Introducing Cloud Notifications

Notifications in enterprise applications are an effective way to make users aware of situations that require their timely action or attention. Examples include workflow scenarios, such as a purchase orders exceeding a specific limit, or a leave request that requires manager attention. SAP Fiori launchpad can consume notifications from the SAP Gateway Notification Channel, which is part of the SAP Gateway Foundation (SAP_GWFND) software component. 

Notifications are available via the Notification Center (the bell icon) in the SAP Fiori launchpad header on the respective SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud system: 

The notifications can be broadcasted from SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud to the Notification Service, which is a kernel service that is included with SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition. These notifications can be made available to the end-users via the following channels:

• SAP BTP notifications – accessed via the site defined using SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition
• In-app notifications – within SAP Mobile Start app screens
• Native notifications – on the device home page

The specific prerequisites for each are described in later sections.

SAP Mobile Start provides in-app notifications, for example, a dedicated Notification Center screen can be accessed via a bell icon on the header of the app screens.

It also offers the possibility to receive native notifications directly on the home screen of their mobile devices. Users can select the native notification and directly open the corresponding business application within SAP Mobile Start. 

Additional Prerequisites for Native Notifications

Native push notifications (accessed on the device home screen) additionally require an identifier for the user to be mapped between SAP S/4HANA, SAP BTP Build Work Zone, standard edition and SAP Mobile Services. This value has to match the value of the User Name field on SAP BTP, which is populated via the subject main identifier of the connected IdP.

Note

This prerequisite does not apply for notifications that can be accessed via the site on SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, or the in-app notifications within the SAP Mobile Start app.

In Scenario 1, native notifications should usually work by default as SAP S/4HANA (on-premise and cloud) can hold Email as part of user record and is included in the notification payload from SAP S/4HANA (on-premise and cloud) that is sent to SAP BTP.

As Scenario 2 makes use of User ID, this information should be part of notification payload, which is only possible if certain prerequisites for SAP S/4HANA components are met.

SAP S/4HANA (On-Premise)

The support for User ID as the authentication identifier for native notifications was introduced (as an additional option to Email, which was already supported) in the following versions. With lower versions, SAP S/4HANA only supports the use of Email.

• SAP_GWFND 757 or higher
• Available via SAP Note 3222432 on:
  • SAP_GWFND 756 SP02 & SP01
  • SAP_GWFND 755 SP04 & SP03
  • SAP_GWFND 754 SP06

Note

In other words, if these prerequisites are not met and if your connected IdP provides User ID as subject name identifier (User Name in SAP BTP), native notifications (on device home screen) will not work. The in-app notifications within SAP Mobile Start or the notifications on SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition site can still work with Email.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

SAP S/4HANA Cloud only supports use of Email as per the help documentation.

SAP BTP and Mobile Services

Depending on the scenario, you will need to adjust the Site Manager settings. You can configure whether User ID or Email is used as the authentication identifier. This setting is then used by SAP Mobile Services for native push.

To set up on SAP Build Work Zone, standard edition, you need to perform two steps as shown in the following video:

1. Enable notifications for specific site
2. Generate credentials for notifications and choose authentication identifier

Note

It is also possible to regenerate the notification credentials using the Regenerate button at the bottom of the screen. Note that this will change the values and breaks existing connections, and you will need to reconfigure the steps that are covered in the next lessons.