Troubleshooting

Deliverables / Support Portal

Guided Answers

Overview

Guided Answers (GA) is a cloud-based support application built on the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), using SAPUI5 and Fiori standards. GA provides SAP customers a unique support experience by guiding them through an interactive “decision tree” concept to an effective solution for their technical problem. The troubleshooting for all SAP BTP services is based on the Guided Answers solution.

Goals

The goals of the Guided Answers for SAP Business Technology Platform are to:

Harmonize the troubleshooting information that exists in different official SAP BTP documentation sections, SAP Community wikis, FAQs, etc., and to use Guided Answers as single source of truth for solving all BTP services issues.
Establish a good collaboration model between Product Support, Development and User Assistance in order to reduce the development TCO in SAP BTP.
Help customers resolve their technical issues using step-by-step guidance.
Create new troubleshooting content based on the analysis of customer incidents, feedback from Development, FAQs in the official documentation of SAP BTP, KBAs, etc.

Collaboration Model

Possible ways for collaboration on creating Guided Answers with Product Support and Development colleagues:

UA developers review and edit already created Guided Answers content.
UA developers create the script for certain Guided Answers, Product Support colleagues review and create the Guided Answers.
UA developers use KBAs/SAP Notes/customer incidents with the help of Product Support and Development colleagues to extract information about frequent issues.
UA Developers collect information from the Product Support and Development teams, and create Guided Answers, which are validated by the Development and Product Support.

Getting Started

To work with the Guided Answers editor, first you need to click the User information icon in the upper-right corner of the editor, fill in your user information, and click Save.

We recommend entering Ani Koycheva as the power user to make sure that your Guided Answers are reviewed and published as soon as possible.

As soon as you have relevant troubleshooting content in your area, and you have checked this with your Product Support and/or Development colleagues, you can start creating Guided Answers from scratch or use an existing decision tree as a template using the feature. For more information about how to create content in the Guided Answers editor, see Working with the Guided Answers Editor section.

Guided Answers Workflow

Working with the Guided Answers Editor

Prerequisites

You have fulfilled the information about your user in the GA editor in the upper-right corner of the tool.
You have searched for existing Guided Answers and assured that there's no duplicate content.

Create a Guided Answer

On the initial screen of the GA editor, choose the Create a Guided Answer option of the menu on left.
In the New Guided Answer screen, enter its name, description, and who can change the tree.
Select if the guided answer should be Internal or Public.
Set the collaboration level and the editors, and if it is Editor, select the colleagues who are going to contribute to the guided answer content.
Choose the relevant product(s) and component(s).
Enter the keywords to help find the guided answer easily.
Choose Save.

Create Actions

Create the first action by clicking the rectangle of Level 1.
Enter the action Title.
Start the first action on Level 1 with:
- I have the following issue:
- I have a problem with:
Keep it relevant for customers to understand the current action.
Each action should concisely explain the steps, that the user should perform to complete the task. If the action requires the customer to perform some diagnostic check, the details of how to perform that check must be provided.
If there's a relevant KBA or SAP Note, explain why the customer should use them, put a link, and make sure they can be opened in a new window.
Any URLs mentioned must open into a new window.
Use bullet points in the description if the steps are simple to perform.
When structuring your guided answer, consider to create no more than five outcomes per action.
For better visualization, use an image/pictogram when describing an issue/error, solution, and result.
You can use pictograms for reason, note or analysis, as well.
For example:

Issue/Error

Solution

281459_DigitalTransf3_R_green (1).png

Result

Reason

Note

Analysis

Create Outcomes

You create a standard outcome to move through the guided answer in sequence.
You create a redirect outcome if another guided answer already exists to describe the scenario you are about to lead the customer through.
The outcome title should be 100 characters or not more than ten words less.
The outcome should be in the form of a question unless it is a prompt for next steps to be taken.
An action can have more than 1 outcome.
Link the outcome to the correct action.
Multiple outcomes can point to the same action.
Use keywords like "yes, no, next steps". It is okay to use technical words like BTP, SPA, etc., but keep in mind some customers may not be aware of SAP acronyms
When the navigation of the guided answer is complete and there are no other actions, end the tree with a proper closing sentence.
Every node of the guided answer must be completed before it can be sent for review
You don't need to ask a customer at the end of a guided answer if their issue is resolved. The system is built to do that automatically.

Create a Standard Outcome

Create a Standard outcome clicking on the "+ Standard" button then enter the name of the outcome
Apply the requirements mentioned below and try to create not more than five outcome per action.

Create a Redirect Outcome

You create Redirect outcome to reference to already existing guided answer or guided answer action.
Choose the "+ Redirect" option when creating your outcome and enter the name of the guided answer/action
Then choose the drop down for the target and find the guided answer/action you want to link to.

Maintain a Guided Answer

You can edit a guided answer whenever you want to update its content.
If the power user suggests some changes, make them changes and use "Send to Review" again.

Delete a Guided Answer

If a guided answer is no longer relevant you can delete it from the initial screen using the dustbin icon.
If the guided answer is published, you first have to enter change mode by clicking on the pencil icon.

Guidelines for Content Writing

General Requirements

While creating the content in the Guided Answers editor, adhere to all rules and standards for writing official documentation at SAP:

SAP Style Guide for Technical Communication
SAP Style Guide - Top 10 Standards - in-a-nutshell version of the SAP Style Guide for Technical Communication.
SAP Style Guide - Guided Tour - a guided tour through the main chapters of the SAP Style Guide for Technical Communication.
SAP Brand Tools
People-Centric ApproachGuidelines for Writing

Specific Requirements

Due to the nature of troubleshooting information, pay special attention to the tone of voice, and stay as polite as possible. For more information, see Politeness.

false

Start your Guided Answer with a short introduction of the troubleshooting content.
To refer the customers from the entry page to the list of issues, after the introduction, continue with:
I have the following issue:
I have a problem with:
Add the outcomes with possible problems that might occur.
Capitalize the titles of the issues in the blue decision rectangles (outcomes) and use the same titles for the topics.
For better content structuring and visualization of the issue-solution, use the following formatting and pictograms: Issue/Symptom, Reason, and Solution
Try to give the solution as early as possible (no more than 5 steps further).
Use formatting consistently. For example, for error texts or code blocks, use Italic, for important navigations, messages, etc., use Bold.
If you copy and paste content from another source, make sure that the formatting is correct.
Strive to keep the consistency in your decision tree by considering the conventions used in the core SAP BTP GA.
Use pictograms, simplified graphics, and other interactive documentation methods to keep your content more visual. Watch out for the size of the graphics and use the tool's preview function often to make sure that the content is visible on the page.
Use the formulation "For more information, see ..." to refer the customer to any additional information that might be useful.
Ask your colleagues for peer editing and if you aren't a native speaker, send your content to a language editor for review.

dont

false

Don’t send readers on a link hunt. If the information in the link is short enough, just add it to the GA.
Don’t send people to another platform to do a search.
Don't put periods at the end of the topic (outcomes) titles.

Tips and Tricks

Each Guided Answer is Unique

Before creating a Guided Answer, search early and often use the Guided Answers search bar to make sure that there aren't any another Guided Answers with similar content.
Guided Answers can address multiple issues in a single decision tree.
Make sure that all decision trees are well thought out before entering them in the Guided Answers editor.
Link directly to another tree rather than creating duplicate content.

Titles

Create the title last because it is easier to capture the main idea of the GA after it is written.
Customers will use the title to decide whether or not they need to read the rest of the GA.
The title must be easily searchable and relevant to the content.
Use abbreviations to conserve character space. However, the abbreviation must be explained in the body of the GA.

Product/Component

Choose the correct product and component for each decision tree.
It is important to populate the Component field(s) correctly. If a GA can apply to more than one component, add all of the components. This field determines whether a GA will be returned to a customer when logging an incident or performing a search, and if a GA should appear on the SAP Community.

warning

The Product (validity) area is controlled by PPMS. If a product/version is missing, contact that product area's GFM for a resolution. To find the appropriate product, you can use the PPMS search in I7P.

Best Practices

To help customers quickly find the Guided Answer that addresses their issue, make sure that your Guided Answers are tagged correctly.
The selection of tags available to the Guided Answer creator are determined directly by the entries maintained in our Semaphore Tool (link). This tool is where we centrally manage SAP metadata. Guided Answers is a downstream system of Semaphore.
For Guided Answers, the metadata that we are concerned with is Software Product and Software Product Function. The Software Product e.g. SAP ERP, is pulled directly from PPMS (master data repository for technical information on SAP Software Products) to Semaphore. The Software Product Function is a Product Support term which best describes a bundle of features that our software provides to fulfil a business process need e.g. Event Mesh.
Examples of well-written and structured guided answers:

Support

Please, address your questions about content creation or need for a hands-on session to Ani Koycheva, and issues related to the tool, or feature requirements to: Guided Answers Jam Page.