2534547 - Library originals are not included in several use cases in the Solution Documentation UI

Business Processes and Libraries
In solution documentation 7.2 we introduced the libraries to reduce redundancies and to enable re-use. Therefore, the content has been divided in the business processes part and the libraries part which contains re-usable elements like process step originals.

For further information see also https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/SM/Process+Capabilities+and+Libraries

Consequently, the process structures contain references to library elements which are not part of the process structure hierarchy. I.e. a process structures are not self-contained by themselves but need to be enhanced with the linked library elements to build the entire process documentations.

You might have experienced that currently not all functions in solution documentation are already respecting the distributed solution documentation structure in an adequate way. Depending on the usage of solution documentation you may observe shortcomings in some functions:

• The list view does not show the linked elements from the libraries
• The search does not find the linked library elements
• It can happen that a structure cannot be released because of issues (like conflicts) in the linked library elements
• The reports do not show the library elements in the context of the business process structures

List View & Search
Currently the list view provides a flat list of all elements of a hierarchy that is denoted by its root element. The linked library elements are not part of the list.

In a similar way, the search only inspects the elements of the hierarchy starting from the selected root element and does not consider the linked library elements.

This might not fully meet your expectations since the assignment list of a reference element (e.g. a process step reference) shows also the assignments to the respective library element (e.g. a process step original). These “inherited” assignments are marked with a special icon in front of the element name.

We are aware of this deficiency and are already working on an improvement. We are intending to enhance the list view with the linked library elements and to adapt the search accordingly.

We cannot yet commit the enhanced list view for a specific point in time or SP.

As a workaround, the library elements should be handled separately:

• The linked library elements may be displayed or edited by navigating from the business processes structure via “go to original”.
• For the process step library the handling might be simplified by organizing the library in a suitable folder structure. Then the process step originals may be displayed and edited using the list view in the process step library.
• As a prerequisite, the library parts should be included in the view definition. The easiest way would be to use the default view or else to include the library root element in the view definition.
• Since the search with a root element in the business processes might not be sufficient, either a search in the entire solution or a second search in the library might be needed.
• Another option is available if the solution documentation content has been built using content activation of projects and solutions from Solution Manager 7.1. In this case the business processes and respective non-technical library parts are organized in project and solution specific folders.
  Using this folder structure, it is possible to define a view which corresponds to a 7.1 project or solution for the business part (business structure, process step, interface and configuration libraries). This allows to restrict the solution documentation UI and the search functionality to those parts coming from specific 7.1 projects or solutions. By this you may use the search functionality across business processes and libraries while restricting the results to the content created within a specific project or solution in 7.1.
  Be aware that the technical parts (development and executable libraries) are always organized automatically per logical component group by the application component hierarchy and thus are not organized in project or solution specific folders.

Lifecycle Operations: Release & Discard Changes
The lifecycle operations “Release changes” and “Discard changes” already apply to the selected structures including the linked library elements. Consequently, all affected elements are checked for conflicts and other pre-conditions and thus might cause error messages. Unfortunately, the list view does not display all affected elements which might make it complicated to identify the error causing elements.

We already improved the user interfaces of the lifecycle operations with SP06. With this improvement for a “Release changes” or “Discard changes” operation a detailed list of all affected elements is provided. In case of errors or warning all detected issues are displayed at the corresponding elements.

Reporting
The element sources for a report are based on scopes. The scopes already provide an option to include the linked library elements (option “Include originals”). Thus, here you may get a reporting list containing elements of the business processes as well as the corresponding linked elements from the libraries.

Nevertheless, there are also some gaps in the reports concerning the distributed solution documentation structure. It is currently not yet possible to get a combined report list showing the library elements in the context of the business process structures. A special interest might also be to see the usages of the library elements and to identify those library elements which are not used at all.

We are planning to enhance the list of standard reports and put a special focus on the links to library elements.

Concerning the usage of library elements there are already two options available:

• Starting from business processes is possible to display all reference elements to the library. Then a navigation to the library is required to show details.
• Starting from a library element the “Where-used list” displays all references to the respective element. Of course, this can only be triggered for a single element.

With SP06 there is already a first usage report available showing statistical information for library elements. This report show the number of usages of each library element. Especially those elements which are not used at all may be identified immediately.

Further more advanced reports are subject for planning. But we cannot yet commit such reports for a specific point in time or SP.

KBA , SV-SMG-IMP-BIM , Business Blueprint / Solution Documentation , How To