SAP Fiori has revolutionized the user experience (UX) landscape for SAP applications by providing a modern, role-based, and intuitive interface that enhances user productivity and satisfaction. However, to fully unlock the potential of SAP Fiori and align it with specific organizational requirements, customization is often necessary.
This article explores the strategies and best practices for customizing SAP Fiori applications to meet diverse business needs while maintaining alignment with SAP UX principles.
While SAP Fiori offers a rich library of standard apps tailored to common business roles and processes, every organization has unique workflows, data requirements, and branding standards. Customizing SAP Fiori applications enables:
- Tailoring user interfaces to reflect specific business processes
- Adding or modifying functionalities to close gaps
- Enhancing usability and accessibility for different user groups
- Incorporating corporate branding and design guidelines
- Integrating with custom backend systems or extensions
Customization ensures that SAP Fiori delivers relevant, efficient, and engaging experiences that drive user adoption and business value.
SAP provides several tools for adapting the UI without deep technical changes:
- UI Theme Designer: Customize colors, fonts, and branding to reflect corporate identity.
- SAP Fiori Launchpad Designer: Configure tiles, catalogs, and groups to streamline navigation.
- Key User Adaptation: Business users can adjust layouts, hide fields, or personalize their apps within controlled boundaries.
These options enable rapid customization with minimal development effort.
¶ 2. Extending Standard Fiori Apps
For more advanced customization, SAP allows extending standard Fiori apps using:
- SAP Web IDE / Business Application Studio: Develop custom UI5 components or modify existing ones.
- Extension Points and Hooks: Leverage predefined enhancement spots in SAP Fiori apps to add or override functionality without modifying core code.
- OData Service Extensions: Adjust backend services to expose additional data or implement custom logic.
This approach preserves upgrade compatibility while adapting apps to complex business scenarios.
When standard apps or extensions cannot fulfill specific needs, organizations may develop fully custom SAP Fiori applications from scratch. This involves:
- Designing the UI following SAP Fiori design guidelines
- Building front-end components with SAPUI5
- Connecting to SAP backend or third-party systems via OData or APIs
Custom apps offer maximum flexibility but require careful planning and adherence to SAP UX principles to ensure consistency.
¶ 4. Integrating with Other SAP and Non-SAP Solutions
Customization often includes integrating SAP Fiori apps with:
- SAP backend modules (S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors)
- Cloud services (SAP Business Technology Platform)
- Third-party tools or APIs
This integration expands app capabilities and aligns workflows across systems.
- Prioritize User-Centric Design: Involve end-users early to understand their needs and validate customizations.
- Maintain SAP UX Consistency: Follow SAP Fiori design guidelines to ensure a cohesive experience.
- Use Extension Points Whenever Possible: Avoid direct modification of standard apps to ease future upgrades.
- Document Customizations Thoroughly: Maintain clear documentation to support maintenance and audits.
- Test Across Devices: Ensure customizations perform well on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
- Leverage SAP Tools and Support: Use SAP-provided tools and community resources to streamline development.
- Increased user productivity through tailored workflows
- Higher user adoption and satisfaction
- Better alignment with business processes and compliance
- Faster decision-making with relevant, contextual data
- Improved brand alignment and professional look-and-feel
Customizing SAP Fiori applications is a powerful way to tailor SAP’s modern UX framework to the unique demands of your organization. Whether through simple UI adaptations, extensions of standard apps, or fully custom developments, customization enables businesses to enhance user engagement, streamline operations, and realize the full potential of SAP solutions.
A well-planned SAP Fiori customization strategy, rooted in user needs and SAP UX principles, is essential for delivering business value and supporting digital transformation goals.