Replacing Smartforms, Not ABAPers!
Business compliance standards have become more difficult to fulfill in the past few years and IT is the primary department of any organization in adapting forms to user needs.
I am sure that any SAP business is aware of the following scenario: Users have a form creation or change request, requiring the following process…
- gather written specifications
- evaluate feasibility with Consultants
- involve ABAP developers
- implement Testing, Q&A
- share and distribute forms to the appropriate end users
Even for one small change, IT must go through this process again. Not only does it take an awful lot of time to release SAP Forms, but users are rarely 100% satisfied with the end result.
Long story short, SMARTform and SAP script are not intuitive. When an end user is dissatisfied with their forms, they request more changes. Some of the more common digital transformations, include tables, fonts, barcodes, and logos. You name it, an ABAPer can do it, but it takes time.
However, you cannot tell that to the End User, lest you want to become much better friends. They may become annoyed when changes will not be completed in the same week. ABAP is a craft, and as with any craft, it takes time to do it just right. As a result, many end users look for a way around the SAP forms process…
Is there a fast and easy solution to this dilemma?
Of course, end users can create their own forms!
Compleo RFC Service can save you time
If you take advantage of the SAP RFC protocol to trigger forms processing on a windows server, it solves a lot of existing constraints. We can benefit from a Windows graphical interface using drag-and-drop features to design the layout of forms and easily populate content with data sent from the secure, SAP RFC connection.
It was easy to identify the User-Exit (BAdi) and insert a SAP function call to trigger Compleo’s built-in document management. It only takes two lines of ABAP code embedded in the BAdi to trigger the RFC Service, allowing this application to work its magic.
The electronic form builder reads data sent by SAP for related documents. The relevant data is accessed through BAPis and successive call-backs ensure SAP keeps track of the delegated process.
It may sound crazy, but you can actually have end users design their own templates, as Compleo has a user-friendly design interface. Now business users can make cosmetic changes and adapt to compliance needs on their own.
What about Legal Users?
Legal had changes in compliance and needs to be sent finished documents, not a problem. This application now gives legal room to create PDFs with user authorization.
Why is this an advantage? Don’t I still have to input the data in SAP? Nope, not anymore.
When legal wants to make updates to the condition of documents, they can do it on a whim. When a document needs to be sent along with legal documentation, it’s as simple as merging files to be sent along as an attachment.
The result is impressive in terms of design and powerful for end user document management. The ability to embed advanced features such as barcodes & digital signature is now a matter of a few mouse clicks. Facilitation of the distribution of documents is included in the output form solution as well.
The Digital SAP Transformation is now survivable for any end user!
Additional Concerns
The major concerns of an external SAP Forms approach are security and governance. Symtrax practices document governance and traceability in all of our solutions. As an SAP silver partner, SAP users trust our solutions to optimize their Output Management.
Why take our word for it? Try out Compleo Suite for free!
