Mastering the Site Menu

In this lesson, we delve into the heart of SAP Build Work Zone navigation - the Site Menu. The Site Menu is not just a navigation tool though; it's the gateway through which users access the broad range of features, applications, and resources available on the platform. Understanding how to configure, customize, and manage the Site Menu is crucial for administrators aiming to create a user-friendly and efficient digital workspace. This lesson will cover everything from the basics of configuring the Site Menu to adding content and transporting menu configurations across systems.

The Site Menu in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition, serves as the primary navigation aid for users. It's designed to offer quick access to workspaces, applications, and other resources. A well-organized Site Menu enhances user experience by making navigation intuitive and reducing the time it takes for users to find what they need.

Configuring the Site Menu involves several key steps:

• Accessing the Site Menu Configuration: Company administrators can access the Site Menu configuration panel from within the SAP Build Work Zone experience. Here, they can view the current menu structure and make changes as needed.
• Editing Menu Items: Administrators have the ability to add, remove, or re-arrange menu items. Each item can be configured to link to different types of content, such as applications, workspaces, or external URLs.
• Setting Permissions: It's possible to set access permissions for each menu item, ensuring that users only see content relevant to their roles and access levels.

Understanding the various menu item types is crucial for creating an effective and user-friendly Site Menu. Among these types, Custom, Workspace, Application, and Predefined items play significant roles in tailoring the navigation experience to meet the specific needs of different user groups. Here's a detailed look at each of these menu item types:

Custom

• Description: Custom menu items are designed to offer a high level of flexibility, allowing administrators to link to a wide range of content both within and outside of the SAP Build Work Zone environment. This type can be configured to direct users to custom URLs or link workpages stored directly within the site menu content.
• Best Use: Custom items are ideal for integrating unique resources, such as company intranet workpages, custom-built applications, or specific informational workpages that do not fit into the standard categories of applications or workspaces.

Workspace

• Description: Workspace menu items directly link to specific workspaces within SAP Build Work Zone. Workspaces are collaborative areas that can contain a variety of applications, information, and collaboration tools tailored to support specific business processes, projects, or team activities.
• Best Use: Workspace items are best utilized to provide quick access to these collaborative environments, ensuring that users can easily navigate to their project areas, departmental resources, or any other group-specific workspace. This type enhances collaboration and productivity by centralizing access to related resources.

Application

• Description: Application menu items serve as direct links to individual applications within SAP Build Work Zone. These can be standard SAP applications, custom-developed solutions, or third-party applications that have been integrated into the platform.
• Best Use: Application items are essential for ensuring users have quick and easy access to the tools they need to perform their daily tasks. They simplify the user experience by reducing the steps needed to launch frequently used applications, making them a key component of an efficient Site Menu.

Predefined Menu Items

Description: Predefined menu items are system-generated links that point to commonly used SAP Build Work Zone features or services. These items are automatically included in the Site Menu to provide consistent access to essential platform functionalities. This includes features like Recommendation or the cross-workspace Knowledge Base.

Best Use: Predefined items are best for ensuring all users have uniform access to core features of SAP Build Work Zone like the knowledge base or workspaces dropdown. They help maintain a standard navigation structure across the platform, making it easier for users to find common services and settings.

The Recommendations feature in SAP Build Work Zone provides personalized content suggestions based on user interactions such as likes, comments, follows, bookmarks, and @mentions. This tool curates a list of the most viewed, featured, or liked content, tailored to each user.

Workspace Level: Within a workspace, navigate to the Recommendations page to view content that is recommended, most viewed, featured, or liked. You can filter these recommendations based on timelines like "this month," "this week," or "today."

Company Level: At the company level, the Recommendations feature lists content based on the number of views, likes, highest ratings, or featured status. This can be accessed in the site menu under Tools > Recommendations.

The Knowledge Base feature in SAP Build Work Zone allows workspace members to create, categorize, and share articles on various topics like ideas, processes, and solutions to common problems.

Workspace Level:

If enabled, the Knowledge Base page displays all articles created within the workspace. Members can create articles using templates, a rich text editor for images, links, and videos, and categorize articles for easy filtering. Drafts can be saved, and articles can be published with specific permissions and settings, including delayed publishing and expiry dates. Published articles can be tagged, liked, bookmarked, and commented on. Workspace administrators can create and manage article templates, move articles between workspaces, and enable or disable the Knowledge Base feature in workspace settings.

Company-Wide Knowledge Base:

If enabled by the company administrator, users can access articles from all public workspaces and any workspaces they are members of through the site menu under Tools → Knowledge Base.

Via the site menu, administrators can enable the company-wide knowledge base and recommendation features and decide where within the overall menu these entries should be placed.

The screenshot above shows the access via the site menu to Recommendations and the Knowledge base.

Transporting Site Menu configurations is essential for maintaining consistency across different environments (for example, from a development to a production environment). The process involves:

• Exporting the Configuration: Use the transport functionality in the Site Manager to export the current Site Menu configuration. This will generate a file containing all the menu settings and structures.
• Importing to another System: In the target system, import the configuration file through the Site Menu configuration screen. This will apply all the menu settings from the source system to the target system, ensuring a consistent user experience across environments.

• Keep It Simple: Aim for a Site Menu structure that is easy to understand and navigate. Overcomplicating the menu can overwhelm users and make it harder for them to find what they need.
• Regularly Review and Update: As the needs of your organization change, so too should your Site Menu. Regularly review the menu structure and content to ensure it remains relevant and useful.
• Engage Users for Feedback: User feedback is invaluable for optimizing the Site Menu. Engage with your users to understand their needs and preferences and adjust the menu accordingly.