There are three possibilities to provide POD access to users. We will take a closer look at the most common:
- By URL (Barcode)
- POD Launcher
- Publishing POD as a tile
Let's learn about these access options in more detail.
Accessing a Production Operator Dashboard by URL (Barcode)
Whenever a POD is saved in the POD Designer, the system creates a unique URL for this POD. Selecting the URL brings the user to the page. You could take this URL and bookmark it in the browser or create a link on the desktop for the operator to open it. The created URL can be enhanced with workcenter and resource encoded in the link.
Work Center Production Operator Dashboard URL Example:
See in bold the possibility to enhance the URL with the respective workcenter and resource (In Italics).
{Your_DM_URL}/site#DMEWorkCenterPOD-Display?sap-ui-app-id-hint=sap.dm.dme.pod&%2F%3F=&WORKCENTER=ASSEMBLY&RESOURCE=WELDING+MACHINE+01
In the following video, we are going to get the unique POD URL with the POD Designer and then change the default operation activity and the resource, turning our Welding POD into a POD for the Operation Activity Painting with the respective painting resource. Let's get started!
With this information, it is also feasible to create a QR barcode which can be scanned by the operator. The link directly opens the associated POD with the encoded workcenter and resource combination, which ensures process quality, especially if the operators are switching workstations. Let's now look at the second POD access option, the POD Launcher application.
Launch the Production Operator Dashboard Application
PODs can be accessed by opening the Launch POD application in the SAP DM Tile.
A prerequisite is that your user was set as valid in the Manage POD User application in SAP DM for using the assigned POD. Within the Manage POD User application, it is possible to set up a user-specific authorization concept. See in the following video:
The third, and final POD access option, is to publish a POD as a tile.
Publishing a Production Operator Dashboard as a Tile
The Production Operator Dashboard (POD) Designer tool enables you to transform your POD into a tile. To do this, first make sure you have either created a new POD or duplicated a default one. Then, choose your desired POD from the list, select Publish, and input a name for your tile in the dialog box. You should also include a description and a subtitle for your tile and select an icon. To finish, select Publish to both save your POD and publish the tile on your launchpad. Make sure to refresh the launchpad to see your newly published tile. The following video outlines how this is done:
Note
The tile will be visible across all plants on your launchpad, but you can only open the tile in the plant where it was created. Also, the newly created tile is user-specific, which means that you publish this tile only for your user – other users in this plant do not see this tile.You can edit your tile in the Edit page of SAP Fiori launchpad, or in the POD Designer, with the most recent revision showing on the launchpad. If you want to remove your POD tile from the Fiori Launchpad, open the POD in the POD Designer, select Publish, and then choose Remove Tile.
To restrict the user from selection of workcenters in, for example, the Workcenter POD, it is possible to assign respective workcenters to users in the Manage User Assignment app.
In this example, this user would be able to use PODs at the workcenters listed under Work Center as shown in the image below.
As an example, if we delete the Welding workcenter assignment in the Manage User Assignments app for a specific user, The POD shows a POD Message saying that the user isn’t assigned to the workcenter while trying to access the respective workcenter.
Note
This restriction only works for Workcenter and Order POD because here, the selection criteria are based on the workcenter.