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Tips and Tricks
Benefits of SME’s implementing SAP HCM
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
“Employees are our most valuable asset” is a common phrase used by companies both large and small, but what are companies in the SME space really doing about it? SME’s may question the value of implementing HCM when looking to include it in their SAP implementation due to lower employee count and fewer locations. Why spend the additional dollars needed to implement an HCM module?
There are several benefits to justify the implementation cost of implementing SAP HCM. The primary benefit of any HCM system is the positive effect it has on employees by eliminating redundant work, automating manual processes and providing employees better access to information. From a management viewpoint, it allows you to manage each employee in a more comprehensive and efficient manner.
Outside of increased employee satisfaction, there are substantial financial and technical benefits of rolling out HCM with your SAP implementation. From a financial standpoint, SAP HCM benefits your organization by allowing you to manage all of your HR processes with a single system which can reduce costs associated with licensing, labor, third party software fees and support fees. Technically, the benefits include easy integration, one entry point, data accuracy and an integrated portal, not to mention constant developments and enhancements by the world’s number one ERP system.
The SME market continues to be the fastest growing segment in software sales across the board. When you implement SAP HCM you are receiving a complete package of the technology and knowledge that SAP has been gathering from some of the best run businesses in the world. By implementing SAP HCM, you can truly show your employees that they are your company’s most valuable asset.
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The Power of Benchmarking
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing and measuring an organization’s business processes against those of business leaders anywhere in the world. We all know that identifying and implementing best practices will generate business excellence. We also know that benchmarking is no magic cure - but when executed properly, it promotes continuous improvement.
For HR people, this translates into the following:
- Standardizing and automating transaction processing to reduce the cost of delivering basic HR services
- Using freed-up resources to support an integrated talent-management process
- Integrating HR and relevant non-HR systems to eliminate information barriers and reduce time to market
- Providing every manager access to decision-support tools and people information
- Delivering relevant business metrics to front-line managers, linking people processes to operational performance
- Benchmarking HR’s performance against industry metrics and best practices
For those of you who have not heard of it, there is a dedicated ASUG/SAP benchmarking and best practices program providing an excellent forum for SAP customers to track trends, share best practices, and measure value based upon key performance drivers. To date, more than 200 companies have participated in the study, including more than 30 participants from the high-tech industry, with revenues of between less than $1 billion to more than $10 billion. The study covers the full scope of HR business process, segmented in sub-processes such as recruiting and staffing, learning and development, and payroll administration.
For more information about the program, visit www.asug.com/benchmarking or contact benchmarking@asug.com. Please also visit: https://www.benchmarking.sap.com/files/surveyExamples/HCM_Sample_Report.pdf.
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Qualification Catalog Structure
Monday, August 16th, 2010
Qualifications can be a foundation for many functional uses in SAP. Qualifications equate to the requirements capabilities needed to perform the duties of a position, to the initial skill set held by the person most qualified to receive an offer of employment, to development areas identified as part of the annual performance appraisal process.
Many organizations will start with a basic structure comprised of qualification groups for three competency areas:
1.) Core or foundational
Sets the tone and/or context and frequently aligns with key behaviors expected from everyone in the enterprise (Example: Customer Focus)
2.) Functional and/or technical
Knowledge and skills/abilities that is required for a specific function that may range from programming skills to the ability to give effective presentations
3.) Managerial or leadership
Capabilities that allow an individual to be an effective leader of people and/or processes
Beyond the initial three competency classifications, organizations may also define categories for licenses or certifications, education and experience. The key is to assess how your organization will use the qualifications catalog going forward and assure that the categories are meaningful to the organization’s needs and sustainability.
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Shift Premium Pay Processing
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
In time management, processing shift premiums are common for all industries. The most common differential pays are the evening shift and the night shift differentials. These differentials are usually dictated by Union rules and mostly apply to hourly employees. However, there are rules where salaried, non-exempt employees can receive these differentials.
Many are familiar with implementing shift differentials using attendance codes, premium table T510P and work schedule. These three methods work for hourly and salary employees, though you may also need to use substitution and configure work schedules. These three common methods are relatively straight forward, easy to use and can be used mutually exclusive of each other or use in combination between them.
One method that is not widely known is the use of infotype 2012 for processing shift differentials where each employee is assigned IT2012 containing a time type indicating the shift. Time evaluation uses the time type as a flag to generate the relevant wage type.
By utilizing IT2012, there is no need to configure attendance types for shifts, additional work schedules or premium tables. However, there may be more short comings for users in terms of ease of use, master data maintenance, substitutions and overlapping shifts (working 4 hours on evening shift and 4 hours on night shift). IT2012 is more of a conversion tool and accumulator within Time Evaluation than a user friendly tool for day to day operation. With regards to master data, reporting and substitution, using IT2012 is not straight forward. Using IT2012 will reduce the need to configure additional attendance codes, work schedules, or the need for setting up the Premium table entries. However, from a user point of view, this may not be an easy task. The Time Administrator will understand the usage of attendance codes and work schedules, but may not understand the concept of IT2012 which requires selecting correct time types and delimiting IT2012, especially if the employee populations are active in doing substitutions.
IT2012 may work for salary, non-exempt employees who are entitled to shift pay, especially if the shift differential is a fixed monthly amount; however, for hourly employees this should not be an option.
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Implementing SAP E-Recruiting
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
If you are new to SAP E-Recruiting, then you may need some advice to get started. We will begin posting a series of blogs that will show you how to begin the journey in implementing a company’s SAP E-Recruiting functionality. Let’s start from the basics.
1. Define your Recruitment Business process. It is important that you know every step of the recruitment process so that you can define most of the SAP E-Recruiting screens based on your process. This way it will be more manageable for your recruiters to use the new software and be more familiar with the new process. Here is a sample of a high level business process for recruitment. Your company recruitment process may be similar or slightly different than the one depicted below. You can use this as a reference when documenting your recruitment business process.
2. Define your Sub-processes. The definition of your recruitment business process does not stop at high level. You need to go deeper. The next step is to define what each sub-process does. Let us give you an example:
In this step you need to define what these sub-processes are all about, that way you have a better picture of your entire process.
3. Define your steps within the business process. Here is where you need to get one of your sub-processes and break it down into steps, triggers and user roles. Take out your process flow charting hat, turn on your computer and start charting away. Of course the assumption here is that you’ve spoken with a few people like the SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) in your company about the recruitment process unless you are the SME. The reason why you need to do this so that you can start visualizing some of the SAP E-Recruiting solutions that you have in mind for your company. On the process flow diagram that you will be doing, it is expected that you refer to SAP E-Recruiting screens and solutions to define this part of the process. Below is an example of a process flow diagram.
4. Identify steps in the sub-process that will be using SAP. This is a little tricky and you may not get this during the first try. Identify which step will use an SAP E-Recruiting transaction. By identifying the step and linking it with an SAP E-recruiting screen/transaction you will be able to get a better idea how that step will be completed by the system. From there you can go into more detail on screen design, configuration items and most of the technical solutions that particular step needs.
With these steps you will be on your way to defining your Recruiting business process. The next blog in this series will discuss the first steps to set up SAP E-Recruiting. Keep checking our blog for more SAP Tip & Tricks and feel free to leave questions/comments!
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Basic ALE connection when using separate instances for FI/HCM
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Have you ever arrived at a project and been given the news that HCM will be implemented as a standalone system? The FI team is long gone, the HCM team is there and the client wants to use their own IT team to perform Basis and ABAP work. This is not unusual nor is it a problem, until something needs to be done that did not happen when other SAP modules were implemented. One of those common instances is when FI/CO and HCM will not be in the same system. When the decision has been made to have your FI/CO and HCM components in separate systems you may not have instant access to an experienced IT member that knows how to help an inexperienced IT team make this work. These basic steps on how to set up an ALE connection between FI/CO and HCM modules will help you work with the IT team to accomplish your objective. Some common transfers of information examples from HCM to FI/CO are data for General Ledger Postings, Travel & Expense, and 3rd Party Remittance.
Step 1: Create users for ALE transfer in both the receiving and sending client/systems.
· Create users giving them the same user name and authorizations. This will allow logon through the remote connection and perform the IDOC transfers.
Step 2: Create logical systems in both the receiving and sending systems.
a. Log on to Sending client and go to transaction “SALE”
b. Expand both the Sending and Receiving systems
c. Expand logical systems and click on Define Logical System
d. Click on New Entries and use a naming convention identified by your IT/Basis group. Example - “system name + CLNT + client number. Save and “go back” (sending = HCMCLNT105/ receiving = FICCLNT800)
e. Save and go back. Now click on Assign client 105 to logical system HCMCLNT105
f. Now log onto receiving system and repeat a-c
g. Save and go back. Now click on Assign client 800 to logical system FICCLNT800
Step 3: Create the RFCs
a. In your sending client go to transaction code SM59 and expand the R/3 connections
b. Enter RFC name as HCMCLNT105 (use the same name as the logical name created in step 1 so that the ports are automatically created)
c. Enter Connection Type as “3” and Language as “EN”
d. Give the logon details for client 800 (it is best to create a new user with proper authorizations for this ALE data transfer).
e. Click on Remote long on button to test the RFC
f. Now go to the receiving client and repeat a-e and give logon credentials to client 105
Step 4: Create customer distribution Model.
· This is usually created in the sending system and then is distributed to the other system. The actual creation of the model requests that you mention a technical name for the model (this needs to be a unique identifier in the systems landscape), a sender system, a receiver system, and message types to exchange between those systems.
a. In the sending client go to transaction code BD64 and client on Change and Create model view button
b. Enter the short text and technical name as ZHCM_FIC
c. Select the model and click on Add Message Type button
d. Give the sender as HCMCLNT105 and receiver as FICCLNT800
e. Give Message type as required. Example- “HRMD_A” for HR Module. This is usually the message types given by SAP are available for a particular module, see using transaction code WE81, if not create a message type first (See step 7).
f. Select the above model view and click on Environment >Generate Partner Profiles
g. Select Transfer IDOC Immediately and Trigger Immediately radio buttons
h. Click on Execute. You should get a list in green which means it executed successfully.
i. Now back on the main screen you should select the model view
j. Click Edit> Model view> Distribute
k. Click on Continue. You should get a list saying model view is distributed successfully.
Step 5: Checking the Port
a. In the sending client go to transaction code WE21
b. Expand the transactional RFC
c. Find the port from the list which is created using BD64 for FICCLNT800 (the receiving system) RFC destination
Step 6: Checking the Partner Profiles
a. In the sending client go to transaction code WE20
b. Expand Partner Type LS
c. Select the partner profile FICCLNT800
d. Double click on the Message Type. Example- In HR Module, HRMD_A in Outbound parameters
e. Check Receiver Port is assigned correctly
f. Check the Basic type as your Basic IDOC object.
g. In the sending system, select the option to transfer IDOCs Immediately
h. By default in the receiving system IDOCs are bunched together and received.
Step 7: Creating the message type
a. Message type defines the meaning of data. It is just a logical entity that gets connected to the IDOC type, in transaction WE82, or gets connected to the distribution model, in transaction code BD64. If necessary create a new message type.
b. In the sending client go to transaction code WE81
c. Click on Change > Continue
d. Select the New Entries button
e. Give message type in customer namespace “Z” and description
f. Save and go back
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How to translate your Organizational Structure into a foreign language
Monday, June 14th, 2010
After creating your organizational structure in your native language, there are a few steps that you need to perform to be able to show the structure in a foreign language.
To start, begin with translation. Have someone in your organization translate all of the objects that are shown in the structure. Organizational units and positions are critical. You may also want to consider translating jobs and any other objects you are using. Be sure to translate both the short and long description so each will be available for reporting purposes.
Once that is complete, run transaction RE_RHTRANS0 or follow menu path Human Resources –> Organizational Management –> Tools –> Infotype –> Translate.
Select your plan version and then the object type that you wish to translate. Enter the target language at the bottom of the screen and execute.
A list of your objects will appear with a blank field below each one for you to enter the translated text. Feel free to cut and paste into these fields. Save your data when finished.
Now you can modify tabs on your organization and staffing screen. You will need to add the names tab in order to display the description in different languages.
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How to save a Spool file to a PDF document
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
After running a report in the background, ensure you take note of its spool file number. Go to SA38 and run report RSTXPDFT4. This program is called Converting SAPscript (OTF) or ABAP List Spool Job to PDF. Make sure that you populate the Spool Request number into the appropriate field, check the ‘Download PDF File’ checkbox and indicate the appropriate file name. Click execute and save.
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Why HCM for your Organization
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
This session will provide an overview of SAP HCM and the reasons an organization may want to implement the functionality. This session will also outline the integration between HCM, implementation plans, accelerators available within standard SAP and considerations of what to implement first, second and third. We will delve into the various HCM sub-modules and how to attack a particular area as it relates to business processes, common issues and corporate objectives. The overview will go through high-level each of the individual HCM Modules and the functionality offered by SAP for an organization. The audience will understand the functionality and how to further evaluate if and when they would like to implement SAP HCM.
To read the white paper, click here: http://symphony-consulting.com/whitepapers.php
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Tips and Tricks for Appraisals
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Valuable tips and tricks regarding utilizing Objective Setting and Appraisal functionality for both LSO and Personnel Development will be covered. The session includes detailed step-by-step configuration tips and tricks to make appraisal templates work for your organization. The attendee will learn how to make use of anonymous appraisals, weighted appraisals, and time-sensitive appraisals.
Download our whitepaper on this!
Post a question in our Ask the Experts section.
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