SAP Enable Now – Reporting objects being edited

In my previous article I discussed testing tips as part of streamlining the Producer install. Your takeaway should be an understanding of how to create alternative configuration files, how to switch between them, and how Enable Now uses the configuration file. This is likely reserved for the administrator and lead content developer roles who are engaged in assessing and creating the various structural workareas.

?In this article, I will discuss reporting objects being edited.

Reporting

?Enable Now provides the ability to report on a variety of topics. Reporting is found within the Manager toolbar as shown here.

?As you can see in the list, Reporting has the ability to track users, delivery channels, content visits and much more. We are interested in the status of the objects currently being edited across the workarea. This would include simulations, book pages, groups, documents, images, and all other object types contained within the workarea.

?Consider the following two scenarios where reporting on objects being edited is useful:

Scenario 1 – An administrator needs to provide the project manager with a status of work that is in-process. Using the Reporting of Objects in Editing allows a quick and accurate method of collecting and presenting the data. The data is reported in real-time and can be produced daily, weekly or as often as the situation requires.

Scenario 2 – You are working in a collaborative environment and when you attempt to edit an object you find that it is currently locked by a peer who has it checked out. Like many version control driven applications, Enable Now only allows one user at a time to be editing a file. Using the Reporting of Objects in Editing allows a quick method of identifying which of your peers has the object locked and when they started editing. In many instances you will find an object has been locked by a peer and they forget to release control over the object after they completed and saved their changes to the server.

?With this information you can reach out to your peer, ask if they are still working on the object, and get a sense of when it will be ready for you to work on. If they are not actively working on the object, this inquiry should be enough to get them to check in the object via the Finish editing option. In a follow up article, I will discuss the scenario where the person who has the object checked out is not available to release control.

How to report on objects in editing

?The first step is to have Manager open and the desired workarea selected. Next, click Reporting on the toolbar menu and then select Objects in Editing from the dropdown list.

?A new reporting window is displayed showing the status of all objects. As you can see below, we are presented with lots of detailed information. Let’s walk through the display starting at the top. On the first line, Objects in Editing, we see in this report a total of 13 active edits across 3 different users. On the next line are filtering options to control what is displayed. In this example we have the combination view featuring the bar chart and a table view.

?If I want to display only the chart view, I can click on the chart ICON as shown here.

?To display only the table view, click on the second ICON of the table as seen below.

To revert back to the combination chart and table view, click on the ICON displayed here.

?At this point we only know the number and type of objects being edited, but we have not yet discovered who has the object locked that we need to work on. In this scenario we are going to drill into the Group. To do this, click on the small pie ICON to display the next level of details.

?Notice the top line has been revised to reflect only the Group counts, but it adds a new data point, Maximum Age. Piga is the only person with Groups in edit mode and he has a total of 3 active edits. Looking at the table at the bottom right of the image shown here we can see all of the edits started 7 days ago. This corresponds with the Maximum Age value shown at the top of the image. At the very bottom of the screen is a page forward/back button that is partially cut off in this image. If more objects were in edit mode, there would be more than one page to display. In this example the count is small enough that it fits on a single page.

?I now have enough information to reach out to Piga and ask that he checks in the Development folder. Later, I can return to the reporting function to verify that Piga has checked in the work, and I am able to begin my edits.

?One last point about routine reporting. If you have a standing request to furnish the report of active edits, you can click on the Export option from the toolbar menu and include the results with your reporting communications. Be aware that you need to select this option prior to drilling down into the details if you want all of the objects in editing.

Summarizing the process

?Reporting can be used to provide status and to identify Enable Now users who have work in process. Your takeaway should be an understanding of how to use reporting to identify objects being edited, how to change views and how to drill down into the details.

What’s next?

?In my next article I will cover how to force cancel edits of other Enable Now users. I will also describe the risk associated with such actions.

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

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