The path from SAP Enterprise Portal to SAP Work Zone

Whether you want to present your intranet content in an attractive and modern way, offer contextually appropriate jumps to applications, or promote employee self-organization in collaborative workspaces: All these features are available out-of-the-box after the initial setup of the SAP Work Zone. Accordingly, the first usage scenarios are quickly designed and rolled out in the company. The downside is the limitation of customizing options. SAP Work Zone is a standard product from the cloud, and so its flexibility in terms of structure, setup and appearance is limited. Content, applications, and workspaces are hierarchically equal and are the primary focus. None of these components can be excluded from SAP Work Zone, and so it is hardly advisable to rely on the platform if all of these core areas are not to be used as well.

The UI Theme Designer can be used to create custom themes adapted to the Work Zone, which in most cases are completely sufficient for redesigning the platform in line with the corporate design. The design of the content is also completely in your hands. In detail, however, there are one or two restrictions: The frontend of the SAP Work Zone consists of the core of the former SAP Jam and the SAP Fiori Shell Bar. Adjustments to the theme's design largely affect the Fiori Shell, which largely makes up the header and some standardized design elements. If you also want to significantly redesign the content area, then this is only possible via custom CSS.

The adaptability of the information architecture is also limited: Although the content navigation is completely customizable, it is itself only a sub-navigation within the SAP Work Zone. The main navigation with links to the most important areas and functions, on the other hand, is predefined by SAP. The only thing that can be configured here is the display or hiding of "My Work Zone," which can be maintained individually by the respective user according to his or her own wishes. And while we were on the subject of content: If you have distributed multi-layered content across many navigation levels in your Enterprise Portal, then the migration to the SAP Work Zone requires particularly well thought-out planning. This is because the content structure only allows two navigation levels here, and after that it's over - at least with official means. Due to the deep integration of the collaborative work zones, they are a good extension option, especially since they provide two additional navigation levels that can be maintained at will. With the integrated document management and functionalities that can be used at will, such as task lists, knowledge databases, or appointment calendars, the workspaces come up with some powerful arguments for intensive use anyway.

So the SAP Work Zone may not be the perfect solution for everything and everyone after all - of course not, no system is. This makes it all the more important to evaluate the system in detail with regard to your own requirements. In this context, SAP's motives for its product decisions are also understandable. After all, the potential pitfalls described here are not intended to make life more difficult for customers. Rather, they are an expression of a consistent product design, of which the Walldorf team is obviously fully convinced. The SAP Work Zone user interface continues the Fiori design language and works, especially with the focus on collaboration in collaborative workspaces - the obvious linchpin of the product. So if you only want to communicate top-down to your workforce in the portal, you're rather in the wrong place. For everyone else, the SAP Work Zone is a powerful and highly usable platform for a whole host of use cases. As a true digital workplace, it provides all applications relevant to everyday work, plays out informative content, and promotes collaboration in teams and exchange between employees - all of which can be role-based and personalized as desired.

As in all migration projects, however, the changeover needs to be well planned. After all, there is no single migration path from SAP Enterprise Portal to the cloud. You would be well advised to analyze the current situation of your portal and the connected systems in detail and to identify the most important use cases of all the players involved. Based on this, an individual target picture can then be created, which can be aligned with the feature set and the basic technical requirements of the SAP Work Zone.

As a long-standing SAP partner and experienced service provider for all aspects of planning, designing and implementing portal solutions, we would be delighted to accompany you on this journey into the digital future of your organization. Chances are good that the SAP Work Zone will play a central role in this. And if it is not the right solution, suitable alternatives are not far away. For example, if communication and  collaboration are less of a focus, a central SAP Launchpad is also suitable as a strong basis for applications and processes, including integration of business data. The VANTAiO Enterprise News Manager is the optimal solution for news and content and, in combination with both the Launchpad and the Work Zone, results in a powerful overall package. Please feel free to contact us.