Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Starting with a broad view of SuccessFactors and the history behind its acquisition, this anthology’s
articles narrow in scope as they progress. From providing technical details about the integration of
the two systems, to offering specific guidance for navigating Employee Central, and culminating with
deep technical information about the Metadata Framework and picklists management, these articles
cover a broad spectrum of information for readers looking to learn more about SuccessFactors and
SAP ERP HCM.
At HR Expert, our mission is to help you build your skills and achieve the business goals of the
organizations you serve. This anthology has been curated with this guiding principle in mind—to help
you advance your SAP and SuccessFactors knowledge and stay on the leading edge of SAP technology.
This anthology only scratches the surface. In HR Expert, you will find a plethora of SAP ERP HCM
information, as well as more technical content around SuccessFactors. Our offerings include short,
quick-tip articles as well as longer technical articles and video content to help you do your jobs better
and faster. All of the content is reviewed by a team of expert technical advisors, many of whom are also
contributors to HR Expert. To learn more about HR Expert, explore license options, and give us your
feedback, visit www.SAPexperts.com/HR.
www.SAPexperts.com/HR
An resource
from the publisher of
Understanding the SAP ERP HCM Reporting Landscape Today and in the Future.................................................................................. 33
by Danielle Larocca, Vice President Operations, North America, SpinifexIT
Gain an understanding of what the SAP ERP HCM landscape looks like today in simple, clear terms. Learn, from the author’s experience, where SAP ERP
HCM is headed in the future, and how you should be planning to meet these new challenges.
Integrating SuccessFactors Employee Central with SAP ERP HCM Master Data................................................................................... 39
by Priynk Gautam, SAP ERP HCM/SuccessFactors Consultant
Learn how to integrate SuccessFactors Employee Central with your SAP ERP HCM system. After successful integration, Employee Central becomes the
system of record for master data, and any changes to master data in Employee Central can be copied to the SAP ERP HCM system using iFlows.
How to Enable, Create, and Manage the New SuccessFactors Metadata Framework-Based Talent Pools.......................................... 79
by Luke Marson, Chief Cloud HCM Architect, Hula Partners
Learn how to create and manage the new Metadata Framework-based Talent Pools introduced in the November 2013 release of SuccessFactors. Learn
how the Talent Pools work and how they can be leveraged for succession, development, and other business processes. In addition, find out how to
enable and configure Talent Pools in your system.
Tips for Adding Additional Job Information Fields in the People Pool.....................................................................................................110
by Manjunath Bannur, SuccessFactors, Employee Central Consultant
It is not uncommon for HR users to request that additional custom fields be added to different portlets to capture the data related to their employees;
the Job Information portlet of SuccessFactors Employee Central is no exception. The Job Information section stores important data related to employees
to define the relationship of the employee to the organization. As such, additional fields are often required to satisfy HR manager or administrator
needs. Learn how to add extra and custom fields in the People Pool section of SuccessFactors Employee Central.
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HR Expert Anthology • www.SAPexperts.com/HR
In this exclusive in-depth report, learn about SuccessFactors and what the acquisition >> Key Concept
means for SAP ERP HCM and your business. Get a detailed, comprehensive overview of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is
SuccessFactors, SAP’s strategy, the future of SAP ERP HCM, and how the acquisition of the next generation of enterprise
SuccessFactors affects your business. This report aims to dispel any myths or confusion software offered as services in the
around SuccessFactors and provide a solid grounding on SuccessFactors and its position cloud. SaaS provides access to
in the SAP ERP HCM family.
enterprise software on a subscrip-
tion basis without the need to own
or maintain hardware or software.
On February 23, 2012, SAP acquired trend seen in the 1990s and 2000s. As
The software, and your data, is
the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) HCM many of the vendors grew, they began
hosted remotely and accessed on
and Talent Management software to expand their portfolios and offer
demand from any location using
vendor SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion. other HCM services. Now, SaaS
the unique login credentials of
This acquisition turned SAP into a vendors are also pioneers of social col-
your organization. SaaS software
vendor of both on-premise and SaaS laboration software for businesses and
is multi-tenant, which means that
HCM software and a major player in mobile solutions. SuccessFactors is
many instances of the software
the competitive SaaS HCM market. considered a leader in SaaS talent man-
are accessed and are on the
agement and social collaboration
SaaS is considered to be the next-gen- same application version. Users
software and has been named a leader
eration platform for providing can choose which features and
in talent management in recent years,
enterprise software. While many functionality to use in the stan-
including Gartner’s 2014 Talent Man-
people feel uncomfortable with the dard solution and in the regular
agement Suites Magic Quadrant, five
concept of cloud computing, they may releases that are introduced by
IDC reports in 2013 and the 2014 IDC
not understand that they are already the vendor. Cloud, in this context,
MarketScape for Worldwide Integrated
using cloud-based software for every- refers to any software or service
Talent Management, and Forrester’s
day activities, such as email (e.g., that is hosted remotely and
2013 and 2014 Forrester Wave: Talent
Hotmail and Gmail) or document accessed over the Internet.
Management reports. In addition, they
storage (e.g., Google Drive and
were also positioned as a leader in For-
Dropbox). Almost any piece of soft- “business execution” (BizX) software
rester’s 2014 SaaS HR Management
ware offering a service over the for the Human Capital Management
Systems report.
Internet is SaaS and these offerings are (HCM) market. SuccessFactors was
now touching our daily lives. One of the key strengths of SaaS soft- formed by Lars Dalgaard and Aaron
ware is its web-orientated user Au in 2001, and is based in San Fran-
>> Note interfaces (UIs). The evolution of Web cisco, CA. The company has offices in
2.0 has enabled applications with rich more than 35 locations worldwide,
This in-depth report was originally
features and UIs to run over the Inter- including several countries in South
published in February 2013. It has
net, which was not possible before. For America, Europe, and Asia–Pacific. It
been revised and is current as of
more information on SaaS and its pros went public in November 2007 on the
November 2014.
and cons, see the sidebar, “Why SaaS?” NASDAQ stock market, under SFSF,
but in 2011 moved from NASDAQ to
The next step for SaaS is enterprise become the first company ever to be
Who Is SuccessFactors? triple-listed on the New York Stock
software. Originally many of the SaaS
vendors started with talent manage- Prior to the acquisition by SAP, Suc- Exchange, Euronext Paris, and Frank-
ment systems, following the growing cessFactors was a vendor of SaaS furt Stock Exchange.
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HR Expert Anthology • www.SAPexperts.com/HR
Its business is focused around provid- tors was aiming to double its market Each of these acquisitions brought in
ing SaaS software services covering potential. applications that are now core parts of
core HR, workforce planning, talent the SuccessFactors offerings.
management, social collaboration, and SuccessFactors also focuses on its
analytics. Talent management, social ability to provide business execution,
reduce the total cost of ownership Inform Business Impact (previously
collaboration, and analytics are partic- called Infohrm) was a $40.5 million
ular strengths of SuccessFactors. (TCO), and use return on execution
(ROX) to evaluate the success of proj- acquisition made in 2010, and was the
Social collaboration underpins a lot of first purchase made by SuccessFactors.
the processes in the SuccessFactors ects (as opposed to the standard
measurement indicator, return on Inform Business Impact was a leading
HCM suite, while its vendor-agnostic provider of analytics software and its
analytics solution provides more than investment [ROI]). ROX, in its sim-
plest form, can be calculated with the assets formed the basis of the Success-
1,500 out-of-the-box analytics that Factors Workforce Analytics solution.
cover all solutions. Its talent manage- formula:
A few months later SuccessFactors
ment suite comprises solutions for all Net gain from improved execution / purchased Cubetree for $50 million.
the major process areas: recruiting, Net execution investment = Return on Cubetree produced a cloud enterprise
performance, goal management, com- execution (ROX) social collaboration and networking
pensation learning, succession platform of the same name that eventu-
planning, and development. ROX is meant to ensure that organiza-
ally became the SAP Jam solution. The
tions benefit more than just financially.
last acquisition of 2010 saw Success-
At the time of the acquisition, Success- In the report Return on Execution
Factors purchase YouCalc for an
Factors had more than 3,500 customers [http://www.successfactors.com/
undisclosed figure. This acquisition
in 168 territories using 35 different content/successfactors/en_us/down-
meant that SuccessFactors was able to
languages. This large customer base load.html?a=/content/dam/
offer real-time data analysis and calcu-
provided it with 15 million subscrip- successfactors/ en_us/resources
lation in the cloud—a first for any
tions and with revenues of $364 /white-papers/return-on-execution.pdf]
SaaS vendor.
million. Over time these figures have by Erik Berggren, Director of Cus-
increased as SAP has further developed tomer Results & Global Research, and
the suite and attracted a significant Lars Dalgaard, then CEO, it was sug- In 2011, SuccessFactors also made
number of new customers. Success gested by SuccessFactors that three more acquisitions, with the final
Factors has many recognized “bottom-line results are far more acquisition made after the announce-
companies within its customer list, dependent on execution (85% vs. 15%) ment of its deal with SAP. First, in
including 20th Century Fox, Adobe, than on strategic plans.” March 2011, SuccessFactors com-
Allstate, American Airlines, Astra pleted a deal to buy Jambok, a
Zeneca, the Department of Homeland provider of a social learning platform
Security, NASA, PepsiCo, Siemens,
Growth by Acquisition focused around content creation and
Sobeys, Starbucks, and Walmart. During its history, SuccessFactors has sharing, for an undisclosed sum.
made a number of acquisitions to Shortly after this acquisition, Suc-
Originally SuccessFactors focused on strengthen its existing portfolio. It has cessFactors purchased Plateau
performance management software, but acquired six companies for more than Systems, which at the time was a
in 2009 the company expanded its $400 million: leading learning management system
strategy to offer what it called “busi- vendor, for $290 million. Finally, in
ness execution” software. Success- • Inform Business Impact December 2011, SuccessFactors com-
Factors launched the business execu- pleted an acquisition of Jobs2Web for
• Cubetree
tion suite—originally known as the $110 million. This deal was announ-
BizX suite and now called the HCM • YouCalc ced after SAP had signaled its
suite—to extend its reach from mea- intention to buy SuccessFactors,
suring employee performance and goal • Jambok although SAP indicated that it was
setting to supporting companies in exe- • Plateau Systems SuccessFactors’ prerogative to make
cuting business strategy. By expanding acquisitions while it was still an inde-
its portfolio to full HCM, SuccessFac- • Jobs2Web pendent company.
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• SAP Jam – Social collaboration and the SuccessFactors HCM suite—is a SuccessFactors Mobile provides
networking platform social collaboration platform designed employees throughout an organization
to enhance communication and with the ability to perform a number of
• SuccessFactors Mobile – Mobile sharing, onboarding of new employees, activities from their smartphones or
application to perform processes on and collaboration across an organiza- tablet devices. SuccessFactors Mobile
the go tion. It incorporates social-media supports iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and
Employee Central is the next genera- functionalities that Twitter, Facebook, Android devices and provides func-
tion core HRIS that covers and Google Plus users will find famil- tionality to view notifications, display
functionality such as personnel man- iar. SAP Jam provides users with the the organizational chart, manage
agement, organizational management, opportunity to upload documents, recruiting requisitions, manage learn-
workflows, self-services, and time off. create videos, create Wikis, create ing activities, and perform SAP Jam
SAP’s hosted payroll solution, groups, and automate group member- actions. Although part of the HCM
Employee Central Payroll, is an ship for individuals based on certain suite, SuccessFactors Mobile is not a
optional component of Employee attributes. SAP Jam is not an HR-spe- solution in its own right but a comple-
Central. As you might expect, it is cific solution and can be used in a mentary solution that supports all the
fully integrated with SAP ERP and variety of functions across an organiza- solutions in the suite.
third-party applications and underpins tion, such as sales or finance.
the rest of the suite as a central plat- The Acquisition by SAP
form for managing employees, Workforce Analytics offers a wide-
positions, organizational, and salary ranging collection of analytics and On December 3, 2011, SAP announced
data across multiple geographies, com- reports that covers all processes and that it had entered into an agreement to
panies, and reporting areas. Employee HCM suite applications. Workforce purchase the entire stock of SuccessFac-
Central has grown significantly since Analytics’ benchmarking analytics take tors for $3.4 billion via its subsidiary
the acquisition by SAP and has been all the data from all customer instances SAP America, Inc. The news sparked a
implemented by a number of global to create comparable benchmarks that huge wave of excitement over the early
organizations, such as PepsiCo and organizations can use for comparison December weekend as analysts,
Timken. Thomas Otter, a leading with their own performance. Predictive markets, and the HCM communities
industry analyst, was appointed Vice analytics are also cutting-edge func- were taken by complete surprise at the
President, Product Management for tionality offered within Workforce announcement.
Employee Central in 2013, and his analytics. Headlines is a new mobile
After a period of due diligence and
experience in both traditional and application available for smartphone
completion of formalities, the acquisi-
cloud-based core HR has been influen- and tablet devices that provides man-
tion was officially done on February
tial in this development. agers with relevant and targeted
23, 2012. Shortly after completion,
analytics for their area of responsibility
SuccessFactors’ range of talent manage- Lars Dalgaard, at the recommendation
in real time.
ment solutions—Performance and of Hasso Plattner, was appointed to
Goals, Recruiting, Onboarding, Com- run SAP’s newly formed Cloud Busi-
pensation, Learning, and Succession Workforce Planning builds on analytical ness Unit and joined the SAP
and Development—provide end-to-end data to provide customers with the Executive Board. As part of the acqui-
talent management that is integrated ability to identify current and projected sition, SuccessFactors remained a
with the other HCM suite applications. workforce needs, as well as the skills separate entity from SAP and was
These applications are the focus of and competencies to support the long- rebranded as “SuccessFactors, an SAP
SAP’s hybrid strategy, which is when term needs of an organization. In company.”
SAP customers use SAP ERP HCM on addition, it also features “what-if” mod-
premise for core HR and SuccessFac- eling capabilities to identify the For the first time SAP was able to offer
tors HCM suite for talent management financial impact of different workforce a full suite of HCM solutions both on
processes. scenarios and predictive workforce premise and in the cloud. It also pro-
planning functionality to forecast vided its customers with the opportunity
SAP Jam—formerly known as Suc- company growth, costs, and skills gaps to combine on-premise applications
cessFactors Jam and offered as part of based on current and previous data. with cloud applications from the same
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management, SAP will continue to so that all HCM processes are run in the tionality. So far, SAP has lived up to its
support and invest in on-premise tech- cloud. Net new customers (customers promises made in this announcement.
nology. However, investment in talent who are not using any SAP HCM solu-
management solutions has been tions) and existing customers can Key Misconceptions About the
minimal since Enhancement Package 4 leverage full-cloud HCM to get a com- Acquisition
(EhP4) was released. SAP Organiza- plete and holistic suite of HCM
One key misconception that arose when
tional Visualization by Nakisa (SOVN) functionality within the cloud, with or
the SuccessFactors acquisition was
will remain as the complementary solu- without SAP ERP HCM as the system
announced was that mainstream support
tion for on-premise customers for of record. Because some organizations
for SAP ERP HCM on premise would
organizational chart visualization, orga- don’t want just talent management and
end in 2020. These fears arose due to the
nizational modeling, and data quality analytics in the cloud, SAP is able to
timing of SAP’s announcement in
auditing. SAP Talent Visualization by ensure that all of a company’s HCM
October 2011—just two months prior to
Nakisa (STVN) and SOVN will con- needs are realized in the cloud.
the announcement of the acquisition—
tinue to be sold and supported by SAP,
In a side-by-side deployment, a that it was extending mainstream support
although STVN is not part of SAP’s go-
company chooses to retain SAP ERP for its on-premise SAP Business Suite,
forward strategy for talent management. which includes SAP ERP HCM, by five
HCM as its on-premise system cen-
There are three deployment models for trally, but uses Employee Central across years (from December 2015 to Decem-
SuccessFactors HCM: talent hybrid, some of its business, such as at a sub- ber 2020). December 2015 was the
full-cloud HCM, and side-by-side. The sidiary or a regional office. Some original date that was set for the end of
talent-hybrid model refers to customers companies may not have a core HR mainstream support for ERP Central
using SAP ERP HCM on premise for system at one or more of its subsidiaries Component (ECC) 6.0 when it was
core HCM processes (e.g., personnel or regional offices, or they may want to released in 2006. As predicted, SAP
administration, time management, and trial Employee Central prior to a global announced in late 2014 that it would be
payroll) and using the SuccessFactors rollout. This model gives them the extending maintenance again, until 2025.
HCM suite for talent management and, opportunity to take advantage of inno-
As mentioned previously, David Ludlow
if required, workforce analytics. Within vations, fill business system gaps, and
was keen to highlight that SAP will not
this model SAP ERP HCM is an inte- explore how SuccessFactors works for
force any customers onto the cloud.
gral part of using the SuccessFactors their business. SAP has built packaged
While SAP is promoting the Success-
HCM suite. SAP has a detailed integra- integrations to enable companies to run
Factors HCM suite, particularly for
tion strategy and roadmap for the a side-by-side model with SAP ERP
talent management, it will continue to
talent-hybrid model (this is covered in HCM and Employee Central.
offer its on-premise talent management
more detail later in this report). Another key message that was revealed functionality. SAP will not pressure cus-
during David Ludlow’s HR 2012 tomers to rip and replace their core SAP
One reason that SAP offers a detailed
keynote address was that SAP would ERP HCM system for SuccessFactors
integration strategy for the talent-hybrid
not force customers onto its cloud offer- Employee Central, but they enable this
model is because many organizations
ings and that it would continue to invest possibility for customers who choose to
have already implemented a stable and
in and offer innovations for core HR. follow this path. SAP has publicly reaf-
effective core HR system in SAP ERP
The new HR Renewal release and Busi- firmed its commitment to allowing
HCM, but want state-of-the-art talent
ness Suite on HANA announcements customers to choose which technologies
management solutions. SAP considers
are two examples of innovations from they wish to use for different processes.
the SuccessFactors HCM suite as its
SAP. HR Renewal provides a host of
best-in-class talent management solution.
This fresh wave of talent management
new usability features to SAP ERP How SuccessFactors HCM
HCM, and Business Suite on HANA
solutions is still fairly new to the market-
provides revolutionary performance and
Suite Differs from SAP ERP
place and there is a high level of
processing that has been impossible up HCM
investment and innovation taking place.
until now. SAP would also accelerate its SuccessFactors HCM suite differs in a
Full-cloud HCM refers to the entire investment in SuccessFactors Employee number of ways from SAP ERP HCM.
SuccessFactors HCM suite being used, Central to ensure that it is rich in func- Although both solutions cover many of
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SuccessFactors’ applications are tors Mobile application as part of the administration functions, including
designed with a mobile-first mentality. base license for the HCM suite. importing and maintaining organizational
This ensures that applications are created data, setting up new forms, creating and
with simple functionality. The iPhone SuccessFactors managing the home page tiles, managing
generation is joining the workforce and user passwords, managing permissions,
Administration and
is used to using simple and attractive and viewing administrative alerts such as
apps on their devices, so it makes sense
Configuration stalled workflow requests, people issues,
for the next generation of enterprise Administration and configuration is and HR data issues. Figure 5 shows the
applications to follow these design largely performed in the administrator home page for an Admin User with the
principles. Unlike SAP ERP HCM, tools, called OneAdmin. An Admin User different tiles that are available for this
SuccessFactors includes its SuccessFac- can be configured to provide general type of user.
Figure 5 The Home page of SuccessFactors HCM suite for an Admin User
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objects can have attributes modified to a-Service (PaaS). The Employee Central Support or a trained implementation
fit company-specific logic or behavior, extension package for HCP enables any partner. With the exception of third-
such as compensation logic or cost company application to be created and party extension products such as SOVN
center validations. embedded in SuccessFactors. These or SAP Employee File Management by
applications inherit the theme, leverage OpenText (SEFM), most SAP users are
This model allows users complete
permissions, and use data from accustomed to having their consulting
control over creating new objects
Employee Central. partner perform all the implementation
without performing any coding or
activities required during a project.
custom development. However, unlike
an on-premise SAP ERP HCM system, Licensing: SAP vs. Likewise, some consultants may not be
comfortable working with a third party
the objects created in SuccessFactors SuccessFactors during an implementation. SuccessFac-
can have attributes that are unique to One of the major differences between tors role is usually to provision the
those specific objects. There are no SAP and SuccessFactors is the licensing instance and to provide access to the
specific infotype controls or validity model. SAP solutions (e.g., HCM) are partner consultants, but it is not
restrictions. This is a principle that is licensed per user on a perpetual basis involved extensively unless support is
new to SAP on-premise users and ini- for a one-off license fee, plus an annual required.
tially the concept might seem alien or maintenance fee. In contrast, Success-
limited in its practical use. Factors solutions are licensed per user The role of a consultant during
on a subscription basis per year. No implementation of one or more Success-
One of the major advantages of the
additional maintenance is charged. Factors solutions differs from the type
MDF is that customer metadata is sepa-
of roles that exist during an on-premise
rate from the SuccessFactors metadata. The cloud-based licensing model used implementation. Quite often only a
Users can never overwrite what Suc- by SuccessFactors has its advantages single consultant is required to perform
cessFactors delivers, although they can and disadvantages. There is no large all project roles, and these tend to be
switch it on or off. Therefore, the chal- capital expenditure for licensing and focused on activities such as scoping of
lenges users can face with conflicts yearly charges are made for the exact customer requirements, configuration,
when going through enhancement amount of usage (i.e., customers are data-field mapping, and testing. In some
package or Support Package upgrades only charged for the exact number of instances an integration consultant may
simply do not occur when new updates users that use the system). Customers be required to perform the technical
are introduced into the SuccessFactors are also not tied into using SuccessFac- integration. Typically SAP ERP HCM
system. tors forever—they are able to exit the projects, depending on the solution,
When users enhance or extend the data contract at the end of the contractual have been staffed by multiple consul-
model in SuccessFactors using the period, which is usually for three years tants and in some cases have involved
MDF, they are creating objects that sit in length, without incurring additional multiple teams made up of several con-
next to the existing data model, rather licensing costs or losing part of the sultants. However, since SuccessFactors
than sitting within it. These new objects one-off licensing fee that would be paid is focused around best-practice configu-
work with the system as if they are part for an on-premise license. Although ration and accelerated time frames,
of the standard data model, without one-year contracts are available, the fewer resources are required to deliver a
creating errors or conflicts. These average contract for a large customer is project and they are needed for shorter
objects—no matter how many—lever- usually three years. periods of time.
age a single instance of components
In some cases, specialist SuccessFactors
(e.g., UI components, processing Implementation: SAP vs. consultants (those not working for
objects, and workflow objects) and SuccessFactors SuccessFactors Professional Services)
therefore performance is significantly
Implementing SuccessFactors is differ- work on multiple projects simultane-
greater than if every object had its own
ent from what many companies who ously, each on a part-time basis. This
unique instance of components.
have on-premise SAP systems are used change alone will cause a significant
Custom applications can be added into to. First off, the SuccessFactors HCM shift in the SAP ERP HCM consulting
SuccessFactors using the SAP HANA suite cannot be implemented without business over time, since the current
Cloud Platform (HCP), as Platform-as- the involvement of SuccessFactors level of revenues sourced from on-
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HR Expert Anthology • www.SAPexperts.com/HR
mobile applications but has a myriad of SAP has also recently introduced SuccessFactors’ quarterly release cycle
licensing approaches and extensive Feature Packs for the HR Renewal means that rapid innovation can occur
technological prerequisites to get going, release in order to deliver functionality and regular enhancements can be intro-
such as SAP Gateway and Sybase on a quarterly basis. New releases by duced. While this can be overwhelming
Unwired Platform. While it can be diffi- SuccessFactors are made to all customer for some organizations, it can also mean
cult for SAP ERP HCM customers to instances, although, by default, all new that organizations can adopt new func-
build a business case for mobility, with functionality is switched off and so it is tionality without waiting for long
up to the users as to whether they wish development periods or costly and diffi-
SuccessFactors Mobile application there
to enable any of the new functionality. cult upgrade projects. New customers
is little reason not to roll it out across
might not even be aware that they have
the organization. Figure 8 shows the This differs from SAP ERP HCM, had new functionality introduced into
SuccessFactors Mobile application where implementing enhancement pack- their system.
initial screen. ages or Support Packages can be
time-consuming. Enhancement pack- SuccessFactors releases are released in
Release Cycle ages might only provide a minimal February, May, August, and November
amount of functionality versus the effort of each year. From early 2015 on the
SuccessFactors releases new functional-
to implement, depending on the func- releases will be made available in these
ity and bug fixes on a quarterly basis,
tionality used in SAP ERP HCM. months in the Test system, but they
as opposed to on-premise SAP, which
will not be pushed into the Production
releases new SAP ERP HCM function- In SuccessFactors, each release is system until one month later.
ality via enhancement packages approx- added to the system by SuccessFactors
imately every 18 months, and releases so there is no action needed from the This is to enable customers to perform
bug fixes ad hoc via SAP Notes or in system administrator if none of the new testing of the new features ahead of
bulk as part of Support Packages. functionality is required. release to the business.
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• No hardware and licenses for operat- the vendor already will have ensured is worth noting that customers using
ing system and database required that it has the optimal hardware that is SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics
required for high-performance and the have the option to opt in or opt out of
• Optimal hardware and software com-
stable operation of its software. It is not having their data (anonymously) used in
bination
unknown for outsourcing organizations the application’s benchmark analytics.
• Consistent performance and stability to cut corners when hosting customer
For many companies, the inability to
systems on their hardware or for inex-
• More manageable and efficient sup- customize SuccessFactors HCM appli-
perienced consultants to incorrectly
port and maintenance cations can be a reason to stay with
advise customers when procuring hard-
on-premise. With SuccessFactors, if a
• Data mining and aggregation for ana- ware for SAP or related systems.
particular piece of functionality does
lytical benchmarking not exist then a company has to do
Having a consistent codebase makes
Because all users are using the same support an easier process for Success- without it. However, as mentioned pre-
application, they benefit from always Factors. Experienced consultants know viously, the SAP HANA Cloud Platform
having the latest features and bug fixes the pitfalls of having a number of com- provides the ability to add entire new
available—either as a new user or as an ponents in an SAP system on different applications into SuccessFactors, and
existing user. It also provides greater versions and patch levels; with so many the MDF can extend existing function-
stability because products naturally combinations of components it is inevi- ality. With SAP ERP HCM, specific
become more bug free as they move table that product bugs will occur for user requirements can often be
through their product life cycle. Of some customers that did not occur for accommodated by using either the
course, because of the nature of multi- other customers. Usually product bugs object-model and infotype enhance-
tenancy systems, one drawback is that require some level of investigation and ments, or by using one of the many
changes to the application code or sub- support from SAP Support, but it is not technologies that SAP has created for
stantial customizations are simply not unknown for users to create work- extending the system, such as user exits,
possible. Since talent management strat- arounds to avoid the support process. Business Add-Ins (BAdIs), and the
egies and processes are unique to and Experienced consultants also know that ABAP Workbench. This provides an
dynamic in many organizations, the new SAP ERP HCM installations can almost limitless number of methods in
inability to customize the HCM suite to contain bugs that have fixes in SAP which complex user requirements can
the same extent as SAP ERP HCM Notes, but for inexperienced consultants be met in SAP ERP HCM.
might be a sticking point for some com- this can lead to unnecessary Customer Another potential downside for SaaS
panies to move to the cloud. Support messages (known as CSS or customers is that any period of down-
OSS messages) being raised with SAP time, whether planned or unplanned
There are numerous direct and indirect
Support when a fix already exists. outages, affects all tenants. This is also
cost savings for customers using SaaS
Obviously, with a SaaS solution, only a possibility with any unexpected side-
software. There are the obvious cost
new and unknown bugs are likely to be effects of introducing new functionality
savings made from removing the pro-
discovered, but once identified they can or bug fixes. However, the restriction of
curement of hardware and associated
be fixed for all customers quickly. The SuccessFactors HCM being configu-
software. In the SuccessFactors white-
downside is that non-urgent fixes are rable but not customizable—at least in
paper, “The Cloud: When & Why?,”
only available in the next release. the same way as SAP ERP HCM—
[http://www.successfactors.com/en_us/
A unique feature available to SaaS cus- ensures that all tenants comply with the
lp/the-cloud-when-and-why.html] it was
application’s data model and application
demonstrated that, on average, 19 tomers is the ability to have analytics
framework.
percent of the cost of implementing an benchmarks based on aggregated data
on-premise HRIS was for hardware from all customer tenants. Until the
costs and database licenses. However, invention of SaaS, this type of data was Security in SuccessFactors
there are also the cost savings that are impossible to provide. Now, customers One of the biggest concerns for compa-
passed onto customers by the vendor using SuccessFactors Workforce Ana- nies when they are considering a SaaS
from the economies of scale that they lytics have the option to compare their solution is security. While many feel
achieve from streamlining their hard- analytics to benchmarks formulated that they have complete control of
ware resources. As the system owners, from the data of multiple customers. It security only when using SAP ERP
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backed up on a nightly and weekly experience in configuring authorizations To monitor and quantify application
basis. The middleware layer—the plat- and security should be able to configure performance, SuccessFactors simulates
form that SuccessFactors runs on—has RBP in SuccessFactors. the end user experience every 15
various authentication security provi- minutes from 10 different locations. The
sions that include single sign-on (SSO), For complex or global organizations performance of each server is monitored
federated identity management, SAML that use dotted-line or matrix manage- in real time and the application source
2.0 Assertion, and segregation of duties ment, the matrix manager concept of code is monitored in real time by a
(SoD). SuccessFactors may be sufficient to source code profiler. Internal network
provide multiple access points to traffic is also limited so that only the
Applications in the SuccessFactors data maintenance as an alternative to data required by the application is trans-
HCM suite comprise the application structural-based authorizations. Organi- ferred internally.
layer, and the built-in role-based per- zations with a strong need for structural
missions (RBP) mechanism is the main authorizations should take into consid- Integration Between
form of security used. RBP is similar to eration whether SuccessFactors can SAP ERP HCM and
the authorization roles used in the SAP meet their security requirements during
authorization concept. Using RBP
SuccessFactors HCM Suite
evaluation of the HCM suite.
Integration is one of the hottest topics
means that security is managed at all
The network and communications layer when it comes to SuccessFactors. SAP’s
levels of SuccessFactors applications,
uses well-known standards for transfer- integration strategy is focused on pro-
including the function, transaction,
ring data, including VeriSign-certified viding packaged integrations for each of
field, and data levels. Like roles, the
SSL/TLS, SFTP, and SSH. the deployment models discussed previ-
RBPs are often based on activities that
ously. Packaged integrations provide the
must be performed by the user for
programs, logic, reports, IMG nodes,
whom the role is defined. As a result, System Availability
and tools required to integrate specific
roles can be managed centrally in the
SuccessFactors contractually promises a data and processes in SuccessFactors
same way that they are within on-prem-
minimum of 99 percent system avail- with SAP ERP HCM or other systems.
ise SAP systems.
ability to customers outside of regular
SuccessFactors also requires that users and emergency maintenance windows Integration Strategy for SAP ERP
and, as a result, has carefully considered
have a minimum set of privileges to HCM and SuccessFactors HCM
perform certain functions, so it is not the steps required to maintain high
Suite
possible to accidentally provide access availability in each of their data centers.
And because SuccessFactors’ applica- SAP’s integration strategy focuses on
to a certain function by granting of one
tions are accessed through the cloud, three main areas of integration:
type of privilege. SuccessFactors’ appli-
cations are designed to automatically performance is also a critical factor for 1. Data – Data foundation so that Suc-
log the user out after 30 minutes of high user satisfaction. cessFactors applications can use SAP
inactivity. Passwords are sent to the ERP HCM data
In each data center, the servers used for
application server from the client
tier of the service (e.g., network, data- 2. Process – Integration of specific end-
machine using SHA-1 hash encryption.
base, and application) are clustered and to-end HR processes with SAP ERP
SuccessFactors does not have a struc- load balanced to spread traffic demand HCM
tural authorization concept, which some and act as a failover to prevent interrup-
3. User experience – Unified access and
organizations may consider to be a limi- tion or loss of service. Fallback
seamless navigation for end users
tation or barrier to adoption. Access is servers—replicas of the active produc-
based on an area of responsibility and tion servers—are on standby in case of Data integration sets the foundation for
RBPs are assigned easily by a systems an upsurge in usage. SuccessFactors point-to-point integration with Success-
administrator rather than a security creates forecasts of future demand Factors so that SAP ERP HCM data can
expert. RBP is flexible and can be easy based on historical usage and new sub- be used in the various talent manage-
to configure compared to SAP authori- scriptions on a monthly, quarterly, and ment applications in the SuccessFactors
zations while still offering a great deal yearly basis to ensure that adequate HCM suite. The hybrid model SAP ERP
of flexibility. In fact, someone without servers are in operation and on standby. HCM is the system of record for
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option is free for all SAP ERP HCM HCI will be priced at 7.5 percent of the up implementation capabilities for part-
customers. More details are covered subscription fee of the SuccessFactors ners. Figure 12 is an overview of the
later in this article when the integration application. At the time of this writing, architecture for the middleware-integra-
packages are examined. it is currently available for Performance tion platforms, which are represented by
& Goals, Compensation, and Recruit- SAP Integration Technology.
SAP PI, previously called SAP
ing. Initially only SAP Professional
Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), is a
Services will be able to implement SAP Dell Boomi AtomSphere is a PaaS inte-
middleware-integration solution used to
HCI, although SAP does plan to open gration solution that is used for
integrate and transfer data between dif-
ferent SAP technologies. Around 35
percent of SAP ERP HCM customers
use SAP PI and therefore can benefit
from leveraging this technology to use
SAP’s integration packages. Since Suc-
cessFactors is considered an SAP
system, there is no additional licensing
for companies wishing to use their
existing SAP PI installation to integrate
SAP ERP HCM with SuccessFactors.
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SuccessFactors was released on Novem- that, even though middleware integra- management module from SAP—is not
ber 5, 2012, and was quite significant tion is used, the integration does not use required because the sole application for
because it was the first package to real-time or near-real-time data transfer. performing compensation management
support the use of middleware integra- While many users might find this in this scenario is SuccessFactors Com-
tion and the first to introduce process unusual, the decision by SAP to refrain pensation. Several subsequent Support
integration. The focus of this Support from using real-time integration was Packages have been released for Inte-
Package is to introduce the transfer of influenced by their co-innovation com- gration Add-on 1.0 for SAP ERP HCM
employee and organizational data via panies. Because the compensation and SuccessFactors to introduce bug
one of the middleware platforms and process is a step-by-step approval-based fixes and—on occasion—additional
introduce bi-directional data transfer to process, it made sense for companies to functionality.
support the compensation process have data pulled back to the SAP ERP
Integration Add-on 2.0 for SAP ERP
(known as pay-for-performance). This HCM system once the compensation
HCM and SuccessFactors was released
process integration involves transferring process was completed in SuccessFac-
for Ramp-Up on March 18, 2013, and
salary and pay data to SuccessFactors tors Compensation.
went on general availability on August
and then transferring the resultant com-
For this package it is important to 16, 2013. The technical name for the
pensation data back to SAP ERP HCM,
note that one of the middleware plat- packaged integration is SFIHCM02.
where it must be activated to be written
forms is a prerequisite for transferring The packaged integration includes
to the infotypes used in payroll and pro-
the compensation data, although it is attract-to-hire process integration for
duction of compensation statements.
not a prerequisite for transferring the SuccessFactors Recruiting. This allows
This process is shown in Figure 14.
employee and organizational data as the hiring and transfer actions to be started
The process integration supports
flat-file mechanism is still available. in SAP ERP HCM once an employee
approved merit increases, bonuses, and
Another important point is that config- has accepted a job offer in SuccessFac-
lump-sum payments with integration
uring or implementing any part of tors Recruiting. The end-to-end process
with SAP ERP HCM Payroll.
Enterprise Compensation Management covers the recruiting process from plan-
One of the striking factors for users is (ECM)—the on-premise compensation ning vacancies through to filling a
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Figure 16 Architecture of qualification process integration with the SuccessFactors HCM suite
Figure 18 Current and planned integrations between Employee Central and SAP ERP HCM
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release dates. SAP has taken the opportu- Key Misconceptions begin to offer Employee Central as the
nity at major events to provide updates system of record instead of SAP ERP
Some misconceptions exist around addi-
about their strategy, but many users tional licensing for integration. The HCM, but at the present time this
simply do not have access to or know integration packages are all license-free should not be of great concern to SAP
what channels to look at for this informa- and for customers leveraging SAP PI ERP HCM users as SAP offers both
tion. Users should be proactive about there is no additional licensing required options.
trying to stay well informed about for middleware integration. For SAP The major changes will come in the
coming changes; this is discussed in more HCI, however, there are additional talent management area, where SAP is
detail in the “So, What Does This Mean licensing costs. investing significantly in innovation and
for SAP ERP HCM Customers?” section.
It has also been rumored that much integration. Talent management is
While users who already have an SAP integration content is still required. widely seen as the next era of HCM and
PI installation in house can benefit However, the first integration add-on numerous studies have shown a clear
immediately from SAP’s integration covers all the basic employee data correlation between organizational
packages, those who do not have to required for all talent management success and a sound talent management
invest in an SAP PI implementation and processes and for the SuccessFactors strategy. To support this, SAP has
the associated licensing costs. Those Employee Profile that is used in invested in a new wave of talent man-
users also have the choice of using SAP Employee Central, and as a central agement applications in its enhancement
HCI, but this has an on-going subscrip- component for talent management solu- package 4, which was released in 2008.
tion cost that may not be desirable tions. Module-specific integrations are
With this in mind, companies should
versus the one-off implementation cost available for recruiting and compensa-
strongly consider that across the suite,
for SAP PI. tion but need to be built for the other
SuccessFactors applications are likely to
solutions.
Customers using concurrent employ- offer more functionality-rich features
ment should understand that there is Other rumors have circulated that more than on-premise talent management
additional maintenance for employees standard integration is crucial for the now and especially in the future. While
who have multiple employment con- success of a SuccessFactors implemen- it is not true for all the talent manage-
tracts. For the integration process to tation. However, for many companies ment applications in the HCM suite,
recognize employees on concurrent integration is not a new topic and is not this is likely to change as SAP invests
employment, the personnel number of always a critical aspect of an implemen- further in the HCM suite. The R&D
the main contract must be maintained in tation. In some instances this may be budget available to SuccessFactors has
infotype 0712, with subtype SFSF. This the case, but for some companies who increased significantly since the acquisi-
acts as a Central Person ID in Success- do not need to transfer data between tion and this drives huge innovation in
Factors. The integration package report different systems, integration is not all of SuccessFactors’ products, not just
in the SAP system then reads the critical. talent management. While companies
Central Person ID and all related per- should consider this, they should also
sonnel numbers, but the personnel So, What Does This Mean for investigate each solution’s functionality
number defined in infotype 0712 is used and integration effort before making a
SAP ERP HCM Customers?
as the central employee number. decision. For companies who use a
Based on the previous information, I number of SAP’s talent management
Another consideration is that the email believe that there are certainly a number solutions already and do not require
address field is compulsory in Success- of ramifications for SAP ERP HCM additional licenses, then staying with
Factors and therefore all employees users and, in the long term, the SAP
SAP ERP HCM may be the most attrac-
must have an email address maintained. ERP HCM landscape is likely to look
tive and practical proposition.
Since a BAdI implementation can be very different than it does today. I
used for determining the email address, believe that on-premise will remain sig- Companies that are using and wish to
it can be possible for organizations to nificant for the foreseeable future, and continue using SAP ERP HCM’s on-
write some ABAP code to generate this. SAP ERP HCM is central to SAP’s premise solution should not be overly
However, this solution does not work hybrid model as the core system of concerned by SAP’s strategy. SAP con-
for all organizations. record. In the longer term, SAP may tinues to invest in core HCM and
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ics, the on-premise solutions from SAP has made integration a key advan- integration that is not provided with the
SAP—BusinessObjects Strategic Work- tage of using its software previously SAP standard packages. Depending on
force Planning and BusinessObjects for and now it is pushing a solution that has the level of customizations within the
HCM Analytics—both rely on Bus- relatively weak integration when com- on-premise SAP system, this effort
inessObjects technology, and both Suc- pared to the solutions that have been might be considerable and could add
cessFactors Workforce Planning and offered historically. This is not to say more maintenance to what might be an
SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics that integration will not get better; on already complex SAP landscape. On the
should be seriously considered irrespec- the contrary, SAP is investing signifi- other hand, should an organization’s
tive of whether BusinessObjects is cantly in introducing standard talent processes be closer to best prac-
running. In particular, SuccessFactors integration scenarios for SAP ERP tice then using the standard SAP
Workforce Analytics features more than HCM and SuccessFactors while also integration scenarios would be an effi-
1,000 predefined analytics and benefits providing users with a foundation to cient way of adding SuccessFactors
from benchmarks that are not available develop their own integration scenarios. solutions to their SAP landscape.
in any on-premise solution. For compa-
However, in addition to the information Potential users should be advised to
nies that currently don’t have HCM
provided previously in this report, users monitor SAP’s integration roadmap and
analytics or SAP Business Warehouse
must be aware of the challenges that releases on a regular basis to understand
(SAP BW), then it makes sense to look
they may face in creating and maintain- whether appropriate content is released
at SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics.
ing integration between SAP ERP HCM from SAP that enables simple and easily
For social collaboration, SAP Jam is and SuccessFactors for the hybrid maintainable integration. Once the SAP
SAP’s go-forward solution, ahead of the model. At this time, the integration is HCI platform is released and additional
existing solution—SAP StreamWork. fairly limited for the hybrid approach details are known, then users who do
Although these solutions share a and is restricted to selected talent man- not currently have SAP PI can make a
number of common social-media- agement processes. better-informed decision about the path
related features, SAP Jam offers more they wish to choose for integration.
features and its overall usability, despite Integration for full-cloud HCM has
existed for some time with Dell Boomi
being similar, could be considered supe- SAP’s Strategy, Roadmap,
rior to SAP StreamWork. For example, AtomSphere and integration for SAP
Jam is already available. If SAP PI is
and Innovation Investments
the layout, UI design, and social collab-
oration features in SAP Jam make it not implemented, then either an Companies that have an existing invest-
easier and more engaging to use than implementation of SAP PI or an imple- ment in SAP ERP HCM on premise
SAP StreamWork. In addition, some of mentation of the forthcoming SAP should not be overly concerned by SAP’s
the features for Wikis, blogs, and video HANA Cloud Integration platform is focus on SuccessFactors as this is largely
recording found in SAP Jam certainly required. An implementation of SAP PI focused on talent management and bring-
bring new benefits to customers who would require both a license for PI and ing Employee Central up to the same
want to use a social collaboration plat- the additional costs of an extended level of functionality as in SAP ERP
form. As a result, new customers implementation project that could take HCM. In fact, companies should be
seeking a social collaboration solution upwards of six weeks. Interestingly, encouraged by SAP’s focus on investing
should look at SAP Jam rather than although SAP has stated that Boomi in innovative talent management solutions
SAP StreamWork, as the focus of SAP’s AtomSphere should only be used for that provide additional business value. For
integration with SuccessFactors both solutions, SAP still recommends
innovation investment has shifted exclu-
Employee Central, SuccessFactors using SAP ERP HCM as the system of
sively to SAP Jam.
offers Boomi AtomSphere for integra- record and SAP will continue to invest in
functionality and usability for on-premise
Integration Considerations tion with all modules. Customers should
solutions. Although new innovations in
first confirm that SAP supports this type
One the biggest areas of concern for on-premise solutions, such as the new on-
of integration method so that there are
SAP users should be around integration. premise feature and usability add-on HR
no integration surprises at a later date.
With SuccessFactors, it appears that Renewal 1.0, were planned before the
SAP has traded integration—one of its In addition to this, customers would acquisition of SuccessFactors, SAP will
biggest selling points—for innovation. also need to design and configure any continue to invest in them going forward.
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Luke Marson is Chief Cloud HCM Architect at Hula Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the SuccessFactors busi-
ness and all Employee Central implementation activities. He is an author, blogger, speaker, technologist, strategist, leader, and
widely recognized expert in SuccessFactors and SAP ERP HCM. Luke is a Certified Professional in SuccessFactors Employee
Central and co-author of the book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM and author of Talent Management with SAP ERP
HCM. You can find him on Twitter at @lukemarson or contact him via email at lukemarson@hotmail.com.
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Gain an understanding of what the SAP ERP HCM landscape looks like today in simple, >> Key Concept
clear terms. Learn, from the author’s experience, where SAP ERP HCM is headed in the Cloud-based technology is soft-
future, and how you should be planning to meet these new challenges. ware that is not locally installed
on a computer, but accessed via
the Internet (for example, Gmail).
With the introduction of cloud-based SAP’s core ERP system has long been You do not need to be at your
technologies and SuccessFactors it’s a an on-premise solution. The servers are computer to access it but can
confusing time in the SAP ERP HCM usually located somewhere within your access data remotely via mobile
world today, so much so that even long- office building and users each have the devices, such as iPhones or
time SAP professionals are finding it SAP GUI installed locally on any iPads, or on public computers
hard to keep up. This article is an machine that they wish to use to access (such as library PCs).
attempt to simplify the key terms you the SAP data. SAP used to be purely an
need to know and to provide you with on-premise solution for all SAP ERP
future (to learn more, visit http://www.
an understanding of what SAP ERP HCM modules; however, in December
sap.com/pc/tech/cloud.html).
HCM looks like now and where it’s 2011, SAP acquired SuccessFactors,
headed in the future, and, most impor- whose software was largely designed on
tantly, how you as the user should be a cloud or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) >> Note
planning accordingly. platform.
The on-premise Talent Manage-
SAP’s focus since then has been on ment solution in Figure 1 refers to
On-Premise, Hybrid, and delivery of their combined solutions in the pre-SuccessFactors SAP ERP
HCM versions of E-Recruiting,
Cloud Infrastructures both on-premise and cloud-based plat-
forms. Those companies that use only E-Learning, Performance Manage-
Let’s start with the basics, which is the traditional SAP ERP HCM solutions ment, and Compensation that SAP
where the technology resides, either on- (for example, HR, Payroll, Organiza- will continue to support through
premise or in the cloud. On-premise tional Management, Benefits, and Time 2020.
refers to any technology that is locally & Attendance Management) are consid-
installed on hardware that resides in ered on-premise. A good majority of
your physical location. Real-world companies, however, currently use on- The Five Deployment Options
examples of on-premise technology premise for their core SAP systems but for SAP ERP HCM
include Microsoft Windows, which have also started to investigate and Near- and long-term SAP ERP HCM
may be installed on your PC or laptop. deploy SuccessFactors cloud-based users fall into one of the following cate-
Cloud-based technologies do not solutions. This is called the hybrid gories listed in Table 1 (on the next
require a local installation and are run model (a diagram is shown in Figure 1 page).
via the Internet and can be connected to on the next page). The word hybrid
any PC that has access to the Internet. refers to any SAP use where there is at
A real-world example of cloud technol- least one module on-premise and at
On-Premise Reporting for
ogy would be Gmail, which may be least one in the cloud. SAP continues its SAP ERP HCM
accessed via the Internet from efforts to move towards developing Reporting options for SAP ERP HCM
anywhere. purely cloud-based solutions in the on-premise have not changed much in
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reporting tools are so popular for SAP BW is popular for those organi- The limitation of SAP BW reporting
HCM reporting. zations that are combining some of is that only certain segments of data
their SAP ERP HCM data with data are extracted from the SAP database
Where Does SAP BW Fit In? from other modules like SAP Finan- and fed to the external SAP BW data
Offline SAP ERP HCM reporting in cials or non-SAP external systems. repository for reporting. Often that
data is limited to summarized infor-
mation and not the operational or
>> Note transactional data that is so critical
The Payroll module of Employee Central listed in Figure 1 is scheduled to be for HR and payroll operational
released in late 2014. Employee Central integrates with Employee Central reporting.
Payroll (hosted) for 23 countries, versus SAP on-premise Payroll which has
roughly 7,000 customers worldwide. You can read more here: http://www. Hybrid and Cloud Reporting
successfactors.com/en_us/solutions/bizx-suite/core-hr-cloud/payroll.html
Employee information and projections
and here http://scn.sap.com/community/erp/hcm/blog/2013/10/13/my-
for the future of the workforce is becom-
thoughts-on-successfactors-employee-central. Designed to compete with
ing a key business driver for organiza-
Workday, it is still in development at SAP/SuccessFactors: http://www.suc-
tions all the way up to the boardroom
cessfactors.com/en_us/solutions/bizx-suite/core-hr-cloud/payroll.html.
level. Being able to effectively plan the
Figure 2 The various modules and reporting solutions for on-premise SAP ERP HCM
Figure 3 The Workforce Analytics foundation, from the SAP Press book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM [used with permission]
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HR Expert Anthology • www.SAPexperts.com/HR
SuccessFactors Workforce or an aging workforce. You can learn the SAP Financials modules and not for
Planning more at http://www.successfactors.com/ SAP ERP HCM. Some good resources
en_us/solutions/bizx-suite/hr-analytics- for learning more about this can be
Another robust solution as part of Suc-
cloud/workforce-planning.html. An easy found here: http://bit.ly/1jayU54. I
cessFactors Analytics technologies is
distinction between the two similarly believe it is fair to speculate that in the
Workforce Planning. Workforce Plan-
named SuccessFactors solutions— future SAP BW will not be used for
ning is a solution designed for business
Workforce Analytics and Workforce HCM reporting.
execution that enables “what-if” sce-
Planning—is that Workforce Analytics
nario planning and analysis, data
is designed to analyze today’s talent Another question is where will transac-
modeling and simulation, trending,
data and Workforce Planning is tional Payroll and HR reporting occur
forecasting, and analytic summary-
designed to help you identify, build, and (including payroll results and time data)
based reporting (Figure 4).
retain tomorrow’s talent pool. if it is not currently available in Suc-
Designed to help you plan for the cessFactors Workforce Analytics and
future, Workforce Planning allows you My Thoughts About the Future of Workforce Planning solutions. The
to make predictions of the future of answer is that currently traditional on-
SAP ERP HCM Reporting
your workforce to reduce uncertainty premise technologies will remain in use
and identify the right workforce strate- Understanding the future direction of for transactional, operational, or pay-
gies to put in place today to be prepared SAP’s reporting landscape opens up roll-related data until such time as SAP
for the future. Perhaps the most for- some obvious questions, including what reconciles its cloud challenges, when it
ward-thinking planning solution for is the future for SAP BW for SAP ERP can be revisited. SAP’s cloud chal-
SAP ERP HCM, it helps you manage HCM? Many experts believe that SAP lenges for payroll and time data are
your organization’s exposure to signifi- BW, although a robust technical report- related to the ability to efficiently
cant risks from global talent shortages ing mechanism, is largely designed for access payroll and time data within the
Figure 4 SuccessFactors Workforce Planning helps manage risk, from the SAP Press book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM
[used with permission]
Danielle Larocca is an executive SAP consultant who specializes in SAP reporting and the Human Capital Management
module. She has four published books on SAP: Teach Yourself SAP R/3 in 24 Hours (Volumes 1 and 2), Teach Yourself SAP
R/3 Reporting Tools, and SAP Query Reporting. She is a regular contributor to SAP Experts and SAP Professional Journal,
and a frequent speaker at SAP conferences. Danielle is the vice president of operations for SpinifexIT, a company in Charlotte,
NC, that makes HR and payroll reporting solutions for SAP. You can reach her via email at me@daniellelarocca.com.
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Learn how to integrate SuccessFactors Employee Central with your SAP ERP HCM system. >> Key Concept
After successful integration, Employee Central becomes the system of record for master For integration between the Suc-
data, and any changes to master data in Employee Central can be copied to the SAP ERP cessFactors and on-premise SAP
HCM system using iFlows. systems, there is a standard pre-
built connection, maintained and
supported by SAP called iFlows.
Integrating SuccessFactors Employee HCM system, companies can configure iFlows are pre-delivered integra-
Central with SAP ERP HCM allows their SAP systems based on country- tion packs that provide data
companies with existing SAP systems, specific requirements. The entire mappings, connections, API calls,
who are considering implementing or integration process requires careful routing, and security. Once iFlows
have already implemented SuccessFac- analysis and planning up front, includ- are configured and deployed, rep-
tors Employee Central, to support their ing requiring project managers with lication of master data can be
business processes (such as payroll) by experience integrating SuccessFactors run. SAP also releases upgrades
continuing to run these processes on with SAP ERP HCM. to iFlows that are delivered auto-
their existing SAP ERP HCM systems. matically, saving companies time
I discuss each step in the process as
follows: and resources. Companies also
This process is initiated when HR have the ability to change the
• How to create a mapping entry in an custom data mapping to meet
master data is sent from SuccessFactors
SAP table their business requirements.
Employee Central and updates the cor-
responding infotypes in the SAP ERP • How to filter master data integration
HCM system. Since different countries by country and infotype
have different payroll requirements and employee attributes to the SAP
• Extensibility (creating custom fields)
need different sets of data (e.g., info- organizational structure, company
types) to be copied from SuccessFactors • How to map various Employee structure, or personnel structure
Employee Central to the SAP ERP Central foundation objects and
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In my example, the work schedule field to map various foundation objects and employee’s Position, the Position (S) to
(custom_string1) is a custom field in employee attributes from Employee Cost Center (K) A/B 011 relationship is
Employee Central. You want to map the Central to the SAP ERP HCM organiza- created in the SAP ERP HCM system.
work schedule in Employee Central to tional structure, company structure, and Since cost centers are created and main-
infotype 0007 (work schedule rule, personnel structure codes. This is tained by the Finance team, they are
SCHKZ). needed if the naming conventions, copied from the SAP ERP HCM system
format, and codes are different for to Employee Central. In other words,
When doing this, keep in mind that: Employee Central and SAP ERP HCM. cost centers are copied from SAP ERP
• Only custom fields are supported for HCM to Employee Central since they
extensibility. Standard fields from Map Employee Central Cost Center are not created in Employee Central.
Employee Central cannot be mapped to SAP ERP HCM Cost Center If the external codes of your cost
here.
In Employee Central, the cost center is centers in Employee Central do not
• Only job information, personal infor- represented by an instance of the foun- match your SAP ERP HCM cost center
mation, and compensation informa- dation object Cost Center. For every codes, then you need to map these in
tion portlets from Employee Central cost center in your SAP on-premise table PAOCFEC_KMAPCOSC. Follow
are supported as of the 1408 release. system, you need to create a corre- menu path IMG > Personnel Manage-
• Only infotypes 0001, 0002, 0007 and sponding cost center in Employee ment > Personnel Administration >
0008 are supported as of the 1408 Central. The cost center assignment of Interface and Integration > Integration
release. the employee resides in the Job Infor- of SAP ERP HR Master Data and Suc-
mation section in Employee Central. cessFactors Employee Central > Key
Whenever there is any change in the Mapping of Organizational Terms >
Mapping Employee Central cost center of the employee, it will be Assign Cost Center Keys, and the
Foundation Objects and copied to the SAP ERP HCM system PAOCFEC_KMAPCOSC table opens
Employee Attributes automatically. (Figure 3).
In the following sections, I discuss how Since cost center is associated to the In this example, the Employee Central
Figure 2 Map a custom field from Employee Central to an SAP ERP HCM infotype field
Figure 3 Map the Employee Central cost center codes to the SAP ERP HCM cost centers
Figure 4 Map the Employee Central Legal Entity codes to SAP ERP HCM company codes
Figure 5 Map the Employee Central Department to the Organizational unit ID in SAP ERP HCM
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Map Employee Central Job Code to system. When positions are created in in Employee Central is mapped to Per-
SAP Job Code the SAP ERP HCM system, the rela- sonnel Area (US01) and Personnel
tionship between the Position(S) to Subarea (U001) in the SAP ERP HCM
Job code is represented by the instance
Person(P) A008 relationship is also system using table PAOCFEC_
of the Employee Central foundation
created. KMAPPEST.
object Job Classification. Whenever
there is any change in the job code of
Replicating the Personnel Area and If you have defined custom fields in
the employee in Employee Central, this
Employee Central that map to Personnel
change is copied to the SAP ERP HCM Personnel Subarea from Employee
Area and Subareas in the SAP ERP
system. Since job code is associated Central to the SAP ERP HCM
HCM system, then extensibility table
with the employee’s position, the System PAOCFEC_V_EXTMAP is used to map
Position(S) to Job (C) A/B 007 relation-
As of the SuccessFactors 1408 release, these. Note that in this case, the
ship is created automatically in the SAP
the standard functionality is to map the Employee Central Personnel Area and
ERP HCM system. Job code mapping
work location in Employee Central to Subarea external codes must exactly
can be done in table SFIOM_KMAP_
the Personnel Area and Personnel match the codes from the SAP ERP
OSI. The functionality works the same
Subarea in the SAP ERP HCM system. HCM system, since the standard con-
as for the Department and Organiza-
Follow menu path IMG > Personnel nector does not support custom field
tional Unit, as detailed previously.
Management > Personnel Administra- mapping. In the example in Figure 7,
tion > Interface and Integration > custom fields have been defined in
Replicating a Position from Integration of SAP ERP HR Master Employee Central that map to the Per-
Employee Central to SAP ERP HCM Data and SuccessFactors Employee sonnel Area and Subareas in the SAP
Every new hire in Employee Central is Central > Key Mapping of Organiza- ERP HCM system. External codes from
assigned a unique position ID. When- tional Terms > Assign Place of Work Employee Central must exactly match
ever there is a new hire in Employee Keys, which opens table PAOCFEC_ the codes in SAP ERP HCM to use an
Central, the employee and position are KMAPPEST (Figure 6). In this extensibility table; otherwise, you have
copied over to the SAP ERP HCM example, work location WL-USA1000 to follow the approach, above, where
Figure 6 Map the Employee Central work location to the Personnel Area and Subarea in SAP ERP HCM
Figure 7 Map Employee Central custom fields to SAP ERP HCM Personnel Area and Subarea
Figure 8 Map Employee Central employee class external codes to SAP ERP HCM Employee Group codes
Figure 9 Map the Employee Central employment type external codes to the SAP ERP HCM Employee Subgroup codes
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Mapping Employee Central Payroll tors Employee Central > Assignment of in the table PAOCFEC_MAP_CC.
Group to the SAP ERP HCM Payroll Code Values > Define Mapping Code Follow menu path IMG > Personnel
Area value Lists (Figure 10). Management > Personnel Administra-
tion > Interface and Integration >
The Payroll Area is represented by an In this example, the Employee Central
Integration of SAP ERP HR Master
instance of the foundation object Pay Pay Group Weekly (PG0000) maps to
Data and SuccessFactors Employee
Group in Employee Central. For every Payroll Area weekly (U0) in the SAP
Central > Assignment of Code Values >
Payroll Area in the SAP ERP HCM ERP HCM system. The entries you
Define Mapping Code value Lists
system, you need a corresponding Pay need to maintain in table PAOCFEC_
(Figure 11).
Group in Employee Central. If your MAP_CC are shown in Figure 10.
Employee Central external code In this example, Employee Central Pay
matches the SAP ERP HCM code, then Mapping Employee Central Pay Component Basic Salary (PC-US0001)
no mapping is required. Component to SAP ERP HCM Wage maps to Wage Type 1000 (Basic salary)
Type in the SAP ERP HCM system.
If you are using a Pay Group with a pay
group code longer than two characters In Employee Central, wage types are Recurring pay components are used to
or a code other than SAP ERP HCM represented by Pay Components, which update either infotype 0008 (Basic Pay)
code, you need to map the code in table may be recurring or non-recurring. If or infotype 0014 (Recurring Payments/
PAOCFEC_MAP_CC. Follow menu the Employee Central Pay Components Deductions). Non-recurring Pay Com-
path IMG > Personnel Management > external code matches exactly with the ponents are updated on infotype 0015
Personnel Administration > Interface SAP ERP HCM wage type codes, then (Additional Payments). These Pay
and Integration > Integration of SAP no mapping is required. If the codes do Components need to be assigned to
ERP HR Master Data and SuccessFac- not match, then you need to map these the infotypes so the system correctly
Figure 10 Map the Employee Central Pay Group external code to the SAP ERP HCM Payroll Area code
Figure 11 Map the Employee Central pay components external codes to the SAP ERP HCM wage type codes
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Area match exactly with the SAP ERP Map Employee Central Event to cessFactors Employee Central >
HCM codes, then no mapping is SAP ERP HCM Action Assignment of Code Values > Define
required. Mapping Code value Lists (Figure 15).
An event in Employee Central has a
picklist ID associated with it. An action
In this example, instead of using the
Pay Scale Group and Pay Scale is represented by the Event field in
SAP-delivered Action 01(hire) code,
Level Replication from Employee Employee Central. These events need to
I used a custom Action ZA (hire)
Central to SAP be mapped to their corresponding SAP
code in the SAP ERP HCM system.
The standard employee master data ERP HCM actions.
This needs to be mapped with the
replication to SAP ERP HCM does Refer to table PAOCFEC_MAP and Employee Central Event Hire (External
not support Pay Scale Group and Pay GDT Name = PERSONNEL_EVENT_ Code = H from Picklist). Sometimes
Scale Level. If you would like to TYPE_CODE for default event-to- SAP-standard Actions may not fulfill all
use Pay Scale Group and Pay Scale action mapping. If these do not meet of the company requirements and it may
Level in your replication from your requirements or if you have be more work to customize all the Info-
Employee Central to SAP ERP HCM defined custom actions (action codes), Sets and InfoGroups rather than
to maintain the entire pay scale struc- then you need to do the mapping in creating a client-specific Action from
ture in SAP ERP HCM, you have to table PAOCFEC_MAP_CC. Follow scratch. As a bonus, with custom codes,
create custom fields in the Job Infor- menu path IMG > Personnel Manage- companies know exactly what they are
mation portlet and use extensibility ment > Personnel Administration > building when doing this. The required
table PAOCFEC_V_EXTMAP to map Interface and Integration > Integration entries to maintain table PAOCFEC_
them (Figure 14). of SAP ERP HR Master Data and Suc- MAP_CC are shown in Figure 15.
Figure 14 Map Employee Central custom fields to the Pay Scale Group and Pay Scale Level in infotype 0008
Figure 15 Map from Employee Central event codes to SAP ERP HCM action codes
Figure 16 Map from the Employee Central Event Reason Codes to SAP ERP HCM Reason codes
SAP ERP HCM Action (SAP ERP HCM code) Action reason (SAP ERP HCM code)
Termination (20) No show (17)
Retirement (14) Retirement (18)
Employee Central Event (EC Code) Event reason (EC Code)
Termination (26) No show (NOSHOW)
Termination (26) Retirement (TERRTMNT)
Table 1 An example of how retirement actions can be captured in Employee Central and SAP ERP HCM using event and event
reason codes
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Administration > Interface and Inte- Code Values > Assign Date Types In this example, there is a custom_date1
gration > Integration of SAP ERP HR (Figure 19) and maintain table (Rehire Date) in Employee Central. This
Master Data and SuccessFactors PAOCFEC_MAP_CC with the needs to be mapped to the Rehire Date
Employee Central > Assignment of date entries. type in infotype 0041. Make the entries
Figure 17 Add a payroll event to create a custom retirement action in Employee Central
Figure 18 Map payroll event Z001 to the SAP ERP HCM retirement action
Figure 19 Map standard and custom Employee Central date fields to SAP ERP HCM Date Types
in table PAOCFEC_MAP_CC as shown (infotype 0027) for an employee in the Direct Deposit portlet is copied to
in Figure 19. Alternate Cost Distribution portlet. infotype 0009 (Bank Details). The
The maximum number of cost centers mapping for Payment Method
Alternate Cost Center (Infotype you can maintain in the Alternate type needs to be done in table
0015) and Cost Distribution Cost Center portlet is 12. To achieve PAOCFEC_MAP_CC if the external
(Infotype 0027) this, you need to ensure that the
code of the values from Employee
Employee Central Cost Center codes
It not uncommon to assign some non- Central do not match with the
are mapped to their corresponding
recurring payments to Alternate Cost SAP codes.
SAP ERP HCM Cost Centers, as
Centers (infotype 0015). In Employee
discussed previously. In this example (Figure 20), the
Central, you have the option to assign
Alternate Cost Centers to any non- Payment Method Bank Transfer(05)
recurring pay components. Similarly, Direct Deposit Payment Information maps to Payment Method (ZLSCH)
you may also assign Cost Distribution In Employee Central, data from the type Bank Transfer (A). n
Priynk Gautam has been working with SAP ERP HCM for more than four years, specializing in the SAP ERP HCM
modules of Personnel Administration and Organizational Management, as well as SuccessFactors Employee Central. His
prior experience includes working with SAP Talent Visualization Solution by Nakisa. You can contact Priynk via email at
priynkg@gmail.com.
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Learn how to create objects in the Metadata Framework to extend your SuccessFactors >> Key Concept
Employee Central system with custom objects, fields, rules, and screens. Get an overview The Metadata Framework is the
of what the Metadata Framework is, how it is used, and how to use it to bring more value functionality in SuccessFactors to
to your SuccessFactors system. extend the system so that users
can create and use company-spe-
As with SAP ERP HCM, Success mance or stability. It also means that cific objects. It is primarily used in
Factors Employee Central users often users can get a great deal of flexibility SuccessFactors Employee Central,
need to create and use company-specific within the system without compromis but is also leveraged partially in
objects in their system. Also like SAP ing operation or upgradability. SuccessFactors Succession &
ERP HCM, SuccessFactors Employee Development, SuccessFactors
Central offers users the ability to create The objects created in the Metadata Compensation, SuccessFactors
these objects (called Generic Objects) Framework are Generic Objects. Recruiting, and is planned to be
and use them within the system through Generic Objects are used to store data expanded across the suite in
its Metadata Framework functionality. for a number of use cases, including the future. It allows the object
This provides users with some of the employee data. They are also leveraged model to be extended using meta-
extensibility required to support their for standard SuccessFactors functional data, rather than creating or
business processes within Employee ity such as Time Off and Deductions. modifying objects themselves.
Central. In this article, we cover all These differ from Foundation Objects The concept of extending a Soft-
aspects of creating Generic Objects that are cross-organizational and used to ware-as-a-Service (SaaS) system
within SuccessFactors Employee set up the organization, job, and pay without customizing it is called
Central using the Metadata Framework. structures. extensibility.
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languages available in the system. For the new Global Assgmt PreRequi the remaining attributes are accessed by
site object, enter the following details in clicking the Details hyperlink to the
The following three attributes in Figure
the fields in Figure 2: right of the respective field (Figure 3).
2—Workflow Routing, Pending Data,
and Todo Category—define the work • Code: globalobject The attributes are:
flow properties of the object. These
• Effective Dating: Basic • Name: The technical identifier of the
define the Workflow configuration to
use, whether data subject to a Workflow field
• Label: Global Assgmt PreRequisite
must be approved before being dis • Data Type: The type of data to be
played, and—if Pending Data is set to • Workflow Routing: Leave this blank
used in the field, such as String,
Yes—in which category on the homep Number, User, or Foundation Object.
• Pending Data: No
age Todo tile the Workflow should
appear. • Todo Category: Generic Object • Maximum Length: The maximum
Change Requests length of the field input
Ideally the Workflow should be created
before the Generic Object is created, Under this section you can define any • Valid Values Source: This is used to
although a Workflow can be created and fields for the object. There are several define the source of the values when
assigned to the Object Definition after attributes that can be defined for each the Data Type value is set as Picklist,
the Object Definition has been created. field. The first three are visible, while Generic Object, Foundation Object,
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Figure 4 The Generic Object definition for your Global Assgmt PreRequisite object
Figure 5 A custom View added in Employee Files for your Global Assgmt PreRequisite object
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Portlet button (highlighted) on the left you enter the title of the Portlet in the earlier. The screen should look similar
in the User Elements section. Portlet Title text box (e.g., Global to the screen in Figure 10.
Assignment Prerequisite). You also
In the next screen, scroll down and Click the Save button to save the Portlet.
enter the name of your Global Assgmt
click the Create & Add button next to This takes you back to the View screen
PreRequisite object. An optional Portlet
the Live Profile MDF Information where you enter the name of the View in
Description also can be added. Select
hyperlink (Figure 9).
the Config UI from the MDF Screen ID the Dashboard Name text box (Figure
This opens the Admin Tools screen in drop-down options; in this case, you 11 on page 59). You can also add an
Figure 10 (on the next page), where select the Config UI that you created optional description in the Description
Figure 9 The Create & Add button to select the Config UI you created
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Figure 12 The new Global Employee Profile View in the Configure Employee Files screen
Figure 14 The new View with a record of the Global Assgmt PreRequisite object
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Creating Rules and Information, or Personal Information Since you have created a new Global
screen. Assgmt PreRequisite object, you now
Validations
need to apply rules to control its behav
Now that you’ve created your Generic It is important to know which event you
ior when a record is saved. This is done
Object, let’s look at creating and assign are going to assign your Rule to and in
in Configure Business Rules under
ing some rules using the Metadata which screen your object or field Company Settings in OneAdmin. In
Framework’s Rules Engine. Rules allow appears when creating your Rule. For Configure Business Rules, the user has
business-specific logic to be applied to example, when adding a Rule to the the option to select an existing Rule
different field change events, data prop Add New Employee screen, your Base from a drop-down or create a new Rule
agation, warnings and messages to Object must be Employee Information using the Create New Rule button. In
display, and calculate field values on Model. this example we are using the option to
the fly when a page is opened. create a new rule by selecting the
Rules are defined in a two-step
There are three different events on Create New Rule button (Figure 15).
approach using conditions. First, the If
which a Rule can be triggered: condition defines the conditions to Clicking the Create New Rule button
• OnInit: Triggers a Rule when the trigger the Rule. Then the Then condi opens the Rule Portlet screen. Here you
portlet or Add New Employee screen tion defines what actions should be must define four attributes for your new
is loaded for the user taken when the Rule is triggered. For rule:
example, if the If condition Job Code is
• OnSave: Triggers a Rule when the • Rule ID: The ID of the Rule object
equal to ENG3B, then set the Weekly
portlet or screen (e.g., Add New Working Hours to 38. It is important to • Rule Name: The identifier of the Rule
Employee, Employment Information,
note that the field(s) or object in the object
or Personal Information) is saved
Then condition must always refer to
after the user has modified it • Base Object: This determines which
fields of the object on which the Rule is
object (Foundation Object or Generic
• OnChange: Triggers a Rule when the triggered. However, the fields used in
Object) this Rule must be used for
user changes a field value on the Add the If conditions do not need to refer to
New Employee, Employment fields of the same object. • Rule Type: The category of the rule
Figure 16 The If Portlet showing Works Council Member is equal to Part Time
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• Info: Displays a message and allows between an object and other objects, Here you are creating an Association
processing to continue similar to SAP ERP HCM relationships. between your Generic Object and
Within SuccessFactors, associations another Generic object that you already
Because there are additional activities
define a parent–child relationship or created, Global Contract Data. To do
required to make changes in the
define whether another object record this, go back to your object definition in
employee’s work schedule after a record
must exist for an associated object. An Configure Object Definitions. Under the
has been created, select the Warning
example of an association within Suc Associations heading there are seven
condition. Figure 17 shows the config
cessFactors may be a Legal Entity, which attributes required to define the Associ
ured Then conditions.
can have many Business Units associated ation (Figure 18).
Once your Rule is defined, click the with it (One-to-Many association) but
The following attributes exist for an
Save button to save it. Now that you’ve does not require a child Business Unit
Association:
created your Rule you can assign it to object to exist.
our Global Assgmt PreRequisite object • Name: An identifier for this specific
in Configure Object Definitions. At present, Generic Objects can be association configuration
associated to other Generic Objects and
• Type: Defines whether the type of
to Foundation Objects in the Metadata
Creating Associations relationship is:
Framework. In order to create an asso
Between Generic Objects ciation between a Foundation Object –– Composite: The instance of the
With your fully functioning Global and a Generic Object, an implementa associated object can only exist as
Assgmt PreRequisite object you can now tion consultant needs to perform the a child of the current object (e.g., it
associate it with other objects. Associa configuration in the Corporate Data cannot be an independent object in
tions define the hierarchical relationship Model. its own right).
• Name: cust_contractdata
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Figure 20 The details of your Association with the Global Contract Data object
Figure 21 The Object Definition form for the Global Assgmt Prerequisite object
Figure 22 The new Workers Council Rule being triggered when saving the Global Assgmt PreRequisite object
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We’ve covered creating a Generic Object. We’ve also shown how you can objects, how validations and associa
Object in the Metadata Framework, cre create these within your system step-by- tions can be leveraged to influence
ating rules for validation of the object step. You should now have an under- behavior of your objects, and how these
and its fields, and associating the standing of what the Metadata Frame can be assigned to objects within the
Generic Object with another Generic work can offer, how to create your own SuccessFactors system. n
Jyoti Sharma is an accomplished author, speaker, and SAP/SuccessFactors subject-matter expert. In her current role as Vice
President, Consulting & Services/Cloud HCM at HRIZONS, she is responsible for expanding and managing the Cloud
HCM practice across all regions. Jyoti has been implementing core HR solutions with SAP and SuccessFactors for over
eight years across many industries, including higher education, manufacturing, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, and utilities.
Recently she has focused exclusively on implementing SuccessFactors Employee Central. Jyoti is a co-author of the book
SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM, and she has spoken at numerous events on SAP HCM and SuccessFactors topics. She
can be reached via email at jyoti.sharma@hrizons.com.
Luke Marson is Chief Cloud HCM Architect at Hula Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the SuccessFactors busi
ness and all Employee Central implementation activities. He is an author, blogger, speaker, technologist, strategist, leader, and
widely recognized expert in SuccessFactors and SAP ERP HCM. Luke is a Certified Professional in SuccessFactors Employee
Central and co-author of the book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM and author of Talent Management with SAP ERP
HCM. You can find him on Twitter at @lukemarson or contact him via email at lukemarson@hotmail.com.
Learn how to configure the calibration capability in SuccessFactors, which helps to achieve >> Key Concept
objective and fair employee performance reviews. Compa-ratio is short for compara-
tive ratio. It is calculated by
dividing an employee’s current
For talent-driven organizations, per- employees by best—and worst— salary by the current market rate.
formance is the biggest factor in deter- performers, and reward them Compa-ratios are position spe-
mining an employee’s success within accordingly.) cific. Each position has a salary
the company. As a result, the perfor- range that includes a minimum, a
2. The pay-for-performance strategy is
mance review process has become midpoint, and a maximum, and
ineffective because the underlying
increasingly vital as an evaluation tool. these three values represent
performance review process is
A big challenge facing these companies industry averages for the position.
tainted.
is how to keep these important For example, a compa-ratio of
employee performance reviews fair and 3. Managers introduce bias into the pro- 1.00 (or 100 percent) means that
balanced. SuccessFactors’ employee cess when evaluating the performance the employee is paid exactly what
performance review calibration func- of their own team members, either by the industry average pays and is
tionality makes this process objective being too tough or too soft when at the midpoint for the salary
and removes any bias. awarding ratings. range. A compa-ratio of 0.75
means that the employee is paid
Performance reviews have a wider 4. Employee performance is not com-
25 percent below the industry
impact than just measuring the perfor- pared fairly with their peers or col-
average and therefore is at risk of
mance of employees. Since promotions, leagues who are doing similar work
seeking employment elsewhere at
increments, bonuses, and other key across the organization, either on the
a higher pay that is perceived as
career decisions are based on the results same or different teams.
equitable. A compa-ratio of 1.15
of the performance-review process, it is 5. There is no way to accurately iden- means that the employee is paid
important that consistent and equitable tify top performers; as a result, above the industry average.
measures are used throughout the orga- top performers are not rewarded
nization to rate all the employees fairly. appropriately. strong and fair employee calibration
A well-designed calibration process process is in place to rate employees
can ensure that this happens. Here are 6. There is no succession plan in place
objectively and fairly, as well as clearly
some problems that can crop up when for the organization.
communicate the expectations and goals
evaluating employees when a strong for the employee.
7. Opportunities for growth are not
performance calibration process is not
identified and shared with employees
in place: SuccessFactors BizX suite offers a lot
during the performance-review
of this functionality in the talent man-
process.
1. Managers not following a bell-curve agement space. Calibration is one such
process consistently when rating These problems can create a situation of out-of-the-box capability offered by
employees. (The bell-curve concept is distrust and have a very negative effect SuccessFactors, which, when used with
commonly used by companies when on morale throughout an organization the Goals and Performance Manage-
rating employee performance; it and demotivate employees. This poten- ment, Compensation Management, and
enables them to track and rate tial damage can be avoided when a Succession Planning modules, ensures
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that the kinds of problems listed above appraisal forms should have reached the SPRO. For any kind of SuccessFactors-
do not occur. In addition, calibration stage at which ratings awarded to related configuration, you need to
through SuccessFactors is made very employees can be used for calibration. access the admin tools option inside the
simple with a minimum amount of This stage can be configured as Com- given instance. Then you need to select
configuration. pleted or Calibration or something else the required module in order to start
depending on company policy. The configuring (Figure 2) — for example,
This article focuses on SuccessFactors’ appraisal functionality of SuccessFactors Performance Management, 360 Review,
ready-made calibration capability and has to be implemented in order to do this. Compensation, or Learning.
its required configuration.
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calibration. This can be done by select- Figure 4 are standard and cannot be
>> Note
ing the appropriate routing, highlighted changed to include company-specific
in Figure 4. In my example, the routing options. It is important to keep in mind
step selected is Calibration, which that these guidelines are purely
3. You can specify the distribution informational; therefore, they do
means that the employee performance
guideline as an optional step when not trigger error or warning mes-
rating from the appraisal template only
defining the source for the perfor- sages if the actual performance
can be used once it is at the calibration
mance ratings. However, it makes rating distribution is different than
stage.
more sense to define the guidelines in the distribution shown by the
In step 2 in Figure 4 you select a rating such a way that managers stay within guidelines.
from the appraisal template that needs specified limits when rating employ-
to be calibrated. In my example, the ees. This way, the final performance brated. This step also requires you to
Overall Form Rating check box is ratings follow the bell curve when pick a routing step (highlighted in
selected, which means that the system they are distributed. Although this is Figure 5) in the compensation planning
pulls the ratings configured with the an optional activity, I advise that it process, where the amount for the salary,
appraisal template selected in step 1 of always be configured to ensure the
stock, or bonus elements are set for cali-
Figure 4. best result. This means, as shown in
bration. This means that employee salary,
Figure 4, that only 10 percent of the
The calibration of performance ratings stock, or options can only be used in the
employees under a particular manager
provides out-of-the-box functionality to calibration process when you reach the
can receive a rating of Unsatisfactory
drag and drop employee names in order Complete Compensation Planning status
and 20 percent can get a rating of
to change their final performance in the compensation planning process.
Needs Improvement, and so on.
ratings. For example:
Step 2 in Figure 5 requires you to pick
1. The performance appraisal ratings Example 2: Activate the a salary, stock, or bonus element to be
shown in step 2 of Figure 4 are pop- Compensation Calibration Process calibrated. This step also involves
ulated based on the template chosen
In step 1 in Figure 5, you choose the setting up the range group amount for
in step 1.
compensation plan, which acts as a the salary, stock, or bonus element
2. The options shown in step 2 of source for the salary elements to be cali- selected.
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Figure 9 Example of the configuration to derive participants and subjects automatically from the owner’s name
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code (Figure 11). Unlike on-premise 2. Division, department, location, and be in the process as configured in
SAP ERP HCM, these SuccessFactors’ job code are the foundation objects the calibration templates
predefined search criterion can’t be cus- defined in the Employee Central (EC)
module of SuccessFactors.
tomized, removed, or supplemented How to Use the Calibration
with other customer search criteria. This 3. Before activation, SuccessFactors Functionality of
is because SuccessFactors solutions use
a no-customization approach unless the
validates the newly created calibra- SuccessFactors
tion session against:
change has broad appeal and is desired After configuring the calibration
• The appraisal forms (in case of process in admin tools (the back end of
by a majority of users.
performance rating calibration) of SuccessFactors), it is now time for end
Depending on the need, administrators subjects or employees users to perform the actual calibration.
and super users can create individual • The inactive or active employ- The following lists the steps end users
calibration sessions for different catego- ment status of subjects and need to take in the SuccessFactors’ cali-
ries, such as division, department, employees bration process.
location, or job code. • The individual employee calibra-
tion status within the system to The Performance Calibration
Keep these key details in mind when
determine whether subjects or Process
managing calibration sessions:
employees are part of any other The Performance Calibration process is
1. Calibration sessions also can be creat- active calibration session where managers discuss and compare
ed from the end-user interface direct- • The appraisal process stage for employees with similar backgrounds,
ly for direct as well as for second- or employees to determine whether job responsibilities, or teams using
third-level reports of the logged-in appraisal forms of subjects or various parameters to identify best and
manager. employees are where they should worst performers.
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managers or supervisors and HR help in employee with highest rank can be discussions. Any changes to perfor-
ranking employees with similar perfor- moved to a higher rating, where the mance ratings are only made effective
mance ratings. In cases where there are guidelines’ settings allow only a fixed after the Finalize button (Figure 15) is
across-the-board examples of employees number of additions or deletions. Suc- clicked in the calibration screen.
overshooting the established guidelines, cessFactors has a drag-and-drop
the employee with the lowest rank can functionality to move employees to dif- Individual performance contracts can
be moved to a lower rating or the ferent ratings based on these calibration also be edited through the view shown
in Figure 15. Each rating box groups The Compensation Calibration and only when there are no set com-
employees with similar performance pensation guidelines. However,
Process
ratings (defined through the calibration managers can directly edit compen-
template). Guidelines are also shown Figure 16 shows a sample chart
sation plans for employees through
with an indicative numbers of employ- where an employee’s compensation a link on the calibration chart
ees to be added or removed to suit can be calibrated. As stated previ- (Figure 16). n
management-defined guidelines for a ously, compensation can only be
department or group. changed in the calibration chart itself,
Prashant Rastogi works at Accenture as an associate manager. He has been working in SAP ERP HCM for the past seven
and a half years on various assignments. Prashant has experience in implementing ESS, MSS, SAP ECM, Performance
Management, Succession Planning, Talent Management, OM, PA, and Nakisa. Prashant has also started working in various
SuccessFactors functionalities. Prashant has an MBA (HR) along with a master’s degree in law and labor welfare. He is
also an engineer in IT. Prashant can be contacted via email at Prashant.rastogi@gmail.com.
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Learn how to create and manage the new Metadata Framework-based Talent Pools intro- >> Key Concept
duced in the November 2013 release of SuccessFactors. Learn how the Talent Pools work In the November 2013 (1311)
and how they can be leveraged for succession, development, and other business pro- release of SuccessFactors, new
cesses. In addition, find out how to enable and configure Talent Pools in your system. Talent Pool functionality was
introduced that leverages the
Talent Pools offer organizations a way cessFactors introduced the Talent Pools Metadata Framework (MDF) func-
to manage groups of talented individu- functionality that is based on the new tionality. Talent Pools are used to
als. Talent Pools can cover many differ- MDF. This introduced a flexible, configu- manage groups of talented
ent topics, disciplines, employee types, rable, effective-dated, object-based Talent employees that can be used as a
and job functions, but, ultimately, they Pool concept with an easy-to-use and pipeline of talent for succession
enable organizations to manage the dif- manageable user interface (UI). planning or for development
ferent types of talents for their different activities.
talent needs. The Talent Pool functionality is built
around the TalentPool Generic Object. • Create Talent Pools
Using a Generic Object, users can con-
figure the TalentPool Generic Object • Modify details of existing Talent
Concepts of Talent Pools Pools
to behave as they wish. For example,
and the New Metadata they can:
Framework (MDF)–Based • Change field labels
• Add members to Talent Pools
• Type: This is either Succession or Clicking the Advanced Options hyper- • Owner: The person that is responsible
link opens the Advanced Options for the Talent Pool
Default
TalentPool pop-up screen (Figure 3) in
• Status: Whether the Talent Pool is which the additional attributes can be Notice that this screen (Figure 3) con-
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tains some of the details defined in the • Code: ENG In the screen in Figure 5 new members
New Talent Pool screen (Figure 2). can be added or attributes can be edited
Click the Save button (Figure 3) after • Name: Engineers for existing member assignments. You
your details have been entered. can also switch between other Talent
• Description: Talent Pool for engineers
For my example, I create a Talent Pool Pools by selecting the button with the
in the company
for the engineers in the organization. name of the Talent Pool on it (in the top
For it, I define the following attributes left section of the screen—Engineers, in
I do not define any additional attributes
(Figure 4): my example). This action opens a drop-
in Advanced Options. Click the Add
button to create the Talent Pool. In the down list that displays all the other
• Type: Succession
next screen you see your new Talent Talent Pools. There you see the Readi-
• Status: Active Pool (Figure 5 on the next page). ness labels on the left side. These are:
Figure 4 The New Talent Pool screen with the new information
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Figure 7 Nomination form for nominating John Kim to the Engineers’ Talent Pool
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Figure 10 The Engineers’ Talent Pool showing John Kim and John Miller’s statuses
Figure 11 The Engineers’ Talent Pool showing two members who have been nominated
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Mapping Talent Pools to Job Pool is a source of successors for the In the drop-down menu, select the Set
mapped Job Role. Up Families and Roles option. This
Roles option displays all the job families set
You can map Job Roles—both legacy Mapping Talent Pools to Job Roles up in the system. Click the Roles tab to
Job Roles and Job Roles created with Created with the Job Profile Builder display all the job roles set up in the
the Job Profile builder—to Talent Pools system (Figure 14).
In OneAdmin, go to Manage Job Profile
so that Talent Pool assignments can be Content in Company Settings. This Select the desired Job Role from the list
displayed on the Succession Org Chart. action opens the Manage Job Profile by clicking the job title in the Role
This chart also indicates that the Talent Content screen (Figure 13). Name column. In my example I select
Figure 14 Display the job roles in the Manage Job Profile Content
Figure 15 Mapped Talent Pools tab for the Sales Engineers’ job role
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navigation menu). In the Succession Org In Figure 18, the Engineers’ Talent Pool Engineers hyperlink to go to the Engi-
Chart search for a position that has the is shown at the bottom of the Sales neers Talent Pool.
Sales Engineer Job Code assigned to it Engineer position box as a hyperlink
(since the Sales Engineer Job Code is (Engineers) with the number of talents in Next, I show how to map legacy Job
assigned to the Sales Engineer Job Role). the Talent Pool listed above it. Select the Roles.
Figure 17 The Sales Engineers’ job role showing the new mapping
Figure 18 The Succession Org Chart showing the Engineers’ Talent Pool on the Sales Engineer position
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Although succession plans track candi- • Employees who may not fit into a
>> Note
dates who could be considered conventional workplace (e.g., they
Only one Talent Pool can be successors for the position, often orga- cannot work a 40-hour week or need
selected for a legacy job role.
nizations need to track successors or to telecommute)
However, the same Talent Pool
potential successors in different ways.
can be used with more than one • Other individuals that have specific
For example, companies may use Talent
job role. The Talent Pool function- value to your organization
Pools to track:
ality supports job roles mapped to
only the Job Code field. • High-potential talents Once Talent Pools are defined and
• High-performing talents managed they can be used for a number
done for the job roles created with the
of different activities. For example:
Job Profile Builder. • Job function-specific talents or
employees (e.g., engineers, manage- • Sourcing for succession plans
Use Cases for Talent Pools ment candidates, or forklift operators) • Sourcing for vacant or new positions
Talent Pools provide a number of use • High-risk employees (e.g., at high
cases for businesses to track talent • Assigning to training (e.g., for
risk of loss or have a high impact
across the organization. Talent Pools are potential managers and for health
of loss)
flexible and can be used as and how the and safety purposes)
organization requires. In addition, • Strategic pipeline (e.g., executive
• Developing long-term career and
employees can be members of multiple potentials or leadership talents)
development plans
Talent Pools and thus can be tracked
• Employee types
according to the different disciplines • Grooming individuals outside of suc-
and skillsets that they have. • Upcoming retirees cession pools
Figure 22 Select these Provisioning settings to enable the MDF-based Talent Pools
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Figure 24 The object definition screen for the TalentPool Generic Object
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Figure 28 The configured Security definition for the TalentPool Generic Object
Central,” on page 51 for details on per- configured, you need to add to the assigned to different Permission
forming these activities for Generic Permission Roles the users who have Roles by restricting the target popula-
Objects. access to the MDF-based Talent tion for the TalentPool Generic
Pools functionality. As defined in the Object to each Talent Pool required
Permission the TalentPool Generic previous steps, the TalentPool by the individuals who are assigned
Object for the Appropriate Users Generic Object is located in the Mis- the Permission Role. More detail
Once the object definition for the Tal- cellaneous Permissions group. about Role-Based Permissions is
entPool Generic Object has been Individual Talent Pools can be beyond the scope of his article. n
Luke Marson is Chief Cloud HCM Architect at Hula Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the SuccessFactors busi-
ness and all Employee Central implementation activities. He is an author, blogger, speaker, technologist, strategist, leader, and
widely recognized expert in SuccessFactors and SAP ERP HCM. Luke is a Certified Professional in SuccessFactors Employee
Central and co-author of the book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM and author of Talent Management with SAP ERP
HCM. You can find him on Twitter at @lukemarson or contact him via email at lukemarson@hotmail.com.
Learn how to create, edit, and update picklists and cascading picklists in SuccessFactors >> Key Concept
systems. Also, learn how to configure the picklists’ permission in the administration tools. Picklists are the data files that
can be configured to create drop-
down lists in some SuccessFactors
I show you how to update your Suc- method can be used for a variety of
modules, such as Employee
cessFactors system with new picklists options (e.g., employee address, educa-
Profile, Employee Central, Succes-
and cascading picklists based on these tion, or certification), but I focus on the
sion Planning, and Recruiting.
new picklists. This method helps you Geographic Mobility option.
Cascading picklists reduces long
manage and organize your picklists in a
lists of picklist values to a more
more efficient and helpful way. To illus- First, I explain what a picklist and a
manageable size by linking the
trate my points I use the Geographic cascading picklist are. In this example I
picklist values to a parent value in
Mobility field option in the employee link the picklist ID region to the picklist
another field.
transfer record in SuccessFactors as my value (Figure 1) to cascade the picklist
example. With this functionality, Suc- (Figure 2). I configure what values are
example, the West region (5144) con-
cessFactors gives employees the option in which region (West, East, South, and
to record if they are willing to be trans- North in my example). tains the cascading district values for
ferred from one job location to another. region 5144 (e.g., Washington, Oregon,
In addition, employees can select which In Figure 1 I add the possible picklist California, and Nevada, shown in
specific regions to which they are region drop-down values (5144, 5094, Figure 2). The system generates these
willing to be transferred. With this 5145, and 5146) to the picklist IDs. This option IDs, and they are unique identifi-
example, I show how you can easily action creates the drop-down options ers for the picklists. Therefore, in this
create picklists and cascading picklists under each district in the region for the example, the region is the picklist, and
to achieve your company’s goals. This picklist. Based on these settings, for the district is the cascading picklist.
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Why Use Picklists? cess in SuccessFactors that allows users that you can assign child values (the
to download the field values from the cascading picklist) to the existing
Picklists are the definitions used for the
system. In this article, this refers to picklist (the parent value). You also
drop-down options for fields in a Live
downloading the existing picklists from can create a new set of picklists (par-
Profile in SuccessFactors. They are used
the SuccessFactors system to the user’s ent value) and create a cascading
to validate the background and personal
local hard drive, where users can make picklist (child values) to the value.
information data for employees. They are
changes to the picklist values.
also reportable options that can be used
in ad hoc search reports and talent 3. Import the modified picklist file.
Step 1. Access Picklist
reports. Using picklists enables users to Importing the picklist is a process in Management
reduce data entry errors (saving time and SuccessFactors that allows users to There are two ways for accessing pick-
effort) and also standardizes the entries. upload a modified file into the system. list management permissions:
In this article, this refers to uploading
>> Note all the new cascading picklists’ values 1. Through administrative privileges
My instructions apply to all from the user’s local drive back into 2. Through role-based permissions
releases of SuccessFactors and the SuccessFactors system.
are release independent. Here’s how you can configure these two
4. Create cascading picklists. In the options.
downloaded file, you can create par-
Create and Cascade Picklists ent–child relationships. This means
Option 1 – Administrative Privileges
There are three steps for creating a
picklist, and then one additional step to >> Note The first step in managing the picklists
cascade them. They are: In SuccessFactors terminology, is to give users access to the picklists to
export means to download a file make changes. You can access this
1. Access picklist management. In this
from the SuccessFactors system through the administration tools screen
step you give users permission to
to your local hard drive. Import by following menu path Administration
access the picklists so that they can
means to upload a file from your Tools > Set User Permissions > Admin-
manage them.
local hard drive into the Success- istrative Privileges. In the screen that
2. Export the picklist file and edit the Factors system. appears click the System Properties link
picklist. Exporting the picklist is a pro- (Figure 3).
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System Administrator group, and I (e.g., based on user ID [admin]). This required permission. You can access this
assign one user (role) to this group means that the user with the user ID through the administration tools screen
based on the User Name. This can also admin is part of this permission group by following menu path Administration
be based on other, multiple attributes— (Figure 6). Tools > Set User Permissions > Manage
parameters such as job, location, Permission Roles (Figure 7).
Next I show how to create a permission
division, or department. For the purpose role; for this I create a Full System Permission can be given as follows.
of this article I make this a simple rule Administrator role and give it the Click the new Permission Role name
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menu path Administration Tools > then click the Done button to save
>> Note
Set User Permissions > Manage Permis- your changes.
sion Role, which opens the screen It is a good practice to version-name
shown in Figure 9. Click the Add… each file as there are often multiple
Step 2. Export the Picklist File downloads and uploads and version
button to assign the Full System
Administrator role to the permission In the previous step you gave permis- control helps you identify the correct
group Full System Administrator and sion to the user to get access to the files to modify and upload.
picklist. In this step, you change the
existing picklist, so first you need to Select the Export data format radio
>> Note export (download) the existing picklist button and then click the Submit button.
Role-based permissions cannot be from the SuccessFactors system. Follow This action downloads the picklist to
configured in the instance unless menu path Admin Tools > Company your local PC or laptop. Once it’s been
this is made available in the Provi- Setting > Picklists Management. In the
successfully downloaded, you can
sioning system. This can be screen that appears you can export (or
locate the file where it is saved on your
achieved by the implementation import) the picklists (Figure 10).
computer. Figure 11 shows the file I
partner team.
In this example, you export the picklist. have downloaded for this exercise.
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ously selected intact, but does not picklist file, you can import it into the
>> Note
display the entry in the drop-down system.
options for anyone to select moving Once you choose the parent field
forward. The difference between To import the file to your system, select value, it automatically displays the
doing this and deleting an item is that the Import picklist(s) radio button and appropriate child value, but it can’t
when it’s marked obsolete it still search for the file using the Import be entered the other way around
shows up in past individual records, Field browse function (Figure 16 on the (e.g., you can’t choose the child
but it is no longer a drop-down option next page). Click the Browse… button value to display the parent value).
for current and future picklists. When and select the new picklist template that
an option is deleted (as discussed pre- you created in the previous step. Select Step 4. Create Cascading Picklists
viously), it is treated as if that value the No radio button and click the A quick fix to speed up the picklist
were never an option, and breaks all Submit button. This action imports your functionality is to reduce the number of
the links to the data. new picklist into the system. Once the drop-down options by cascading the
picklist is successfully imported, the picklist files to reduce the long list of
Import Picklists system displays the message shown in drop-down values to a manageable size.
Once you make the changes to the .csv Figure 17 (on the next page). You can do this by creating a parent–
Figure 17 Confirmation that your new picklist template file has been successfully imported
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child relationship in the picklist .csv file. can share picklists across modules. The by the system. After you update the file
SuccessFactors Succession Planning with the new picklist values, you can
For example, in the Geographic module is delivered with a standard import it into the system.
Mobility field the company may want picklist that you can export (download)
After you update the picklist file with
region to appear as the parent in the and modify.
your new parent values, you import it
drop-down menu options, with city or
There are two steps for creating a creat- back to the SuccessFactors system
office appearing as the child drop-
ing a cascading picklist. First, you (Figure 19 on the next page). Select the
down menu option. (Table 1 lists
create the parent value and then you Import picklist(s) radio button and choose
some common parent–child drop-
create the child value to attach to it. I the No radio button option as at this point
down options.) The Geographic
discuss how you can do both in the fol- you are only editing the picklist, not
Mobility field is a field in the person-
lowing sections. importing it. Then click the Browse…
nel information section of the
button and select the .csv file you want to
employee record in which employees
Create the Parent Value import from local system where it is
can record if they are interested in saved. Click the Submit button to import
being relocated to a different region Here you want to add the new picklist
it. After you import (upload) the new file,
of the company. Using cascading values (the parent values) to the .csv file
it replaces the existing file with the newly
picklists you sort the picklists by the that was previously exported (down-
modified or updated file in the Success-
different districts within the region loaded) from the system (step 2). Figure
Factors system.
and reduce the total number of 18 shows the list of the parent values I
picklists. want to create. The ^picklistId value in Once the file is imported a status mes
row 1 under column A is the field name sage appears in the next screen that lets
In this example I use the geographic for the regions (parent values): East, you know that you have successfully
mobility function of the SuccessFactors West, North, and South, in this example. imported your edited picklist file with
Succession Planning module to show Leave the OptionId value in row 1 under the new parent values (Figure 20 on the
how to cascade picklists. Note that you column B blank as this is generated later next page).
Table 1 Example of picklist values with parent and child drop-down options
Figure 20 Message telling you that that your new picklist file has been successfully imported
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Next, you need to verify that the newly the new values have been created in the tem-generated OptionID for the parent
created picklist (the parent values) has system. file. When creating the child file, leave
been created successfully in the Suc- the OptionId field blank for the district
cessFactors system. As shown in the Create the Child Value and link the appropriate parentOptio-
Excel spreadsheet in Figure 21, all the nId values with the child.
Now it’s time to create the parent–
new picklists have system-generated
child (cascading picklist) .csv file (for Next, you need to link the parent value
OptionID numbers listed in the B
OptionID column (e.g., 5143, 5144, linking the parent value to the child to the child value. In this example, the
5145, and 5146). Figure 21 is a snap- values). When creating the child .csv parent ID option for East is 5143, so
shot of the .csv file that was exported file, you must link the child values you want to link all the districts that
from the SuccessFactors system. Note with the parent values. In the Excel need to fall under the East region to this
that all the new values are created with spreadsheet shown in Figure 22, parent ID. Add Ohio, New York, Penn-
OptionIDs for the parent values. When create the ^picklistId district (child) sylvania, and Washington, DC, to the
you imported this file (Figure 18), it that comes under the region (parent- East region. This you do by modifying
did not have the OptionIDs. Once you OptionId). You created the parent the .csv file that was downloaded from
see the OptionIDs listed you know that previously and already know the sys- the system (Figure 22).
Figure 22 The new cascading picklists with parent and child linked .csv files
Figure 23 The new cascading picklists with the linked region and district values
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uration in the front end for the users configured functionality to select the regions and districts to which they
(Figure 25). Users can use this newly whether they are willing to relocate, and are willing to relocate. n
Mohan Paul Varghese is a Customer Success Manager with SAP/SuccessFactors in Toronto, Canada. He has helped clients implement
SAP ERP HCM for more than 13 years. He has been involved with large, full-scale SAP ERP HCM implementations using the breadth
and depth of SAP modules. You can contact Mohan via email at editor@hrexpertonline.com.
It is not uncommon for HR users to request that additional custom fields be added to different portlets to capture the data related to their
employees; the Job Information portlet of SuccessFactors Employee Central is no exception. The Job Information section stores important
data related to employees to define the relationship of the employee to the organization. As such, additional fields are often required to
satisfy HR manager or administrator needs. Learn how to add extra and custom fields in the People Pool section of SuccessFactors
Employee Central.
In my other HR Expert article, “Manage can add customized and additional from the Employee Files section. Then
Mass Changes in SuccessFactors fields to your People Pool screen from click the Create New button. The
the Job Information portlet.
Employee Central,” I show how to use Manage Mass Changes screen (Figure
SuccessFactors Employee Central to 1) appears where you can configure the
Go to the Admin Tools section of Suc-
manage mass changes to HR master cessFactors Employee Central and Manage Mass Changes according to
data. With this quick tip, learn how you select the Manage Mass Change option your requirements.
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When you click the Create link next to Information under the Job Information for filtering employees in Employee
Employee Group field (Figure 1), the section, this can be done as explained Central. In this example, I am adding
Employee Group screen appears where below. the standard field Job Title and a
you can configure the grouping of the custom field (Flexible to Travel,
employees for the transaction. In the Under the Succession Data model with the custom-string10 hris-field)
People Pool drop-down field (Figure code (e.g., one of the .xml codes from the Job Information section, as
2), several different Job Information where Employee Central is config- options in the People Pool drop-down
Portlet fields are offered for mass ured), there is a section of code menu. Add this code <hris-field-ref
changes. If you want to add any stan- starting with <dg-filters>. This helps refid=”job-title”/> and <hris-field-ref
dard or custom fields from Job you add the fields to the People Pool refid=”custom-string10”/> under the
Job Information hris-element-ref (the SuccessFactors portal where the under the People Pool drop-down
code. Once you add this code and code is loaded each time the code is options in Figure 3. n
load the data model from Provisioning changed), these new fields appear
Manjunath Bannur has been in the IT industry for more than 14 years working in various areas of HR, including SAP ERP
HCM (for seven years) and now SuccessFactors Employee Central. He is experienced in implementing SAP ERP HCM
and Employee Central globally. Manjunath can be reached via email at mbannur@gmail.com.
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