ECC Log format (warning: rant)

Mon Mar 10 10:23:20 EDT 2008

Oh my goodness, Mike!  You have hit the nail on the head. I, like you,
have tried since we went live with ECC6 back in October, to use the new
log instead of wimping out and doing the Ctrl+P to get to the old
format.

I cannot understand, for the life of me, what good drilling down on the
steps does.  I get lost each time I try, especially with some of the
long and detailed workflows we have.  I have gotten to where I just
automatically switch from the Tree view to the Chronological view as
soon as I get into the log. I really wish that the Chronological view
was the default!!

I also get aggravated when trying to determine the agents of the steps.
In the old log, you just click on the "People" icon and can see the
agents.  In the new log, you have to do a Ctrl+Shift+F8 or
Utilities->Agents to get to the agents.

Another aggravation is finding the outcome of a condition step.  In the
old log, there is a Result column that displays it.  In the new log, you
have to click on the Details tab and click on the scroll bar (because
the page up and down does not work) to get to the bottom of the screen
to see the Step Outcome.  If you make the detail half of the screen
where you don't have to click the scroll bar, then you only see a small
part of the steps of the log at the top of the screen.

I wish there was some key that could be pressed on the keyboard to get
from the top part of the screen (the log) to the detail part of the log
at the bottom of the screen instead of having to click the mouse.  It
would also be great if you could click the tab key to get to each of the
tabs on the bottom of the screen instead of clicking the mouse.

When I click the graphic button to get to the workflow graphic in the
new log and then click the green arrow back or the yellow arrow or the
red X, it takes me back to the work item selection screen (where it
lists the workflows obtained by SWI2_FREQ or SWI1) instead of taking me
back to the workflow log that I was in. I then have to click the log
button to get back into the workflow log.  When there is a sub-workflow
in the log that I want to get to the graphic, you now have to click on
the line in the log for the sub-workflow, right click, click display
work item (which displays the work item), then click the graphic button.
In the old log, you clicked on the first line of the sub-workflow (which
displays the work item) and then click the graphic button.  When you
click the green arrow back, it takes you back to the Display work item
screen and then back to the log.

This is all I can think of now, but as I come across other things, I
will let you know.  Thanks for collecting all of the issues.

Regards,

Sue T. Doughty

SAP Workflow Specialist

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.

500 Old Dominion Way

Thomasville, NC 27360

Phone:  (336) 822-5189

Toll Free (800 ) 432-6335, ext. 5189

Email:  sue.doughty at odfl.com

-----Original Message-----
From: sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:sap-wug-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf
Of Mike Pokraka
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 6:35 AM
To: sap-wug at mit.edu
Subject: ECC Log format (warning: rant)

Hello wuggers,

Am I the only one who gets the same feeling from the new ECC workflow
log

as sitting in a traffic jam?

<rant>

I've tried to get used to it for over a year and I think at one point I

actually managed to discover a useful feature somewhere (though I've

forgotten what it was), but for most part it's just stupid. Yes, stupid.

I'm sorry if this upsets some people who have invested significant time

into this as it's a fairly complex tool and looks very pretty, but it
just

doesn't cut it in the real world.

Let's take looking at a container element for a step in the WF as an
example:

Old style:

1. Click log icon to display workflow log.

2. Click on container icon next to step in question.

3. See container element of interest.

4. Feel a sense of calm and wellbeing.

ECC log:

1. Click log icon to display workflow log

2. Click to expand first fork.

3. See 'Branch 1' 'Branch 2', click on one at random.

4. Resist urge to use foul language in front of client because it's the

wrong one.

5. Click to expand other one, realize you need a SECOND click to expand

branch itself (what's the point of the 'Branch n' tree level?).

6. Click twice to switch to Chronological view when you realize there
are

more forks further down.

7. Think how nice it would be to sit in a traffic jam on a Friday
afternoon.

8. Click to select step of interest.

9. Click on Container tab.

10. Attempt to throw mouse out of window because scroll wheel doesn't
work

in container tab sub-window, which is horizontal and and thus far too

small, and all the system elements are of course at the top, blocking
out

the ones you're interested in. Luckily mouse is attached by a cable (at

least mine is) and can easily be retrieved.

11. Click several times to scroll down the container list to find the
one

you want.

(If it's a mulitline element then clicking it causes it to expand and

cover the entire container in a way that is also really annoying, but

that's a whole different topic.)

Ummm... "New and improved"? Surely someone's been overdoing the happy

pills a little?

</rant>

So, back to my original question: what are our options of pressuring SAP

to re-design it or at least in the meantime give us our old log back as
a

*default* option?

I can't help thinking one or two development requests are not going to
cut

it, and even if they respond via that route then the thought of waiting

two years to see the result in ECC7 is just a bit much.

Any opinions?

Cheers,

Mike

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