Getting to the Right Help Module

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Getting to the Right Help Module

You can get to the help module you need in two ways:

• By using context-sensitive help

• By finding your own way in through the R/3 Help Library

Plain English

Context-Sensitive Help  

In this type of help system, the kind of help window SAP R/3 shows you depends on which screen you are in when you ask for help.

Getting in by Context

For this lesson, assume that you're looking for help related to creating a purchase requisition. To access context-sensitive help, start on the Create: Purchase Requisition : Initial Screen. (If you don't remember how to get there, refer to Lesson 3, "Getting Around the Screen.") From that screen, choose Help, Extended Help.

SAP R/3 checks to see which screen you are in and takes you into the appropriate help module. In this case, because you're on a Create: Purchase Requisition screen, SAP displays help information on maintaining requisitions (see Figure 6.1).

TIP

Extended Help  

This menu option is available no matter where you are in SAP R/3. The information it provides varies depending on where you are.

Figure 6.1. A task-specific help topic.

Getting in Through the R/3 Help Library

Context-sensitive help works well if you know how to get to the screen for which you need help. If you aren't sure even where to start, you need to find your way in through the SAP R/3 Help Library. The following steps walk you through doing just that:

1. From any SAP R/3 screen, choose Help, R/3 Library. SAP R/3 displays the Library Manager screen, similar to that shown in Figure 6.2. Take a few moments to look at the options.

   Plain English

   Library Manager  

   This library contains an amazing amount of useful, well-written information. Because it's online, it's easy to search, and you don't have to bother trying to keep it up-to-date like you do paper manuals.

   
   

   Figure 6.2. The information here is word-for-word the same as the printed manuals you can order from SAP.

   

2. To find help on creating a purchase requisition, click the round Logistics button, LO.

3. Scroll down the left pane until you get to MM Purchasing. Each subdocument is shown nested in its parent folder (see Figure 6.3).

4. Scroll the left pane down further and click Manual Creation of Purchase Requisitions.

5. A more detailed help screen appears (see Figure 6.4). If it looks familiar, it should ”it's the same screen you saw for context- sensitive help in Figure 6.1. The Help Library and the context-sensitive helps are just different paths to the same help files.

   Figure 6.3. An index to the Purchasing topics.

   

   Figure 6.4. You can click any of these items to see more detail on them.

   

   TIP

   General Topics  

   Don't underestimate the value of such general topics as Master Data in Purchasing. Topics such as this give background information that will help you understand the way work flows through the system. (These topics aren't easy to find unless you enter the help system through the Library Manager.)

   
   

6. Click Creating a Purchase Requisition With a Master Record. The screen in Figure 6.5 appears.

Figure 6.5. Step-by-step instructions exist for all tasks .

This exercise showed you that SAP R/3 provides a wealth of online help that you should dip into whenever it's needed. If you use only context-sensitive help, you may not see some of the other useful topics available in the SAP R/3 Help Library (such as the general topics).

In this lesson, you learned how to get step-by-step help on specific business processes. You also learned how to take advantage of context- sensitive help and the SAP R/3 Help Library. In the next lesson, you learn how to create a business document.

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