Frequently Asked Questions
The following list compiles the most frequently asked questions that were
sent to the SAPTAC Team or via personal mails to members. The questions have
been edited and generalized to make the answers useful for a wider audience.
Topics
Printing and Availability of Articles and
Guidelines
Articles
Question: I tried to print an article from the SAP Design Guild but
it was too wide to be printed completely.
Answer: We offer print versions of each article. There is a link to
the print version at the top right corner of each article (link with printer
icon).
Guidelines
Question: Is it possible to get the Mini Style Guide (or any other
guideline in the SAP Design Guild) in printable form?
Answer: Yes, there are PDF versions of most guidelines available that
can be printed. You find the link to the print version on top of the table
of content.
Tip: If you should encounter printing
problems we recommend that you save the PDF file to your hard disk and print
it using the stand-alone Acrobat Reader. This solved the printing problems
at least for one visitor.
Question: Hi, upon visiting your site, I noticed that you announced
that PDF versions of style guides to be available. However, I could not find
them. Could you point me to the proper page, please?
Answer: You can find the link to the print version in the respective
style guide itself. It is located on top of the table of contents.
Question: Is it possible to buy the SAP style guide (probably the R/3
style guide is referred to but this question can be extended to any style guide
in the SAP Design Guild)? – I am wondering if there is a book version
of the "SAP R/3 Style Guide" available somewhere.
Answer: There was once a print version of the R/3 style guide that
could be purchased, but is is no longer maintained. Also, there was the "R/3
Mini Style Guide," which was part of an ABAP book set and the basis for
the first R/3 guidelines on the SAP Design Guild. Currently, you cannot buy
any SAP style guide that covers user interface or graphic design. However,
all style guides on the SAP Design Guild are free (but copyrighted) and can
be downloaded (use the PDF version for easier downloading).
CD Version or Print Version of the SAP Design Guild
CD Version of SAP Design Guild
Question: Is the SAP Design Guild available on CD? – Would it
be possible to have all the articles in a CD or get any of your printed material
periodically?
Answer: Sorry, but currently there are no plans to offer CD editions
of the SAP Design Guild. Moreover, the content in some of the sections of the
SAP Design Guild is changing fairly often. So the CD editions would soon be
outdated. We also do not have the resources for offering print versions on
a regular basis Printing of Articles and Guidelines for
print versions).
Note: Because of the usage of ASP links
and server-side includes, a local copy of the SAP Design Guild Website (on
CD or copied to a hard disk) would require readers to install a simple Web
server, such as Microsoft's Personal Web Server, on their computers.
Print Version SAP Design Guild
Question: I am involved in a current project in which the information
available in the Design Guild is of particular interest. Do you have this information
available in hard copy and where can I get it?
Answer: Sorry, but we don't have "hardcopy versions" of the SAP Design
Guild. However, we do have PDF versions of our guidelines and HTML print versions
of our articles.
Online Version Only?
Question: Are the SAP Design Guild resources available in online/HTML
format only?
Answer: Yes, but we offer print versions of articles and guidelines.
German Versions of Articles
Question: Are the guidelines in the SAP Design Guild available in
German (Spanish, Chinese, or any other language...) – in the past all
guidelines were available in German, too?
Answer: Sorry, no – the SAP Design Guild is targeted at a worldwide
audience and therefore is available in English only (American English). In
addition, the SAP Design Guild team does not have the resources for translating
the site to other languages.
Question: Having caught a short glance at the SAP Design Guild Website
I would like to know whether it is also available in German, too. The site
provides a good overview of the user interface and the correct terminology
for describing it. Therefore, it is a valuable tool for (especially new) documentation
and application developers and should be available in German, too.
Answer: As stated above, there is regrettably no German version of
the SAP Design Guild. As a little consolation, we would like to point you to
the SAP Reference Lists. This guideline offers terminology lists (function names, user interface
terms, menus) in both directions, German-English, and English German. In addition,
this guideline contains R/3 icon lists in both languages.
SAP Design Guild Website
Resolution
Question: The site seems to have been designed for a resolution of
1024*768. I find it surprising that a site devoted to usability should design
for a hi end monitor. It is a real pain going through the site on my 800x600
resolution monitor, in fact till I saw the site on a hi resolution monitor
I did not realize that the site had a search functionality. Hope you can address
this problem soon.
Answer: You are right, the original SAP Design Guild Website had been
designed for a screen resolution of 1024*768 pixels. The new design (available
since the beginning of 2002) allows users to change the page size more flexibly
and to set the font size in the browser. Therefore, it is possible to use the
SAP Design Guild on monitors with a resolution of 800*600 pixels.
Update: The current design of the SAP Design Guild follows
the www.sap.com style and has a width of 960 pixels. As a screen resolution
of 1024*768 pixels has now become more or less the "minimum standard." To
date (2009), this width should not present a problem to most computer users
(netbook users may be an exception – depending on the screen resolution
of their netbook).
Access, Confidentiality
Question: Can I access any SAP-internal information for developers?
Answer: Sorry, but non-SAP people do not have access to SAP-internal
information systems for developers.
Question: Are the guidelines accessible for SAP partners, that is,
companies or institutions that are outside of SAP but work together with SAP?
Answer: The SAP Design Guild is SAP's "design voice" to the public;
therefore, it can be used by partners or developers who work in the SAP environment.
Question: I want to send my customer information about (...). I saw
that everything is internal material SAP
Reference Lists. Do we have any information material (white papers or
something like that) for external use? I want to send the information to one
of my customers.
Answer: All information on the SAP Design Guild Website has been released
for external use. This also applies to the SAP Reference Lists. Therefore, you can provide the customer with the respective
information.
Copyright
Question: Can the toolbar
icons listed on your Website (and all other SAP icons) be used in Freeware
and Shareware Windows applications? Are there any licensing issues? I am a
small-time freeware and shareware author. Thank you.
Answer: We published the icons for third parties to use them
for interface applications to SAP applications. You are not allowed to use
our icons for non-SAP use. The icons are copyrighted and their use is restricted
by SAP.
SAP Design Guild Name
Question: I'm not sure, whether you are using the English word "Guild" correctly.
My dictionary tells me the "guild" means "Gilde, Zunft" in German. Merriam-Webster's
dictionary tells me, that a guild is an association of people with similar
interests or pursuits; especially: a medieval association of merchants or craftsmen.
But you state on home page, that "The news column announces the latest additions
and updates to the SAP Design Guild." and you are offering "editions" of the
SAP Design Guild. So I would prefer to name your Web pages "Design Guide."
Answer: We use the term "Guild" in the meaning of the German word "Gilde",
not in the meaning of "Guide" (although there are plentiful guidelines on the
SAP Design Guild Website). We opted for "Guild" because we intended to form
a community of graphic and user interface designers in the SAP environment
and maybe even beyond. In addition, many newspapers call themselves "observer" or
similarly. There you have the same linguistic problem...
Support for Presentations, Training etc. – Information
Material
Question: I want to hold a presentation about usability at SAP at the
Technical University of (...). Can you provide me with material for such a
presentation?
Answer: Currently, we cannot provide the respective information.
Question: Hello, we are development partner of (...) For a long time
it was easy to design R/3 software because of the style guide and several standards.
Now it seems we need a little help for the right way through all the new opportunities.
I think about a workshop for user interface design in (...), where my colleagues
can enhance their competence. Do you support development groups ? Is there
a course in the SAP Academy? Can you tell me somebody else?
Answer: Currently, we cannot provide the respective information.
Question: I have to write a summary about what Contextual Design is.
I think there is much material on the Website from http://incontextdesign.com/.
But I also have to describe the design concept on one example, such as your
company. Is there a way to get more information about how contextual design
is used in the developing-process of your products, or are there more articles
about this on your site. I can't find more than one.
Answer: There are articles in the Editions section
that are either written by members of Incontext or
cover aspects of Contextual Design. In addition, some of the process papers
in the Resources section also
cover aspects of Contextual Design, or are at least influenced by this methodology.
SAP – Meaning of the Acronym, What Does
SAP Do?
Question: Could you please let me know what SAP stands for? – For
what is SAP an acronym? – I would really like to know more about
the SAP technology. Could you please let me know what SAP stands for?
Answer: S = systems, A = applications, P = products,
that is, "Systems, Applications, and Products (in data processing)." This
name is based on the original German name "Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte
(in der Datenverarbeitung)."
You can find more information on the company and its history on the www.sap.com Website.
Question: I am writing to you because I am having trouble finding information
about what a SAP really is.
Answer: Actually I wonder that you did not find out much about SAP
when searching the Web. Let us start with the "definition" of SAP:
SAP stands for "Systems, Applications, Products" (German: Systeme, Anwendungen,
Produkte). SAP AG, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, is the third-largest
software company in the world and the world's largest inter-enterprise software
company, providing integrated inter-enterprise software solutions as well as
collaborative e-business solutions for all types of industries and for every
major market. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM systems engineers, SAP now
employs more than 36,000 people in more than 50 countries, among them more
than 6000 software developers around the world. SAP AG employs a central SAP
User Experience group, and decentralized user interface designers based in
the applications.
For more information
on SAP AG see the company's Website at www.sap.com.
There you can get an impression of the company and what it does; it offers
lots of information about SAP.
Our Website, the SAP Design Guild, is dedicated to user interface design
and graphic design, offering guidelines, papers, and articles on the respective
topics.
What is the R/3 System?
SAP R/3 is perhaps the best known ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system
on the market. Originally dating back to the 1970s, it took the then-controversial
approach of combining various business functions into one application and database.
Originally, R/2 was implemented atop mainframe databases like DB/2 , Adabas,
and IMS.
In the 1980s, SAP designed a new architecture for the new R/3 system using
a multi-tiered Client/Server architecture, with data storage on a database
server running some relational database, application code, written in their
ABAP/4 language, running on a set of application servers.
SAP intended to keep a degree of vendor-independence; the application server
software can run on a number of platforms that have included several Unix flavors,
VMS, and Microsoft Windows NT, whilst they have supported a variety of relational
databases, including Oracle, Adabas, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server. Front
end software uses their own proprietary protocols atop TCP/IP, and has run
on various platforms.
R/3 covers application areas such as logistics, human resources, and accounting,
which are divided into several modules. Examples for such modules are FI (financial
accounting), TR (treasury), CO (controlling), PA (personal administration),
HR (personal planning and recruitment), MM (materials management), SD (sales
and distribution), PP (production planning and control), or PS (project system).
Design Questions, Contact Persons
for Usability and Design Problems
First, we try to answer user interface and graphic design questions ourselves.
If this is not possible we forward the mails depending on their content to
the respective colleagues within the SAP User Experience group or within SAP.
Technical Questions, Contact Persons for Technical
Problems
As the SAP Design Guild is a forum for user interface and graphic design we
do not have the knowledge and capacity to answer technical questions.
As far as possible, we try to find contact persons for these questions and
forward them to these people. Please note that it is SAP's policy not to publish
names or e-mail addresses of contact persons in the public.
We would like to suggest that you visit the SAP Developer Network (now part of the SAP
Community Network) and scan the site or pose your question in the forums
(you have to register for free in order to access the site). If you are a
customer or SAP partner, please post a message in the OSS system under the
respective component. This is the most efficient way for customers to get
quick help from SAP's support team.
Authorship
Question: I am very much interested in the user interface designing
issues and want to contribute articles to your site. Could you please send
me guidelines? Do you pay your contributors?
Answer: The SAP Design Guild is a nonprofit Website, and the contributions
are on a voluntary basis. We do not pay our contributors.
We do not have special guidelines for authors. But here are some tips:
- Document Types:
Article or book (a book is a multi-page paper with an index; see the style guides
in the SAP Design Guild as an example).Format: Word (.doc), HTML, or Plain-TextGraphics:
Graphics should either be sent as originals (format: TIFF, BMP, PSP)
or in GIF or JPEG format.
- Graphic Formats: We recommend to use:
- GIF: for screenshots, diagrams, graphics etc. (contours)
- JPEG: for photos, illustrations with smooth gradients, etc
We will do the final formatting and send you an URL to the article for approval
before we publish it.
Advertising
Question: Is it possible to advertise a workshop on your Website?
Answer: At the moment, there is no possibility to place advertisements
in the SAP Design Guild. But we have an UI Events page where we could add your workshop (Community section).
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