Setting Defaults

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Setting Defaults

Plain English

Default  

A certain value that SAP R/3 uses every time it encounters a particular field, unless you specifically give it another value. You can specify what you want the default for a field to be.

The following steps walk you through setting your default user values:

1. From any screen, choose System, User Profile, Own Data, and then click User Defaults. The Maintain User: Defaults screen appears. Click the Defaults tab and use the scrollbars to move down until your screen resembles Figure 19.1.

   Note the following elements of this screen:

   • The User field (scrolled off the top in Figure 19.1) is just your user logon name or user ID.

   • The Start Menu field enables you to set up a menu for R/3 to start with when you log on. For example, if you enter ME00 in this field, you would automatically go to the Purchasing screen every time you log on. (To see how to find codes for other screens, see Lesson 18, "Using Transaction Codes.")

     Figure 19.1. Change your user defaults from this screen.

     

   • Output Device is the printer that SAP R/3 will use for your reports . (To redirect your job to another printer at the time of printing, type another value over the default.) Some SAP R/3 documents may print to a predefined printer ”for example, your purchase orders might always be sent to a printer in Purchasing. Changing the default here won't change the destinations for such predefined documents.

   TIP

   Getting Help  

   Remember that you can always use SAP R/3's Field-Level Help to learn more about how to use the fields.

   
   

2. Move to the Output Device field and click the matchcode corner. (If a Restrict Value Ranges box appears, click No.) SAP lists all the printers defined for the SAP R/3 system to which you are connected. Scroll through the list and find the printer you want to use. Double-click an item to select it.

3. In the Print Controller area, select Print Immediately and Delete After Printing for normal use.

4. Select the default date format that you'll use to enter dates when working in SAP and choose your preference for the decimal notation. You must enter all dates in SAP R/3 in the format you select here ” otherwise , SAP won't accept your entries. Similarly, you must also use the decimal notation you indicate here.

   CAUTION

   Date Format  

   The format you use to enter all dates is set here. It has nothing to do with how SAP R/3 stores dates internally, just with how they're displayed and entered for your user ID.

   
   

5. The CATT test status control is used only for Computer Assisted Testing. Leave it as is.

6. Click Save to save your changes, and then click the Back tool button to return to the previous screen.

TIP

Keep It Simple  

In practice, defining a standard date presentation for your organization is a good idea. (Somebody may have already done this where you work.) For training, it's certainly better to stick to one way of presenting and entering dates. Much unnecessary confusion is created when date formats in training materials don't match the format of a new user's ID.

Customizing the Window and Cursor

Another menu is provided to change your window and cursor control. Known as the user options menu, it's tucked away in the upper-right corner and is easy to forget. If you can't remember where to find the settings for controlling a default option, check under this icon.

Follow these steps to customize your window and cursor:

1. From any SAP R/3 screen, click the icon at the right end of the menu bar to open the user options menu.

2. Choose Options from the menu. The Options dialog box appears (see Figure 19.2).

   Figure 19.2. The Options dialog box.

   

3. On the General page are the following options:

   • You can turn off the toolbars or status bar, but short of mean practical jokes, I can't imagine why you would want to.

   • The Quick Info options control how quickly the little helper boxes appear when you move your cursor to an item.

   • You can specify how SAP warns you of messages. If no Messages check boxes are checked, SAP R/3 gives you error and abort messages on a discreet little line at the bottom of the screen (as you have seen so far). However, you can have them displayed as an in-your-face dialog box and have SAP R/3 beep to get your attention.

   • The System Libraries option sets how parts of R/3 are used. (Your tech support people can tell you how it's usually set in your company; you probably won't ever have to change this.)

4. Use the Colors in Forms or Colors in Lists page (see Figure 19.3) to adjust your screen colors. You can change any of these settings to suit your preferences. These colors are stored with the PC and will affect any users who log on to it.

   Figure 19.3. The Colors in Lists page.

   

   TIP

   For the Aesthetically Challenged  

   If you've changed the color settings around and don't like (or can't read) the results, you can fix them. For forms, return the Color Palettes setting to Standard. For Colors in Lists, click Default to restore the colors.

   
   

5. Explore the other options available on the Cursor, Fonts, and Trace pages. However, before you make any changes to them, write down the original settings. These pages don't provide those convenient Default buttons that return the settings to how they started.

   CAUTION

   Screen Fonts  

   These fonts have nothing to do with the way SAP R/3 prints information on paper; they affect only how text appears onscreen.

   
   

6. Click OK to close this dialog box, and SAP R/3 saves your changes.

Customizing Your Screen Size

You can customize your screen size by using either of two methods : change the number of dots your Windows desktop can display, or change the default size that SAP R/3 uses for your user ID.

The first method really affects a Windows setting. Any change you make to the Windows desktop settings applies to your computer, not your user ID. The SAP R/3 data-entry screens were originally planned around " lowest common denominator" settings (640 dots wide by 480 dots high). With most PCs able to do better today, you will want to use a higher resolution on more and more R/3 screens.

Many PCs now can display higher resolution screens at 600 —800, 768 —1,024, or even higher. You can control your setting through Windows if your PC hardware supports it. You might want to go to a higher resolution for three reasons:

• For reports and lists, you can get a wider and longer viewing space, which means that you can see more items on a list. You can drag the SAP R/3 window open to a larger size.

• If your work involves having several SAP R/3 sessions open at once, you can have several overlapping 640 —480 sessions open on your larger desktop.

• At 640 —480, some important screen elements (like the buttons on pop-up windows) will be below the bottom of your screen.

• You can also get more line items on a document, such as a purchase order or sales order.

The downside is that the higher the resolution you use on your monitor, the smaller the text becomes.

To change your Windows setup to a higher resolution, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel.

2. In the Control Panel window, choose Display.

3. In the Display Properties sheet, choose the Settings tab (see Figure 19.4).

   Figure 19.4. Change your Windows screen settings from here.

   

4. Move the slider to the resolution you want. Depending on your computer, going to a higher resolution can cause the color palette to change, too. This is limited by the amount of memory on your video card.

5. Click OK to put your new settings into effect.

CAUTION

Don't Be Hasty  

Sometimes when you change your screen resolution, it causes problems displaying the screen at the new resolution. Windows gets around this problem by changing the resolution, and then putting a message on the screen asking if you want to keep the settings. If you click Yes, you must have been able to read the message. If you don't do anything for 15 seconds, Windows thinks that you can't read the screen and changes it back. So if there's a problem, don't do anything precipitous ”just sit back and wait a minute.

As I said, you can customize your screen size in two ways. The second is under SAP R/3 and applies to your user ID. To customize the default window size that SAP R/3 uses to display your screens, click the user options menu icon and select Default Size. If you have Windows set for a resolution of 640 —480 (as shown in Figure 19.4), this setting will have no effect.

In this lesson, you learned how to customize the defaults and settings for your window, cursor, colors, and fonts for your user ID. You also learned that SAP R/3 can take advantage of a larger Windows desktop and how to create one on your PC. In the next lesson, you learn what configuration is and how it affects you.

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