Hi everyone,

With 1408, a new SuccessFactors Compensation release has hit the road that will simplify the life of many customers. We do have great things to show and talk about again, and I’d like to do this together with a recognized compensation expert Kevin Simpson from IBM. Kevin has been an HR and compensation practitioner, a project manager with SuccessFactors and then project and practice manager with different SuccessFactors partners. Kevin, can you tell us a bit more about your experience?

Kevin Simpson: Thanks, Yannick.  I’ve spent the last nine years working with SuccessFactors products, first with a customer team implementing what is now the SuccessFactors LMS and then leaving mainstream HR roles in search of “fire”. I’ve worked for large companies with very mature processes, but our tools were primitive at best and the opportunity to join SuccessFactors may have been more luck than anything.  Since joining SuccessFactors, I’ve led over 60 projects, configured  every partner-enabled module in the SAP/SuccessFactors suite. Now I spend most of my time mentoring newer consultants, guiding our clients through the transition of forming their practice around this robust toolset, and sharing my SuccessFactors experiences globally with our clients.   At my core, I’m still a comp geek and there is a certain thrill I get from working with a client implementing Compensation, Variable Pay or the pay components in Employee Central.

YP: how did you see compensation management evolve over the last 15 years?

KS:  Putting the time machine in reverse, the nightmare I still have is named “Spreadsheet comp”.  I’m sure that still creates a sense of fear in the minds of many comp professionals like it does for me.  In 1999, I ran a focal review for 25,000 employees in a Fortune 100 corporation.  I learned a lot of lessons that I still apply in implementations to this day, but the most important experience was that I felt their pain and learned the value of compensation management systems.  Just implementation Compensation for their focal reviews generally covers about 60% of a client’s annual transaction load, a pretty significant amount.  It’s not to say that the setup isn’t a bit of work still, but managing the execution became significantly easier. My favorite day was when I rejoined SuccessFactors with the acquisition of Plateau and learned how many controls in the SuccessFactors Compensation module had moved to the admin tools.  This was really important to me after watching compensation plans change from year to year and watching a few consultants spread across many clients to make the necessary adjustments.  As a compensation professional myself, the one trend I found to be consistent was that we were primarily stewards and executors of the compensation plans, but way too often, the structure of those plans was being created and modified by business management.  To their credit, the business managers were focused on the most important detail of that structure:  improving their business results.  It just left us in a position to restructure our tools every single season.  How the product has evolved is making it much easier for my clients to keep up with these needs.  The modules keep getting better with every release and I’m really looking forward to some new things coming in this release. 

YP: Here we go with the new things. One of the key enhancements in 1408 is on “Field based permissions”. Field based permissions provide added flexibility and security for the compensation planning process for customers, and a streamlined worksheet for planners. How does that work concretely: you can now change the default view and edit features on the salary, MBO bonus, and stock pages at the field level, based on RBP roles.  Permissions can be applied to fields that display on the worksheet, Executive Review, and Compensation Profile.  With this feature, fields that are not meaningful to Planners can be removed from the worksheet, and fields can be included that are visible only to HR Teams.

Fig. 1: Permission management in SuccessFactors Compensation 1408 Release (click to enlarge)

YP: How is this going to impact the compensation processes of your customers, Kevin?

KS:   For me, it’s about focus and making content specific to a particular audience.  For my managers, I want to keep the worksheets simple and sometimes there is detail inappropriate for managers.  However, I have to balance that with my Comp Professionals and HR Business Partners, both needing access to additional detail where creating reports or some manner of data merge just wasn’t practical.  I’m sure that some manner of spreadsheet will always be part of our processes, but the more often we can put the right real-time data into the right hands, the more we can celebrate our victories and prove that we are turning our attention from employee transactions to business strategies. Also, using the common toolset of RBP here means that we can meet data requirements on all continents where the data privacy regulations differ and the only way we’ve been able to meet them before was with separate templates, making a full organizational rollup very difficult.    Leveraging Role Based Permissions is another step in the right direction for our clients where they are becoming very proficient in managing their data access privileges and expecting an application where those controls are becoming more comprehensive and capable of keeping up with the complexities of their organizations as they become more truly global.

YP: I would like to name 2 others major enhancements for this release as they are strong differentiators. First, we are introducing a new functionality called“Guidelines on Custom Fields”. SuccessFactors Compensation is introducing the ability to define guidelines based on custom fields. As of now, the product support guideline definition on 5 standard fields – budget groups, job level, rating, pay grade, ratio range. After 1408 release, customers will be able to define guidelines on additional 3 custom fields. This adds to the flexibility and configurability of the system to meet specific customer processes and requirements.

Fig. 2: Guidlines on custom fields in SuccessFactors Compensation 1408 Release (click to enlarge)

The other enhancement is called “Additional worksheet launch options“. These additional worksheet launch options give you the flexibility to conduct compensation planning cycles for a specific group of people, at different times during the year, to accommodate local planning practices.  It allows leveraging one compensation plan template to create worksheets over several weeks or months.  The rollup report has been enhanced to provide a comprehensive summary, if more than one worksheet has been created for the compensation planner. I think this will bring a lot of value to SuccessFactors Compensation customers.

Fig. 3: Additional worksheet option in SuccessFactors Compensation 1408 Release (click to enlarge)

KS:  With the guideline enhancement, you’ve just made the data setups a lot easier for my clients.  Guidelines are critical to providing a recommendation to managers, but too often, my clients have been using some creative data field usage to be able to apply a guideline to the correct population. The worst part was always explaining to the clients that we were using a field creatively and while most have not struggled with that mental leap, the perception was that we were pushing a square peg through a round hole. Having those 3 custom fields to use allows us to populate them with details specific to guideline applications. 

I see many opportunities in the additional worksheet launch.  Now, I won’t have to launch an entire cycle all at once.  I can launch a group with different timing and still have them come together as if I’d launched them all at the same time.  It’s a great mix of local practice building consistently to an overall corporate picture the way we see more and more clients demanding.  In another case of mine where a client only had one instance, it would have given us an ability to create the worksheet for a small, “safe” population for validation before extending to a larger group where correcting a worksheet error on a larger scale could generate some embarrassment and rework.

YP: thanks a lot Kevin for sharing your experience with us. I am sure our customers will appreciate it a lot.

... one more thing, just in case you did not read it yet: SuccessFactors is declared a HOT Vendor again in the Ventana Research 2014 Value Index for Total Compensation Management. More details:

http://scn.sap.com/community/erp/hcm/blog/2014/09/09/successfactors-compensation-rated-hot-vendor-in-ventana-research-s-total-compensation-management-value-index-2014

Follow me on Twitter: @ypeterschmitt
Follow Kevin on Twitter @KevinSimpsonMA or email Kevin:  ksimpso@us.ibm.com

Follow SuccessFactors: @successfactors
Follow SAP ERP HCM:@SAPHCM

The August release of SuccessFactors saw several functionalities being released for Employee Central. Together with enhancements for Employee Central, we also released new functionality for integration. This is a preview of the side by side distributed scenario integration between Employee Central and SAP HCM before the webinar on September 24-th (see the end of the article or this registration link for more details).

Initially our integration started with Talent Hybrid related functionality. Subsequently we built the integration of SAP ERP and Employee Central. With the 1408 release, we now have the capability to run Employee Central in parallel with the SAP HCM system our customers might have already deployed.

Leverage the current investments in SAP HCM while transitioning to the cloud at your own pace

We have customers who would like to make initial steps into the cloud with talent as well as with Core HR on Employee Central.  There are different scenarios that we see here:

• Some customers would like to move to cloud over a longer term
• Some have very stable HR processes built over long duration on their SAP HCM and do not want to replace their system completely and yet would like to experience the innovations on the cloud
• Some are happy with the SAP HCM in some of their countries and are looking for a system for other countries – yet, they would like to have one global workforce overview and a seamless user experience
• Yet other countries who have just acquired companies, would like to incorporate these new companies into their HR landscape and without effort get an overview of the complete workforce

Most of these companies do not want to rip and replace their existing SAP HCM system which serves their purpose well or do not want to disturb existing well established processes. They would like to complement this with a cloud system and yet have an overview of their complete global workforce. Typically, neither do they want their users to switch between systems nor should the users have different access points or a break in the process.

In order to address several of the feedback above, our team has brought out the side by side distributed scenario integration between Employee Central and SAP HCM.

Side by side distributed scenario for Employee Central Integration

Side by side distributed scenario is the one where we connect the Employee Central and SAP HCM system together – this would mean that a company could have SAP HCM already deployed in some countries and will implement Employee Central for some of the remaining countries.

The employees in the new countries (US, Canada in the above example) will have all master data created and changed in Employee Central – and all their HR processes will run in Employee Central.

The employees in those countries on SAP HCM (Germany in the above example), will continue to have their data created or changed in SAP HCM leveraging the existing stable processes of SAP HCM.

So how can there be single global workforce view?

With the 1408 release, we provide the integration that enables all employees to be viewed within the same team as one! We enable, through the integration, that the search has a global overview – when you search for an employee, his details are available irrespective of which system his record is mastered in. Thus when someone wants an overview of a team or search for people within the workforce, it is just a click away irrespective of where the data comes from.

So why do I say there is no different access points?

We have planned a user experience integration as well (current on public beta program – the functionality will be generally available in the next releases).

The employees in SAP HCM will be replicated into Employee Central where their replicated data is available.

Using this data, their information can be viewed via Employee Central. If there are any changes to their information or if any HR processes need to be run on behalf of these employees, the managers will be able to launch these changes or processes from Employee Central. This will trigger the SAP HCM related processes which can then be launched. With the single sign on and other capabilities, the user does not even have to leave the context. It will all be a few clicks away without having to switch systems, screens.

So where can I get more information on this:

• Webinar planned: On 24-th of September, we have planned our first in a series webinar with our Product Management team. Bianka Woelke talks to Jyoti Sharma and Luke Marson to introduce our side by side distributed scenario. She will additionally talk about the planned user experience Jyoti and Luke will provide their feedback on the topics as well. Please register here for more information.
  
  The date: 24-th September, 17:00 – 18:00 Central European Time, 11:00 – 12:00 EST – More information and registration link can be found at the above link.

• Service Marketplace: Our implementation handbook is available as well at this link.

• Please stay tuned on scn for more information about further webinars being planned and for recordings on webinars.

Finally, we have several customers of SAP HCM who are beginning to transition into cloud with Employee Central and utilizing standard integrations with SAP ERP. We already provide Employee Central to SAP ERP integration and are happy to add to this with the side by side integration.

While building a team, the question of who should be trained and/or certified, in what area, and at what cost is often first in our mind. In the last couple of years, this have been made more difficult by changing standards as the SuccessFactors certification approach adapted to SAP’s different one; by a growing set of courses; and by a customers’ demand exceeding expectations,  meaning that  often we had to skip the certification just to get the work done, only to find ourselves in catch-up mode.

PAST: Up to recently, only partners and customers could attend SuccessFactors trainings; and only SuccessFactors could deliver the trainings valid for the certification. To be certified, you would have to attend the training, and then add two successful projects. Certification trainings could be attended in person, or in virtual classrooms, and carried a significant cost: from 3 to 6k dollars per training, bringing the grand total of certification for all the Suite modules to more than 50’000US, plus potential travel expenses.

PRESENT: two major changes have been introduced.

First, In March 2014, the certification process was modified, creating a double level approach. After training, a first Associate Certification is now delivered (after passing relevant tests); then after 2 successful projects, an additional test allows the proud consultant to become Certified Professional. To be noted that each training course will eventually deliver its own Certification, but some of the certification tests are still in development. See below for the availability schedule in the picture attached.

Then, while I was attending SuccessConnect in September 2014 in Las Vegas, a new announcement proclaimed that all trainings now could be completed through the SAP Learning Hub.

This is a major change in the mode of delivery.  Moving on from the traditional classroom or virtual classroom environment, requiring a commitment of several weeks away from projects (and with a high price tag), the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) approach is a real winner.

An additional training (THR99E-MDF) has been announced to cover the Metadata Framework foundation, but dates are not available yet.

While going forward there isn’t anymore a strict requirement to be a partner to attend the training delivery, one still has to be one to have access to a provisioning ID and be able to help a customer with configuration of their SuccessFactors platform.

SAP Learning Hub details:

1. It has a tile visual UI approach, similar to the SuccessFactors UI, and its engine is based on the Plateau tools.
2. Different versions are available for purchase for different target audiences:
   1. for Business Users and executives, covering overviews and accelerators;
   2. for Partners, with a full list of content to cover the partners’ training needs;
   3. for Customers, addressing the needs of consultants, customers COE and IT, Admins and super users;
   4. FREE Discovery version, providing a complimentary access to a subset of learning materials, allowing to evaluate the tool
3. The cost is per year, per user, scalable depending on the number of users and the type of version you wish to access.
4. The e-learning materials required for all trainings for certification preparation
5. New Release training materials
6. SAP Live Access (extra fee per 20 hour blocks) provide access to a platform for exercises and live interaction
7. Each Certification exam has an additional cost of 500$.

I have started using the Discovery edition to get a feel of how the e-learning is being delivered, and I am quite pleased by the flexibility and self-evaluation features. Note: after registering, you have to activate it by going back to your email, and clicking on the link provided. Up to that point, you will be able to access the platform, but not to see any trainings!

As we progress in the usage of the tool, I will plan to share further some of our observations, so stay tuned either here, or on my LinkedIn channel.

References:

Mine is not the first blog trying to summarize the current state of the union (SAP+SFSF, small u intended); Luke Marson's in Dec. 2013 has been considered gospel for many consultants (Luke, you know it is true).

Robert Thompson pondered about what the value of certification is in the process of finding the right implementation partner in March 2014, right after the HR2014 conference; you can read his excellent blog here.

In May 2014, Regina Gama added a list comparing what is planned and what is available. As I write, only the Employee Central Associate certification exam is available (Sept. 2014), and Learning will be available in December. For all others, we’ll have to wait for release in 2015, although the e-learnings will be available on the hub before end of 2014.

There is also a specific curriculum for the hybrid; no certification related, but it is online only. 

In this 2-part Q&A, I was delighted to speak to Heike Kolar, Business Development Manager – hr expertise at inside Unternehmensberatung GmbH to discuss some of the common questions and challenges about implementing and using Employee Central. Heike was previously with SAP Product Management for Employee Central.

Thanks for joining me Heike. Many people will know you from your days at SAP in the role of a solution manager for Employee Central and related integration topics. You recently moved over to inside Unternehmensberatung GmbH. Can you give us a little background about yourself and your role?

For sure. As you said I worked for SAP, actually 16 years I worked at SAP SE in various roles. I started my career with SAP back in 1998 as technical writer for the personnel management applications, including Manager Self-Services (MSS), changed in 2002 to a product management role for the portal applications SAP was offering at that time for employees and line managers, so knew these products from my time as a technical writer. Until 2006, I dealt with all the HR applications around the shared services and decentralized HR working mode, which – beyond the portal solutions for employees and line managers – included HCM Processes and Forms and the employee interaction center / shared services solutions. As of 2006, I took over more and more business development activities, supported the portfolio planning for SAP HCM, created business cases and the like. In 2010, SAP decided to move on with the cloud path for SAP HCM and I got pulled into that as well, so cloud solutions for the HR area is something I am involved with for over four years now.

With the acquisition of SuccessFactors, I was part of the technical integration team, responsible for the business cases and go-to-market for the integration between the on-premises and cloud solutions for SAP HCM, so first supported the integration between SAP HCM on-premise and SuccessFactors Talent Solutions, then the integration between SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP ERP. I left SAP when we just close before delivering the first integration for what is called the side-by-side deployment model.

While you’re here, can you let us know a bit about what inside Unternehmensberatung GmbH does? inside Unternehmensberatung GmbH just celebrated their 25^th anniversary this year. inside is a partner of SAP ever since it has been founded by Jürgen Schulz who still acts as the CEO of the company. We do business consulting, implementations and have products complementing the SAP offering and which are dedicated to the German market as well midsize companies. Just recently we added a strategic HR consulting business line, hr expertise, which is led by René Schumann, a previous SAP employee, who has a high reputation and is well known in the German SAP HCM community.

Our product offering includes pre-configured HCM systems – the so called HR Starters – our add-ons and our inside HCM Cloud solution. This SaaS offering we have since 2004 includes a complete offering for HR processes, so it also includes time and attendance. Based on its modular design, customers can easily add additional functionality such as personnel cost planning, or include our various partner solutions such as an organizational charting tool, a digital file solution, or a tool that help them to generate employee statements.

inside is a one-stop-shop for companies in the mid-market segment for a complete HR solution, regardless if they run this on-premises or by leveraging the inside HCM Cloud.

What are the common things you hear from customers? Has much changed since you moved from SAP?

Actually nothing has changed if I compare what I heard as an SAP employee from customers compared with what I hear now. With my change to inside I can now focus on dedicated markets, the German and DACH markets, and help driving success for the cloud adoption here.

We have already talked about the concerns around data security in that market segment. That brings along another requirement or topic that customers want to have guidance on, namely how to deal best with their workers’ councils and how to tackle the whole change management.

It’s also important to see the considerations about cloud investments in the total investment context and to consider where companies are at the moment with their HR implementations. To give an example, I hear very often that a typical German company – if it is not a big company group with a big IT team – is way behind of the adoption of the latest and greatest SAP HCM can offer them, such as simply the self-services or HCM Processes and Forms. Especially when it comes to on-premise SAP HCM, German customers have told me in the various user group meetings they need more than a year in advance to get an IT project team staffed and that all after the business case work they have to do before. So, for example, to adopt HR Renewal, the reason why we see only a few customers running it already is not because customers do not like the functionality, but to get the project approved and the time it takes until then are the reasons why we do not see it more often among German customers yet.

Another feedback I get is that customers are hammered by the information of the SAP HCM solution portfolio but miss someone who could help them individually with identifying the right path to go forward. So it is a clear call for guidance. Although SAP and the partner eco-system do a high-quality job here, it is more a question of scaling that service towards the high demand which is definitely there.

What advice would you give to customers thinking about moving to SuccessFactors Employee Central from SAP HCM on-premise? Any tips?

It depends on how deeply these customers are using on-premise SAP HCM already today. Let’s assume we have a company leveraging the latest release, and self-services on the latest technology. The decision to go cloud may nevertheless be a right one although recent investments have been made. Cloud can mean a lot of chances. Chances, such as to harmonize and standardize HR processes. I have seen companies that with the on-premises model need to handle too many different processes in different countries and different business units and that is not caused by the necessary localization and compliance rules they need to follow, but just by how it has grown over the time. Moving to cloud can tremendously help these companies to drive standardization.

A second advice I would provide customers considering cloud is to look at functionality. SuccessFactors Employee Central was designed consciously to create the next generation of a personnel management solution in both ways, functional-wise as well as by having it designed as a cloud solution. I especially want to emphasize on the functional design that considers modern aspects such as to just have one solution that serves all roles that need to have access to HR processes, so employees, line managers and the various HR roles. Only authorization determines what a user can see. Other aspects like cross-role processes, collaboration, social media like user experience and the like are just other aspects to mention and that support user experience positively.

One important conceptual aspect that puts SuccessFactors Employee Central into a position to create the future solution is the possibility to manage all kinds of workers, employees paid by the company, contractors, and contingent workforce, for example. So it can be the answer to manage the modern workforce. SAP still is adding more functionality to this. I just recently spoke to a Swiss company where this was one of the convincing arguments to go for Employee Central.

Are there any particular types of customers that should consider moving to Employee Central? And likewise, that should probably consider staying with their existing SAP ERP HCM landscape?

On the one hand, customers who have stopped investments for whatever reasons into on-premise SAP HCM might be good candidates, assumed the get the buy-in for a cloud strategy. With one investment step they can then completely modernize their HR process offering.

Then we can take all the arguments from our previous advice section.

And let me add another aspect. Due to the fast changing economy companies more and more grow inorganically, they acquire other companies or sell parts again, HR system landscapes are very heterogeneous if not totally scattered and which results in non-efficient and error-prone processes. It often preludes a central control of HR data and high-quality headcount reporting, to mention only one example. Employee Central could also then be a good answer; just last month (August) SAP provided the option to use Employee Central as a data hub, as a consolidation layer for all HR master data. Next releases will follow to expand the features here. This really is a unique value SAP can offer.

One could argue that then customers who just recently invested heavily in on-premise SAP HCM may want to wait for the cloud move. However, the reality I see at customers is different. A lot of companies decide differently for their headquarters than for their subsidiaries. Whereas typically the big monster implementations were done in the headquarters, often in the subsidiaries the situation is different. Typically there might be no software solution implemented at all, or the various subsidiaries use different solutions. Then it may make sense to start with the subsidiaries to harmonize them one solution, which Employee Central can be the one they decide for. Subsidiaries typically do not have a lot of separate local IT staff other than what is essentially necessary – that is why cloud fits well here. And exactly this mix of cloud and on-premise HCM master data systems is what SAP supports. So it is not an either cloud or on-premise decision companies, especially the big ones with global operations, take. With SAP they can combine cloud and on-premise. And this enables an overall smooth transition into the cloud for them.

Then let’s look at the midsize enterprises. Today, a typical midsize company is characterized by operating in some countries, so you could argue from an overall company structure perspective there are similarities with the big international company groups. However, medium-size enterprises by far do not operate in as many countries as the large ones, and their whole IT strategy looks different. They often do have only one overall small IT team that hardly can cope with all the new technical features HCM products include today. This we see with analytics, mobile and all the social topics. Nevertheless, also these companies need to be able to offer this kind of features and processes to satisfy the CEO with HR key figures and to be able to be attractive for a young workforce. Especially the medium-size companies suffer from the skills shortage and need to have good answers, including appealing HCM solutions to win their workforce and to overall compete in the market. And they need this fast. This is where cloud wins. Companies can build on best-practices coming along with the cloud solutions and do not need to have extra experts for each and every topic. Also an advantage cloud offers.

Given what I just said, midsize companies tend to either decide fully for on-premise or fully for cloud. The more companies realize how powerful HR can support company success, I am sure, will see soon more and more mid-size companies going cloud.

Thank you very much for your time Heike it was a pleasure to speak with you.

Thanks Luke. Answering your questions was a great pleasure for me.

Heike can be followed on Twitter with her handle @hkolar and on LinkedIn. You can find me via @lukemarson. For the latest and greatest in SuccessFactors join the SAP and SuccessFactors LinkedIn group.

Remember the last time you bought an electronic device or a kitchen appliance? I bet that instead of reading the user’s manual, the first thing you did was to grab your smartphone and search on Youtube for a step-by-step guide video on how to set it up. Am I right? Yeah, I do this all the time as well. And every time I do it, I can’t help to feel bad for the wasted paper and for the people who spend so much time and effort writing these manuals that absolutely no one is reading.

We just don’t have the patience anymore to go through a hundred-page manual. It has become much convenient for us to get on the Internet and find the information we want at the moment we want it. Here is why we prefer this kind of content in such situations:

• Relevant. Manuals focus on general aspects of how things should work. User-generated content usually focuses on exceptions that are not covered anywhere else, hence their unique value.
• Easy to find. Thanks to search engines, view counters and user-voting features we can easily browse through hundreds of videos and find out the best one for our situation.
• Short and to the point. Experts say our attention decreases dramatically after two minutes and thirty seconds when watching online videos. That’s why the most popular ones focus on solving and explaining one issue at a time and as quickly as possible.
• Trusted. Sociologists say we tend to trust other people more than institutions. Therefore, it is not a surprise that information received through user-generated content is trusted 50% more than information from other media sources. We prefer to learn from people like us who bought the same product and probably faced the same challenges we did.

However, not everything is perfect in the Internet’s content 'wild wild west'. Purists usually dismiss these videos because they are shaky, slightly out of focus or just flat out pixelated. Fair criticism, but so what? They might not be high quality but they are still very consumable and understandable. What matters for learners in these cases is utility, immediacy and content relevance, not quality.

Not surprisingly, we have quickly gotten used to this convenience. Instant gratification it is indeed. Now we expect the same experience everywhere, all the time, on whatever device we happen to be using. Even at work.

This change in learning habits is putting companies in an interesting situation when it comes to enabling, engaging and developing their employees. Remember the writer who writes instruction manuals? Yes, that would be the learning department. They are investing lots of time and resources to create compelling high-quality content. The problem is that employees are not that interested in formal training and they usually have limited time to leave their jobs or to attend in-classroom training.

What's a Chief Learning Officer supposed to do? The ones who are forward thinking are taking this challenge as an opportunity to expand and diversify their learning offerings so they can help the company become more agile. They know about the importance of learning and sharing knowledge when building a smart company and they know they need to play a critical role when facilitating this peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge. The learning department can’t afford to be the bottleneck that slows down an organization’s ability to learn. The cost would be too high for everyday business: productivity would be impacted, inefficiencies would increase and people would waste time rediscovering everything over and over again.

QuickGuides for SuccessFactors Mobile

Acknowledging this trend we are excited to bring enterprise peer-to-peer learning to our SuccessFactors customers. QuickGuides is the name of a new feature in SuccessFactors Mobile that allows employees to create, publish and consume quick how-to guides. With just one finger, users can take photos, annotate, and sort them right from their smartphone.

QuickGuides is also available on the desktop but it is on a mobile device where it really takes on another dimension. The immediacy and ubiquity of mobility allows users to create content with virtually no planning and no set up required. There is no better device to capture time-sensitive content on-the-fly than a smartphone: it fits in your pocket, it has a camera, it has a screen and has constant connectivity. The same happens when consuming content. Learning something on a laptop and applying it a few minutes later is a very different experience than on the spot learning where knowledge is applied back and forth.

Applications in the enterprise are multiple and would fit a wide range of learning practices: on-demand training, just-in-time training, performance support, etc. The industries that would benefit the most are the ones with workers away from desks or without computers and with a big need to teach perishable or infrequently used skills. Here are some examples:

• A very experienced service technician capturing how to fix a pump that is new to the market and for which not a lot of service people have experience with.
• A cashier clerk learning how to spot a fake $50 bill
• A manufacturing line manager capturing how to operate a machine in the shop floor
• A stock replenisher learning how to place a product correctly on the shelf, how to do merchandise displays, ensure tickets and pricing are correct and in place

Easy to find content. Once content is published anyone can use the search capabilities to enter a search term and discover multiple QuickGuides submitted by peers.

Connecting with Subject Matter Experts. Beyond the content itself, when you find a QuickGuide you can also look up and contact the author. This can give you the chance to ask further questions in case you want to expand on the knowledge and potentially build a mutually rewarding relationship around a specific topic area.

Having access to QuickGuides on mobile brings multiple benefits to employees. It provides users with the flexibility to learn at their own pace and in their space of their choice. They can expose themselves to a wide spectrum of topics, improving their skillset across disciplines. They can access learning right before applying the knowledge so there is no loss of retention because of a time gap, making completion more accurate. And learning content can be captured and published immediately prior to its use conserving its freshness and timeliness.

It also has benefits for the company. It provides higher learning completion rates. Learners complete more training when consuming the same content in mobile format. The format itself and its interactivity enhances employees’ learning. They spend less time in training on average without loss of comprehension. Overall it helps people make better decisions on the spot, avoiding wasting time.

Also part of the Q3 2014 Mobile Release

As you can tell, we are pretty excited about QuickGuides. But that’s not the only thing we have on deck for this quarter’s release. In addition, we have the following features coming to our mobile apps: new workforce analytics with more filters and more drill-down capabilities, time-off requests in which you can enter hours and minutes, new onboarding tiles for employees, more ‘Who’s in the meeting’ capabilities and a much requested internal security check so the app can’t be installed on jailbroken devices.

For more information and more details on the 1408 release please go to the SuccessFactors Mobile customer community and download the 1408 release notes.

Follow SuccessFactors on twitter: @successfactors

About 18 months ago, I joined SuccessFactors as Product Manager for Employee Central. I came from Gartner, where I’d researched HR technology for several years. Gartner and Forrester Research are rivals, but the relationship between analysts is generally cordial. I’ve met Paul Hamerman on a number of occasions, one involving baseball, a game he knows almost as well as he does HR technology. When my colleagues asked me to be involved in responding to the Forrester Wave, I was doubly curious. Firstly, I wanted to see how our product would be perceived today, and also I was interested in how Paul ran the process.

Forrester made a decision to only evaluate SaaS vendors in “TheForrester Wave™: SaaS HR Management Systems, Q4 2014.” While many organisations continue to deploy on-premise HRMS technologies, the victors and also-rans in that market are clear.  There are exceptions in some geographies and industries, but the new business is in the cloud.  Tools like the wave are designed to help organisations evaluate new system choices, so the decision to focus on SaaS HRMS in this wave makes perfect sense. 

For several years SuccessFactors has led in the integrated Talent Management space.. However, this is the first report from a major analyst firm that evaluates Employee Central and our other products against the competition in SaaS HRMS. The last report was over 2 years ago, and in that time, much has changed.[1] 

3 years ago, when I first saw Employee Central, I felt it had immense promise, while recognising there was work to do. Over the last 2 years, we have massively accelerated the breadth and depth of the EC product. That trajectory was made possible by the design decisions of the SuccessFactors Architect and Product Manager, both of whom still work on our products. I’m especially thankful to our early customers, who helped forge what the product is today. Our position in the Wave is a vindication for us of that collaboration and of SAP’s decision to acquire and invest in SuccessFactors.

The future looks bright. The insight we glean from our customers, SAP’s unrivalled global reach, and the SuccessFactors "nothing is impossible attitude” sets the stage for this product to achieve even greater success in the cloud than SAP has today in on-premise.  More than ever I am convinced that the combination of SuccessFactors and SAP has created something rather special. 

Permit me to give those evaluating software the same advice I gave when I was an analyst. Use the research as a starting point, but set evaluation criteria that work for your organisation.  Spend time talking to the analyst to understand what they don’t write in the report. Look the people that build and deploy the product in the eye. Talk to customers and partners. Consider integration to the rest of the business, and understand the vendor’s vision and gauge their ability to deliver on that vision. A decision you make today about your Core HRMS platform will be with your organisation for at least a decade.  Evaluate Trajectory, not just a point in time.

I would like to thank Forrester and Paul for a rigorous and robust evaluation. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

[1] Source: The Forrester Wave(TM): Human Resource Management Systems, Q1 2012, Forrester Research, Inc., January 25, 2012.

Today, I continue my interview with part 2 of the Q&A with Heike Kolar, Business Development Manager – hr expertise at inside Unternehmensberatung GmbH to discuss some of the common questions and challenges about implementing and using Employee Central. You can read Part 1 here.

What would you say are the key differences between implementing on-premise SAP HCM and when implementing Employee Central?

The key differences result out of the deployment model of both solutions. When implementing an on-premise solution, customers need to also to deal with the IT infrastructure topics and size their hardware correctly, negotiate or adjust the contracts with their hardware providers. This is an extra effort that does not play a role when implementing cloud. The IT infrastructure topic in the cloud model is with the provider, not with the customer.

With implementing cloud also activities around identifying the right software or support packages and possible software dependencies is nothing the customers need to deal with, they simply get the latest code of the solution and can fully concentrate on the configuration. Configuration then is a good next aspect to look at. The on-premise solution allows customers to customize the solution towards their need, they have access to the source code and can add additional source code in the system directly. There is nothing bad about this as such, although in a lot of cases this has created the big HCM implementation beasts, has allowed various departments in the company group to add whatever they liked, and overall this is hard to be controlled centrally and hinders simplification and standardized processes, reduces the companies’ agility to mention some outcomes. Cloud instead does not grant access to source code. Customers do influence the system behavior by configuration. SuccessFactors allows a lot of configuration, including that a customer can deeply tailor the solution to their custom specific needs. Here are to mention the Metadata Framework (MDF) and the extension packages available with SAP HANA Cloud Platform for SuccessFactors. This is outstanding in the market.

The overall advantage I see for cloud implementation that central governance of what the company is implementing can be achieved more easily than compared with an on-premise implementation.

Do you have any recommendations for migrating from SAP ERP HCM to Employee Central?

Earlier I spoke about chances. My clear recommendation is to first look what are the things missing in the current implementation, are processes outdated and modern things missing, what hurts most and what shall be achieved. Ideally all of this is mapped to an overall HR strategy. Based on that analysis, a clear charter of what the future solution shall be able to cover is to be set up, followed by a defined roadmap. I really argue to put a lot of effort into that preparation work. This will help companies to their cloud implementation projects exactly to transform the company to what it should be and operate HR that way that is can support business outcomes better than currently and is prepared for growth.

How do you currently see the market in the DACH (Germany, Australia and Switzerland) area?

Due do the rapid economic changes and the continued trend of a globalized economy, more and more enterprises need to be able to cope with these dynamics and at the same time seize their chances to retain market leadership. This includes staying flexible with their HR strategies as employees are key contributors to company success. All this requires solutions that can provide the right answers to the challenges just outlined. This is true for companies in the DACH region as well as well as it is the case for midsize companies.

Cloud solutions seem to be the right answer. At least more and more companies ask for these. Whereas in the US the decision to go cloud is often easier to take and clearly proven by the adoption already, many decision drivers in DACH have to overcome some stumbling blocks such as to convince their work council and to convince their data security managers with good arguments as to why cloud solutions do not hurt any data security or privacy requirements. This explains why the adoption of cloud is slower in the DACH region than in the US, for example. Nevertheless, DACH companies also want cloud as it helps them to offer the right solutions to employees, line managers and HR employees far quicker and to adjust them easily when needed.

SAP – together with the partner eco-system – can be successful in the DACH market when the decision makers are efficiently supported in solving their concerns, especially around data security and privacy. From personal experience I have seen that SAP and the ecosystem do an excellent job during the sales cycles to provide the decision makers with good arguments, but still the sales cycles in DACH are generally not too fast. I think there is still a lot of work to do around providing company guidance in what solution strategy might be the most appropriate for them and fighting the prejudices about cloud. I strongly believe that cloud is the future for DACH customers, and that more and more companies follow the cloud path in a more accelerated manner soon.

Some customers are interested to know more about Time & Attendance and Benefits functionality in Employee Central and what other options are available. Can you offer us any insights?

Included in the SuccessFactors Employee Central subscription fee is time-off functionality. This allows companies to manage any kind of absences, such as dealing with leave requests or reporting sickness. Scenarios are also available as mobile applications and are also included in the subscription. SAP has invested in time-off functionality right from the beginning when Employee Central development got accelerated, around two and a half years ago.

When it comes to time & attendance, SAP so far follows a partner strategy. WorkForce Software and Kronos are the two go-to-market partners and their solutions are integrated with SuccessFactors Employee Central using packaged integrations. So time & attendance functionality communicating with the Employee Central master data and payroll is available as such, however it adds an extra price tag. SAP to my best knowledge hasn’t yet officially announced whether they are going to offer comprehensive time & attendance functionality included in the Employee Central subscription.

With regards to benefits, SAP has BenefitFocus and AON Hewitt as a go-to-market partners. Following a similar model as with time management, customers can use these solutions integrated with Employee Central. In addition, SAP released in May this year the first public release of Global Benefits capabilities, delivering control for administrators and efficient global benefit events support for employees. Benefits content is pre-delivered and integration with payroll is available.

Do you have anything else you’d like to add?

We at inside see Employee Central as well as a good option for mid-market customers and have started to look into how the inside HCM Cloud and SuccessFactors Employee Central can go together. We are strongly aligned with SAP and work together with them. All-in-all we are beginning to see growth for Employee Central in DACH and the wider region of Europe and it won’t be long until adoption reaches are high level.

Thank you very much for your time Heike, it was a pleasure to speak with you again.

Thanks Luke. Answering your questions was a great pleasure for me.

Heike can be followed on Twitter with her handle @hkolar and on LinkedIn. You can find me via @lukemarson. For the latest and greatest in SuccessFactors join the SAP and SuccessFactors LinkedIn group.

     It has been a while since I wrote a HCM P&F blog as I was nicely reminded by a few people (haha). All apologies for that. It is not that I have not been doing HCM P&F work (actually on a project now doing FPM forms/processes and supporting 2 previous clients for changes/additions/etc), but honestly,  I have been head down in learning and doing a LOT of OpenUI5 (SAPUI5) "stuff" (technical term haha). Of course, I have some OpenUI5 blogs coming, but I did have some ideas for a few HCM P&F blogs.

     I often get asked via email, Facebook messages, etc., what are some of the "tips, tricks and tools" that I use on my own HCM P&F projects. Over the course of the years doing and working with HCM P&F, I like most anyone I know that has done the same have come up with my own "tools", shortcuts, documentation templates, naming conventions, etc. that I use to "make life easier" on my projects. I will try to share some of these.....and I won't even charge you! haha.....furthermore, you are free to use/change them as you like as long as you make sure I am credited somewhere along the way.

     The first "tool" is a nice little "Y" report program I put together years back and have added to a little here and there. It basically list out details about all backend services (generic services) that are in a system, but does so in a nice way that ties them together with their "filter" ID, implementing class, and enhancement name all in one place (usually, you have to look in several places to do this). I like to use it either when coming onto an existing project to get a nice list/look at how many custom backend services have been written (with development objects easy to find in the listing!). It is also very nice (and I use it the most) at the end of a project to help with documentation as you can cut-n-paste or dump this out to something like Excel and do what you want with it. Finally, I added a nice little "extra" bit in there that helps you audit your services to look at it from both sides....(1) you can find what services you defined in configuration but do not have a BAdI defined for them. (2) you can find BAdIs you have defined/code but that are not used on any of the HCM P&F form scenarios (i.e. unused services).

     I can not show you a complete, "open" listing as it would show client specific information, however, I can show you the report against standard SAP information. Here is how it looks....

Selection screen

Selection made to show only Basic Generic Services with a filter ID that stars with "s_hire"

Results of search

Scroll down and see additional information

Another Listing Example

Another example showing a listing for Advanced Generic Services with filter starting with "s_" shown. Also, we selected to show "short name" for the BAdI type (displays and easier to read name for basic and advanced services).

And now what you really waited for....the code! (haha)....enjoy....

[code]

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

*& Report  YHRASR_BACKEND_SERVICES

*& created by Chris Solomon

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

*& Local program to list all standard and custom HCM Processes & Forms

*& backend generic and advanced services details.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

REPORT YHRASR_BACKEND_SERVICES NO STANDARD PAGE HEADING.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                      DATA & TYPE DECLARATIONS                        *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

data: t_badi_char_cond type table of badi_char_cond, "BAdI table with filter/values

      w_badi_char_cond type badi_char_cond,

      w_badi_impl type badi_impl,

      w_tadir type tadir,"to find author

      t_t5asrfscnsrv type table of t5asrfscnsrv,

      w_t5asrfscnsrv type t5asrfscnsrv.

data: w_form_scenario type asr_form_scenario.

"counters

data: i_count      type i,

      i_sap        type i,

      i_sap_ags    type i,

      i_sap_bgs    type i,

      i_custom     type i,

      i_custom_ags type i,

      i_custom_bgs type i.

constants: c_hcmpf_gs_filter TYPE badi_filter_name VALUE 'SERVICEID'.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                        SELECTION PARAMETERS                          *

* text-001  BAdI Name

* text-002  Display BAdI type:

* P_RAD1  Both (Basic and Advanced)

* P_RAD2  Basic Generic Services only

* P_RAD3  Advanced Generic Services only

* P_RADIO1  Full Name

* P_RADIO2  Short Name

* S_FILTER  Filter Value / Service ID

* S_STDSRV  Include standard SAP objects

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

parameters: s_filter type badi_char_cond-value1.

parameters: s_stdsrv as checkbox default 'X'.

selection-screen skip 2.

selection-screen begin of block blockBadiname with frame title text-001.

  parameters: p_radio1 RADIOBUTTON GROUP rgp1 default 'X',

              p_radio2 RADIOBUTTON GROUP rgp1.

selection-screen end of block blockBadiname.

selection-screen skip.

selection-screen begin of block blockBaditype with frame title text-002.

  parameters: p_rad1 RADIOBUTTON GROUP rgp2 default 'X',

              p_rad2 RADIOBUTTON GROUP rgp2,

              p_rad3 RADIOBUTTON GROUP rgp2.

selection-screen end of block blockBaditype.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                           INITIALIZATION                             *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

initialization.

* set selection to wildcard

  s_filter = '*'.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                             TOP-OF-PAGE                              *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

top-of-page.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                         START-OF-SELECTION                           *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

start-of-selection.

  select * from badi_char_cond into table t_badi_char_cond

     where filter_name = c_hcmpf_gs_filter.

  select * from t5asrfscnsrv into table t_t5asrfscnsrv where service_type = 'GENSRV'.

* table header for services listing

  write: /1 'selected list of backend services sorted by BAdI Implementation name'.

  skip 1.

*** first line of header

  if p_radio1 EQ 'X'.

    write: /1  'BAdI Name'.

  else.

    write: /1  'BAdI Type'.

  endif.

  write:  35 'Enhancement Name',

          70 'BAdI Implementation',

         105 'Filter Value',

         135 'Class',

         170 'Enh. Author'.

  uline.

* display selected services

  i_count = 0. i_sap = 0. i_custom = 0.

  sort t_badi_char_cond BY BADI_IMPL.

  loop at t_badi_char_cond into w_badi_char_cond.

        CLEAR: w_badi_impl, w_tadir.

        "get enhancment class and BAdI name

        select single * from badi_impl into w_badi_impl

           WHERE enhname = w_badi_char_cond-ENHNAME

             AND badi_impl = w_badi_char_cond-BADI_IMPL.

        "get author (ie. SAP or custom)

        select single * from tadir into w_tadir

           WHERE pgmid = 'R3TR'

             AND object = 'ENHO'

             AND obj_name = w_badi_char_cond-ENHNAME.

        "get total count of services by author

        if w_tadir-author = 'SAP'.

          i_sap = i_sap + 1.

          If w_badi_impl-badi_name EQ 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_ADVANCED'.

            i_sap_ags = i_sap_ags + 1.

          else.

            i_sap_bgs = i_sap_bgs + 1.

          endif.

        else.

          i_custom = i_custom + 1.

          If w_badi_impl-badi_name EQ 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_ADVANCED'.

            i_custom_ags = i_custom_ags + 1.

          else.

            i_custom_bgs = i_custom_bgs + 1.

          endif.

        endif.

        "check if standard SAP objects selected to display

        if s_stdsrv <> 'X' and w_tadir-author = 'SAP'.

          continue.

        endif.

        "check type

        if p_rad2 EQ 'X' and w_badi_impl-badi_name EQ 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_ADVANCED'.

          continue.

        endif.

        if p_rad3 EQ 'X' and ( w_badi_impl-badi_name EQ 'HRASR00GENERIC_SERVICES'

                              OR w_badi_impl-badi_name EQ 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_BASIC' ).

          continue.

        endif.

       "write results for selected entries

       IF w_badi_char_cond-VALUE1 CP s_filter.

        "check display name

        if p_radio1 EQ 'X'.

           write:/1 w_badi_impl-badi_name.

        else.

           case w_badi_impl-badi_name.

             when 'HRASR00GENERIC_SERVICES' OR 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_BASIC'.

               write: / 'Basic    (GS)    '.

             when 'HRASR00GEN_SERVICE_ADVANCED'.

               write: / 'Advanced (AS) ***'.

             when others.

               write: / 'unknown'.

           endcase.

        endif.

        write: 35 w_badi_char_cond-ENHNAME,

               70 w_badi_char_cond-BADI_IMPL,

               105 w_badi_char_cond-VALUE1,

               135 w_badi_impl-class_name,

               170 w_tadir-author.

        i_count = i_count + 1.

      ENDIF.

  endloop.

  uline.

  write: /1 'total listed:', 15 i_count.

  skip.

  write: /1 'Total services overall:',

         /1 i_sap, ' standard SAP services (Basic and Advanced)',

         /15 i_sap_bgs, 'basic generic services',

         /15 i_sap_ags, 'advanced generic services',

         /1 i_custom, ' custom services (Basic and Advanced)',

         /15 i_custom_bgs, 'basic generic services',

         /15 i_custom_ags, 'advanced generic services'.

  "filter information (unused and orphaned)

  skip.

  write: /1 'INCOMPLETE SERVICES',

         /1 'The following backend services have been defined for HCM Processes and Forms but no BAdI implementation exists that uses these as filter values:',

         /1 '(i.e. these are defined but not implemented.)'.

  write: /10 'Filter ID'.

  uline at /10(30).

  i_count = 0. "reset

  sort t_t5asrfscnsrv.

  loop at t_t5asrfscnsrv into w_t5asrfscnsrv.

    read table t_badi_char_cond into w_badi_char_cond with key value1 = w_t5asrfscnsrv-form_scen_srv.

    if sy-subrc NE 0. "not found

      write: /10 w_t5asrfscnsrv-form_scen_srv.

      i_count = i_count + 1.

    endif.

  endloop.

  if i_count = 0.

    write:/10 '** none **'.

  endif.

  skip.

  write: /1 'UNUSED SERVICES',

         /1 'The following BAdI implementations exist but are not used in any form scenarios:',

         /1 '(i.e. these are defined but not used in any process.)'.

  write: /10 'Filter ID' , 40 'Enhancement Name'.

  uline at /10(70).

  i_count = 0. "reset

  loop at t_badi_char_cond into w_badi_char_cond.

    select single form_scenario from T5ASRFSCNSRVLNK into w_form_scenario where form_scen_srv = w_badi_char_cond-value1.

    if sy-subrc NE 0.

      write: /10 w_badi_char_cond-value1, 40 w_badi_char_cond-ENHNAME.

      i_count = i_count + 1.

    endif.

  endloop.

    if i_count = 0.

    write:/10 '** none **'.

  endif.

[/code]

     Like I said, I will keep doing these if it is received well, and people find it worthwhile. As always, I am really just trying to ease the headaches of others as they traverse the same HCM P&F path that I have been down as well. Like always....till next time!

Hi,

I have copied standard hcm form  SAP_TIM_99_0003 into my customized one ZSAP_TIM_99_0003. There is one table called single results table weekly which contains in\out time,date,day,OT,Flex,DWS. In this table there is weekly total for every week.I want to remove this weekly total line from the table .Please tell me how can I remove this table.I don't find weekly total table in Adobe form.

As dicussed in an earlier blog, SAP is buying Travel & Expense SaaS provider Concur.

Obviosuly, we are all expecting improvements in integration between other SAP solutions and Concur. But what is on top of your SAP-Concur-Integration wish list?

• Easy integration with HR master records? And if so: with SAP HCM on-premise Core HR or SuccessFactors Employee Central?
  Or maybe even with Fieldglass to cater for travelling contingent workers, where you fear most compliance issues or expect the biggest savings opportunities?
• Or going all exotic and hope for integration with Recruitment to cover candidate travel, or Learning to get more transparency into training related travel cost? Both areas oft asked for, but never covered by the on-premise T&E solution.
• Posting travel related cost into SAP GL is a must, istn't it? As is integration with accounts payable in on-premise FI. But how about CATS?
• Or would you see process before data and an integrated, seemless workflow inbox with leave requests from on-premise HR and Concur trip approvals tops your personal list?
• Collaboration: there must be a good use for SAP Jam in Travel Management, right? Sharing cars, arranging group travel, getting hotel tips or just meet up with colleagues in the same location are all activties crying out for a social collaboration tool. However: would this be SAP JAM - or Concur's Tripit? Or a blend of both?
• If you run payroll, getting all data required for taxes and statutory reporting from Concur into your beloved on-premise payroll (or it's hosted twin for Employee Central) is very high up, I presume.
• Or is all of the above of minor importance, because you know you'll always be able to manage internal interfaces somehow and what you really want SAP to do for you is managing interfaces with 3rd parties? Credit card companies are notoriously bad with interfaces, so better and better managed standards would be most welcome. Integration with data and processes of travel agencies or added value services like receipt auditing or foreign VAT recouping: these are areas, where Concur excels already according to my personal experience. Could it improve further and be leveraged better?
• And finally in the last line of this by far not comprehensive list, the word you've been waiting for all along: Ariva. Of course travel procurement needs to go into that. Somehow. Somewhere.

A very long list indeed and I'm sure you'll have more to add (and please do so in the comments section!). It makes me think: no doubt the general concept of SaaS and multi-tenancy is a key driver of cloud efficiency and agility. However, these days, cloud systems are in most cases seen as isolated or lightly integrated systems. They have been favoured by followers of the best-of-breed approach so far. What will happen, when the disciples of highly integrated ERP invade the world of the cloud and create highly interdependant integrated architectures? Will we end up with a lot of the maintenance cost and inertness we hoped to leave behind, when moving into the cloud? It feels like a very real risk more and more, and we should manage it.

A recent trip to a client in my new home down under shed some light on a common piece of system functionality that many may take for granted these days but can severely hinder user perception/adoption of new systems.  The ability to ‘search’ anything online these days is a must.  It’s second nature.  It has to be there, online, on our devices, almost anywhere you can think. We all have been spoiled to the likes of Google, but not all searches are created equal.  I’ve seen my fair share of search functionality in various systems, big and small, that either get me to where I want quickly with barely batting an eye, and others that made me wish I was looking for a literal needle in a haystack instead.

As the shift to cloud picks up speed, one of the continual key benefits when compared to on premise systems (especially SAP) is usability.  Usability, in turn, is directly tied to user adoption.  As evidenced by this one client and their experience with SAP Learning Solution, user adoption of the system has not been what they wanted, and one issue pointed out in their user experience so far related to search capabilities for end users.  Ease of access to information cannot be ignored.  There is an unofficial rule popular in some web design circles called the ‘three-click rule’ where some believe that a user of a website should be able to find the information they are looking for in three clicks of the mouse or less.  While some question the true validity of that rule verbatim, the general premise has merits.  No one likes to be hopelessly clicking around a website in search of what they need without feeling they are at least getting to the point.

With this recent client experience with SAP LSO, I felt it wise to highlight some of the search capabilities in SuccessFactors Learning.  When evaluating SuccessFactors, or any cloud provider for that matter, perception of usability should be high on the requirements list. Search capabilities will play a strong factor in the overall usability of the product/module, but many may overlook the details here and assume searching is all the same.  As mentioned before, all searches are not created equal, and we all know what assuming can do.  For organizations who want to foster a new culture of learning for their employees, user adoption of the system is critical.  And if you roll out an LMS where users can’t find the training they need quickly, and easily, they won’t use it for long.

In the latest release for SuccessFactors Learning (b1408), new updates have been introduced to the search capabilities in the LMS that are bringing the functionality up to where it needs to be.  So what does searching in SuccessFactors Learning look like these days?  In this blog, I take a look at the core search functionality for end users and admins alike, pointing out some of the b1408 updates to searching recently made available.

Learner Searching

Searching for learners, or end users, in SuccessFactors Learning centers around the available courses in the system.  For any organization that wants to empower employees in their own learning development and foster a ‘pull’ culture to learning, the search capabilities in the LMS for end users should be of key importance.  Fortunately this is where I believe SuccessFactors Learning shines, and with the latest updates to searching in the b1408 release, the capabilities are there to efficiently provide employees ways to find the learning they want and need.  Let’s look at some of the search capabilities for end users in the LMS.

Find Learning Tile

From the moment a user lands on his/her learning page within SuccessFactors, they will see a tile asking them what they want to learn today.  Users can enter a direct search term and go, or move directly to browse all courses in the LMS to which they have access.  One of the recent updates with the b1408 release introduces ‘type-ahead’ search term suggestions.  Compare this to how Google tells you what you’re looking for before you even finish typing. No Google isn’t psychic (or maybe it is), and neither is SuccessFactors Learning, but this type-ahead functionality is a great addition to the search capabilities in the LMS, allowing the users to see recommended suggestions based on their typed text and what is available in the course catalog for them.

Catalog Search

Whether a user searches for a specific key word, phrase, or just selects to browse all courses, he/she will eventually find themselves on the Catalog Search page within the LMS.  This page will display all search results (Items, Curricula, Programs, QuickGuides, etc.) that are found based on the search in question.  Filters available on the left hand side of the screen will allow a user to whittle down the list based on certain criteria (Category, Subject Area, Delivery Method, etc.).  For organizations with SAP Jam integrated with the LMS, search results for content stored in Jam will be displayed under the ‘Social Learning’ tab (a great feature for promoting informal learning within your organization and bringing it into the LMS).

Several recent updates with the b1408 release come into play here in the catalog search.  Most are subtle, but all bring great additional options to end users to allow them more ways to find what they are looking for more efficiently.  These updates include:

• Keyword searching instead of exact phase – resulting in more applicable search results.
• Results displayed by relevancy of search terms instead of alphabetical order – a big improvement as I would much rather see what is truly important to my search at the top of the list instead of having to scroll to the end because the course title starts with a ‘Z’.
• Ability to search across 2 languages (primary/secondary) – this can be of particular importance to global organizations with users fluent in multiple languages.
• Instructor-led offerings in ‘My Region’ – another nice feature for organizations leveraging the Region designation for employees in the LMS.  For classroom-based courses, users can select to view Items within their own Region, which will only display scheduled offerings in facilities/locations that are located within the same region as the user.  It can be frustrating wading through a list of schedule offerings, none of which you can attend, trying to find the one that may be in your area (screen shot below).

Other filters available within the Catalog Search can make searching more efficient for end users as well, especially the use of Subject Areas.  The definition of Subject Areas is an important design aspect when implementing SuccessFactors Learning.  The SF LMS does not present a course catalog hierarchy to the end user like SAP Learning Solution.  Therefore if a user just wants to browse the catalog for certain types of courses, the filter use is critical, and the Subject Areas provide the greatest flexibility to an organization for classifying their trainings into different groups.  The Subject Areas defined in the LMS can have a hierarchy to them, and Items/Curricula can belong to more than one Subject Area at a time.  Keep in mind your design of Subject Areas if you are considering implementing SuccessFactors Learning as it can greatly play a part in the efficiency of your end users finding the trainings they are looking for.

Calendar Searching

In some instances, users may not be looking for a particular course to take, but instead may be more concerned with what training is offered at a specific point in time that they may have available in the future.  SuccessFactors Learning provides a very nice feature allowing users to visually search upcoming courses via a Calendar view.  Users can view the calendar by Month, Week, or Day, with a list of coursers being offered each day in the view.  This type of search is only applicable for Instructor-Led training (event based).

One recent change in the b1408 release for SuccessFactors Learning does affect this calendar based searching view.  Previously these views displayed Subject Areas for courses on days in the calendar view instead of Item Titles.  While this would reflect to the user that a course or courses were being held on a particular day related to that Subject Area, the user would not know which course(s) were offered until clicking on the Subject Area and viewing further detail. By now showing the actual Item Titles of courses held on a particular day, users will be presented with important information sooner with one less click (hooray!).

Admin Searching

For anyone familiar with the Administrator portal in SuccessFactors Learning, you know how important a role searching plays in the day to day lives of an admin.  Searching is everywhere.  Before you view any entity in the LMS as an admin, you’re presented with a search screen.  In my opinion, the admin searching capabilities have a little way to go from a usability perspective.  They are very powerful and when done right, you can get the information you require without too much struggle.  I have seen clients though consistently struggle with understanding the nuances of the admin search functionality, the number of clicks, etc.  Let’s take a quick look at the core search functionality of the administrators in the LMS.

Power Search

The Power Search functionality in the admin portal is quite robust.  I believe I’ve heard it called the ‘Awesome Bar’ by some.  This is the search bar that is always visible to admins in the LMS toward the top of the screen.  You can type in search terms that are applicable for commands in the LMS or general search terms for certain content in the LMS.  There are type-ahead suggestions for LMS commands only within the search bar.  Performing a full search from the Power Search bar will search the LMS for your search term(s) across various entities in the system (Items, Curricula, Assignment Profiles, etc.).  All things considered, the Power Search is very nice and powerful for quick admin searches.

Entity Specific Search

When we get to entity specific searches for administrators, however, this is where the searching can become a little tedious and cumbersome. The search functionality provided for entity searches (i.e. – Items, Curricula, etc.) are powerful but not overly user friendly.  Administrators are presented with selection screens with numerous fields, most of which come with field operator options (i.e. – Starts With, Contains, etc.). Search fields that have set values (picklists) behind them are indicated with little blue filter icons, which require you to click, search for and specify the desired valid entries for that field, then return back to the original selection screen to continue your search (i.e. – lots of clicks).  I have seen users constantly forget to properly check the usage of the field operators as well, which can lead to confusion where users think the system is having an issue, but in reality their search criteria is not specified correctly.

In my opinion, the admin search selection does have room for improvement with respect to usability. It serves its purpose and gets the job done, but it’s easy to overlook incorrect search selection entries being made and the number of clicks to specify various search selections can be frustrating.  In most cases, admins can save search criteria for later use, which does help for frequent searches.

Summary

Hopefully this review of searching and how it relates to SuccessFactors Learning emphasizes how the functionality can play a big part in user acceptance of a system.  If you’re on your journey to the cloud, keep this in mind when evaluating your options.  Efficient access to information and capabilities to do what needs to be done in any system is a critical success factor for user adoption.  If users perceive the old way of doing things as more efficient than the system you’re putting in, that’s not going to be good for anyone.  People are naturally resistant to change, but don’t give them an easy excuse to not change because of poor usability and/or barriers to efficient access to information. SuccessFactors Learning has some powerful search capabilities to provide your users with the tools needed to help foster a ‘pull’ culture in your learning organization.  This will be critical for user adoption of your LMS and set the groundwork for building an efficient learning organization in the future.

     Hot on the heels of my recent blog, HCM Processes & Forms: Tools of the Trade - part 1: Backend Services Audit, I am back with another one which should come as no surprise at all. If I covered "auditing" your backend services, then it only stands to reason that I would have something similar for processes and form scenarios.....and here it is!

     This is another little "Y" (local) program you can run to list all your HCM P&F processes' details in one, easy layout that "connects the dots" for you to tie together the process, workflow assigned to it, form scenario(s) assigned to it, and then details about what kind of form is used and the form's name. Again, it makes putting together documentation MUCH easier! Just as I did with backend services, it also has a "nifty" little option that allows you to list our form scenarios that are not assigned directly to processes via configuration (as they can simply be assigned to a workflow task/step via bindings). In this way, you can also get a handle on how many "other" form scenarios you might have out there...not just those you find under the process' configuration. Let's walk through some example....

Selection Screen

Selection made to for any process starting with "HR_PD*" (which should give us only the standard SAP PD/OM related processes) and not list unassigned form scenarios

Result

Another selection made to list all processes that start with "HIRE" and list unassigned form scenarios but only of the AIF and FPM form type

Results showing the unassigned form scenarios now too

And now what you really waited for....the code! (haha)....enjoy....

[code]

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

*& Report  YHRASR_PROCESSES_AUDIT

*& created by Chris Solomon

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

*& Local program to list all standard and custom HCM Processes & Forms

*& process and form scenario details.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

REPORT YHRASR_PROCESSES_AUDIT NO STANDARD PAGE HEADING.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                      DATA & TYPE DECLARATIONS                        *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

types: BEGIN OF asr_proc,

        process         TYPE ASR_PROCESS,

        description     TYPE ASR_PROCESS_DESCRIPTION,

        wf_template     TYPE ASR_START_PROCESS_WF_TEMPLATE,

       END OF asr_proc.

types: BEGIN OF asr_proc_fsn,

        process           TYPE ASR_PROCESS,

        form_scenario     TYPE ASR_FORM_SCENARIO,

        form_scen_vers    TYPE ASR_FORM_SCENARIO_VERSION,

        form_scen_name    TYPE ASR_FORM_SCENARIO_TEXT,

        versionid         TYPE ASR_BOL_GLOBAL_ITVERS,

        start_fsn         TYPE bool,

        form_type         TYPE ASR_FORM_TYPE,

        aif_form          TYPE FPWBFORMNAME,

       END OF asr_proc_fsn.

data: t_asr_proc TYPE TABLE OF asr_proc,

      w_asr_proc TYPE asr_proc.

data: t_asr_proc_fsn TYPE TABLE OF asr_proc_fsn,

      w_asr_proc_fsn TYPE asr_proc_fsn.

field-symbols: <asrproc> LIKE LINE OF t_asr_proc,

               <asrfsn>  LIKE LINE OF t_asr_proc_fsn.

*useful tables:

* T5ASRPROCT      : processes with description/texts

* T5ASRPRSCFORM   : Configuration Data for Start of Processes with Form (workflow, start FSCN, etc)

* T5ASRPROCFSCN   : Assignment of Form Scenarios to Processes (check validity....all FSCN not in above table)

* T5ASRFSCN       : form scenario with form type information

* T5ASRFSCNT      : text for form scenario

* T5ASRFSCNSTG    : form scenario steps

* T5ASRFSCNSTGT   : text for form scenario steps

* T5ASRFSCNSRVLNK : Assignment of Backend Services to Form Scenarios

* T5ASRFSCNSRVT   : Texts for Backend Services for Form Scenarios

* T5ASRFSCNFPMCONF: FPM configurations

data: w_t5asrprscform TYPE t5asrprscform,

      w_isr_link     TYPE T5ASRFSCNISRLNK,

      w_qisrscenario TYPE qisrscenario,

      w_fpm_configs TYPE T5ASRFSCNFPMCONF.

"counters

data: i_count       type i,

      i_sap         type i,

      i_custom      type i,

      i_sap_fscn    type i,

      i_custom_fscn type i.

constants:

  C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_BOL  TYPE  ASR_FORM_TYPE    VALUE    'B',    "roadmap

  C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_FPM  TYPE  ASR_FORM_TYPE    VALUE    'W',    "fpm

  C_OT_FORM_TYPE_UNKNOWN  TYPE  ASR_FORM_TYPE VALUE 'U',    "unknown

  C_OT_FORM_TYPE_ADOBE    TYPE  ASR_FORM_TYPE VALUE SPACE,  "adobe

  C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_MST  TYPE  ASR_FORM_TYPE VALUE 'M'.    "mass

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                        SELECTION PARAMETERS                          *

* text-001  Display only Unassigned Form Scenarios with form type:

* S_AIF      Adobe Interactive Form (AIF)

* S_FPM      Floorplan Manager Form (FPM)

* S_FSCNS    List Unassigned Form Scenarios

* S_MASS  Mass Entry Form

* S_OTH      Other

* S_PROCS    Process Name / Technical ID

* S_RMAP  Roadmap Form

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

data: gd_ucomm type sy-ucomm.

parameters: s_procs type asr_process.

selection-screen skip 1.

parameters: s_fscns as checkbox default 'X' user-command evFscn.

selection-screen skip 1.

selection-screen begin of block blockFormType with frame title text-001.

  parameters: s_aif as checkbox default 'X' modif id g1,

              s_fpm as checkbox default 'X' modif id g1,

              s_rmap as checkbox default 'X' modif id g1,

              s_mass as checkbox default 'X' modif id g1,

              s_oth as checkbox default 'X' modif id g1.

selection-screen end of block blockFormType.

AT SELECTION-SCREEN.

  gd_ucomm = sy-ucomm. "in order to have enable/disable of inputs, we need this for "user command" eventing

AT SELECTION-SCREEN OUTPUT.

  LOOP AT SCREEN.

    IF s_fscns = 'X' AND screen-group1 = 'G1'.

      screen-active = 1.

    ENDIF.

    IF s_fscns <> 'X' AND screen-group1 = 'G1'.

      screen-active = 0. "hide

    ENDIF.

    MODIFY SCREEN.

  ENDLOOP.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                           INITIALIZATION                             *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

initialization.

* set selection to wildcard

  s_procs = '*'.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                             TOP-OF-PAGE                              *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

top-of-page.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

*                         START-OF-SELECTION                           *

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

start-of-selection.

  "get all processes

  SELECT process description from t5asrproct

         INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF TABLE t_asr_proc WHERE language = sy-langu.

  "get all form scenarios

  SELECT form_scenario form_type versionid INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF TABLE t_asr_proc_fsn FROM t5asrfscn.

  sort t_asr_proc BY process.

  loop at t_asr_proc assigning <asrproc>.

    "get workflow and starting form scenario

    clear w_t5asrprscform.

    select single * from T5ASRPRSCFORM into w_t5asrprscform

                    where process = <asrproc>-process

                      and begda <= sy-datum

                      and endda >= sy-datum.

    if sy-subrc = 0.

      <asrproc>-wf_template = w_t5asrprscform-wf_template.

      "add form scenario information and remember a FSCN can be used in multiple processes so we have to be careful

      READ TABLE t_asr_proc_fsn ASSIGNING <asrfsn> WITH KEY form_scenario = w_t5asrprscform-form_scenario

                                                                  process = ''.

      IF sy-subrc = 0.

        <asrfsn>-process = w_t5asrprscform-process.

        <asrfsn>-form_scen_vers = w_t5asrprscform-form_scen_vers.

        <asrfsn>-start_fsn = 'X'.

      ELSE. "if already assigned, we need to find entry, copy it and append new row

        READ TABLE t_asr_proc_fsn ASSIGNING <asrfsn> WITH KEY form_scenario = w_t5asrprscform-form_scenario.

        if sy-subrc = 0.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario = <asrfsn>-form_scenario.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_type = <asrfsn>-form_type.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-versionid = <asrfsn>-versionid.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-process = w_t5asrprscform-process.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers = w_t5asrprscform-form_scen_vers.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-start_fsn = 'X'.

          append w_asr_proc_fsn to t_asr_proc_fsn.

          clear w_asr_proc_fsn.

        endif.

      ENDIF.

    endif.

    "get other form scenarios related to process

    clear w_asr_proc_fsn.

    select process form_scenario form_scen_vers

                     into (w_asr_proc_fsn-process, w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario, w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers)

                     from T5ASRPROCFSCN

                    where process = <asrproc>-process

                      and begda <= sy-datum

                      and endda >= sy-datum.

      "add form scenario information

      READ TABLE t_asr_proc_fsn ASSIGNING <asrfsn>

                 WITH KEY form_scenario = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario process = ''.

      IF sy-subrc = 0.

        <asrfsn>-process = w_asr_proc_fsn-process.

        <asrfsn>-form_scen_vers = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers.

        <asrfsn>-start_fsn = ''.

      ELSE. "if already assigned, we need to find entry, copy it and append new row

        READ TABLE t_asr_proc_fsn ASSIGNING <asrfsn> WITH KEY form_scenario = w_t5asrprscform-form_scenario.

        if sy-subrc = 0.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario = <asrfsn>-form_scenario.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_type = <asrfsn>-form_type.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-versionid = <asrfsn>-versionid.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-process = w_t5asrprscform-process.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers = w_t5asrprscform-form_scen_vers.

          w_asr_proc_fsn-start_fsn = 'X'.

          append w_asr_proc_fsn to t_asr_proc_fsn.

          clear w_asr_proc_fsn.

        endif.

      ENDIF.

    endselect.

  endloop.

  "get form scenario details for processes

  loop at t_asr_proc_fsn assigning <asrfsn>.

    "get text if possible

    SELECT SINGLE description FROM t5asrfscnt INTO <asrfsn>-form_scen_name

                              WHERE form_scenario = <asrfsn>-form_scenario

                                AND sprsl = sy-langu.

    "get form name

    if <asrfsn>-form_type = C_OT_FORM_TYPE_ADOBE. "Adobe

      select single form_template into <asrfsn>-aif_form from T5ASRFSCNVERPRP

                     where form_scenario = <asrfsn>-form_scenario

                       and form_scen_vers = <asrfsn>-form_scen_vers.

      "how's this for weird...if the form template is not in the T5ASR* table

      "then we find it in the 'old' ISR table. The same logic can be found in

      "method ADJUST_TABLE_T5ASRFSCNVERPRP of class CL_HRASR00_DT_FSCN_DATA

      if <asrfsn>-aif_form IS INITIAL.

        clear w_isr_link.

        SELECT SINGLE * FROM T5ASRFSCNISRLNK INTO w_isr_link WHERE form_scenario = <asrfsn>-form_scenario.

        if sy-subrc = 0.

          SELECT SINGLE template_id INTO <asrfsn>-aif_form FROM qisrscenario

                             WHERE scenario = w_isr_link-isr_scenario

                               AND version = 00000.

          IF sy-subrc NE 0.

            <asrfsn>-aif_form = '(not found)'.

          ENDIF.

        endif.

        if <asrfsn>-aif_form IS INITIAL.

          <asrfsn>-aif_form = '**** not configured ****'.

        endif.

      endif.

    endif.

  endloop.

****** DISPLAY RESULTS *************************************************************************

  write: /1 'HCM PROCESSES & FORMS (HCM P&F): Process and Form Scenario audit list'.

  skip 2.

* table header for services listing

  write: /1 'PROCESSES',

         /1 'selected list of processes sorted by process name and showing assigned/associated form scenario(s) information'.

  skip 1.

*** first line of header

  write: /93 'Start'.

  write: /1  'Process Name'.

  write:  35 'Proc. Description',

          80 'Workflow',

          93 'FSCN?',

          100 'Form Scenario',

          133 'Form Type',

          145 'Form Name (AIF) / Config Name (FPM)'.

  uline.

* display selected services

  i_count = 0. i_sap = 0. i_custom = 0.

  sort t_asr_proc BY process.

  sort t_asr_proc_fsn BY process start_fsn DESCENDING form_scenario.

  loop at t_asr_proc into w_asr_proc."write results for selected entries

    "check standard vs custom

    "lots of ASSUMPTION here as there is no clear way to discern a standard

    "SAP process (ie. the 'created by' is not 'SAP' but the name of the developer)

    "so we fall back to assuming any process that starts with a Z is custom.

    if w_asr_proc-process(1) = 'Z'.

      i_custom = i_custom + 1.

    else.

      i_sap = i_sap + 1.

    endif.

    if w_asr_proc-process CP s_procs.

        write:/1 w_asr_proc-process.

        write: 35 w_asr_proc-description,

               80 w_asr_proc-wf_template.

        "form scenario info

        loop at t_asr_proc_fsn into w_asr_proc_fsn where process = w_asr_proc-process.

            if w_asr_proc_fsn-start_fsn = 'X'.

              write: 95 w_asr_proc_fsn-start_fsn.

            else.

              write: /95 w_asr_proc_fsn-start_fsn.

            endif.

            write: 100 w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario.

            "form type:

            "standard values are:

            "(blank) = Adobe Form

            " W    = FPM Form

            " B    = Roadmap Form

            CASE w_asr_proc_fsn-form_type.

              WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_FPM.

                write: 133 'FPM Form'.

                "get FPM config names

                clear w_fpm_configs.

                select * from T5ASRFSCNFPMCONF into w_fpm_configs

                         where form_scenario = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario

                           and form_scen_vers = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers

                           order by sequence_no.

                  if w_fpm_configs-sequence_no EQ '01'.

                    write: 145 w_fpm_configs-config_id.

                  else.

                    write: /145 w_fpm_configs-config_id.

                  endif.

                endselect.

                if sy-subrc NE 0.

                  write: 145 '**** not configured ****'.

                endif.

              WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_BOL.

                write: 133 'Roadmap',

                       145 '(see Infoftype UI configuration in SPRO)'.

              WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_ADOBE.

                write: 133 'Adobe (AIF)',

                       145 w_asr_proc_fsn-aif_form.

              WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_MST.

                write: 133 'Mass Form'.

              WHEN OTHERS.

                write: 133 'Other'.

            ENDCASE.

        endloop.

        i_count = i_count + 1.

    endif.

  endloop.

  uline.

  write: /1 'total listed:', 15 i_count.

  skip.

  write: /1 'Total processes overall:',

         /1 i_sap, ' standard SAP processes',

         /1 i_custom, ' custom processes (assumes Z prefix)'.

if s_fscns = 'X'.

  "form scenario information

  skip.

  write: /1 'FORM SCENARIOS (UNASSIGNED)',

         /1 'The following form scenarios based on your selection of form types have been configured for HCM Processes and Forms but are not directly assigned to any process:',

         /1 '(note: This is not necessarily an issue as the form scenario is likely bound directly in workflow.)'.

  write: /6 'Country'.

  write: /5 'Specific?' , 16 'Form Scenario', 50 'Form Scenario Name', 115 'Form Type', 130 'Form Name (AIF) / Config Name (FPM)'.

  uline at /5.

  i_count = 0. "reset

  SORT t_asr_proc_fsn BY form_scenario.

  loop at t_asr_proc_fsn into w_asr_proc_fsn where process = ''.

    "check form type selections

    CASE w_asr_proc_fsn-form_type.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_ADOBE.

        if s_aif NE 'X'.

          continue.

        endif.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_FPM.

        if s_fpm NE 'X'.

          continue.

        endif.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_BOL.

        if s_rmap NE 'X'.

          continue.

        endif.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_MST.

        if s_mass NE 'X'.

          continue.

        endif.

      WHEN OTHERS.

        if s_oth NE 'X'.

          continue.

        endif.

    ENDCASE.

    i_count = i_count + 1.

    if w_asr_proc_fsn-versionid NE ''.

      write:/5 'X', '(', w_asr_proc_fsn-versionid, ')', 16 w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario, 50 w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_name.

    else.

      write:/16 w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario, 50 w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_name.

    endif.

    "form type:

    "standard values are:

    "(blank) = Adobe Form

    " W    = FPM Form

    " B    = Roadmap Form

    CASE w_asr_proc_fsn-form_type.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_FPM.

        write: 115 'FPM Form'.

        "get FPM config names

        clear w_fpm_configs.

        select * from T5ASRFSCNFPMCONF into w_fpm_configs

                 where form_scenario = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scenario

                   and form_scen_vers = w_asr_proc_fsn-form_scen_vers

                   order by sequence_no.

          if w_fpm_configs-sequence_no EQ '01'.

            write: 130 w_fpm_configs-config_id.

          else.

            write: /130 w_fpm_configs-config_id.

          endif.

        endselect.

        if sy-subrc NE 0.

          write: 130 '**** not configured ****'.

        endif.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_BOL.

        write: 115 'Roadmap',

               130 '(see Infotype UI configuration in SPRO)'.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_ADOBE.

        write: 115 'Adobe (AIF)',

               130 w_asr_proc_fsn-aif_form.

      WHEN C_OT_FORM_TYPE_WDA_MST.

        write: 115 'Mass Form'.

      WHEN OTHERS.

        write: 115 'Other'.

    ENDCASE.

  endloop.

  if i_count = 0.

    write: /10 '** none **', /.

  endif.

  uline at 5.

  write: /5 'total listed:', 19 i_count.

endif.

[/code]

As always, thanks for checking it out. More "tools" coming soon! Till next time...

One of the great things about my job is that cool organizations use our products, and I get to talk about it. Plan International is one of those organizations. They are a leading charity, promoting child rights and lifting millions of children out of poverty.  If you have not followed the Norwegian Bride viral campaign, check it out. As a father this hit me hard, tears and everything.

I’m fascinated to learn more about how HR processes work in this organization, with a workforce all over the globe. How does a leading charity do HR?  At HR Tech in Amsterdam, I will have the pleasure of introducing Mark Banbury from Plan International to the audience. (23rd October, Emerald Room 11.15-11.45). Come along to the session and learn about talent management and HR from Mark.

While it is now in the news, partly because it has now reached America and Europe, Ebola has brought pain and suffering to families in Africa. Plan International is working hard to help children in Africa cope with devastation that this disease brings. (see infographic here).  As a small contribution, we will donate €1 for every tweet posted during 23 and 24 October containing both #SuccessFactors and #HRTechEurope, up to a maximum of €5,000.

If you plan to attend HR Tech (and even if you don’t!) Tweet away, please. Follow Plan International on twitter @planglobal please.

This week the second feature pack (FP) was released for HR Renewal 2.0. Earlier this year, we deliveredHR Renewal 2.0 Initial Shipment andHR Renewal 2.0 FP1. Highlights of FP 2 are

• HR Professional
  • Attachments for roadmap forms – Configuration options allow e.g. to control whether attachments are mandatory or recommended, and who can view the content of the attachments.
  • Dynamic processing rules can now be assigned to Delete operations.
  • Time dependent HR objects now available for HR Renewal User Interfaces
  • Country enablement for Public sector Germany, Philippines, Slovak Republic, United Arab Emirates

• Payroll Admin

Correction status can be set in the Payroll Control Center. The status allows the payroll manager to monitor the progress of the issue resolution and decide when the data validation can be executed again.

• SAP Learning Solution
  • Integration of SAP Learning Solution with SAP JAM enabling employees to discover related formal trainings in an informal collaboration group

• Localization Topics
  • Singapore: Medisave-***-Subsidized Outpatient (MSO) contributions
  • Oman: Localization of Payroll for Oman Country version
  • Russia: Localization of Payroll topics
  • Kazakhstan:  Off-cycle calculation

Additional information

You can find more information in

• HR Renewal 2.0 Feature Pack 2 – SAP Help Portal Page
• SCN post Roadmap Forms and Dynamic Processing Rules - enhanced data quality and higher system automation with HR renewal 2.0 Feature Pack 1
• SCN post The new SAP HCM Payroll experience  (HR Renewal 2.0 FP1)
• SCN post Employee and Manager Self-Services in the Fast Lane

Hello payroll guru’s and SAP evangelists,

In previous posts I have updated you on the new SAP Payroll Processing control center add-on functionality and about the completely new user experience for the SAP Payroll Processing which was delivered in the first feature pack. In this post I will explain the new functionality in the second feature pack (FP2) for HR Renewal 2.0.

What’s new?

New 3^rd Party Remittance functionality

The first main feature I would like to update you on is the completely new 3^rd party remittance functionality. For most organizations the 3^rd party remittance is a complex process that consists of a number of single steps to follow in order to complete the workflow. The new functionality in the control center add-on supports and increases the insight into this process .

In the following example the 3^rd party remittance process consist of 3 process steps:

1. Create the posting;
2. Release it;
3. Post it to the 3^rd party.

The following mock-ups will highlight the functionality.

The payroll process manager has a clear overview of the process and can start the process directly from the calendar view:

When a payroll process manager drills into the details of a specific 3^rd party remittance process a dedicated process flow is displayed:

The first step is to create the 3^rd party posting. The screen provides an overview of the period and the company code for which the 3^rd party remittance post should be created.

After the creation of the document it can be released and the payroll information will be generated immediately from the payroll process. For the payroll process manager information on the posting run is added in the control center add-on.

The new 3^rd party remittance functionality complements the SAP Payroll Processing control center add-on with vital functionality to run e.g. North American payrolls completely on the new user interfaces.

New yellow status indicator for Payroll Administrator and Payroll Process Manager

In order to increase the efficiency of working with the SAP Payroll Processing control center add-on we received vital feedback from our customers about the requirement for a process status for items that are in process.In FP2 this functionality is added. Next to the error (circle icon in red) and no error (square icon in green) the new ‘in process’ (triangle icon in yellow) item completes the status overview for payroll process managers. They now have full overview of the workload for their payroll administrators that are working on evaluating potential payroll issues.

The following screenshot displays the payroll process manager dashboard. It indicates that Nick is in process of working on 10 errors, Fiona has 7 open errors and Bingjian does not have any potential errors in the work list which need evaluation.

For the payroll administrator the functionality works in the following way: As soon as a payroll administrator starts to evaluate a potential issue which is contained in more than one work list they have the ability to set a new status ‘Set to Correction in Process’ to indicate that they start to evaluate this work item. This status is visible to other administrators so that they can skip it. When the payroll administrator finishes the evaluation the status can be changed to ‘Set to Correction Finished’. See the following screenshot.

Extended Action Log for Payroll Process Manager

In Feature Pack 2 the payroll process manager receives an extended action-log to visualize the data correction status of all the payroll work lists. This functionality allows the payroll process manager to get a detailed understanding of all corrections that are made by the payroll administrators in their respective work lists.

Action-Log Viewer

For auditing departments there is a new and comprehensive overview into the complete payroll process. This is provided by the new ‘action-log viewer’ which provides a complete overview into the payroll process. The following screenshots shows a snap shot:

The log allows auditors to answer questions on who did what in the process, when they did that and what was included. This functionality is added on top of the logging functionality which is part of the control center add-on screens and it simplifies the way that auditors and payroll controllers can run controls on internal compliance.

What else is new?

To improve the usability of the SAP Payroll Processing control center add-on in FP2 the template configuration functionality is enhanced to allow configurable texts instead of static texts. This enables customers to provide business context and explanation to the payroll process templates which help the payroll process managers to run their payroll with more insight.

And lastly the declustering functionality is now also available for customers that run co-employment. And as you know declustering is foundational for the admin functionality in the control center add-on. So this means that customers can now run evaluations and verifications over their complete workforce! 

What are the benefits:

• Process optimization with integrated 3rd party remittance functionality
• Increased process efficiency due to improved work distribution capabilities
• Improved audit capabilities
• Increased payroll accuracy due to optimized payroll data correction process

How to implement it?

• The new implementation documentation (including a How-To) is available via SAP Note 2053309
• More implementation information on HR Renewal FP2 can be found here: https://help.sap.com/hr_renewal

We are planning more innovations being rolled out with the next feature packs. We have very exiting features on the roadmap which might revolutionize the payroll. We will keep you posted on what is coming.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Best regards,

Frans

Like many of us, we have implemented HR Renewal for our services in ESS, & MSS. This creates a mix of applications in WDA as well
as UI5.

While SAP is still in the process of converting, for the lack of better term, releasing all services in UI5, the customer is “stuck” with the standard theme.

To give a uniform look, similar to the HR Renewal application, a trick can be applied to display the application using the CORBU Theme… It may not be a 100% match but it is still closer to the look and feel of a UI5 application.

For Example let us look at the Birthday and Anniversary application in Standard and in CORBU Theme

WDA application in Standard Theme

WDA application in CORBU Theme

The CORBU theme is similar to UI5 application. See a sample of a UI5 application below:

Team Calendar in UI5

So how to achieve this:

Pass the parameter WDTHEMEROOT=sap_corbu in the Service URL

From the Launchpad, find the relevant application.  Add the parameter under the Target App. Parameters field.

Do NOT forget to Save...

Though we have used many Functional Modules and BADI’s in Objective Setting and Appraisals thought of sharing a scenario with relevant Functional Modules being used.

Scenario: Mass Appraisal Document Creation:  We do not have standard functionality to create mass appraisal documents with Reviewer and Approver. Transaction code phap_prepare_pa have limited options to create appraisal documents.

We need to Enhancing the program - RHHAP_APP_DOCUMENT_PREPARE_PA to Create Mass Appraisal documents with Appraises, Appraiser and Further Participants details.

Reviewer: Managers Manager (One level up)

Approver: Reviewers Manager (Two level up)

Role ids and Sub status ids are to be considered while building the program.

a.   Prerequisite:  Basic Template Configuration with Status Flow and Roles should be in place.

Transaction codes can be used : OOAM, OOHAP_BASIC.Phap*

b.      Function Modules:  Below are the Standard functional Modules can be enhanced

Ø  HRHAP_0DOC_DET_NEW_STATUS

Ø  HRHAP_DOCUMENT_CREATE

c.       BADI’s we have implemented:

Ø  HRHAP00_COL_ACCESS-- Appraisal Document - Column Access – Based on Column we have restricted change and display access.

Ø  HRHAP00_BUT_ACCESS- Appraisal Document - Pushbutton Access – Push button ids are disabled for few Roles.

Ø  HRHAP00_ADD_HEADER- Appraisal Document - Additional Header Data (Additional Data for Appraisee) – WD ABAP component is enhanced to add custom fields.

As we have already some good blogs explaining the above Column Access Badi, thought of sharing the Functional Modules to create Mass Appraisal Documents with Different Scenarios.

Standard Appraisal Document process Flow is based on the Status and Sub Status and Roles (Person Authorized) configured in the Appraisal Tempalte.   Appraisal Documents will be pushed to Different Participants In boxes and Status and sub status will be changed.

We have the below Status Flow Configured in the System.

Status Flow 1.  We have defined the below status flow in the Apprasial Template.

There would be few scenarios where we may have to skip either Reviewer or Approver in the Appraisal Document.  So, we have to skip the below Sub Status and Roles in few scenarios.

Below would be the Status Flow 2: Appraisal Document should be created skipping the Sub Status – With Approver and Role AP. We have not configured this flow in the Tempalte.

Once Reviewer Submit, Appraisal document Sub status should be changed to With Admin – HR skipping the With Approver sub status.

Status Flow 3:  Appraisal Documents should be created skipping Reviewer Sub status and Reviewer Role.Not Configured in the Template.

Once Manager submits, Appraisal document Sub Status should be set to With Approver.

Standard Status flow will not support for the above 2 scenarios, the below Functional Modules can be used in a zprogram which can be used for Mass Appraisal Document Creation. Appraisal Document header data will be updated as per the available Roles and corresponding document sub status is skipped during the process.

The same change will be applicable for the documents created using APPCREATE transaction code.

Ø  HRHAP_DOCUMENT_CREATE

Ø  HRHAP_0DOC_DET_NEW_STATUS: Enhancement Point to be implemented.

Based on Old and new sub status appraisal sub status will be pushed to next/completed status.

HRHAP_C_IT5026_READ:

Role id will determine the next status

The program will check the organizational Structure to Pick the Appraiser, Reviewer and Approver and Create the Appraisal Documents. Appraisal Document Header data will get updated as per the Available Roles in the template.

In my next blog planning to write a detailed Template configuration steps.

Thanks

I have done new scenario in transaction OOFRAMEWORKCUST to maintain customer business structure with objects 1S-1R.

But new transaction acted as PPOCE. It created only O objects.

Hierarchy framework has great customizing capability for maintaining structure but has no one to alter Creating transaction behaviour.

It is hard coded in FM nf_get_init_event_workplace. If somebody know way to do it without coding please comment!

I have to make an enhancement to create my type of object.

Original source code:

CALL FUNCTION 'OM_DISPLAY_DRAGDROP_POPUP'
             EXPORTING
*         INITIAL_DATE_LOW    = SY-DATUM
*         INITIAL_DATE_HIGH   = '99991231'
*         CHECK_LOW_DATE      = '19000101'
*         CHECK_HIGH_DATE     = '99991231'
*         USE_MASSN_MASSG     =
                  popup_title
                    = 'Anlegen einer Wurzelorganisationseinheit'(038) "Create root organizational object
                  date_high_inactive  = c_blank
                  move_flag_invisible = c_cross
          row                 = 1
          column              = 1
             IMPORTING
                  begin_date          = begin_date2
                  end_date            = end_date2
*         MASSN               =
*         MASSG               =
*    CHANGING
*         COPY_FLAG           =
             EXCEPTIONS
                  exit_command        = 1
                  OTHERS              = 2.
         IF sy-subrc <> 0.
           frequest          = 'SHOW INITIAL SCREEN'.
           add_to_navigation_stack = c_cross.
           data_valid              = c_cross.
           EXIT.
         ENDIF.

*      Special "creation" Transaction (i.e., PPOCE):
*       create new ROOT orgunit:

*       get short-text of new orgunit
*       get stext      of new orgunit

         CALL FUNCTION 'OM_GET_DEFAULT_SHORT_STEXT'
              EXPORTING
                   objecttyp = 'O'
              IMPORTING
                   short     = short2
                   stext     = stext2.

         CALL FUNCTION 'RHOM_CREATE_RELATED_OBJECT'
              EXPORTING
*               FATHER                  =
                   plvar                   = planversion
                   otype                   = 'O '
*               OSTAT                   = '1'
                   begda                   = begin_date2
                   endda                   = end_date2
*               RELAT                   =
                   short                   = short2
                   stext                   = stext2
                   is_root_object          = c_cross
              IMPORTING
                   new_object              = fmain_object
              EXCEPTIONS
                   error_during_insert     = 1
                   corr_exit               = 2
                   no_active_plvar         = 3
                   plvar_not_valid         = 4
                   otype_not_found         = 5
                   otype_not_allowed       = 6
                   no_base_authority       = 7
                   no_stru_authority_objid = 8
                   no_authority            = 9
                   no_authorization        = 10
                   forbidden_relation      = 11
                   OTHERS                  = 12.

There is a program limitation: maximum 18 columns in appraisal template or 18 part appraisers. But if we use only portal applications (BSP and Webdynpro) this limitation is not useful. It is meaningful only for transaction PHAP_ADMIN with its ALV column number limitation.

Enhancement in the end of FM HRHAP_C_BC_IT5022_WRITE supresses this 'error'.

DELETE T_RETURN
           WHERE MSGTY = 'E'
             AND MSGID = 'HRHAP00_TEMPLATE'
             AND MSGNO = '242'.

SuccessFactors Employee Central uses a simple but effective way to manage the enterprise, which differs somewhat to how SAP ERP HCM manages the enterprise. In this blog, we will discuss the organization structure as well as part of the job structure. Please note that the standard-delivered configuration of Employee Central will be discussed, although we will touch on the extensibility options to enhance this.

The organization structure in SuccessFactors has a different approach than SAP. In addition to having a more granular and configurable structure, it also incorporates the Company/Legal Entity into this structure. In SAP, the Company Code is part of the Enterprise Structure and is assigned directly to employees in infotype 0001. There are concepts of Employee Group, Pay Structure, Pay Scale Structure, and Cost Center hierarchy in Employee Central, but no concept of a Personnel Structure. We’ll explore pay structures in a later blog. The Employee Central system is extremely flexible in allowing the standard configuration to be modified as such to allow a customer to create an organization structure exactly as they require. This could be hiding or changing existing objects or adding new objects. Personally I believe that the organization structure in Employee Central makes more sense to business users and I will expand on this further as we continue.

A little terminology

Before we start, it’s worth going through a little Employee Central terminology:

Organization Structure

In the standard-delivered configuration the organization structure is composed of the following Foundation Objects:

• Legal Entity
• Business Unit
• Division
• Department
• Location
• Cost Center

Additionally, these objects can either be removed if not required or re-purposed in the structure (e.g. change a Department to a sub-Division). New objects can also be added within the structure using the Metadata Framework. The diagram below illustrates the “top” 4 objects in the structure, with the standard-delivered Associations between objects:

A Legal Entity cannot have a parent of the same type. A Division can belong to multiple Business Units and a Department can belong to multiple Divisions. In addition, both a Division and Department can have a parent of the same type, thus creating a hierarchy of these object types.

We can compare the objects in this structure to SAP object types or fields:

The Organization Structure Objects

During the implementation of Employee Central, each Foundation Object can be configured to store certain details about the object. This can be used for reference or can be used to populate values into fields on an employee’s Employment Information record (called propagation in Employee Central terminology). Of course, many of these objects can be re-purposed as required and new objects can be added.

Legal Entity

The Legal Entity object – sometimes referred to as Company – contains the definitions for all legal entities that are part of the customer’s enterprise. Every employee must have a Legal Entity assigned when being hired or setup in the system (just as they would in real life!). By default, a Legal Entity defines the country and default Pay Group, Location, currency, and standard hours for employees within that company. Country-specific information can be stored on a Legal Entity object. In SAP ERP HCM, the Legal Entity is the Company Code that is selected on the infotype 0001 screen during the hiring action.

The screenshot below shows the object record for the ACE USA Legal Entity.

The field below the Country field is country-specific fields for the country United States. These fields differ by country. Other data from this page can be propagated to the employee’s Job Information or Compensation Information, such as the Default Pay Group or Default Location field values.

Business Unit

A Business Unit represents a segment of a Legal Entity that focuses on a specific business function, such as manufacturing, sales, or marketing. There is no direct equivalent object in SAP, although a Business Unit could be represented by the Business Area in PA or by an Organizational Unit object in OM.

Division

A Division is simply a division of a Business Unit. However, it can be used directly as a Division of a Legal Entity if required, such is the flexibility of Employee Central. There is no direct equivalent object in SAP, although a Division could be represented by an Organizational Unit object.

Department

Divisions are broken down into one or more Departments. This is more typically represents an Organizational Unit object in SAP and is often the lowest denominator of the organization structure.

Location

The Location, as the name suggests, represents a physical location. It is used to identify the employee’s location. By default, the Location defines the time zone and standard weekly hours of the employee. Locations can be grouped by Location Groups for further organization and reporting. In SAP, the location is often the Personnel Subarea.

Cost Center

A  Cost Center represents the units that account for business costs, just as in SAP ERP and other HRIS’. Although it is part of the organization structure, it is more of a designation for the costs of an employee than part of the organization in which they reside. However, some organizations do use Cost Center as part of the organization structure. Cost Centers can have parent Cost Centers so that a hierarchy can be created.

Generic Objects

Generic Objects can be created in the Metadata Framework and associated to Foundation Objects so that additional layers can be introduced to the organization structure. Generic Objects are created with the Metadata Framework. Extensive details on creating Generic Objects can be found in the Metadata Framework Implementation Handbook on SAP Service Marketplace (S-user required) and in this SAPexperts article Creating Metadata Framework Objects in SuccessFactors Employee Central (subscription required).

Associations between Foundation Objects (including Generic Objects)

Associations are relationships between objects that define the hierarchical relationship and filters for these objects. In essence, they define the parent-child relationship and whether a child relationship must exist for a parent object. In addition, they are used to filter object lists. An Association must have a multiplicity defined, which is either One-to-One or One-to-Many:

• One-to-One: Defines that the object can only be associated to one other object
• One-to-Many: Defines that the object can be associated to multiple objects

In the diagram above we can see several associations. Departments are associated to Divisions, while Divisions are associated to Business Units, and Business Units are associated to Legal Entities. Business Units, Divisions, and Departments can have parents of the same type.

Example:

A manufacturing Company has 3 Business Units associated to its Legal Entity called “Plastics”, “Woods”, and “Metals”. The “Plastics” Business Unit has 3 Divisions associated to it, called “R&D”, “Manufacturing”, and “Distribution”, while the “Metals” Business Unit has 2 Divisions associated to it, called “Metalworks” and “Alloys”, and the “Woods” Business Unit has 2 Division associated to it called “Carpentry” and “Timber”. This is demonstrated below.

An administrator is hiring a new employee. On the Job Information screen of the New Hire process an administrator selects the Legal Entity and then the “Plastics” Business Unit. In the Divisions drop-down the administrator will only see the values “R&D”, “Manufacturing”, and “Distribution”. Likewise, if they select the “Metals” Business Unit then in the Divisions drop-down they will only see “Metalworks” and “Alloys” and if they select the “Woods” Business Unit then in the Divisions drop-down they will only see “Carpentry” and “Timber”.

How does this look in EC?

Details of an employee’s organizational assignment is defined when the employee is hired. This information can of course be changed as required. The Job Information portlet found on the Employment Information page of an employee shows details of the position assignment, organizational assignment, and job information. The screenshot below shows the position assignment and organizational assignment for an employee can be seen below.

Here we can see the different elements of the organization structure that we have discussed. In the screenshot below we can see a demonstration of the associations example that we discussed above.

Jobs

A Job Classification object (also a Foundation Object) contains details of an employee’s job role. Like in SAP, many employees can be assigned the same Job Classification (although in SAP this is through the Position object). It defines a large number of attributes about the job that an employee will hold, such as weekly hours, employee class, pay grade, and whether the employee is full or part time. In the standard-delivered configuration Job Classifications are associated to Business Unit objects. Country-specific information can be stored on a Job Classification object.

When a Job Classification is assigned to an employee a number of values from the Job Classification Foundation Object can be propagated. This is often common fields like Job Title, Pay Grade, Standard Weekly Hours, etc. The screenshot below shows the Job Information of an employee in the Job Information portlet. This information appears below the Organization Information seen in the above screenshot.

What about Positions?

Employee Central – as well as SuccessFactors – leverages the Job Classification as the standard “job role” of an employee. However, it does also support full Position Management if required. In SAP HCM, the Position object is mandatory for every employee, while use of the Job varies from organization to organization. In Employee Central Positions are not linked to the Organization Structure, which provides customers a choice of whether or not to use Position Management. Positions can have parent positions and thus a Position-based org chart is available in SuccessFactors. Positions are Generic Objects and are managed through the Metadata Framework.

How does this all compare to SAP ERP HCM?

I believe that the flexibility of the Employee Central organization structure enables organizations to more accurately setup a structure that truly reflects how they are organized. Although this is possible in SAP ERP HCM, it cannot be done with the level of granularity and accuracy that is possible in Employee Central. It is a simple yet effective way to accurately represent the organization within Employee Central as it is structured outside of the system. Many of the organizations that I have worked with have no problem with leveraging the Employee Central’s Foundation Objects to represent their organization structure in Employee Central as it fits how they operate and how they think organizationally.

Summary

The organization structure in Employee Central is extremely flexible and enables organizations to design their organization structure in a way that reflects the real-life structure of their business. SuccessFactors provides endless possibilities in how this can be configured and managed in the system and provides customers with a method to create an enterprise structure that suits their business. Customers should ensure that they investigate the integration options available if they are going to maintain an organization structure in SAP HCM. The standard integration provided by SAP will integrate the standard organization structure from SuccessFactors, but customizing this structure will mean additional mapping and integration work.