Structuring the Application - Screen Changes vs. Screens with Multiple Areas
At the beginning of the design process, you need to decide about the basic type of your application. There are two choices, though mixtures between them are quite common:
- Applications with screen changes
- No or only few different areas on one screen/page
- Provides simple, sequential navigation
- Applications using screens with multiple areas
- Few or no changes of the main screens/pages, several areas with lot of interaction between them
- Provides stable context
Until the Enjoy Release, transactions in the SAP System have been characterized by relatively static screen sequences. Typically, users had to enter an application via an entry screen, only to be confronted with series of deeply-nested data entry screens that had to be handled consecutively. See Structure of R/3 System.
Starting with the Enjoy Release, a new design pattern has emerged. For certain types of applications, the sequences have been replaced by so-called single-screen transactions, where all transaction areas can be accessed without changing screens. This design represents a thorough overhaul of the existing applications, and thus requires some new and sometimes unusual redesign techniques.
Although in the history of designing R/3 transactions there has been a change towards single-screen transcations, both paradigms are still valid and both paradigms will be still in use. Which paradigm is the suitable one depends on the tasks and the users of your apllication as well as the structure and volume of the data. The following tables provide criteria for selecting the basic type or structure for an application.
Tasks
| Criterion | Screen Changes | Screen with Multiple Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of Processing | long | short |
| Changes of Processed Objects | few | often |
| Detail View | seldom needed | often needed |
| Views | only one view at a time needed | views needed in parallel (e.g. overview and details needed in parallel) |
Users
| Criterion | Screen Changes | Screen with Multiple Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Casual User | guidance through wizard, simple rules for screen sequences |
only if simple and understandable |
| Expert | yes, if guidance is useful | complex screens possible/needed |
Data
| Criterion | Screen Changes | Screen with Multiple Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | flat (list) | hierarchical data structure (e.g. overview and details) |
| Volume | wide tables, large number of fields (forms) |
narrow tables, small number of fields (forms) |
Source: SAP R/3 Style Guide