SAP Learning Journey

Configuring Goal Plan Layout

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Configure the plan layout in a goal plan

Goal Plan Layout Configuration

The Plan Layout determines how the goal fields appear on the goal plan. The figure, Goal Plan Layout, shows a common layout for fields on a goal plan.

Always place tables, such as tasks and milestones, in the first column. This allows for more room to show information.

Goal Plan Layout in XML

The XML code for figure, Goal Plan Layout, appears in the figure, Goal Plan Layout in XML.

There are a few things to note when reading this code to help you configure your own Goal Plan Layout.

The first two columns on the left and the last column on the right cannot be configured. Therefore, they are not to be included in the weight calculation.

The rest of the columns are divided proportionally, based upon the weights given to them in the code. These are relative weights, so the column with the weight of 15 is larger than one with the weight of 10.

You can have more than one field in a column (see the Tasks table field type, including its table columns Task Description, Due Date, and Complete, in the figure Goal Plan Layout). The field is included in the first column, along with the Goal Name.

Configure Plan Layout

Business Example

You must define how fields appear in the goal plan (plan layout) and test its configurations.

Note
As you learned previously, when adding a field from Manage Templates, the field-definition is created and referenced in all existing permission blocks (field refid=)

This new field is automatically added in plan-layout as a new column, with a weight of 0.0. This step ensures field is visible. But as a consultant, you can adjust the column weights in the XML.

Learn how to configure the Goal Plan layout in the XML template.

ExerciseStart Exercise

Steps

  1. Add fields to the goal plan layout and make them visible.

    1. Open your goal plan in an XML editor and locate any fields that you have added and permissioned.
      Hint
      You can search using Ctrl+F and Fn+F3 to toggle through search results.
    2. Add and organize those new fields within the plan layout as wish.

      You can refer to the following code as an example for creating a plan layout. Other ways are also possible:

      Code snippet
      <plan-layout> <column weight="20.0"> <field refid="name"/> <field refid="tasks"/> <field refid="comments"/> </column> <column weight="5.0"> <field refid="state"/> </column> <column weight="0"> <field refid="start"/> <field refid="due"/> </column> </plan-layout>Expand
      Note
      If you were deleting a field from the XML, you should delete not only the field-definition code, but also the reference to the field from all field-permission and the plan-layout. If you forget to remove before importing in Provisioning, the figure, Importing in Provisioning Error Message, shows a common error message that appears. This message states that an element that has been permissioned does not exist in the document. So, the "checkbox" ID still exists in the field permissions or plan layout, although is no longer defined as a field-definition.

  2. Test field configurations for accuracy.

    1. Validate, and save-as a new version.
    2. Log into Provisioning and navigate to Import/Export/Update Objective Plan Template.
    3. Import the XML template.
    4. To test the new field definitions and permissions you have configured, log into the instance and navigate to the Goals section.
    5. If you encounter unexpected behavior, go back to the XML template and test in order to identify the cause.
    Note
    When new fields are added to the XML, they will not display on the goal plan by default. Be sure to expand the Display Options menu and select the checkboxes next to each field that you would like to display in the plan.

Log in to track your progress & complete quizzes