Customer Extension Fields in Solution Readiness Dashboard

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Introduction

With ST-OST SP14 release, we are excited to add this new feature to support the customer extension fields even from the Solution Readiness Dashboard. Until SP13 release, the customer extension fields were only configurable in the Generic Application , Mass Change Application and in the Requirement Management Application for all the supported process types. From ST-OST SP14 release, we will now be able to configure the customer extension fields in the Solution Readiness Dashboard.

Scope of this Feature

In the Solution Readiness Dashboard, the extension fields can only be added to the details page ( Analytical List Page - ALP ). It is not possible to add extension fields to the Overview Page. The ALPs associated with each transaction type can be configured to support the extension field. The following ALPs can be enhanced with the extension fields.

• Requirement Management ALP
• Work Package ALP
• Work Package Progress By ALP
• Work Package KPI ALP
• Work Item ALP
• Work Item Progress By ALP
• Work Item KPI ALP
• Risks ALP
• Defect Correction ALP
• Test Status ALP
• Defect Status ALP

The scope of this blog is to understand how to extend the Core Data Service (CDS) views pertaining to each ALP in the Solution Readiness Dashboard. Since Test Status and Defect Status ALPs are re-used from the Test Suite Dashboard, we have a different process to extend the customer fields which will be covered in a separate blog. The below process applies to all the ALPs in Solution Readiness Dashboard except Test Status and Defect Status ALP.

Pre-requisites to add the extension fields

To add the customer extension fields to the Solution Readiness Dashboard, the underlying ABAP Core Data Service (CDS) Views have to be accessed and extended.ABAP Development Toolkit (ADT) has to be installed to access and extend the standard CDS Views.

Kindly install ADT by following the steps mentioned in this developer tutorial.

Steps to add the extension fields to the CDS views

Follow this SAP help document to get started with ADT.

In this example we are going to extend the Solution Readiness Dashboard Requirement Management Details Page with the extension fields by extending the respective underlying ABAP CDS Views. The same steps would apply for the other details page except the Test Status and Defect Status which do not use the CDS Extension views. We will cover the extension process for these Test Status and Defect Status Pages in a separate Blog.

1. Follow the steps recommended by the wizard to add an ABAP system to your Project Explorer where the extension fields are going to be added.Add a New ABAP Project to the Project ExplorerSelect the ABAP System name where the extension views are going to be createdProvide the System Connection DetailsProvide the Client and Login DetailsThe wizard Proposes a Project Name for the ABAP System added
2. Create the Extension View for the Base Interface and Consumption CDS View

Generate the Extension view template using the wizard: From the project added to the Project explorer, right click and follow the context menu ( New -> Other -> Data Definition ). Using the keyboard, click Ctrl + N. Follow the below steps to generate the extension CDS view. Kindly Note that the extension views have to be first created for the Base Interface view followed by the Consumption CDS Views. 

Select the Data Definition from the WizardProvide the Development package and the View Name to be extended. Follow the Naming Convention for the Extension View Name - <Namespace>_<Standard View Name without Namespace>_EXTProvide the Transport Details if applicable.Select the Extend View from the Template

Requirement Management Base Interface Extension View

Follow the same steps as above and create the extension view for the Standard Consumption CDS View. If the Consumption CDS view is not enhanced, the extension fields would not appear in the Details Page. Here we can directly add the extension fields as they are available in the underlying Base interface view.

Requirement Management Consumption Extension View

Extend the Base and Consumption Views for the respective ALP pages

Follow the above steps and create the extension views for the Base and Consumption CDS Views. Check the below table to know the standard CDS Views that needs to be extended for the respective ALP.

Note: It is sufficient to extend the Base interface view for a process type ALP once and only the respective consumption view needs to be extended based on the ALP. Example for the Work Package ALP, we need to extend the Base Interface View /SALM/I_SRDWPALPCOMP once which is used by all the 3 different ALPs ( Work Package, Work Package Progress By and Work Package KPI ) pertaining to Work Package. However the Consumption Views differ for the same process type ALP. Hence for the Work Package we need to extend all the 3 Consumption views for Work Package ALP, Work Package Progress By ALP and Work Package KPI ALP. The same applies for Work Item process type.

Solution Readiness Dashboard Analytical Page	Standard Consumption CDS View to be extended	Base Interface CDS View to be Extended
Requirement Management ALP	/SALM/C_SRDREQALP	/SALM/I_SRDREQALPCOMP
Work Package ALP	/SALM/C_SRDWPALP	/SALM/I_SRDWPALPCOMP
Work Package Progress By ALP	/SALM/C_SRD_WPPROGBYALP	/SALM/I_SRDWPALPCOMP
Work Package KPI ALP	/SALM/C_SRD_WPKPIALP	/SALM/I_SRDWPALPCOMP
Work Item ALP	/SALM/C_SRDWIALP	/SALM/I_SRDWIALPCOMP
Work Item Progress By ALP	/SALM/C_SRD_WIPROGBYALP	/SALM/I_SRDWIALPCOMP
Work Item KPI	/SALM/C_SRD_WIKPIALP	/SALM/I_SRDWIALPCOMP
Risks ALP	/SALM/C_SRDRISKALP	/SALM/I_SRDRISKALPCOMP
Defect Corrections ALP	/SALM/C_SRD_DEFCORRALP	/SALM/I_SRDDEFCORALPCOMP

Configure the Extension fields and classify them in Dimensions and Measures

1. Open the customization to maintain the customer extension fields from SPRO or using the transaction /n/salm/custfld.Open the Node - Activate Customer Fields fro Focused Build Transaction Types
2.  Select the customer fields that have to be displayed in the Dashboard and maintain the Node - Solution Readiness Dashboard Extension Fields.
3. Open the Solution Readiness Dashboard Node and configure the Measures and Dimension. Once it is configured, generate the Gateway Map. If any changes are made to the configuration, Press Cleanup cache and then regenerate the Gateway Map.   The aggregate function and aggregate columns are only applicable for Measures. The Text Arrangement column is only applicable for dimensions. The Text Field Mapping and Text Search Fields are based on the Customer Metadata Field configuration. Configure the Extension fields for the Solution Readiness Dashboard. The Text Fields are applicable only for the Dimensions and the Aggregate Field and Aggregate Function is applicable only for the Measures
4. Once the customer fields for the dashboard has been configured, Generate the Gateway Map Properties and clean the cache using the buttons provided in the task bar. Next clear the browser cache and check if the customer fields appear for the respective ALP. Note based on the fields that have been configured for the respective process type those respective fields appear in the respective ALPs. Example, if few customer fields have been configured for S1IT ( Work Package ) process type, then only these fields would appear in the Work Package ALP also taking into consideration the Solution Readiness Dashboard configuration for these customer fields.
5. The configured customer fields would appear in filter bar, chart and in the table for the ALP as shown below. Kindly use the adapt filters on the filter bar and settings button on the the table to add the customer field.  In the below screenshots we illustrate it on the Work Package Details ALP.  The same would apply for other ALPs where customer field can be rendered in Solution Readiness Dashboard.
   • Filter Bar - The customer field ( Enhancement Type ) appears on the filter bar.
   • Chart - The customer field ( Enhancement Type ) is accessible from the Chart
   • Table - The customer field ( Enhancement Type ) can be exposed in the table.

With that, we are now able to render the extension fields on the Solution Readiness Dashboard.

Kindly refer to the blog-post on how to enable the extension fields on the other Focused Build Applications if you have not already tried extending the application.

Kindly refer to the blog-post on how to enable value help for the Extension Field from the Focused Build Fiori Application.

Thanks for taking time to explore this feature. If you have questions or suggestions on how this feature could be improved, please provide those in the comments section. Additionally, you can post your questions here

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