Catalogs (Technical and Business)

SAP Fiori Launchpad content is organized in two tiers:

1. Technical catalogs are the repository. They contain the original tiles and target mappings for an application area, packaged as launchpad app descriptor items (one target mapping plus one or more tiles). SAP names them SAP_TC_<AREA>_….
2. Business catalogs contain references to those originals, selected for what a specific business user needs, such as a purchaser at Alder Manufacturing. SAP names them SAP_<AREA>_BC_….
3. Roles receive business catalogs. Technical catalogs are not meant to be assigned to users.

References exist only at the level of individual tiles and target mappings; a business catalog never references a whole technical catalog. Because of that, a change to an original in a technical catalog propagates to every business catalog that references it. SAP treats its business catalogs as templates whose content may change from release to release. A catalog is therefore the smallest unit in which apps are granted, while the definitions themselves live only once, in technical catalogs.

• On-premise and Private Edition: a role administrator adds the business catalog to the PFCG role menu (SAP Fiori Launchpad → Launchpad Catalog). With its applications included, PFCG also proposes the authorization defaults of the referenced apps, including OData service start authorizations.
• Public Edition: SAP delivers business catalogs as bundles of apps and, where supported, IAM apps (app authorization variants). Administrators add them to business roles in Maintain Business Roles, maintain restrictions, and activate or deactivate individual IAM apps. Where a catalog does not support IAM apps, the catalog itself stays the smallest unit of authorization. The Business Catalogs app (F2471) documents each catalog.

In both cases, every app in an assigned catalog can be found through search and the app finder, whether or not it is placed on a page. In Public Edition, unneeded catalogs also widen access, which is why SAP advises against using business role templates unchanged in production. A business catalog is therefore an access decision first and a content decision second.

SAP's best-practice documentation for on-premise and Private Edition gives clear decision criteria:

Custom technical catalogs belong in the cross-client configuration scope; the launchpad app manager always works there. Custom business catalogs belong in the client-specific customizing scope (/UI2/FLPCM_CUST); changes in /UI2/FLPCM_CONF apply cross-client and travel on workbench requests. Catalogs whose ID starts with SAP are read-only in customer systems. Copying a business catalog keeps SAP's originals connected, whereas copying a tile or target mapping cuts that connection.

1. Splitting tile and target mapping. SAP recommends keeping the tile and target mapping of one launchpad app descriptor item in the same business catalog; otherwise navigation fails for users who hold only one of them.
2. Building catalogs app by app. Copying an SAP business catalog brings the target mappings needed for app-to-app navigation; selecting single apps from technical catalogs often misses them.
3. Oversized catalogs. Catalog operations slow down as catalogs grow, and every app in a catalog becomes reachable for every user who holds it.
4. Assuming copies stay current. A copied business catalog keeps the references it was copied with; missing apps are added by hand. After an upgrade, the launchpad content manager flags obsolete or deprecated content and its successors.
5. Forgetting SAP GUI for HTML apps. Some of them exist only in technical catalogs, so they must be added to a business catalog individually.

Most catalog mistakes are decisions about granularity: catalogs that are too coarse over-grant, and catalogs assembled too finely break navigation.

On-premise and in Private Edition, start from the user and work towards the content:

1. Which catalogs does the user actually get? /UI2/FLPCA_USER shows the catalogs and spaces per user, and /UI2/FLPCA does the same per role.
2. Does the intent resolve? /UI2/FLIA shows whether a target mapping in the user's catalogs matches a given intent.
3. Are references intact? The launchpad content manager flags references that cannot be resolved, catalogs whose state differs between configuration and customizing scope, and faulty tile or target mapping configuration.
4. Is the content consistent? /UI2/FLC checks delivered and customized launchpad content (deprecated from ABAP platform 2025 in favor of the step 3 issues view and /UI2/FLPCA). /UI2/FLC1 finds orphaned catalogs in the customizing scope.
5. Where is a tile used? The where-used check in the launchpad content manager lists the pages and business catalogs that contain a tile. A tile that is still placed on a page cannot be removed from the catalog.

In Public Edition, the IAM Information System app shows which business roles and business catalogs grant access to which apps. A catalog problem is usually visible as a role problem, so diagnosis should always begin with the user's effective catalogs.