Customizing the SAP Fiori Launchpad to Align with Customized Business Roles

If you've created a custom business role, you also need to check the corresponding space(s)/page(s) for the role to see if customizations should also be applied there for consistency. Also, there is a difference between the business catalogs within a business role granting access to applications, and whether or not those applications are in the space/page template, which determines if they display on the launchpad (or not). SAP's goal in creating space/page templates to accompany each standard business role template is to provide a clean, simple display of the essential and most frequently used apps. However, when you create entirely custom business roles, you will need to create custom spaces and pages to define how apps will display on the launchpad for end users. You may use the standard spaces/pages as a template, but ultimately will need to create your own custom spaces/pages to accompany the custom business roles.

When looking at a standard business role in the Maintain Business Users app, there should always be at least one assigned launchpad space. This is the SAP-standard space that typically accompanies the standard business role. In the Type column, "managed by customer" means that you can make changes to the space and any page(s) assigned to the space. If it says "managed by SAP", you cannot make changes to the space or anny page(s) assigned to the space.

1. On the Assigned Launchpad Spaces tab of a customized business role, select the assigned launchpad space.
2. This brings us to the Manage Launchpad Spaces app, where we can see this space only has one assigned page. Select the assigned launchpad page.
3. This brings us to the Manage Launchpad Pages app, where we can see the apps within each section. Select the Edit button in the top right corner to add or remove apps and/or change how apps visually display.

On the right side of the screen, you see a list of apps that are "Derived from Roles", which means it's looking at the business catalogs assigned to the business role that the space and page are also assigned to. Based on the apps the business catalogs provide access to, you see the master list of all available apps that can be added to the launchpad page. You can also add additional apps outside of this by choosing the "three dots" icon in the upper right corner of the screen, below the "Page Preview". However, you'll need to make sure to assign the corresponding business catalog to the business role to grant permission for users to access the app. When adding an app or selecting the "three dots" icon for an existing app, you can change how the apps visually display: as a tile (default), wide tile, link, flat tile, or flat wide tile.

If I can't find the app the customer wants to display on this launchpad page in the Derived from Roles list, I need to look up the app in the SAP Fiori Apps Reference Library to identify the business catalog the app is permissioned within. Then I can use the catalog ID to search for and manually add the app to the launchpad page, then go back to the business role and add the business catalog to ensure the permission is granted. For example, if we want to add the Manage Teams and Responsibilities app to the launchpad page for the Project Management - Professional Services business role, we do the following:

1. In the SAP Fiori Apps Reference Library, look up the app and make sure the correct deployment is selected if there are different options available.
2. Select the Implementation Information tab, and the Configuration section.
3. Scroll down to the Business Catalog(s) section to see relevant catalogs.
4. Identify the relevant catalog and copy the business catalog ID.
5. Navigate back to the Manage Launchpad Pages app in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
6. Select the "three dots" in the upper right area and choose Select Catalogs.
7. Paste the business catalog ID from the reference library in the search field and search.
8. Select the checkbox to the left of the catalog and choose Select.
9. Select the business catalog and navigate to the Catalog Description tab. This is where you'll find information about which fields are most relevant to use when defining restrictions. This information differs for each business catalog.

After selecting the business catalog, the relevant app(s) will display in the "Manually Selected" section. Choose how the app will visually display first, then select which section to add it to. The app displays with a red "X" indicating that even though it's been added to the launchpad page template, it will not actually display for a user assigned this business role, because the necessary business catalog has not been assigned to the role to provide access to the app. You should see a warning message that explains this information in the lower left corner, and you will also notice the app doesn't display when viewing the Page Preview. For now, we can ignore this message and save the launchpad page and navigate back to the business role by selecting the "back" button in the top left corner twice.

In the Maintain Business Roles app, navigate to the Assigned Business Catalogs section, and add the business catalog that supports the Manage Teams and Responsibilities app, then save the role. You may also be prompted to add additional business catalogs that have dependencies. If you navigate to the Assigned Launchpad Spaces tab → select the space → select the page, you should now see the red "X" has been removed because the app is now in-scope of the business catalogs granting permission for the business role.