One of my favorite features of SAP Enable Now is Workflow. By using a Workflow Process, you can control what Statuses a content object must go through, and who can progress a content object from one Status to the next. You can also (thanks to a Customer Influence Request submitted by yours truly) have a content object automatically published when the object’s Status is set to a specific value (i.e., it hits a certain stage in the Workflow process – such as final approval).
For a deeper dive into Workflow Processes, see An Introduction to Workflow.
However, although Workflow works well for people who are familiar with SAP Enable Now (and in particular with the Manager or Producer interfaces), if you are not a ‘regular’ user of Enable Now, completing a Workflow step can be extremely confusing. And unfortunately quite often the final Approver (such as the Project Management or Content Owner) falls into this category. Using the default functionality, an email is sent to the Approver containing a link to the content object in Manager, and they then need to display the object (by clicking on a link labeled “library’ or ‘play’, depending on the type of object) then return to Task tab for the object in Manager, locate the relevant ‘transition’ link, and click on it. It’s so un-intuitive that in almost every client I have installed SAP Enable Now at, they see this final step and just give up on using Workflow Processes altogether.
But now, there is a nice, clean solution! SAP Enable Now superstar (SAPerstar?) Anton Mavrin has developed a browser Extension that allows users to trigger a Workflow Process transition directly from the browser page in which the content object is being displayed – without the need to go into Manager and deal with its somewhat unintuitive interface. The Extension also works if a Workflow Process is not used, allowing you to change the object’s Status just as easily. In this post, we’ll look at how to get this Extension, and how to use it (although honestly, it’s so easy to use you don’t really need instructions).
First of all, you need to install the Extension. It is called SEN Workflow Approver and can be found in the Chrome Store (and probably the Edge Store, too). You then need to add the parameter DISABLE-CSRF-PROTECTION to the Supported Features in Manager (under Administration > Server Settings > Miscellaneous) – this is necessary to allow the Extension to communicate with Manager (CSRF is Cross-Site Request Forgery, and generally stops one browser page from ‘interfering’ with another – so be careful disabling this outside of a trusted network).
Once you’ve installed the extension and added the parameter, and you’ll see a new icon is available in the browser:
If you are displaying content from SAP Enable Now (the domain is *.enable-now.cloud.sap) the Extension is active and will show as an orange icon; if you are on any other site, the icon will be grayed out and the Extension will be inactive.
To use the Extension, first display the content object in the browser (playing it – not displaying it in the Manager UI – which is typically what you’ll be doing if you’re reviewing it). Note that if you (the Developer) are sending a content object to an Assignee for review, you should send them the Authoring Preview link; don’t rely on the automatic notification – as noted above, that contains a link to the Manager. Once you have the content object displayed, click on the Extension icon. If a Workflow Process is assigned to the content object, a dialog box similar to the following example will be displayed:
The dialog box shows:
- Current Status: The current status of the content object
- Workflow: The name of the Workflow Process assigned to the object
- Your Decision: A list of the transitions for the process that you have permissions to execute.
Select your decision, enter a comment in the (resizable!) text box provided (you can even enter a comment without executing a transition – for example, if you want to provide feedback without affecting the Status), and click Submit Status. And that’s it! Incredibly simple!
The Extension also works for content objects that are not using a Workflow Process, allowing you to change the Status (exactly as per SAP Enable Now’s existing functionality). In this case, the Extension’s dialog box will appear as follows:
Here. you just select the new Status from the list of active Statuses, enter a comment if required, and click Submit Status.
In the background, the Extension works seamlessly, efficiently, and using the controls already in place in SAP Enable Now. You can only execute transitions that you are authorized to execute, and only authorized users can change the Status of an object. In short, it applies all the same checks and controls that are used when you’re working in Manager or Producer.
There are a couple of caveats with the Extension – it only works with the cloud edition of SAP Enable Now, and Single Sign-On needs to be active (technically, it would work without SSO as long as you were logged on to Manager in the same Browser window, but that kind of defeats the point of its simplicity…). You also can’t reassign a content object or change any of the ‘Task-level’ data (Type, Priority, Milestone…) but realistically, Approvers (or other ‘casual’ SEN users) don’t need to do that anyway – that’s generally Development Team Lead information.
And that’s all there is to it! Simple, and effective. In fact, it sounds so trivial that it’s easy to miss the significance of this Extension. In short, it is an absolute gamechanger as far as SAP Enable Now Workflow goes. Whereas I’ve previously cautioned my clients against using Workflow Processes just because of the cumbersome interface for casual SEN users, I’m now wholeheartedly advocating for unbridled use of Workflow Processes. I’ll also be contacting my prior clients and letting them know about this fantastic Extension. For me, it’s honestly most consequential improvement to SAP Enable Now since I’ve been using it. Congratulations to Anton for a job well done!
