SAP Enable Now – Editing the recorded slide sequence

?In my previous article I discussed changing bubble text style. Your takeaway should be an understanding of the bubble text pop-up window toolbar, the style modifiers available, how Enable Now auto-formats text and the best practices that should be followed.

?In this article I will review how to edit the recorded slide sequence, I’ll cover some best practice recommendations and provide warnings where things can go wrong. In the image shown below we see the slides in the left of the screen. This is the navigation area for the individual steps, the slides that make up the simulation. Much like Microsoft PowerPoint, the slides are presented in a top to bottom order. Enable Now applies a number to each slide, and as you reorder them, each slide will assume the number for that position. Note that the number is only a reference of the slide’s relative position within the slide deck.

Dissecting the slides

?Taking a closer look in the image below we can see slide #3 highlighted with the blue header. As you select a slide it displays in the main window. Each slide consists of a blank slide, or a frame to act as the container for the contents, the image recorded by Enable Now, and the action recorded.

?If we dissect slide #3, the highlighted header represents the container. The name displayed (Search for Manage Sales Orders and 1 more page) comes from the browser or application selected during the recording. I was using a Microsoft Edge browser in Private mode with two open tabs, hence the reference to the one more page in the title. The same naming carries over to the actual slide image captured during the recording. This can be seen as the first indented object under the numbered row.

?In the image below you can see the pop-up window that displays all of the open applications and browsers available when the recording process is initiated. From top to bottom I had the Camtasia video application open, the Camtasia recorder was capturing the simulation in a video format, SAP S/4HANA was running on the Microsoft Edge browser with 4 additional tabs open, my email was running and lastly, I had a Microsoft Teams session in progress. This demonstrates where the slide titles described above inherit their names.

?As a best practice when recording a simulation, always close unnecessary applications and browser tabs that can result in pop-ups during the recording, act as a distraction to you while recording, or otherwise degrade the quality of the created content.

?The last item within the container is also highlighted in blue. This is the action that is taking place on the slide. It is highlighted because I had selected it within the main window as shown in the first image of this article.

Selecting the slides

?Now that you are aware of the components that make up the slide, the container, image and action, you also need to know that each can be selected and moved independently. For example, if I click on the container at the numbered level and drag it up or down, I am bringing everything it contains with it. If I select the slide image or the action, I drag only that object. This is important as most slide sequence changes involve the container and all objects within it.

Reordering the slides

?When you click and drag a slide, how you position the cursor when you release it is critical. Let’s say we want to move slide 3 to fit between slides 4 and 5. I would continue to hold the cursor until I am directly above the narrow gap between the action of slide 4 and the header of slide 5. When I am in the correct position, a very narrow horizonal reference line appears in the gap letting me know I am in the correct place to release the slide.

?If I hover over the header of slide 5 and release slide 3, the contents of slide 3 become additional content within slide 5. The same is true if I hover over the action of slide 4 and release, the contents of slide 3 become part of slide 4. This can get a bit tedious to get it right, but you can always revert to the toolbar and undo a failed slide move.

Alternative Cut and Paste Method

?An alternative method to dragging and dropping is to highlight the slide at the numbered header level, right-click to display the options menu, and select Cut (Ctrl+X) as shown here.

?Then, position the cursor on top of the slide header that the cut slide will follow, right-click to display the options menu, and select Paste (Ctrl+V) as shown.

Note - When we used the drag and drop method, we positioned the cursor in the gap above the slide header and the preceding slide action. This is an important differentiator as the paste action places the slide below, not above the highlighted slide.

?In this example I am moving the End Page slide to be the very last slide in the display order. Slide 44 is currently the final slide so this is the slide header highlighted when I use the Paste action.

End slide considerations

?In the previous cut and paste example I moved a slide to the bottom of the stack. When the recording is created, Enable Now adds an action to the last slide of the recording to indicate it is the end of the recording. This action displays a blue triangle in a circle followed by a red X. You can see the Recording End ICON in the next image as part of slide 44. This will need to be moved to the End Page slide.

To move the Recording End ICON, right-click and hold the cursor and drag it as shown below.

?When the cursor is directly over top of the image of the last page, in this example the End Page graphic, release the button and the Recording End ICON will be moved to the selected slide.

?Here we can see the Recording End ICON properly appended to the End Page slide. You can now safely save or play the simulation recording. If you save or play the recording while the Recording End ICON is not part of the last slide, a warning message will be presented advising you of the discrepancy.

?The first page in a simulation recording has a Recording Start ICON automatically inserted by Enable Now when the recording process is initiated. This follows the same general rules as I described for the Recording End ICON. Recording Start is displayed as a blue triangle in a circle. You can see the Recording Start ICON in the next image as part of slide 1. The Demonstration Template that I am showing here actually has three components; Page 1 containing the Recording Start action, Page 2 which has the Start Page graphics and Page 3 containing the End Page image and Recording End action. Your pages and templates may be different, but the key to remember is the first and last slides need to contain their respective Recording Start/End action.

When do you reorder slides?

?When you record a simulation, it is not uncommon to make a mistake in the step-by-step selection process. When this occurs, it is better to continue recording, capture the extra steps within the recording and then delete those unwanted steps during the simulation editing process. You may also need to re-record one or more slides that were incorrectly captured or missed completely as part of the original recording. When you do this, the new slides are likely to be added at the end of the simulation. Resequencing the slides would be necessary in both of these examples and the work would be done in the editor window.

Deleting a slide

?When you need to completely remove a slide, click on the numbered row to highlight it, right-click to display the options menu, and select Delete. This removes the slide and all of the slide contents. If you are highlighting only the slide image or the action, only that object will be deleted. As you gain experience with Enable Now, you will encounter situations where deleting the object is the appropriate action.

Best Practice recommendations

?One of the important edits to make for each slide within a recording is to update both the container and the slide name. These labels carry over to the documentation that is generated from the simulation. If you make the corrections here, you save yourself quite a bit of editing later on after the documentation is created.

?Where Start and End Pages are part of the simulation, the placement of all recorded slides must fit between the Start and End Page. If you attempt to place a slide outside these pages, you will receive an error. I recommend all of your simulations include a Start and End Page as it greatly improves the user experience and provides additional instructive real estate within the simulation.

Summarizing the process

?Changing the slide sequence is a drag and drop process but it requires attention to how you select and place the slides. As an alternative, you can use the Cut/Paste process. Be aware when you move slides around you are changing the storyline order of events. Make sure it flows properly.

?Your takeaway should be an understanding of the Enable Now slide structure, how to reorder slides, and how to select individual objects within the slides. You should also be prepared to remedy undesirable slide moves, edit the slide names and leverage best practice recommendations.

What’s next?

?In my next article I will talk about adding slides and actions to the recording.

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Mr. Gray is a seasoned business strategist experienced in PMO stand up, digital and business transformation, process development, and best practice guidance. He has developed industry-leading methods for staff modeling, project deployment, financial performance, team onboarding, and business readiness. Mr. Gray is a problem solver at heart and a sharer of knowledge by choice. He has authored more than one hundred and fifty thought provoking articles which are all available on Linked-In.

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