Situation handling is a concept for bringing business issues to the attention of specific user groups. It helps the user to recognize, understand, and resolve the situation by gathering all relevant information and recommending solution proposals.

The first implementation of the situation handling concept is the SAP S/4HANA Situation Handling Framework.

Usage

Use situations if:

• There is an exceptional business issue that is not part of the application itself and requires the user’s attention.
• The business issue is an exception, and not part of a standard business process.
• You want to provide solution proposals that can be preconfigured or learned by the system.

Do not use situation handling if:

• Something is, or should be, a standard feature on your application.
• The issue is based on a standard business process and is not exceptional.
• You just want to display a notification.

Components

Apply the following rules when indicating situations in lists and responsive tables:

• Attach the situation indicator to the object in the leading column (normally the first column of the table)
• If there are multiple situations for a list or table item, display the number of situations in parentheses next to the situation indicator.

In grid tables, place the indicator in a separate column next to the leading column containing the object description.

Display the situation section directly after the header. Include the components below, in the following order:

1. Situation message strip
   Provides core information about the business situation and includes an option to dismiss the situation.
2. Situation context
   Displays related information that helps the user to make an informed decision on how to react to a situation.
3. Related situations (optional)
   Displays other objects with situations that are relevant for the current situation. For example, a Manage Suppliers app might not only bring up situations for the supplier (current focus). It might also display related objects that are affected by the situation, such as an expiring contract or pending confirmation. The Related Situations block is part of the situation handling framework and remains consistent across different use cases.
4. Solution Proposals
   Displays options for resolving the issue. These can be simple actions or more complex solution proposals. Simple actions like Assign Contract or Approve Exception typically resolve the situation immediately. Examples of more complex interactions might be Reschedule Purchase Order, Negotiate New Contract, or Adapt Resources to Budget.

The message strip comprises the following components:

• Situation indicator (icon)
• Title: Concise summary of the situation. The title can include a switch if there are multiple situations.
• Description: Brief explanation of the situation. The text may wrap, depending on the available width.
• Link to more information (optional): Link to the referenced object or documentation. Display links after the description text.
• Occurrence date/time: Date on which the situation occurred or is expected to occur.
• Dismiss action: Clears the situation from the object page (for all users).

Behavior and Interaction

Navigation

Situations can be displayed in various UI controls. The following schema provides an overview of possible navigation paths (including future visions).

When designing a situation use case, consider the following navigation scenarios:

• Navigation from notification: The user receives a notification about the situation and navigates to the source of the problem (for example, to the affected object page).
• Navigation from “My Situations” app: The user navigates to the My Situations app using a tile on the home screen. In the app, the user selects one of the situations and navigates to the source of the problem.
• Contextual navigation from an app: The user sees a situation indicator for an affected object (for example, within a list report). Clicking the indicator displays a summary of the situation (situation popover). From there, the user can navigate to the source of the problem.

You can define the navigation target in the situation handling framework, based on your use case.

Closing a Situation

Switching Situations

Switching on the object page

If multiple situations affect the current object, a transparent button appears next to the situation title for switching between situations. Clicking the button opens a popover with list items for all the current situations. When the user selects an item, the display switches to the chosen situation.

Switching in a list

If multiple situations apply to an object list item, display the number of situations next to the indicator icon.

Applying Recommendations

Users can resolve situations by applying one or several solution proposals (recommendations) provided by the situation handling framework.

Once the user has executed an action that resolves the situation (for example, Assign Contract), the situation is removed from all floorplans and from the Open Situations list in the My Situations app.

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