using SAP Enable Now (assuming the application is a relatively well-known application like SAP or something) but I think that is pretty expensive, and probably no cheaper than getting in your own people to re-record them. But at least you’d get the full functionality of SAP Enable Now.
Hope this helps, Dirk
Is it possible to record simulations of Enable Now? I would like to develop some learning for new Enable Now authors.
Jo: By default Enable Now will not let you record Enable Now (it will tell you there is already an instance running when you try to start up a second one. There is an ‘expert feature’ that can be enabled to basically circumvent this check, but it needs to be enabled via the Admin (maybe that’s you – email me direct if so). But I generally try to avoid using Enable Now to build training on Enable Now – you have to be careful to make sure it is clear what bits of what the user sees is the demonstration of recording the application and what bits are just in the player for playback (use different bubble types, etc…). It can quickly devolve into a confusing ‘hall of mirrors’ scenario. But maybe that’s just me.
Hi! very interesting article on Document creation. Thanks!
Would you happend to know how to create a glossary?
Creating a Glossary is surprisingly easy. Glossary entries are just Text Units with a subtype of Glossary. Set the Text Unit Name to be the Glossary Term and enter the Glossary Definition in the Description. You might want to organize them into Groups by first letter to keep the whole thing organized – especially if you then include the Glossary in the Trainer. To apply a Glossary just select the Group containing your content, and then select Tools > Glossary > Apply Glossary, and select the Group containing your Glossary (and specify other options as necessary).
I have a scenario where there are two distinct groups in the workarea. One group has content that has a lot of animation and linkages that, in the wrong hands, could easily break. I want to be able to limit who can access only that one group. Do you know if there is a way to do that?
Vanessa: (Sorry, just saw this – was trapped as spam for some reason)
Unfortunately currently not. Authorization is at the Workarea level, and can’t be done at the Group level (I submitted an enhancement request for this some time back but I’m not holding my breath. Your only option is to create a second Workarea – but then not everything is in the same place. You _may_ be able to work around that by basing the ‘non-controlled’ workarea on the ‘controlled’ workarea so USERS still see everything, though – you’d have to check that out.
In practise mode, the bubbles are blocking the action that need to be performed. I cannot find the solution to move them more into the corner. Any tips?
You can move Bubbles to be wherever you want on the screen, but I strongly suggest that they are always tied to the object. I put together a quick video (here: https://youtu.be/aNgVw7yTkoc) on Bubble positions – it would probably be useful to watch that. But in short, use the Practice Bubble > Orientation and Position properties to control where the Bubble appears in relation to the object. You’ll need to be editing in Practice mode to see the changes during editing. HTH, Dirk
Hi, For SuccessFactors (SF) I want to enable Web Assistant (WA).
And so I went in SF into Web Assistant Settings and followed this instruction: https://enable-now.sap.com/ic/auth/ext/index.html?show=group!GR_F8BA0FC968CD2EB9#group!GR_E5E0F911D4E3C795
Then in EN Manager, in Server Settings, I enabled CORS and allowed all sites (by typing *).
Then in EN Producer, where I have my custom made simulations recorded on SF (but these are Simulation objects, not Context Help or Guided Tours objects), I put those simulations in a Group and Recorded Desktop Assistant Context to match/associate them with a home screen of SF, with intention that when I’m on SF Home Page, then I click on Web Assistant icon (question mark icon), the carousel appears and I select Learning to get a pop up with Recommended Learning where those associated simulations are listed and I can open them.
But what happens is that when I go to SF Home Page or even any other page, the WA icon appears for a second and then disappears.
What can be the reason?
Thanks a ton in advance for your help!!
I would hazard a guess that it is an Authorization issue, and probably in SuccessFactors. In your average S/4HANA system (and SF is at its heart just another SF system) is a specific permission that needs to be assigned to users so they can see the Web Assistant. Check with your S&C people what this is, and make sure it has been applied to all users (in a ‘general default access’ role or similar). There’s a couple of things you can do to test this. First, make sure you do NOT have the readCatalogue=false property specified in the SF WA configuration. This will make sure that authorization is checked against WA as soon as you log on to SF. If you see the blue “You have now been authorized…” message flash up as soon as you log on then you know it is not a WA authorization issue (and if you do not see this, check that the content has been published and that you have at least Read access to the Workarea). The next test is when you log on to SF, even if you don’t see the (?) – press F1. If this opens the Carousel (just like clicking the (?) does) then WA is correctly configured. If not, check if any other useful messages are thrown up. HTH (and apologies for the delay) -> Dirk
Hi Dirk
I am facing the same issue. I am enabling the standard web assistant (not integrated with Enable Now). The icon appears and disappears and I am not sure what authorization / permissions need assigned in addition to the standard web assistant settings as per the document “file:///C:/Users/pvangala3/OneDrive%20-%20DXC%20Production/Reference%20Docs/Web_Assistant_Integration_Guide_en-US.pdf” (Page 48) standard scenario.
Can I please ask for some clarification from your response above. The SF WA configuration does not have readCatalogue option listed against ‘Web Assistant Settings’ in SF?
Also F1 does not seem to work on the page and no messages or errors.
This is probably because there is no help content available for that screen. Try adding the parameter noHelpMode=carousel (use &help-noHelpMode=carousel in-line in the URL, to test it) – that will force display of the Carousel even if there is no content.
How do I set up the branding and colour pallette template for all documents in SEN? Does it have a template in the same way Ancile Uperform does?
Michelle: It depends on what you mean by ‘all documents’. There’s a few things you can set up the color scheme for:
So yes, a lot you can do to match your client’s branding / preferences, if you’re prepared to do the work.
Why does EN records numbers as letters? I was creating a simulation and entered a date and it changed all my 1’s to T’s.
It is almost certainly down to the Profile selected for recording. I don’t know what you are recording against, or what profile is being defaulted, but try changing to Standard and see if that makes a difference.
It could also be because scripting hasn’t been enabled in the application itself.
Can we create an FAQ within Enable Now, or use an existing feature to bring this functionality to our S4 Hana (GUI + Fiori) users?
Alan: It depends upon what component you are using to deliver the content. I’m going to hazard a guess at Web Assistant, in which case the answer is “Yes” for Fiori – just create a Link Tile and have this link to the Book (or other file/site) that contains your FAQs. Things are a bit more complicated for non-Fiori web-based systems (like NWBC). You can still use Web Assistant to provide a simple tile that points the users somewhere else, but I think this is all you can do – just the one tile saying “Go here for help” (at the moment – I know SAP are actively working to extend Web Assistant to NWBC). For traditional SAPGui you have the option of using Desktop Assistant or a Context Help file/link. Here, the answer is a bit murky. You probably can link to a FAQ file, but I don’t know if you would have to link it to every applicable context. You’d have to test. With DA an easier option is to just add a link to the Info Tab (which is populated by the Description on the Desktop Assistant content object). Hope this helps.