My colleague Donna Leong-Cohen did a great job of demonstrating what the SAP-standard integration looks like "live" using a well-known Australian actor as the test subject. With her permission, I'm posting the demo here for your enjoyment. It's worth noting that what you see here is available from SAP without additional license fees.
I'll be posting a separate video in the next day or so with a demo I did of the compensation integration.
I recently recorded a demonstration of the user experience when the SAP-delivered integration between on-premise HCM and SuccessFactors BizX is in place. The IT geek in me really likes to see how seamless this process can be.
It's obvious that SAP has invested a lot in developing integration points. Really looking forward to hearing from customers on their experiences with the integration.
To explore further, you can review a demonstration Donna Cohen recently recorded at the link below:
If you want to round off all the amounts in RT Table, follow the PCR as given below:
Similarly, do for all from 2-A.
This PCR is created by copying the standard PCR XVAL. This will further be inserted in schema INAL as below:
Copy the Standard Schema INAL to whatever name you feel like, by TCode PE01, and insert as below in screen shot:
VKAL is the PCR copied from Standard PCR XVAL. Test for the scenario, and you will find that the values are rounded off.
Adding in PF Employer Contribution
Copy PCR INED to ZZED :
Copy the following wage types also:
/3F7 to 13F7
/3F8 to 13F8
/3F9 to 13F9
Now, go to PCR ZZED, and insert the rules as follows:
Posting :
Add following wage types in Define Posting Characterstics of Wage type:
Select your wage type and Double Click on Posting a Wage Type:
Now, Map these wage types to GL in Balance Sheet Account:
Thus this documentation provides you input on following points:
> PF Admin Charges
> Rounding off of wage types /3F7, /3F8, /3F9.
> Posting of these wage types.
Set up Personnel Actions (Personnel Actions for PA40)
This document gives you a help to set up Personal Actions (in PA40).
The following are the steps for the same:
1. Set up Personal Actions:
Execute Define Infogroups:
Double Click on Infogroup:
Create similarly for other Info Groups as well. Point to be remembered here is as follows:
2. Set up Personnel Actions
Double Click on Personnel Action Types
(iii) Create Reasons for Personnel Actions - In this step, we define the reason for the same.
(iv). Change Action Menu
Double Click on Action Menu
Now the most important part. Go to TCode SU3,
Click on "PARAMETERS" Tab.
Save the entries. In PA40, now you will find the list of Personnel Actions that were created. Do not forget to "Execute Info Group".
Cheers....
In HR Analytics & Reporting teams, we are pros at building out Headcount Reporting solutions, that core, standard set of reports that every organization requires. Public companies need to report headcount externally to the financial markets and to local government authorities, and also internally to manage personnel costs and monitor the overall health of the organization. It’s a standard we come back to time and time again, to stabilize and improve, or to make it more flexible. In the last 3 years alone, I’ve worked on six or seven initiatives to improve our headcount reporting internally at SAP, trying new technologies, or making further reports available to more stakeholders, and I’m sure there will be new solutions in the future to go even further. Why do we keep coming back to something that should be so simple and straightforward?
Mathematically, there is nothing simpler than Headcount. It is either the total number of Heads (individual People) or the total number of FTE (Full-Time-Equivalent) where somebody working half time is counted as 0.5 FTE. We are not talking about any complex statistical analysis, modeling, or predictive insights. Just counts. 1.2.3… Yet organizations consistently struggle with managing the process of reporting on headcount. I’ve even heard about one organization (to remain nameless, but not SAP) who estimates their headcount at plus or minus 10000. It seems crazy to me to not be able to fully account for 10000 people on your company roster!
To sum up the challenge
The challenge for organizations is knowing who to count when, and in what category. This is it. Simply put. However, it is more complex to get agreement and alignment across management teams, Finance, and HR, while taking into account legally required government reporting standards that can differ widely across countries. These teams must align on the following:
- Who to count?
o At what point do individuals on company payroll get counted in official headcount numbers?
§ active status ?
§ minimum length of contract ?
§ minimum number of hours for hourly employees ?
o How do we count people who are in long-term leave?
§ What length of leave is the minimum to count them as being on leave and out of active headcount?
§ What types of leave are excluded from active headcount, sometimes per local government standards of what constitutes a paid or unpaid leave of absence?
§ Do they automatically come back on headcount at the targeted end date of their leave ? or only when that return from leave is effectively processed ?
o What about temporary employees?
§ What length of contract is included?
§ Do they automatically get removed from future headcount numbers per the planned contract end date? or only when that termination has been effectively processed?
o What about terminations?
§ How to categorize terminations which are voluntary, versus involuntary or other? How to categorize those employees whose contract is effectively terminated due to death? (quick tangent – how to explain that death most often gets categorized as voluntary since it is not the company making the decision to terminate the contract?)
§ When are terminations counted? If an individual’s last day on payroll is the 31st of December, is that a termination as of 1 January the following year, or per the last day on payroll, so counting as a termination in the previous year?
- When to count?
o End of Period? Most often we speak of end of period headcount, so as of the last day in a given period, generally monthly. So if somebody is active only in the middle two weeks of a month, they are not at all included in the overall headcount for that month.
o Average headcount?
§ should you count per a daily average (very uncommon) ?
§ monthly average ? (quite common, particularly for financial headcount budgeting processes) other averages ?
o What about for previous months?
§ do you restate your headcount taking into account changes applied retroactively (e.g. hiring or termination processed late or with retroactive effect, wrongful termination contested in courts and required to be reinstated in headcount with retroactive effect, mistaken hiring or no-show…) ?
§ do you refer only to frozen snapshots of headcount for closed months ?
- In what category?
o Employment categories? I find these are most often driven by the national culture of the headquarters.
§ External workforce to be included in your numbers? which ones ? and if very short contracts do you manage by averages ?
§ What about subcontractors? mentioned at all ?
§ Temps or employees on leave of absence in separate categories?
o Organizational structures?
§ Do you apply the current structure on the past data, restating the past to match the current view? how do you map old organizational structures to new ones ?
§ Do you apply the organizational structure from that point in time in the past on that past data? and the current organizational structure on current data ?
o Open positions?
§ How to count future open positions, projected to be filled in a given time frame?
§ What about the positions still open where a contract or offer letter has been sent out or a verbal agreement reached?
It boils down to needing simple corporate level governance to answer these questions, audit data to ensure selected rules are applied, and consistent messaging to explain how headcount reporting is done. Separate reports or solutions may also need to be developed to support local government reporting rules.
Headcount reporting solutions: pros & cons
Most organizations end up needing multiple headcount reporting sources and approaches, depending if reports are sent to local authorities, or if those reports are used for official corporate metrics around headcount. At SAP, we leverage a few distinct processes (and solutions) to meet different needs. We do resort in certain instances to an ad hoc data extract from our SAP ERP HCM system, and offline excel data manipulation to publish headcount figures. The following two are fully automated, allowing for scalable delivery to a number of internal stakeholders:
1) Headcount management and forecasting process
When we report on future headcount at SAP, showing headcount and recruitment forecasts against headcount budgets, we leverage SAP NetWeaver BW technology, with classic extractors from our SAP ERP HCM instance (one global instance for all 60000+ employees) and from our SAP ERP Financials systems. We also use our planning technology to manage the headcount forecast process. We close past months (frozen headcount data) at the beginning of each month for the previous month, and load headcount data for the current month and future 18 months on a daily basis. We therefore are able to report on future headcount including already keyed hires and terminations that will occur in the future months.
Pros :
- Past months are frozen, enabling single source of truth for discussing headcount trends for Finance, HR, and management
- Future months are included, being able to clearly show where headcount will end up, and this is refreshed daily
- Able to manage multiple hierarchies (organizational unit, profit center) very well
Cons :
- Mis-hires or canceled terminations end up not being counted in previous months once those months are closed, end up not being reported at all, essentially falling out of the numbers
Visualizations are possible through a number of front end technologies. As our SAP BW reporting systems have been in place for many years, we rely heavily on BeX Analyzer standard table reports. We are currently leveraging Design Studio to build out reports specifically designed for mobile consumption on top of our standard BW headcount queries. The results look great and our business leaders will be able to quickly answer their critical headcount management questions (am I on my budget? will I meet my forecast ?).
In an early draft (work in progress), we see different tiles presenting numbers on key topics, each of those tiles being a link to a further report with both a graph and table displaying further data points.
First page displaying figures:
… with link to further report to show details.
Workforce Trends and Insights
Headcount trends are not only used for headcount management and forecasting processes. They are often a baseline input to analyze workforce trends over time. Core Workforce and Mobility is the central standard metrics pack included in SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics deployed by SAP internally. This solution helps answer key questions about our organization such as: have we been growing? do we support internal mobility? which kinds of roles are moving? do we have critical levels of attrition in certain parts of the organization (too high? too low?) do we have issues with new hires leaving too soon after integrating the organization? are we a diverse organization? what about our age demographics? … and the list of questions goes on. In this case, business leaders and HR professionals expect to see the numbers reflecting the reality of the organization, capturing each move that has happened over time, and based on the effective date of that change (even if retroactive). It is therefore extremely useful to have headcount and mobility information restated per the actual data in the core HRIS system. Here we use a monthly full load of ten years of data from our central SAP ERP HCM instance, effectively overwriting any numbers which had been reported previously.
Pros :
- Headcount changes and transfers are consistently captured and reflect the data in the core HRIS system (SAP ERP HCM system for us at SAP)
- Trends over time against the current organizational structure allow us to answer critical workforce related questions
- Manages multiple hierarchies (org unit, profit center, reports to, location, ...) effectively
Cons :
- Headcount figures for the past may not match 100% to the frozen numbers taken for headcount management and external corporate reporting processes
- Future time period reporting is not included in standard solution
- Currently based on a monthly load, instead of more frequent data refresh (real-time sync would be perfect!)
Visualizations and analysis of workforce trends are fairly easy to build out in SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics directly, and many standards can be leveraged from what SuccessFactors teams have developed. And my personal favorite functionality in SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics is the saved filters – once you’ve filtered to one part of the organization, you can navigate to multiple reports and metrics to display results for that same part of the organization, avoiding the general requirement we see in many other reporting solutions to re-apply filters every time you go into a new report.
In summary, when it comes to headcount reporting, you will always need some level of standard, and some level of flexibility, to meet your organizations need for clear visibility into headcount, headcount forecast and workforce trends. The complexity of the solutions reflects the complexity of organizations, and the impact of people flowing in, out and through those organizations, as well as the complexity of differing legally required reporting standards at the national or local level. While the breadth of SAP’s offering does allow us within SAP to easily meet most of those different requirements, we too face the communications challenge of trying to explain why it isn’t always so simple to determine precisely how many people are part of our organization at a given point in time. And why we are continually evolving and exploring new and more flexible reporting solutions to calculate and present our headcount figures.
Follow SAP ERP HCM on Twitter: @SAPHCM
A recent set of new job offerings for the People Integration OnDemand group in Bangalore reveals some interesting pieces of information about SAP’s plans regarding its Integration OnDemand offering.
The six open positions for this group are
These offerings range from OnPremise developers (“Senior Developer-HCM”) to OnDemand Developers (“Senior Developer-NW PI /Java”)
All these offerings contain the same information regarding their purpose and objectives. Let’s take a closer look at this common description
People Integration OnDemand group will to focus on prepackaged integration solutions for People Pillar within SAP Cloud portfolio of applications namely Business Execution (BizX) and Employee Central including Payroll using SAP HANA Cloud Integration and Boomi as a middleware platforms.
People Integration OnDemand group’s charter is to accelerate and address the market competition on integration for Employee Central with Cloud Payroll by building generic connectors as well as prepackaged integrations to SAP On-Premise as well as with 3rd party benefits, payrolls, taxes & payment services etc. The group will also partner with key vendors in each of the categories to enhance the coverage of integration options available for the customer. Team will develop integration content using Dell Boomi and HANA Cloud Integration and will actively collaborate with technology teams working HANA Cloud Integration.
Business Execution (BizX) refers to software as a service offering from Successfactors namely Learning Management, Recruiting, Compensation Management, Performance Management and Talent Management. IDC’s Integrated Talent Management MarketScape ranked SuccessFactors as a leader in these six key areas: Talent Management, Recruiting, Learning, Performance, Compensation and Social Technology. Employee Central is the enterprise-grade Core HR solution from SuccessFactors that includes Cloud Payroll solution.
People Integration OnDemand group is part of overall Cloud Integration OnDemand group with SAP Cloud Organization that is focused on provided integration solutions to Cloud Application pillars namely Customer, People and Money.
POV:
As developer (f/m) you will develop Web Application for configuration of pre-packaged Integration content development in Boomi and Hana Cloud Integration
As developer (f/m) you will also develop integration content on Boomi, with Groovy and Javascript as well as on HANA Cloud Integration.
It has been an extremely eventful year for SAP HCM and SuccessFactors since a group of us collaborated to write The Future of SAP HCM Consulting and SuccessFactors and a lot of people continue to reach out to me trying to understand what lies ahead in the overall consulting market. My thoughts are we are in the early innings of the multi year shift from client server OnPremise software (i.e. SAP HCM) to cloud based offerings as there are a long list of tangible benefits for HR customers using true Multi-Tenant Software as a Service (SaaS). It should come as no surprise that SAP/SuccessFactors is now leading with their full HR cloud solution (Employee Central/BizX) for all new customers, as well as any customer where they are competing with Workday. There has always been delicate balance within the SAP HCM Consulting market and this shift to the cloud is going to have a huge impact for SAP HCM consultants. It will also disrupt many of the traditional consulting companies, which is why some have likened the current environment to the Wild West. While there will continue to be some small pockets of strength in the SAP HCM market, the combination of the product roadmap being squarely focused on SuccessFactors and the cloud, continued off-shoring, faster implementations (RDS) and competitive threats from Workday, who has won several large SAP HCM accounts in the past year, make it very likely the OnPremise SAP HCM consulting market is headed for a real slow down.
This picture was chosen by my buddy Everett Chandler who wanted artistic credit :-)
I decided to reach out to a diverse group of individuals that I personally know and trust would give an honest and no BS option in their respective areas to get their perspective. They include SAP HCM and SuccessFactors Industry Experts, SAP Mentors, SAP Press Authors, HR Expert authors, well known conference speakers and all around top-notch people I have a lot of respect for. Enclosed were their thoughts on where things currently sit for each of major areas of SAP HCM and SuccessFactors:
Employee Central – I reached out to Jyoti Sharma who is a manager of SuccessFactors/Employee Central at EPI-USE as well as a co-author on a upcoming SAP Press book called SuccessFactors with SAP HCM and she told me “Employee Central (EC) has been a popular subject of discussion in customer and consulting circles due to the rapid pace at which the product is evolving and adapting to customer needs. Working with customers and ongoing implementations I have noticed Employee Central implementations have seen an upward trend following the 1210 and 1302 releases. Position Management, Custom Foundation Objects, Enhanced workflows, and the Metadata Framework (MDF) alongside localizations for SAP Cloud Payroll were the forerunners in amplifying interest from customers. Reporting still remains a sore point unless customers have Workforce Analytics on the roadmap. Operational Data Store (ODS) – which will be integrated with SAP HANA – is awaited with a lot of excitement by EC customers who are currently at the mercy of Adhoc Report Builder alone, which does not really cut the deal where more enhance reporting requirements exist. I am informed this will be on General Availability with the 1305 release.
I met with the product manager for Metadata Framework (MDF) team recently and it was encouraging to see that the team is hard at work to make more functionality available. This means that customers and implementation partners no longer have to deal with CSV files, which are highly sensitive when creating and importing picklists. Customers interested in hybrid implementations have shown a mixed trend. I have seen customers who evaluated EC but decided to implement PA and OM on-premise and the Employee Profile from SuccessFactors (for BizX talent). On the other hand there are customers who are willing to plan their implementations based on the EC release strategy and planned iFlow releases may be a big influencer in deciding the fate of deals in Q1 though overall it depends on the maturity level of the customer and the solution partner they are working with. SAP Cloud Payroll has garnered interest but customers and partners are still apprehensive of the integration with EC. iFlows between EC and SAP. Payroll may emerge as a winner in the immediate future until EC data replication for Payroll is enhanced further. All these developments add to the already exciting career of an Employee Central consultant and make it one of the strongest growth areas within the SAP Cloud portfolio”
SAP Core HR (Payroll, Time, Benefits, PA, OM) - I reached out to Steve Bognerwho is Managing Partner at Insight Consulting Partners and he told me “From a core-HR perspective we continue to see investment in SAP HCM, particularly with the HR Renewal effort and HANA. SAP HCM is a mature product and it will continue to get more incremental improvements and companies who are looking for a core-HR system that ‘does it all’ will find it remains a good choice. Though the long-term trend for core-HR is towards the cloud, it will be a long transition since SAP has thousands of clients on HCM, some with significant customization and complexity. Replacing core-HR is a lot of work and, in many companies, getting it ‘above the line’ in the IT portfolio planning process might take a few years.For SAP Payroll consultants, Cloud Payroll will become more of an opportunity since SAP positions that as the payroll solution for Employee Central clients and its essentially the SAP HCM Payroll product, requiring all the same skills as an on-premise implementation. For now, consultants who are experienced in the core areas of SAP HCM – OM, PA, BN, PT, and PY – will continue to have opportunities, but the market will shrink. As always, consultants mustfocus on how they can provide value to their clients, regardless of the technology.“
SuccessFactors BizX– I spoke with Chris McNarney who is the owner of McNarney Consulting, was recently profiled in How to Transition from a SAP HCM to SuccessFactors, and he told me “Consulting in SuccessFactors BizX is obviously evolving pretty rapidly. The transition of both current and would be on premise customers has definitely created a consulting market where demand outweighs supply. While this is certainly a good thing for job seekers, there is no denying that the barriers to entry for SuccessFactors consulting are greater than they are to SAP. Access to training as well as the access to tools like Provisioning (which I refer to as the backbone of SuccessFactors implementations) and integration support mechanisms like JIRA are not as easily achievable as their peers in the SAP on premise world. For individuals that are able to get beyond those things there are definitely opportunities available. In the next few years specifically, I believe there’ll be a lot of opportunity for crossover consulting from SAP HCM on premise to SuccessFactors as companies implement hybrid solutions with core on premise and BizX talent. Consultants with implementation skills in both SuccessFactors and SAP HCM will be a valuable commodity as they help their customers work between the two different data models.
For both customers and consultants, a great deal is discussed about the difference with SAP and SuccessFactors where there is no customization in SuccessFactors and implementing SuccessFactors BizX is a simple matter of flipping some configuration switches. It’s true that in a BizX today, the era of functional specs/customization/etc is largely behind us but the more I think about it the more I believe that as BizX grows to have more customers, more configurations will inevitably have to be written into the application to accommodate so many of the unique customer requirements throughout their customer base. It would be impossible for SuccessFactors to maintain a customer base that they wouldn’t listen to, and it would be impossible for SuccessFactors to listen to their customers without creating configuration scenarios that will have complex implications. As those configurations continue to evolve, the consultant’s software aptitude will be critical so they may properly explain the risks and benefits to customers of making various configuration decisions. This dovetails into a broader point I see with BizX consulting, which is that there is tremendous value as a consultant in knowing what functionality is coming each release and how your customers could/will be affected – or – how your customers could benefit. Consultants used to on premise SAP HCM were able to get fairly comfortable with available features between releases as the schedule was slower. With the quarterly SuccessFactors releases, consultants and customers alike need to be much more frequently on their toes for new functionality”
Talent Management and Nakisa - I spoke with Luke Marsonwho is a well-known Talent Management Expert, fellow SAP Mentor as well as a co-author on a upcoming SAP Press book called SuccessFactors with SAP HCM and he told me “Well, it's been a year now and things have begun to settle down. There are still confused customers, but I think many customers are looking for a single direction from SAP who are determined to allow customers to choose their own path - even if one path is not going to see many innovations. From an overall Talent Management perspective there has been a lot of interest in SuccessFactors in the growth territories of USA and APJ, but Europe is still largely on-premise with the exception of the UK. In fact, Lego swapped SuccessFactors Performance & Goals for SAP Performance Management and won a SAP Quality Award for the implementation but this is the exception rather than the norm. One interesting point is that some of the SuccessFactors solutions have a data foundation dependent on Employee Central (EC), such as Recruitment and Succession & Development, so customers can only really get the benefit if they implement EC first. Quite interestingly EC has been more popular in the USA than I think it was expected to be and with some big customers coming on board, such as PepsiCo, then innovation is going to be driven harder and further than it might have been otherwise. This will have a big impact on not only EC but also on the uptake of Talent Management solutions from the BizX suite.
One thing that I saw with Nakisa implementations was that if customers went with SOVN OrgChart, it was a natural progression to go with STVN SuccessionPlanning for their succession management process. I think we will see the same with SuccessFactors and EC and this will really accelerate the market. From a Nakisa perspective it has been up and down. Last year Nakisa managed to beat their aggressive sales targets, which was a year that SAP were not able to hit their HCM targets. However, this year has started slowly, and the number of leads in typically strong markets like the UK and USA have fallen sharply, though APJ remains strong, but this is also the second largest market for SuccessFactors. The Middle-East is a possible growth area and Cloud is not going to make many in-roads into this area until we see data centers in each of the major territories - and even then adoption could be low because of the business and IT culture. There doesn't seem to be any risk of Nakisa being taken off the price list so customers should be reassured that any investment will be protected and supported by SAP and Nakisa's new OrgModeler capabilities have proven popular this year.
Performance Management– I spoke with Jeremy Masterswho is the author of five SAP Press Books and managing partner of Worklogixwho told me “Consultants supporting performance management projects are already experiencing a dichotomy within this functional area. Most of SAP's on premise customer install base using SAP Performance Management (Objective Setting and Appraisals) realize that only "selective" innovations will be made going forward in this area from SAP. Those customers not wanting to go to the cloud with their Performance Management process/system will need to enhance their current implementation using in-house IT staff, or via their SAP software partners. It is now common for consultants to be involved in these kinds of enhancement projects, where the existing on premise solution is enhanced with additional backend configuration (standard PHAP_CATALOG), as well as an enhanced user interface. Common UIs include Web Dynpro ABAP, as well as Java and HTML5 technologies. Especially with these later two options (Java, HTML5), a consumer-grade experience can be achieved, especially when accompanied bynative spell checkingand mobile options. SAP consultants in this area should continue to understand the later functionalities within the SAP appraisal configuration, but also should take time to understand some of the user interface options available for their customers.
For those customers bringing their performance management process/system in the cloud, SuccessFactors offers a robust choice. It is the most mature of the SuccessFactors modules, since it was their original, flagship product. Because the module has been around since the company's beginning, it is also the module with the most trained, experienced consultants in the field. For the SuccessFactors Training for this module, your firm needs to be a member of the partner program. As part of the training, you are required to take the "Introduction to Mastery" course as a pre-requisite for any other Mastery courses. There are actually two separate Mastery classes within SuccessFactors Performance Management: "Performance Management and Goals: Core Topics" and "Performance Management: Additional Topics". As with the on premise solution, those consultants who are familiar with the performance management process will need to broaden their understanding of some of the more current themes important to businesses today including mobility and analytics. SuccessFactors has recently released a goals application for the mobile device, where employees and managers can update goals "on the go". In summary (and as stated in last year's report), those consultants who can focus on the business critical issues such as integration, security, master data management, data flow, reporting (and I will add, mobility!) will be the most successful with their customers.”
SAP Enterprise Compensation (ECM) - I spoke with Brandon Toombs who is a well know ECM expert (along with other areas) and owner of Toombs Consultingwho told me “It was surprising to me that Compensation Management was part of the first SAP Integration Add-On (1.0) since it is the area with the least amount of demand from SAP customers so far from what I have seen. SAP’s Enterprise Compensation Management includes a lot of ability to customize and perform calculations that aren’t as easily replicated on the SuccessFactors side—at least not yet. That said the customers I’ve talked to find the SuccessFactors UI much more appealing (colors!) and it isn’t plagued by the performance issues we see with on-premise SAP Compensation. I haven’t seen customers canceling existing ECM projects (I was on a big one this past year), but I suspect that the bulk of new Comp module implementations will all go to SuccessFactors within the next 18 months. This is assuming that customers see to enough additional value to be willing to pay for SuccessFactors Compensation licenses despite the fact that SAP Compensation (ECM) is included in the base HCM license that they’re already paying for. This is one area where a consultant would be well served to become “hybrid” themselves: learn the SuccessFactors product but also continue to deepen on-premise ECM knowledge as well.”
ESS/MSS– I spoke to Martin Gillet who is the author of two SAP Press Books and a fellow SAP Mentor who told me “Now that some time has passed, customer, vendors and consultants have gathered the different options to empower employees and managers through the self services. Today, I still see two major open challenging questions, where do we consolidate the Human Resources data and which user interface do we put in place. Customers and the eco-system are answering these requirements in many ways and are still gathering, as well as building the 'best practices', for setting up the primary layer and foundation and the Master Data either through SAP ERP, in the cloud, through HANA, through Employee Central and SuccessFactors. In my humble opinion, once this question is answered, we can focus on the end user experience though self-services. SAP has done a good job catching up on the HR renewal thanks to the Enhancement packages concept and its add-ons and on the other hand, SuccessFactors has a very compelling user interface. I look forward to the coming months and SapphireNow announcements and functionalities deliveries. In conclusion, I would say that regardless of the technology and the channel used (SAP Self Services vs Successfactors User Interface for example), customers and end users expect besides a great end user journey, functionalities and services that could be really useful and not only used once in awhile.
SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics – I spoke with Rana Hobbs who is the Senior Director of Workforce Planning at Aasonn and she told me “While many organizations still struggle with disparate data sources and a difficulty to even get basic headcount numbers, more and more have matured into being truly data driven. It is not so much about just being able to consistently report out on workforce trends but rather about being able to divine what the drivers and ramifications of workforce initiatives are so as to better prioritize efforts for maximum results. Software has become an enabler as integrated talent management suites, such as SuccessFactors, have broken down the business function walls of data and decision. I typically spend equal time educating HR and the business leaders on how to interpret workforce data as much as I do on the technical data aggregation and business logic component of SuccessFactors implementations. True advanced analysis will remain a specialized skill, usually existing within a small team working on answering more discrete questions, issues, data-mining activities. However, there are workforce trends captured and disseminated in increasingly available reports and analysis across the business via SuccessFactors and other software solutions. With that the onus falls on leaders more than ever to act and communicate accordingly to what the data is telling them. Workforce Analytics is no longer an ad-hoc discretionary activity but rather a way of doing business and making decisions that set leading organizations apart from their competition.
I have specifically seen an increase of activity around Workforce Analytics and Planning within the SuccessFactors customers. The SaaS platform of SuccessFactors has allowed for large comprehensive implementations to be completed faster, thus addressing the data issues that have hindered advancement for so many functions. Now organizations have the data they need and can move along the maturity continuum to do more value add work within their organization with Workforce Analytics & Planning. The core competencies and skills of the HR and business teams I work with have also shifted over the years. Today I tend to see more blended teams with employees coming from Finance and from the business as well as from more traditional HR functions. This has brought a new awareness of how workforce analysis drives business execution and is not just there to serve HR specific needs. Workforce Analytics & Planning is enabling SuccessFactors customers with a scalable solution that serves to not only their current needs but is also able to match the pace and requirements as their analytic and planning activities mature over the years.”
SAP eRecruiting - I spoke with Mark Ingramwho owns Ingram Talentand in a past life was the Product Manager of eRecruiting at SAP and he told me “For consultants with a passion for recruiting, strengths must include an understanding of the complex recruitment process issues and how to translate them into results using an assortment of integrated solutions. This may be SuccessFactors Recruiting Marketing, SuccessFactors Recruiting Management, third party services such as background checks, etc. One holistic view of outcomes needs to be available using using Advanced Analytics that were added with the jobs2web acquisition or through SAP Business Intelligence. For a small number of clients SAP E-Recruiting may still be the only viable option. Certain industries or highly regulated organizations will never be supported by SuccessFactors Recruiting Management but may still be served by SuccessFactors Recruiting Marketing and Advanced Analytics. In addition to understanding the right tool/feature to solve a business problem, understanding of the integration dependencies between the various solutions and various data models will serve consultants well. SAP HR consultants will have an advantage over consultants with a background only in SuccessFactors, because of their deeper knowledge of integration issues. This is especially true of recruiting, where clients have been integrating non-SAP recruitment solutions with SAP HR since the mid to late 90s. For consultants with existing experience in SAP E-Recruiting, a hybrid approach of supporting E-Recruiting customers while at the same time investing in development of SuccessFactors skills is the best one. Recruiting Management has matured since SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors and will continue to do so. The deployment of SAP E-Recruiting by customers is becoming the exception, and several existing SAP E-Recruiting customers are making the switch or currently considering switching to SuccessFactors for recruiting.”
Learning Solution (LSO) - I spoke with Sharon Newtonwho was a co-author of SAP Enterprise Learningand the CEO at hyperCision who told me “No doubt it’s been an interesting year for our team members who have chosen to focus on learning and learning management systems (LMS). We’ve continued to support our existing on-premise customers and kick-off new SAP Learning Solution (LSO) implementations. Customers appreciate the flexibility of the on-premise system and the new functionality delivered with EhP6 is a strong incentive to stay on-premise. Many customers still have regulatory drivers to keep their data on-premise or just are not ready to move to the Cloud. In addition, a robust Influence Council which is focused on working with SAP to deliver yet more enhancements keeps the LSO a viable option. My understanding is, LSO sales are still strong and that correlates with what we see in our business. We’ve also had a lot of good discussions with existing and prospective LSO customers as well as new LMS customers regarding the SuccessFactors LMS (SF LMS). Those team members who have completed SF LMS implementations appreciate the flexibility of the solution and really enjoy the opportunity to grow their solutions and implementation expertise with an additional LMS. Both solutions stand up well, with SF LMS delivering more great ‘out of the box’ functionality and with SAP LSO delivering the great flexibility that allows customers to align their talent vision with the solution implementation. From a timing perspective, for customers able to implement a simple LMS vision, SuccessFactors is a hands-down winner, with a very quick time to implement. Our customers who chose to migrate from SAP’s LSO to the SF LMS have had a longer implementation life-cycle, as have those organizations with a federated governance structure, which is most common (some learning processes are centralized but each business stakeholder may have different business drivers that have to be met with unique LMS processes and functions.) This is no surprise. Regardless of the technology used, every organization must ensure that it’s LMS drives value for each stakeholder organization and supports their unique business requirements. We are always asked by customers, partners, SAP and SuccessFactors to compare the two solutions. Both are robust and, if all bells and whistles are implemented (and purchased), the functional differences are not huge. In the end, it’s the customer’s satisfaction with their current solution; their comfort with a SaaS LMS; their integration needs; their talent roadmap; and of course, their functional requirements, that should drive their purchase decision.”
There is an excellent quote from Naomi Bloom who is an HR Technology thought leader that is very relevant to this discussion and it reads "Consultants, at least in my world view, are individuals who are able to study a business problem and, regardless of any particular technology choices, guide the client to the best possible approach to achieving the desired business results." At the end of the day, if you are a consultant that is able to provide that type of value for your customers then it won't matter if you are working with SAP, SuccessFactors or any other HR technology, you will be successful. One of the most important ways to provide value is staying current on all the major news and developments and would recommend joining the 5,500 people in my SAP and SuccessFactorsgroup or follow me on twitter at SAP_Jarret.
I recently got a query about Employee Profile screens not loading in SuccessFactors and I wanted to share the scenario and how it was resolved. This is a very common issue that users run into when implementing the Standard Integration.
Scenario:
The team had implemented the Standard Integration Add-On to move Employee & Organization data from SAP to SuccessFactors via the CSV file. Installation of the add-on went as expected, but after they upload the CSV, they get an application error, please try again later. If you close that error, and go to check the Personal information, you receive the following error” Could not execute query”:
The question is what went wrong and why is the data not showing up.
How do you resolve it?
Believe it or not, the resolution is very simple. The Standard Integration provided by SAP (Integration Add-On) is not compatible with Employee Central. In this case, the environment that was being integrated too had Employee Central included and hence the Employment Information and Personal Information screens were giving an error. In other words, the data was loaded into <standard-element> instead of the <hris-element>. The <standard-element> is used by the Basic Profile and <hris-element> is used by the Employee Central Profile screens.
When the implementation tried the same integration in an environment that did not have Employee Central but used the standard profile, the integration worked as expected.
Last week, I had the honor of delivering opening remarks on Day Three at the Human Capital Institute's 2013 National Summit in Orlando.
The day promised to be rather intriguing, given that the two presenters following me offered completely different perspectives. First, Chris Johnson, founder of On Target Living, delivered a high-energy presentation on how to establish greater balance in our lives - eat healthier source foods (remarkably, as a consequence of Chris' presentation, I'm sipping cod liver oil to help my cells regenerate!), get more rest, find time to exercise, etc. Chris had the audience joining him in various stress- relieving stretches, many of which are not easy to accomplish at 9am! After Chris, Nate Silver, renowned statistician and owner of the FiveThirtyEight blog shared a range of data and how it is used to inform decisions, such as using statistical models to track hurricanes.
Feeling a little overawed by the quality of speakers, I kept my remarks brief and to the point! I started out by asking the question in the title of this blog, and then took the audience through a couple of ideas specific to how workforce analytics & planning are increasingly central to the future role of the HR professional.
Below are three key points that I sought to make:
1. On average, surveys have shown that HR professionals devote over a quarter of their time towards serving as a strategic business partner, more than their friends in Finance (who are often seen as the role model for transforming a transaction-oriented function into a true business partner).
2. A competency in workforce analytics is crucial for success in the modern-day HR Business Partner role.
3. At risk, however, is the threat of HR overloading managers with data - instead, managers need stronger insights and recommendations drawn out of the numbers.
Towards the end of the remarks, I outlined three potential opportunities for HR Business Partners to consider as they returned to their organizations:
1. Start with the question, not the metrics - Apply your experience in helping managers think about what data they would need to address "burning-platform" questions about their people, rather than inundating them with reams of data.
2. Use data to educate, not just inform - Teach managers what the data means and how they should use it as part of daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly activities.
3. Link talent data to business outcomes - Without getting too complex, identify what results you are seeking to impact (financials, risks, outputs, etc.) and draw a line back to the talent strategy or decision to which you wish to apply data. My colleague, Kouros Behzad, has just published a good blog on Are Your HR Metrics Relevant?
To everyone who came to the conference, I hope you enjoyed your time there and look forward to continuing the conversation....
Flashback
Whenever we do something new, we tend to co-relate this new thing with our prior experience. So before I go ahead with my main topic i.e. Radio Button in FPM Forms, I would give a quick re-cap on how the Radio Buttons work in SAP's hero UI - Web Dynpro ABAP. We have "Radio Buttons" UI element in Web Dynpro ABAP and we have an option to bind multiple radio buttons to the same context node(in other way we are grouping these Radio buttons) -
Main Story
Radio buttons in FPM forms works in a different way. There is no "Radio Buttons" UI control, instead you have "Radio Button Group" -
The field that is linked to "Radio Button Group" should have the possible Radio buttons / options defined at the Data element level itself.
Link the field to the Radio Button Group -
Make sure you set the "Position" and "Column Count" properties appropriately to control the display of Radio buttons -
Thanks to Sarabpreet for joining me in exploring this concept in FPM Forms.
I am sure I am not the first one facing issues when configuring IT0008 - Basic Pay, so I decided to put down few tips together in this blog that would help many consultants like me. Before I go ahead listing the tips, I would like to share my recent stint with IT0008 issues.
Assumption -
You are using Pay Scale structure configured in T710 table and this part is configured in TARIF Feature by setting the Planned Remuneration Type is set as "S". More information on this is provided in the link.
Expectation -
Since we are using the Pay Scale Structure from T710, we should be maintaining the appropriate values for the Job maintained in Planned Compensation Infotype (1005). These values i.e. Pay Scale Structure should be defaulted based on Employee's Job in Basic Pay Infotypes. All this works fine (assuming the pay scale information is maintained for employee's job in HRP1005) i.e. the Pay Scale Structure is getting defaulted, when we try maintaining this infotype directly in PA30.
Mystery -
Assuming that all is working as expected at least till this point, I went ahead pretty confidently configuring my might IT0008 fields in my HRASR Process. With lots of enthusiasm, I have added the below fields with "Change" Operation -
I0008_ANSAL with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_ANZHL with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_BETRG with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_BSGRD with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_EINHT with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_EITXT with default value as "DEF" to get this value defaulted based on the Unit selected
I0008_LGART with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
I0008_LGTXT with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Wage Type Text) defaulted based on the Wage Type selected
I0008_TARTX with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Pay Scale Type Text) defaulted based on the Pay Scale Type selected
I0008_TGBTX with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Pay Scale Area Text) defaulted based on the Pay Scale Area selected
I0008_TRFAR with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Pay Scale type) defaulted from TARIF feature.
I0008_TRFGB with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Pay Scale Area) defaulted from TARIF feature.
I0008_TRFGR with default value as "DEF" to get this value (Pay Scale Group) defaulted from T710 as per the Planned Remuneration Type ('S' in our case) configured in TARIF feature.
I0008_TRFST with default value as "DEF" to get this value(Pay Scale Level) defaulted from T710 as per the Planned Remuneration Type('S' in our case) configured in TARIF feature.
I0008_WAERS with default value as "CUR" as per our requirement
Happily did my Unit testing once the form design is done to find the below weird errors -
I started wondering why I am getting these errors only from the beautiful HRASR Framework. Also, my mighty dropdowns for Pay Scale Group and Pay Scale Level are absolutely working as expected i.e. they are displaying the values configured from T710 itself.
Thanks to my colleague and Senior Developer - Padmavathi Madham who debugged this issue to realize that if the Planned Compensation is not passed to HRASR framework an additional check is done ensuring that the entered Pay Scale Group and Pay Scale Level are maintained from T510 which causes these errors. There you go, she precisely found the resolution i.e. add the CPIND(Planned Compensation Type) field to the configuration with the default value to be populated from IT1005 based on the value maintained.
Tips...
I might have mentioned the below tips already in this blog, I decided to re-emphasize again as they can be very important -
a. If you are planning to update IT0008 especially "Create", you may want to set the default value as "DEF" for the below fields -
b. When designing the form, keep in mind that you create the form type based on the field type i.e. if the field belongs to MAIN structure, add this field to "FORM" form type; if the field belongs to LINE structure (say BETRG, LGART, LGTXT, etc), add this field to "LINE" form type(Table).
I shall write one more blog(This one should be on “Annual Salary” 
) with more tips, so stay tuned guys!
As we are all aware we have LIST type forms that can be used to display the "Tables". I want to list down few tips around "LIST" type forms in this blog.
Scenario -
You have a form that is submitted by Employee and Manager approves the form(after which data gets posted into SAP). Employee should see some fields say 20 fields and Manager should see the entire form say 50 fields. Out of the fields that Manager can see, there is a table which has 5 fields/columns.
Solution -
The above requirement can easily be achieved using the "Scenario Steps" and "Field Attributes". As a first step, define the "Field Attributes" for all these 50 fields as "Step Dependent". Next, create two scenario steps - EMPLOYEE and MANAGER and assign respective 20 fields to the EMPLOYEE Scenario step and assign all fields to the MANAGER Scenario step.
Result -
First two fields gets displayed and the entire MANAGER related fields are hidden, except the table. Though all columns under this table are hidden, but we still see an empty table with no columns or no entries.
Tip -
To resolve this issue or to get rid of this empty table, set the below attribute(Hide Empty List) -
By default the Personalization is set to "Enabled", so this makes the "Hide Empty List" disabled. To enable the "Hide Empty List" attribute, set the Personalization attribute "Disabled".
Scenario -
You have to display 5 fields in a tabular format i.e. in a table.
Solution -
Add these fields to the List type form.
Result -
You might see all fields in a table, but not all rows. You might end up seeing only one row all the time.
Tip -
Set the "Field Attribute" for all the table fields to SAP_PA / SAP_PD / SAP_PT / Generic Service. Even though you don't want to default a value, kindly set with some kind of default values/dummy value, else, you will not be able to display the table data in multiple rows(only first row gets displayed). To demonstrate this issue, let's say I have 3 fields in my table with the below configuration -
Set the default value of third field as "Without".
I have added these fields to my FPM List form and when tested I see the below result -
By default I am supposed to see two wage types, but I am only see one wage type.
To avoid this issue, set the default value of the third field as SAP_PA with value as "DEF" -
Save your form to see the expected results -
Stay tuned for more tips in the upcoming blogs...
I am very glad that I am one of the early birds who have tried and configured EHP6 FPM forms (sample ones though).
HCM Processes & Forms EHP6 has a lot of new functionalities, which made me excited in many ways.
1. As a first step, to start configuring the iview in portal, copy any existing iview and modify the properties for the iview as mentioned in the below image:
2. 2. To support the hierarchical view in the list, a small configuration has to be made in column group. In IMG execute ‘Define Column Groups’ action as shown in below image:
3. 3. Populate the fields for the column group ‘ASR_ORG_COLUMNS’ which is used for hierarchical view. Basically here we could set which column visibility, add or delete columns.
4. 4. From the below list of activities choose ‘Create or Change Assignment of Column to Column Group’
5. 5. When the start application is launched from the portal (with the configured iview) it opens a webdynpro browser as below:
6. 6. From the Category we could choose the object types you want to search for.
7. 7. Select the ‘Employee’ in the list and click on ‘Show in Hierarchy’ icon in left top corner of the list.
Analytics and “Big Data” continue to be a hot topic, and this year’s SAPPHIRE NOW + ASUG Annual Conference on May 14-16, 2013 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, will feature demo theater presentations, education sessions, and microforums that will allow you to dive deep into SAP’s strategy and solutions for workforce analytics and planning on the cloud and on-premise.
Many organizations are successfully using workforce analytics to support business decisions and drive business strategy and results. At the same time, there are many more HR organizations struggling to get a start, or make progress, in leveraging analytics and Big Data to get a clear picture of the dynamics and composition of their workforce in order to improve and expedite the quality and speed of business decisions. Many of these conference sessions are designed to provide you with a practical understanding of how analytics can help to build credibility for the HR function, and position HR as an agent of impact.
This year’s events showcase a broad range of solutions, from rapid deployment solutions offered on-premise based on a foundation of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) and SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW) for HR, to the very mature and leading solutions, Workforce Analytics and Workforce Planning, offered on the cloud from SuccessFactors, an SAP company. You’ll be very impressed with the wealth of content and best-practices delivered out of the box with these solutions.
Featured Sessions
See below for a list of sessions covering workforce planning and analytics – note that Education Sessions are offered through ASUG, and the others via SAPPHIRE NOW.
For a great customer story, make sure to attend the Theater Presentation on “Transform Workforce Data into Insight with Cloud Workforce Analytics” (session 35496). Florida Blue is a long-time customer of SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics (back to Infohrm days) and Dawn Pickett will discuss their analytics journey, how they’re using the solution, and the value they’re getting from it.
If you have the time, connect with Peter Howes (Thought Leader, Workforce Planning and Analytics, founder Infohrm), Tony Ashton (VP, SuccessFactors Workforce Planning and Analytics), Jean-Bernard Rolland (VP HR Line of Business Solution Management, Twitter: @watchthewave) and draw from their insight and experiences, or stop by for a demo of the solutions.
We hope to see you soon in Orlando!
Tuesday, May 14 | |||||
Session ID | Title |
| Session Type | Time | |
1802 | Align Corporate Strategy and HR Planning with SAP Operational Headcount Planning Rapid Deployment Solution |
| Education Session | 12:30 – 13:30 | |
14830 | Deploy the Right Talent Right Now with Workforce Planning and Analytics |
| Demo Theater | 13:00 – 13:20 | |
1803 | SAP Strategic Roadmap for Analytics Solutions: Lessons Learned for Harnessing Current and Upcoming Functionality for Maximum Benefit |
| Education Session | 14:00 – 15:00 | |
35507 | Drive Better Business Outcomes with Data-Based Workforce Decisions |
| Demo Theater | 15:00 – 15:20 | |
1804 | The New HCM On-Premise User Experience (UX) |
| Education Session | 15:30 – 16:30 | |
94929 | Turn to the Cloud to Manage Your Firm’s Talent |
| Demo Theater | 15:30 – 16:30 | |
| |||||
Wednesday, May 15 | |||||
Session ID | Title |
| Session Type | Time | |
1805 | The 2013 Guide to SAP HCM Improvements: On-Premise and Cloud |
| Education Session | 11:00 – 12:00 | |
1806 | Leverage the Power of SAP HANA in HCM |
| Education Session | 12:30 – 13:30 | |
14741 | Make Better Business Decisions With Human Capital Management Analytics |
| Microforum | 13:00 – 13:45 | |
94669 | Benefit from Workforce Planning |
| Microforum | 14:00 – 14:45 | |
14830 | (Repeat) Deploy the Right Talent Right Now with Workforce Planning and Analytics |
| Demo Theater | 14:30 – 14:50 | |
1807 | How to Improve Your HCM Analytics with the Introduction of HANA |
| Education Session | 13:45 – 14:45 | |
| |||||
14737 | Harness the power of HCM analytics to Optimize Workforce Decisions |
| Demo Theater | 16:00 – 16:20 | |
35496 | Transforming Workforce Data into Insight with Cloud Workforce Analytics |
| Theater Presentation | 17:30 – 17:50 | |
| |||||
Thursday, May 16 | |||||
Session ID | Title |
| Session Type | Time | |
14737 | (Repeat) Harness the Power of HR Analytics to Make Better Decisions Faster |
| Demo Theater | 15:30 – 15:50 | |
35507 | (Repeat) Drive Better Business Outcomes with Data-Based Workforce Decisions |
| Demo Theater | 15:30 – 15:50 | |
| |||||
Demo Stations |
| ||||
Session ID | Title |
| Session Type | Time | |
Cloud | Make Fact-Based Decisions with Workforce Analytics and Planning |
| Expert Table | All Day | |
Please note that the dates and times provided here are accurate at the time this blog is published, and scheduling is subject to change. Make sure to refer to the conference agenda for most recent information so you don’t miss any sessions.
Hi
Does anybody worked on the function UACGF (month end accruals). If so please let us know functionality.
Thanks & Regards
Bharathi
Hi All
I have seen many threads where facing issues with updating long text in infotypes . Pre requisite to update long text in infotype is ,must have field ITXEX = 'X' in PA table for the specific record which infotype text to be updated . For this I have submitted a document below is the document .
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-40809
Thanks
Kamesh
After working with XML (Extensible Markup Language) data models, I thought that a blog covering the SuccessFactors data models would be helpful to the community. This is not intended to be a crash course on XML (see the W3 Schools XML Tutorial to get an understanding of XML), rather I want to enlighten you about XML data models and eradicate any fears in understanding them. All of the XML Gurus out there may find this an over simplified version but the goal is exactly that; to start from the basics for XML novices.
So let’s start by seeing why XML? The following picture summarizes the key benefits of using XML.
Now let us compare with how it complements the design of Employee Central and for that matter any of the solutions in the BizX suite that leverage XML data models. The value proposition of SuccessFactors BizX suite is founded on the following principles:
XML is the preferred language to deliver the above-mentioned values to customers. All of this makes for an exciting world for a SuccessFactors consultant!
So let’s look at some of the frequently used data models in Employee Central. The Employee Central chapter in the SAP Press book SuccessFactors with SAP ERP HCM will cover this topic in more detail.
Before we step further, here are a few basics:
Now that you know all that you need to know about data models and DTDs let us cruise through the 4 main data models used in Employee Central. There are 3 others used for workflow, rules, and Propagation.
Note: Propagation is the feature in Employee Central that allows for foundation data to be automatically populated on the HR data objects. For e.g. if you stored the time zone on the location foundation object, you can build a propagation such that the time zone is automatically changed on employee data based on the value of location selected.
1. Corporate Data model
2. Country Specific (CSF) Corporate Data model
3. Succession Data model
d. The same element can be configured in the Metadata Framework via OneAdmin UI by going to Manage Business Configuration
4. Country Specific (CSF) Succession Data model
You will be working most frequently on the standard hris-elements hence selecting them for discussion. There are a number of things you can do with the background elements in the Succession Data model, such as create custom views for the client and it is synced with the Employee profile and other integrated products of the BizX suite.
I hope this blog helps to unravel some of the mystery and open questions in your mind with regard to data models and gives clarity of thought if you are one of the many SAP consultants looking to transition to SuccessFactors. Your openness to the new way of doing things in the SuccessFactors world will determine your success. Use your SAP expertise to design the architecture that is right for your clients. The transition to SuccessFactors does not require letting go of skills, but acquiring new skills and using both in synergy to deliver value to customers and make them efficient and profitable with an engaged workforce.
There is a lot of excitement and speculation about ‘cloud’ solutions and how it will change the business. I started to think about how it will change the future of SAP HCM consultants and started putting the pieces together. Please feel free to share your experiences and comments.
SAP R/3 (along with HCM module) has led enterprise solution for almost 20 years when it adopted the cutting-edge client-server architecture. The reason for rethinking HCM solution is due to the paradigm shift from client-server to cloud computing.
Cloud-based Solution
Cloud-based Solution, in our context, means that the solution provider hosts the software, builds the solution template (their intellectual property), configures it for the client and maintains it (ideally for eternity) for the client. The client doesn’t own any part of the solution. They pay for the service they receive. In simple terms, the client uses and pays for services like Personal data changes (e.g. Employee Name Change, Employee Address Change), Employee transactions (e.g. Hiring, Promotion), Analytical reports, etc…
Workday and SuccessFactors are examples of cloud-based solutions.
On-Premise Solution
What do we call the existing solutions and differentiate it from ‘Cloud computing’? The current model where the client buys/owns the licenses, hosts the software on their own servers, configures and customize it to their requirements, maintains it themselves is now called ‘On-Premise’ solution. The client owns the complete solution.
SAP HCM and PeopleSoft are examples of On-premise solutions.
What are the factors that have generated interest in cloud-based solution now?
- Cloud-based solution need high-speed and reliable internet connectivity. In the US and many other parts of the world, high-speed & reliable internet connection has become the norm.
- HR wants cutting-edge technology to enable employee engagement, talent management and other critical initiatives but don’t necessarily have the budget for it. Cloud solutions come enabled with built-in mobile solutions so HR doesn’t need to spend trying to design and develop them with their own IT departments.
- HR wants to keep their system up-to-date and compliant but might not have enough resources to do it in timely fashion. Cloud solution providers keep the system up and complaint. Workday even has a social media inspired community where clients vote for the features they want in the next release
- HR wants employee and managers to have better user experience and use more self-service but they might be on the ‘high priority’ list of their IT departments. Cloud solutions are able to give state-of-the-art user experiences and update it regularly.
Cloud solution provider:
- provide same services to multiple clients (employee name change, employee address change, etc…)
- have same hardware setup for all clients (scalable hardware at low-cost)
- upgrade software for all clients at the same time (less maintenance of different versions/ old versions)
- assign resources to features that most clients vote for
To be continued…
| Topic | Document Name |
|---|---|
| Wage Type | Copy wage type between country groupings |
| PT | Decision re-run or start Date for PT60 PT60 - cannot run in future - Personnel number ended early |
| Infotype | |
| T-Code SM30 | |
| User Exit | HR Function Modules |
| PY | Understanding Relationship PT and PY |
| Absence Quota | Absence Quota accumulate in 1st year |
| Recruitment | Complete Recruitment Process |
| Reports | Reports in HCM |
Please refer Schema - useful links & T-Codes to have more documents to understand PCR and Schema.