If you need to render some identified transaction codes, new custom fiori apps or custom
reporting tiles, then placing these into a custom technical catalog is the best option. A strong recommendation, do not place custom fiori apps, transaction codes (that don’t already exist in a standard Technical Catalog) or custom reporting tiles directly into custom business catalogs, always insert into custom technical catalogs, the reasoning for this is obvious as you will not be able to re-use them correctly for multiple business catalogs.
Before creating custom technical catalogs, its recommended to establish who is ultimately going to be responsible and own the technical catalogs that reside in the CONF layer. Our recommendation would be for SAP Developers to manage, own and maintain the custom technical catalogs. We have found that this approach works works well due to the nature of the processes and work that SAP Developers carry out in S4 HANA. Developers working on custom fiori apps, tcodes, etc can make sure that once the app is created, it is transported to the next relevant system before it is then sent to the security team for their piece of work around the business catalogs and groups. This approach will help you to streamline changes and reduce the number broken references/tiles when users are testing. A rule of thumb that we recommend, always move the TC (Technical Catalog) before the BC (Business Catalog).
To create a technical catalog, you can use the transaction code /UI2/FLPAM. Before creating custom technical catalogs, make sure you have established a naming convention for your Technical Catalogs. SAP recommend placing no one than 100 items in a technical catalog. In our experience we have yet to see any performance issues with large technical catalogs that exceed the 100 items recommendation.
How to create a custom technical catalog
Insert the semantic object(s) that you will need in the SM30 table /UI2/V_SEMOBJC
Make sure the SE80 package has been created + the SICF path
Go to /N/UI2/FLPAM
Type in the Technical Catalog name you wish to create and click on the “Continue” button.
Click on “Insert” which will prompt a screen to specify the package (which you would have created in SE80), the transport request and the catalog type.
Select Standard Catalog
Back in the /UI2/FLPAM screen, if you wish to add a custom Fiori Application you need to maintain the following columns:
Semantic Object (You would have added this already in the SM30 table /UI2/V_SEMOBJC)
Action
App Type
Target Application
To add a tile, proceed to click on the area below the top half of the screen: Select "Add Tile" and "Reuse Text". Also, make sure to add an Icon to the tile, preferably an icon that suits the action of the application, transaction or report.
The Developer can now move the transport to the next system for SIT testing. After the transport was successfully checked and passed by the developer, the details are then passed to the security team who will then place this new application, transaction code or report into a custom business catalog and group according to the business requirements.
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