Workbench Setup

The Workbench portal is typically an important component of customizing SAP Sourcing for a specific customer implementation. This section focuses on basic aspects of integrating custom Workbench channels and leveraging Workbench templates to manage the options available to individual portal users.

Note Note

The Workbench Help module provides information on how to use the Workbench portal and the objects that configure it, including information on using the standard channels supplied with the SAP Sourcing application.

End of the note.

User Workbench Configurations

The first time a user logs in, the user's personal Workbench Configuration is created from the assigned Workbench Template. By choosing Edit Workbench Layout in the Workbench, the user can make the following changes:

If the Workbench Template does not specify Fixed Layout, the user can select a different column configuration.
The user can remove any channels not marked as Required in the Workbench Template.
The user can relocate any channels not marked as Fixed Position in the Workbench Template.
The user can add channels that are available in the Workbench Template.
The user can edit existing parameters for a channel, or add/remove parameters for a channel, if the channel is not marked as Fixed Parameters in the Workbench Template.

On each subsequent login, SAP Sourcing checks to see if the Workbench Template has been changed since the creation of the user's Workbench Configuration. If the Workbench Template has been changed, the user's Workbench Configuration is recreated based on the template.

Desktop Channel objects are not updated automatically. If changes are made to the Channel object after the creation of Workbench Templates, the Template must be updated manually by removing and reinserting the updated Desktop Channels to pick up the changes.

To determine whether a Workbench Template has been changed, changes that a user is allowed to make are ignored. These include the following:

Changing the column layout, unless the Workbench Template now selects Fixed Layout.
Removing channels, unless they are specified as Required on the Workbench Template.
Adding channels, except those that are not present in the changed Workbench Template.
Moving channels, except those that are specified as Fixed Position on the Workbench Template.
Changing parameters, except those that are marked as Fixed Parameters on the Workbench Template. There are some specific channel parameter exceptions for standard system channels that are ignored even when Fixed Parameters are set: an internal Channel ID parameter for the Links channel, the Base Currency for the Currency Exchange Channel, and the Category on the Industry News Channel.

When creating Workbench Templates, use the Fixed Parameters setting for channels as appropriate. Otherwise, if changes are made to the underlying Desktop Channel parameter settings, not only must the Channel be manually removed and reinserted on the Workbench Template, but it must also be manually removed and reinserted on each user's Workbench Configuration.