Usability in ABAP Programs - SITSP2011

© SAP Inside Track Brazil 2011 – São Paulo e São Leopoldo

Usability in ABAP Programs


Usability in ABAP ProgramsMauricio Roberto Cruz

ABAP Consultant since 2006

PI Consultant since 2008

JAVA/Android/UX Enthusiast

Editor for “ABAP Zombie”

http://abapzombie.blog.br/




Usability in ABAP ProgramsAgenda

• Concepts• Why should we care about Usability?• Real case analysis• Creating user-oriented ABAP programs • Tools and Techniques• References and Guidelines


Usability in ABAP ProgramsConcepts

Usability – The ease of use and learnability of a human-made object

Interaction Design (IxD) – Tells how a system/product must behave based on user

experience with it

User Experience (UX) – how someone feels and react when using a product


Usability in ABAP ProgramsWhy should we think in Usability?

• Simpler and easier-to-use interfaces

• Less “misunderstanding errors”

• Program will last longer on your client’s system

• And your job will look even more Professional!


Usability in ABAP ProgramsA new requirement has arrived!

SITBRAZIL 2011FS001

Sales Order File


Usability in ABAP ProgramsSAP Project – Who’s who?

User – He wants something!

SD Consultant – He knows what the user wants

ABAP Developer – He will create what the SD Consultant tells him the user wants


Usability in ABAP ProgramsSAP Project – Classical Structure


Usability in ABAP ProgramsLet’s build something… “classical”

FS001 - Sales Order File

• Program must do the following:

– Extract all sales order data based on date/s.o. number/s.o. type into a text (.txt) file

– Create file at server or user’s machine


Usability in ABAP ProgramsHand’s on!

• SD Consultant– Defined all rules needed and gathered all

transactions/tables from where data will be extracted

– Also defined an Layout with the end-user

• ABAP Developer– Created the whole program 100% according to the

Specification


Usability in ABAP ProgramsResults – Is it complete?

Program’s Selection Screen:

Success Message:


Usability in ABAP ProgramsTest Results

• ABAP Unit Test– Done, everything is fine!

• SD Unit Test– Done, everything if fine and according to what I

specified

• User Acceptance Test– Program is wrong!


Usability in ABAP ProgramsWhat went wrong?

• Data modeling was correctly made• Business requirements were covered by the

program• There were no issues with File Layout

However…


Usability in ABAP ProgramsWhat went wrong?

Nobody thought about how that software will be used.

We work for the end-user, yet we often ignore what are his thoughts and what he trully needs


Usability in ABAP ProgramsQuestion

Have you ever faced this kind of situation, where the user seems to have no “computer

skills” at all, and can’t understand how a “simple and correct” program works?


Usability in ABAP ProgramsQuestion

Is it really his fault?


Usability in ABAP ProgramsSoftware Development Process

Data Modeling goes first…

User Interactiongoes first?

or


Usability in ABAP ProgramsUser-Oriented Development

• Why the software is being created?• How the user will use that

software?• What can be created based on his

needs?


Usability in ABAP Programs

SAP Project – User-Oriented Structure

Senior


Usability in ABAP ProgramsDeveloper and User Relation

• User interaction design is one of tasks from ABAP developers

• An ABAP developer knows technically what can and can’t be built

• Based on previous developments experiences he can suggest many improvements to the software overall design


Usability in ABAP ProgramsIn case you are curious…

This is what user wanted


Usability in ABAP ProgramsDefining a user interface

• Scenarios and Use Cases– User Interaction Scenarios

• Use cases in those scenarios

• Prototypes– Wireframes– Navigation Prototypes


Usability in ABAP ProgramsUser-Oriented Projects!

• User-Oriented activities should be applied in any project: smaller and larger ones

• Senior ABAP Developer engaged in Blueprints and Requirements Gathering phases

• Agile methodologies can have a Sprint 0, dedicated only for interaction design

• There are no additional costs, and more quality will be delivered to customers


Usability in ABAP ProgramsGuidelines and Techniques

ABAP UX Guideline• SAP Design Guild – ABAP Development Guideline

http://www.sapdesignguild.org/

Techniques• Researches with users• Personas• Usability Tests


Q&A


Thank you!

Mauricio Roberto Cruz

[email protected]

@mrc_cruz


http://sapcastbrasil.wordpress.com/

mailto:[email protected]




Usability in ABAP Programs - SITSP2011

Technology

user interfacescenarios

useroriented activities

useroriented projects

useroriented developmentwhy

user wantsabap developer

abap zombiehttp

software overall design

sales order data