SAP Enable Now – Generating Documentation

?In my previous article I described the basic steps required to edit a simulation in Producer. Your takeaway should be an understanding of the editing process and the layout of the editing window.

?In this article I intend to describe a few methods to create documentation, how templates can be used to enhance the documentation and some best practice recommendations in Producer. After reading this article, you should be familiar with the processes for creating individual and bulk documents in a variety of formats.

Documentation options

?In Producer you have the option of creating individual documents of the recorded simulation within the Editing window or you can use the bulk process from the main Producer window. Each method has its place; however, I rely heavily on the bulk method for reasons I will explain over the next few paragraphs. I will also talk more about the templates focusing on the layout and customization options.

Documentation creation within the Editing window

?In the editing window you can select Documentation from the Menu to display the list of format options including Word, PDF, HTML and PowerPoint. Under each of these options, a second fly-out menu is displayed when you hover over any of the format types as shown in the image below. Here the list of document types has been enriched for the customer example shown. Note that Enable Now includes only a few default options such as Process Guide, Hands-On Guide, Job Help, etc. These document types use the Enable Now templates as their foundation and when the documentation is created, the simulation recording content is populated within the template to produce the finished deliverable.

?From these basic templates, you have the ability to create customized versions that can include Demo or Practice text, logo and branding imagery, and boiler plate text such as confidential statements, program specific introductory text, and more. I want the audience to be aware of the customization opportunities without taking a deep dive into how the customization work is accomplished. That may come in a future article.

?The document types are similar for each of the format types, meaning that if you were to hover over the Generate PDF Document, the list of document types would be the same as the list shown for the Generate Word Document option.

?When the rendering is complete, you are prompted to open the document. As shown below, the Word formatted option opens the document in Microsoft Word where it can be further edited. The logo and the tagline are part of the source template and populate automatically. What I did not show is an example of boiler plate text. This standardized information can be embedded in the header, footer or in the body of the document. In most instances it is embedded in the body of the document, and it precedes the recorded content.

Best Practice recommendations

?As a best practice, the templates are defined early in the process prior to the first recording. This mitigates any variations in the user experience, it assures consistency across all of the documentation, and it reduces the amount of post-creation edits to align the look and feel of the deliverables.

?Another best practice recommendation is to use the PDF format when creating documents and avoid any post-creation editing. The reason for this is simple. Enable Now will regenerate the document based on the template and the latest recording. This means that any post-creation editing (in this example within Microsoft Word) will be overwritten when the Generate Document process is repeated for the simulation. There will be times where editing is required and appropriate, such as instances where different locations or regions require modifications to the same recording for it to be meaningful. In these situations, the unique versions need to be stored locally outside of Enable Now to prevent the overwrite scenario I just described.

Generated Document in the navigation tree

?Switching out of the Editor tab and into the main Producer window we see the generated document is now located as a sub-item to the original simulation recording. In this example several documents with various formats have been created in addition to the Hands-On Practice Guide. Note the blue ICONs indicate a Word format and the red ICON indicates a PDF format.

?The only actions remaining are to save the new documents to the server which I covered in an earlier article.

Bulk Documentation creation

?The bulk document generation method is all about efficiency. A typical scenario where this comes into play is after a few documents have been created, the recording revised and a refresh of the documentation needs to be done. While I am at it, I will also create new document types that I need as part of the same process. None of the existing documents have been post-edited, so I am not at risk of losing any manual edits. This is very important to remember.

?If post-editing of the documents is required, as a best practice, save those edits until the recordings have been approved and finalized to avoid rework. In this example, I have highlighted the Guide simulation. By making this selection, only the Guide simulation will be acted on. Had I selected the parent folder containing additional simulations, all of those simulations would have been acted on. Remember I said this was about efficiency. As a best practice, I do not create documents individually within the Editor. I prefer to do everything in bulk and usually at the parent folder level. And when I say parent folder, I am referring to the working folder where I am creating content, not the main level where it may also impact other Enable Now content developers.

Walking through the bulk documentation process

?I select the simulation, then from the top Menu I select Documentation, and then Generate Single Documents as shown below. A pop-up box will appear and on this screen. I make the selections for the combination of documents and document types I want to revise/generate.

?Note the pop-up box opens the first time will all options selected. Once I customize my selection and click Ok, the generation process begins. Every time I repeat the documentation generation process, Enable Now will remember my custom selections. As a best practice, do not generate any documents that will not be needed. They take up space and increase the generation process time.

?Here is another tip for customizing the list of documents to be generated. On the top row click the box directly under doc, pdf and html. This unchecks all of the boxes in their respective column. Next, go line by line for each document type and only check the box(es) for the document format required. Shown below is my configuration that will generate four documents: the Hands-On Guide Demo and the Hands-On Guide Practice, both in Word and PDF formats.

?The existing documents are refreshed, and the new documents are created. I can select and review each document as needed and when finished, I save the changes to the server.

Summarizing the Document Generation process

?Document generation can be done at the simulation level or from within the Producer main window via the navigation tree to include one or more simulations in a bulk process. Each method has its purpose. Post-editing of the generated documents is not advised unless it is absolutely necessary, and the team is aware of the risk of information loss should the documentation be regenerated.

?Your key takeaways from this article include how and when to generate documentation, the awareness of the templates and the ability to customize them, and the risks of post-editing and regenerating documents.

What’s next?

?In my next article I will cover documentation templates at a high level. I don’t think I will go deeper into the topic of templates as it can become a series of eight or more articles on its own.

?If you like what I wrote please take the time to share it, as others may find it interesting, if not amusing. Let’s not be just consumers of information or share only the works of others. Your voice matters, and I’m sure you have good ideas that could help others. Try being a thought leader and not just a follower.

?To those of you who take the time to read my efforts I sincerely thank you. I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that this is a two-way conversation so put your comments in and let’s have a volley of ideas, so we all continue our intellectual growth.

?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 thought provoking articles which are all available on Linked-In.

If Mr. Gray makes you think then he considers the effort worthwhile.

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