You love the Show Instantly feature in SAP Companion and turned it on, but it’s not displaying as expected… right?  Here are some steps to make sure you make the most of this great feature of SAP Enable Now.

What is Show Instantly?

As per the SAP Companion Release Information (2023.06.05), end users have the ability to display instant help content immediately, which can be set up to be visible even if the end user doesn’t click the SAP Companion question mark icon on the screen first.

How is this helpful?

This is a great feature because users can see SAP Companion Hotspots automatically on their Fiori screens when they access them.

This is a great way to highlight changes to a Business Process, highlight important fields and field entries and also highlight new features on the screens.  Once the Show Instantly Hotspot is displayed, all the user has to do is hover over the field to see the information bubble with all the relevant information you wish them to know.

Show Instantly

This is a great tool to reduce calls to the call center, save time where end users might have had to ask a question to a colleague or even as an effective way to include useful information right on the screen (instead of a sticky note or printed instructions).

The Issue

Alright, I already love it.  To turn on Show Instantly I followed these steps:

1. Access the desired screen in Fiori.
2. Enter Edit mode in SAP Companion on that same screen.
3. Add a new bubble.  While on the subject, please remember that it is recommended that instant help content have a title included.
4. Assign the Hotspot.  The Show Immediately feature is supported in all Hotspot styles except Circle.
5. Turn on Show Instantly using the slider under the Hotspot section.
6. Enter the desired information in the Tile Title, Tile Description and Bubble Text fields.
7. Click Apply.

Show Instantly – Bubble setting

Then, to test it I Save, Publish and exit Edit mode in SAP Companion and refresh the browser.  The Show Instantly hotspot is not showing!  I cleared my cache and even tried it in another browser and in Incognito mode!

The readCatalogue parameter

Parameters are further configurations to customize the behavior of SAP Companion. It’s a good idea to review the SAP Companion parameters periodically.

If the parameter readCatalogue=false, then SAP Companion is not able to display the Hotspot automatically when the end user accesses the Fiori screen where you created the Show Instantly Hotspot.

The fix is easy enough, just update the parameter to readCatalogue=true.  You can find where the parameter is configured in the SAP Companion Integration Guide.

Additional Information

The SAP Companion Integration Guide has the following description for the readCatalogue parameter:

Prevent content request on startup

Avoids requesting content on SAP Companion startup. The server request is sent when the Help button is selected

NOTE: SAP Companion does not check for content and the Help button is always shown.  Without the parameter, the Help button is only shown if content is available.

Summary

I hope this blog post helps you get the most out of the Show Instantly feature of SAP Companion.