Community FAQs

What is the Activity Stream?
Users can stay updated on the latest engagements and developments through the Activity Stream. The Activity Stream can be accessed by clicking on Followed Activities from the main user drop down menu on the Universal Header. Users can subscribe for such updates by pressing Follow on various things throughout the community. Currently, users can follow any primary tag pages, individual questions, blogs, and other users in the Community.

How can I find Activities that are of interest to me?
Once subscribed, users will then be shown relevant updates in the Activities tab of their Activity Stream. The activities displayed can be filtered by clicking on the desired Filter option:

• All Activity Type: Shows all activities in a reverse chronological order
• Blogs: Recently published blogs, comments, and content updates from the user’s blog subscriptions
• Questions and Answers: Recently published  questions, answers, comments, and content updates from the users subscriptions
• Profile Updates: Profile updates from other users that the user is following
• Social Activities: Shows social activities and feedback such as Likes, Up Votes and Follows

We will be further developing the Activity Stream with more filter options such as the ability to filter activities based on followed Primary Tags and People.  

What are Notifications?
Notifications are a way for users to stay on top of their own engagements and actions that require direct attention of the user. The main user dropdown menu with the user’s avatar will show the number of unread Notifications for the user. Users can then view all their notifications by clicking on the user drop down menu on the Universal Header and clicking Notifications. Users receive a Notification for the following reasons regardless of whether they are following the relevant content or not:

• Receiving a new message
• Gaining a new follower
• Receiving a new editorial comment
• Blog permission increased from Blog Contributor to Blog Author
• Blog permission decreased from Blog Author to Blog Contributor
• Receiving an answer to own published questions
• Receiving a comment on any past engagement (blog, question, answer, discussion, comment)
• Getting content submitted for review
• Getting a previously submitted “Alert Moderator” confirmed
• Getting a previously submitted “Alert Moderator” rejected
• Receiving a moderation alert on own content and getting it confirmed by a moderator
• Getting own content published by a moderator
• Receiving “Needs more work” alert from a moderator
• (Only moderators) “Alert Moderator” is submitted for any content in their respective tag

For each notification the user receives, they can flag them with “Mark as Read” by hovering the mouse over that specific notification and clicking the Mark as Read option. Clicking on any link in a Notification will also automatically mark that notification as read. This is a reversible action so users can also revert the Notification status to “Unread." The Mark all Read option at the top-right of the notifications page will set the status of all Notifications for the user to “Read."

Can I receive Email Notifications?
Email Notifications are being developed and is on the way! More information will be available in the Community soon.

Once you find tags that you're interested in, you can use the Follow button to receive notifications when new content has been added with that tag. To follow a tag, just click on it in the header of your favorite blog post or question to be taken to the tag page, then click the Follow button. You can download a list of tags to follow on the About Tags page.

Selecting Browse the Community from the top navigation menu will take you to a searchable, filterable list of community content. You can browse the list, search for keywords, or filter by tags to find community topic pages of interest to you. You can learn more about topic pages on this resource page.

How do I find my own profile?
Once you've logged in, you'll see your avatar appear in the header. Click on the avatar and a menu will appear. In that menu, click on either your name or your avatar. Your new profile opens up. You can also find yourself by searching or by using a direct URL.

What is the difference between a blog post, a question, and a Coffee Corner discussion?
Blog posts should be used to express a personal point of view, tell a story, or explore an idea. Questions are designed to give the user an opportunity to delve into the community's collective knowledge to solve a problem. It's always best to search existing questions and answers prior to posting a new one. Lastly, Coffee Corner discussions are generally informal and not SAP-specific topics that users wish to share or discuss.

Furthermore, blogs and questions are generally about a specific subject (and thus require a primary tag), while Coffee Corner discussions do not require a primary tag and can have any desired subject (within reason and community etiquette).

Where can I start writing a blog?
To start a blog, you can click on your avatar to see a drop-down menu and choose the "write a blog" option, choose under "Community" drop-down menu in SAP.com, or select "write a blog post" from the Actions button (where available). Click here to read a blog post on how to get started with blogging.

Can I see who liked my blog post?
You will receive a notification in your Activity Stream when someone likes your post.

Can I delete my own blog posts?
Once there is a comment on your blog post, you may not delete it without intervention from a moderator.

Can I get updates on blog posts?
You can follow a blog post to get updates on edits or comments by clicking the Follow button at the top of the post.

How do I ask a question?
Click on your avatar in the header and select “Ask a Question” in the drop-down menu. Alternatively, on a page containing the Actions button, click the button and select "Ask a Question." Fill in the appropriate fields of the question form and click Submit Your Question. Please note: Before posting a question you should check to see whether answer already exists, per the rules of engagement.

How do I answer a question?
To answer a question, simply click on the question in the search results or filtered list, then fill in your answer in the box labeled Your Answer. Click Submit Your Answer.

Can I bookmark content within the community?
Currently, there is no functionality to bookmark content in the new community platform.

What types of content or activities can I follow in the new community, and where can I see it once I’m following it?
Users can follow people, tags, and individual pieces of content, such as questions and blogs. To see the content and activities you follow, you can click on your avatar and select “Followed Activities” in the drop-down menu.

How can I search and filter by tags?
Go to the Browse the Community page to search and filter by some of the most popular tags.  Visit to the About Tags page to get a list of all available tags in the community.

Is the search from the universal header the same as the search from the Blogs or Questions & Answers pages?
We are currently utilizing multiple tools for search, including Search on HANA. We are working to align these tools at a later date.

Am I still following the same people and content as I did in SCN?
If you followed someone in SCN, you'll automatically follow him or her in the new community. However, the list of content and spaces you were following were not carried over to the new system, due in part to the remapping of content to tags instead of spaces.

How do I find the content I used to follow from the old SCN spaces?
To learn about our strategic move from SCN spaces to tags and topic pages, please visit this resource page. Then, to find the content from a space you used to follow, and to see where and how to post similar content now, see this mapping Excel spreadsheet (89.5KB).

Where can I find old SCN discussions?
All SCN discussions with replies can be found in the Archive as read-only content. These discussions can be found within the search results on the Questions & Answers page or by navigating directly to the Archive.

Where can I find old personal SCN blogs?
Personal SCN blogs have also made the move to the new platform. In order to align with the new 1DX tag-based format of the community, the blog authors may need to retag these blogs with one of the new primary tags for the new community platform.

Where can I find old SCN blogs?
Published, public SCN blog posts written by members have been migrated to the new site and will remain active blogs. In many cases, these blogs received tags based on the SCN spaces where they resided. However, it was not possible to assign a primary tag to every SCN space, so blogs from these spaces will have a pre-assigned tag called "Retag required." Authors of these blogs (like the personal blogs) will need to retag their old blog posts with one of the available primary tags. Please note that blog posts in draft, awaiting moderation, scheduled to publish after migration, and so on were not migrated. Only published blogs were eligible.

Why is some content only available in the archive?
Many documents and discussions from the Jive platform (SCN) have been moved to the Archive. Fortunately, you may still view these items by clicking the Archive link in the top navigation menu. Please note: Archive content is read-only.

What is the difference between Notifications and Followed Activities in the Activity Stream?
The items in the Followed Activities feed of your Activity Stream are populated based upon your subscriptions (what and whom you follow). The Notifications feed in your Activity Stream contains updates that are relevant to you as a user (e.g., you receive a badge, a direct message, or moderation alerts).

What is a mission?
A "mission" is like a virtual quest, challenging you to complete certain requirements to earn a badge. SCN missions included First Steps, the Blogger Journey, and the Answer Journey. These missions were retired when we switched platforms, because the required actions were not all supported in the new platforms. A new set of missions has been designed, configured to included activities from the new community platforms.

When will I be able to earn missions in the new community?
We plan to launch a new set of missions several weeks after the SAP Community launch, sometime in the November-December 2016 timeframe.

Why are the missions launched later?
So many things changed in the community as we moved to the new platform that we want to give members several weeks to get adjusted to the new functionality and features first. When the moment is right, we will introduce the new missions.

Which badges are still available in the new community?
We identified three badges earned prior to launch of the new experience that are planned to be carried over and displayed as part of the new reputation dashboard. These include: Member of the Month, Moderator Spotlight, and HANA Distinguished Engineer.

How did you decide which badges would be carried over?
To be carried over, the badges had to meet the following criteria:

• The badge cannot be earned by the user on purpose (it's awarded to the user).
• It cannot be earned more than once, i.e. it is not repeatable (the SAP TechEd Speaker badge, for example, is one that can be earned every year, so it does not qualify).
• The mission is active although we retired the other missions, i.e. it does not have a planned end date.

Where can I see all the badges I've earned?
You can see badges you've earned in your SAP Universal Profile.

Where can I see available missions?
New missions will be announced later this year. You'll be able to find a general list in the About the Community page, under SAP Community Network Gamification and Reputation. To see the specific missions that you are eligible to earn, you will be able to go to the My Missions page, which will be available from the avatar drop-down menu.

Do we still have a points system in the new community like we did in SCN?
The new SAP Community does not use points to recognize member contributions. Instead, we are rolling out elements such as a reputation score and expertise scores, as part of a comprehensive new reputation program.

The lifetime total points earned by each member prior to changing the reputation program are preserved in the legacy reputation section in the SAP Universal Profile for each member.

Do we still have a levels system in the new community like we did in SCN?
All SCN members received a level status based on their lifetime points. There were ten levels: they began with Glass (0-4 points) and continued to Diamond (15,000+ points).

When the SAP Community moved off Jive and onto the new platform, the community reputation program was enhanced. We stopped awarding points and assigning levels to allow for a greater emphasis on quality. In recognition of the efforts taken to establish a reputation in the previous platform, the legacy reputation was captured right before the switch, and displays the level you earned before the platform switch was made.

What are karma credits and how do I earn them?
Karma credits are earned for contributions in the Q&A system, but a member’s karma credit total is not visible publicly, and there are no leaderboards. The karma credit total can only be seen by the member and by moderators. Community members can use up-voting to award karma credits to the posters of questions and answers they feel are high-quality and useful. They can use down-voting to indicate the opposite -- that a question or answer is not high-quality or useful. Members can up-vote both questions and answers.

The original poster of a question can also accept an answer provided by another member, to indicate the response provided answered his or her question. 

How many points do I earn for my SAP Answers contributions?

Karma Credit Economy

Where can I see my karma credit total?
You can see your karma credits on the Q&A page.

Do we still have leaderboards like in old SCN?
Leaderboards were used on SCN to display the top contributors in every SCN space based on 12-month (rolling points). The SAP Community no longer use points or leaderboards to recognize contributions on the community.

What languages are available in the new Community?
Whenever you write content (e.g., a blog, a question) for the new community platform, you'll be able to select one of the following six languages:

• English
• Chinese Simplified
• German
• Japanese
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Spanish

Can I select a non-English language community overview page?
While the new community doesn't include non-English language topic pages, the community overview page is available in the following languages:

• English
• Chinese Simplified
• German
• Japanese
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Spanish

The overview page will feature content in the appropriate language and include the tags that are available for the corresponding language. Users will also have the option of accessing content in English. You may select your community overview page by choosing a corresponding country by clicking the country flag in the upper right corner, next to your profile photo.