SAP and SuccessFactors Talent Hybrid Packaged Integrations: an overview
*updated July 20th 2015*
During one of the SAP discussion panels at SAPPHIRE 2012 David Ludlow, VP of HCM Solutions at SAP, revealed some information about the planned packaged integrations between SAP ERP HCM and SuccessFactors. Since this is quite a hot topic in the context of SuccessFactors, I wanted to provide a summary of the packages that were revealed in the session alongside some other bits of information I have discovered during the previous weeks, prior to any detailed announcements in the forthcoming weeks/months.
SAP is focusing on 3 main areas of integration:
- Data integration – information stored in SAP HCM on-premise system that is needed for running talent management processes in SuccessFactors. Employee master data and OM relationships will be “moved over” to SuccessFactors.
- Process integration – data that is created from processes such as compensation, learning and recruitment and needs to be stored in the SAP HCM core HR system
- User access – creating unified access so that users are not “knowingly” accessing multiple systems or have any need to log onto multiple systems. This includes single sign-on, unified navigation structures and unified menus to access data and processes, for a seamless user experience.
Their strategy is to create new APIs for extracting data in a standardized and correct method. There is nothing I have heard so far to suggest that the “integration” between SAP HCM and SuccessFactors is genuine integration, rather that there are just interfaces between the systems transferring data files at fixed periods.
SAP will be releasing a series of packaged integrations, starting with the first package that was released in SMP for Ramp-Up in the week proceeding SAPPHIRE. These packaged integrations will be delivered as part of the maintenance fee, although additional services can be obtained through the optional Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS). The only pre-requisite for the integration packages is to be using ECC6 – there is no requirement to be on any specific Enhancement Package for ECC6. The diagram below shows the integrations covered in the packaged integration.
Details of the packaged integrations can be found below. Please note that it is always recommended to implement the latest add-on.
- Integration Add-on 1.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors – Released for Ramp-Up in May and on General Availability in August 2013 and is a full file load “point to point” for employee and organizational data for the Hybrid model and extractors for analytics data for SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics
- Integration Add-on 1.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP1 – Released on August 10th 2012 and delivers delta file handling
- Integration Add-on 1.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP2 – Released on November 5th 2012 and delivers Compensation process integration for the “Pay-for-performance” scenario
- Integration Add-on 2.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors – Released for Ramp-Up March 18th 2013 and on General Availability on August 16th 2013 and covers Recruiting process integration for the “Attract-to-hire” scenario
- Integration Add-on 2.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP2 – Released on September 6th 2013 and covers Recruiting process integration for the “Define-to-hire” scenario
- Integration Add-on 3.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors – Released for Ramp-up June 20th 2014 and on General Availability on October 15th 2014 and covers qualification integration between SuccessFactors HCM suite/SuccessFactors Learning and SAP ERP HCM
- Integration Add-on 3.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP1 – Released on October 16th 2014 and delivers part 1 of the Variable Pay process integration
- Integration Add-on 3.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP2 – Released on February 2nd 2015 and delivers part 1 of the Onboarding process integration, part 2 of the Variable Pay process integration and SAP PI content for the qualification integration released in add-on 3.0
- Integration Add-on 3.0 for SAP and SuccessFactors SP4 – Released on June 15th 2015 and delivers part 2 of the Onboarding process integration, offboarding integration, SAP PI content for skills replication, and SAP HCI content for Variable Pay and Onboarding integration released in add-on 3.0
- Under consideration – future packaged integrations being considered include:
- Succession Planning
- Learning Cost Allocation
- Performance ratings to SAP ERP HCM
SAP will continue to announce additional packaged integrations in due course.
Addition Content
Details on the Talent Hybrid packages can be found at http://help.sap.com/erp_sfi_addon30. Additionally, there is other integration content available at http://help.sap.com/hr_integration and http://help.sap.com/hr_api.
For SAP Jam there is the Social-Media ABAP Integration Layer (SAIL) documentation available for SAP_BASIS 7.31 SP05, 7.30 SP08 or 7.02 SP12 and SAP_BASIS 7.31 SP06.
Summary
Talent Management in the cloud seems to be a real focus for SAP and this reflects the “hot topic” status that talent management affords in the HCM world today. For me this still seems like a long way of genuine integration and I still thinkthat those customers wanting real-time, integrating data services might have to wait some time to realize this. For some customers this is a big step in the right direction and no doubt there are a significant number of customers who will be saved a lot of pain by leveraging these integration packages. Time will tell if this will be enough for high-density data users or those with complex security or data requirements, but for now it’s a big step forward from what was available when the deal was closed earlier in the year.
Are there details on the technology behind these "data moves" between the two platforms?Will it be based on the new Integration as a Service offering?
D.
I think it's going to be PaaS (Platformr as a Service), but it could be IaaS. Or any letter followed by "aaS" 😉
According to the Product Integration Strategy session during Sapphire, the content will be available for IntaaS but can also be deployed on current on-premise middleware platforms from SAP.
Thanks Luke for summarizing this. The only other thing I picked up from a process integration point of view is that it will delivered
- first for the compensation product in Q3/Q4 this year,
- followed by Recruitment something in early 2013.
Fair to say integration will not be without its niggles and the first ones to adopt it will help make it better.
Thanks Vinay - somehow I managed to miss the compensation + recruitment specifics, so thanks for posting.
I like your positive attitude! It's going to be a long process, but I think SAP will get there eventually. I heard from SAP today that the long-term goal is to have real-time integration.
Hi Luke,
if it helps, below are my notes on the integration packages which I took during SuccessConnect in Sydney two weeks ago. (I must have missed the details of package 5... 😐 )
The usual disclaimers apply - I madly tapped out notes on my iPad while low on caffeine and may have totally missed some/most points. Caveat emptor applies.
Integration between HCM and SFSF delivered in Integration Packages more or less on a quarterly basis.
IP1 released into "lean" ramp-up on May 11, 2012, no application to join ramp up.
Q2: Compensation process integration
Q3: introduction of SAP integration tech, delta loads.
2013: Recruiting process integration, position and candidate info, unified UX will be part of Integration Package 4.
(this is all technically possible now, but these things will make it easier to deploy)
On-prem integration agent is basically PI with some standard content. The Business Suite side of the picture is very light touch, using Enterprise Services, IDocs, etc. The cloud component is called "Process Integration onDemand" but not based on PI but instead on an open-source component.
Intent of the integration is to simplify implementation of SFSF in an on-prem world and provide differentiation from Workday, etc. This also means that PI or broad-church SOA won't be mandated but only used where it makes sense.
Hi Sascha,
Thanks for the superb info - it looks like you didn't have a conference hangover from SAPPHIRE 🙂
I was in the HR2012 Milan session on integration between SAP HCM and SuccessFactors so I'm going to write a blog to summarize the first integration package. They did mention about using SAP NetWeaver PI and also SAP Data Services, as well as the how and what of the initial integration. Stayed tuned!
Best regards,
Luke
I just saw this slide on the packages: http://ow.ly/i/Ghl8/original
Hi Luke and everyone,
On the topic of integration, I wanted to make you aware of a webinar that SAP is hosting on June 28th - 'SAP and SuccessFactors Integration Path'. It will help clarify how the integration can help:
I thought you might be interested in this. Make sure to check it out, you can register here!
It is also announced in the blog "SAP OnPremise and SuccessFactors OnDemand Integration Roadmap".
Best regards,
Nadine
Hi Nadine,
Thanks for the message - I look forward to the webinar!
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Attended the SAP hosted webinar on SAP and SFSF integration path yesterday and there wasn't much other than what you have already mentioned in your blog. Infact there was no mention of integration package 5 on the roadmap.
What however emerged as an underlying theme was the focus on process integration and user experience.
AS your blog covers most of the points I just wanted to share the key takeaways for me.
1. The key areas of focus for SAP and SFSF are Security, Scalability, Extensibility and Integration
2. There will be a cookbook on single sign on that will be released soon as part of the 2nd integration package - July 2012
3. Integration package 3 will provide delta handling of changes from SAP -> SFSF thereby achieving near real time integration. Integration here will be based on middleware (PI). This package will be available by Oct '12.
4. Package 4 will provide integration between position and candidate as part of the process integration for "Attract to hire"
5. Package 4 will also provide a Shared services framework
5. There are 35 extractors available currently to extract data from SFSF to SAP for workforce analytics.
6.Important quick links: https://websmp204.sap-ag.de/instguides and https://websmp204.sap-ag.de/instguides
There was also a demo by Yannick Peterschmitt - Director Talent Management Solution on how SFSF will be integrated with the self service scenarios.
While SAP is saying that its On prem Talent Management solution will be available till 2020, the general message is to adopt SFSF's Talent management suite. I think any customer who can should go for SFSF.
Thanks
Vinay
Hi Vinay,
Thanks for adding this information. I watched most of the webinar and didn't hear too much I didn't know. Integration package 5 was originally on their plan, but I guess they've decided to strip them down to 4.
I don't agree with this. Without knowing the functionality and the business requirements then there is no way to make a sound business decision. Each customer will have different reasons for/against moving to the cloud. While SAP is pushing it, they will not abandon on-premise customers and maintenance will, I'm 99% sure, be extended again past 2020.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Glad to know your viewpoint especially as such comments help extend the dialogue and get different takes on a given situation. I wouldn't say I disagree with you but I would like to qualify my statement as I think it was pretty broad and did not convey my thoughts behind it.
My experience so far has been on the on prem solution and I am slowly getting acquainted with what SFSF ( and other cloud solutions) can offer and though I feel that the cloud solution may not offer the same flexibility and as many features as on prem yet there is a strong case for enterprises who are early in the project lifecycle or are considering implementing SAP.
Yes business requirements will be a factor in deciding which solution suits best but for me the appeal of cloud based solution lies in the following:
A.Future as far as Talent Management is concerned. The number of innovations in cloud will be more than on on prem therefore it is a question of time before it will also become 'feature rich'. I think not considering the cloud based solution will mean losing out on the opportunity for some period of time whereas adoption of it right now will provide more features and options in the future.
B Short and predictable implementation cycle: Anyone who has worked on ERP implementations is only too familiar with changing project schedules and Go-live dates which have a direct impact on the cost for both the SI and the customer.
C. Better user experience: I say this with caution 🙂 ( as you are a Nakisa guru) but we know Nakisa identified a gap in terms of visualisation and tapped it.User experience is an important factor for most customers as of today. The integration with mobile only makes it future proof.
There are more reasons coming to my mind but I don't want this to be too long. So to summarise my approach is that when I am talking to a customer who is considering or implementing any of the Talent management solution - I ask them to consider SFSF as well. Customers who have already implemented SAP HCM recently will need a stronger case for the investment. They will however catch up slightly later when the integration improves and the product starts providing richer functionality.
The above are however just my views.
Thanks
Vinay
Hi Vinay,
Thanks for clarifying on your thoughts with such a detailed answer. I think your expanded viewpoint is certainly relevant and as you say, SuccessFactors is the "Future as far as Talent Management is concerned".
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Just wanted to updated everyone who is following your blog that the "Single sign on cook book NW portal and Successfactors " is now available on service marketplace. https://websmp102.sap-ag.de/erp-hcm - > navigate to Media Library - > Success Factors Integration.
Thanks
Vinay
Thanks for the info Vinay! 🙂
This blog by Prashanth Padmanabhan shows how the first integration package supports all of the SuccessFactors HCM suite applications:
http://productdesignjournal.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-master-data-integration-iflow.html
Hi Luke,
Thanks for this article, i have just a question, do you know when we could use SAP Hana Cloud Integration ?
Regards.
Nicolas
Hi Nicolas,
SAP HANA Cloud Integration is currently open for Ramp-Up and partners or customers who are part of the Customer Engagement Initiative have access to it. If you are a customer contact your local SAP representative, who should be able to put you in touch with the appropriate individual at SAP.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
I integrated SAP HCM and SuccessFactors using HANA Cloud Integration. I am able to send employee basic data from SAP HCM to SuccessFactors. In SuccessFactors, under "Company Info" view, I could see the replicated employee details. But I am not able to see the same info of the replicated employee in "My Employee File" view. Do I miss something here?
For e.g. I am sending Hire Date info from SAP HCM and I am able to see the same date in SuccessFactors under "Compnay Info --> Directory" view. But the same date is not shown in "Employment Information" page under "My Employee File" view.
Thanks & regards,
Hari
Hi Hari,
The integration package only updates the Employee Profile (aka Talent Profile). Employee Files is part of Employee Central and isn't supported by the hybrid integration packages.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the quick reply 🙂 I am a newbie to SuccessFactors. Could you please tell me
what is the disadvantage of not having the employee details in Employee Central? Is there any limitations? When the integration package will support Employee Central update?
Thanks & best regards,
Hari
Hi Hari,
Employee Central is a core HR system. The integration packages are used for Talent. The core employee data component for the Talent modules is Employee Profile. The Employee Profile means that Employee Central is not required to use the Talent modules. If your customer is using Employee Central then you shouldn't use the hybrid integration packages; rather you should integrate your core HR to Employee Central because Employee Central will already be setup to synchronize with the Employee Profile. Integration content already exists for integrating Employee Central with SAP ERP (including HCM and Payroll).
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Now I understand the difference between Employee Central and Talent Management. When you say "Integration content already exists for integrating Employee Central with SAP ERP", do you mean the package which uses Dell Boomi as middleware? Is there a package which supports this with HANA Cloud Integration as middleware?
Thanks & best regards,
Hari
Hi Hari,
Yes I do mean Dell Boomi AtomSphere. SAP will put all Employee Central integration content onto HCI between now and next year.
Best regards,
Luke
Thanks a lot Luke for clarifying my doubts 🙂
Best regards,
Hari
Hi Luke
In some of the marketing material there is talk of LMS and SAP FI/CO integration. Do you have an idea of what it entails and the roadmap for the integration?
Regards
Irene
Hi Irene,
LMS and FICO integration has been postponed. It was to integrate cost planning data into the finance system.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke
Thank you for the feedback. It is much appreciated.
Regards
Irene
Hi Luke,
My client wants to implement OM, PM, Time and Payroll in SAP and Talent mgmt in SF.
can we design the reports for on premise modules in SF using WFA as there is a standard integration between SAP and SF.
Thanks,
Godavari
Hi Godavari,
Yes you can. There are standard WFA extractors in the SAP and SF integration add-on.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the inputs, can i have the solution architecture pls.
Is it simple activation or does it require significant coding?
Many thanks,
Godavari
Hi Godavari,
It requires both activation and some configuration. There is no coding in SuccessFactors, although there is some XML coding.
Best regards,
Luke
hi Luke,
Can the data manually upload from other systems (apart from SAP) into WFA and design the reports.
Appreciate your detailed inputs.
thanks,
Godavari
Hi Godavari,
Yes. WFA is a vendor agnostic solution.
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
For an EC to SAP ERP Payroll integration using Dell BOOMI, we are using "Packaged Integration: EC to EC Payroll Employee Replication v4.0". Since its not actually EC payroll (cloud) but on-premise (SAP ERP), its a bit confusing. Are we using the correct integration pack?
Thanks,
Deepraj
Hi Deepraj,
Yes, this is the correct package for replicating employee data to SAP PA for SAP ERP processes, SAP ERP Payroll, and for Employee Central Payroll.
Best regards,
Luke
Thanks Luke.
Regards,
Deepraj
Luke, there appears to be a belief that customers are able to update their PI version and any underlying application or infrastructure elements across the supporting estate (AIX etc) each time a new Integration Package or Service Pack is released. Partly this may be a result of enabling new functionality. I do find it strange that there is such a currency update required on the client side to cater for integration to cloud service. This could be seen as a "barrier to entry" and adoption of these Integration packages. For large clients with large application & infrastructure estates this "currency" upgrade to the underlying supporting applications could be difficult and costly. Have i missed something?
Thanks for your comments Stephen. I've not come across this belief, although it is a reasonable concern if the PI version or SP level needs to be updated for an add-on. I don't believe this is the case for many of add-on versions, although the latter add-on's do take advantage of newer innovations in PI technology (e.g. the SuccessFactors Adapter in the Connectivity add-on) and therefore would require some upgrade. It is true that for some larger clients this could be a barrier to adoption, but it also depends on how well their environments are managed.
Hi Luke,
We are currently sending CSV file from SAP HCM to
SuccessFactors (Performance Management) via SFTP. As we are going to implement
Compensation soon and we are interested to go for Integration Add-On (just
for Compensation. We won’t change the integration for Performance Management)
but we are wondering do we need to perform regression testing on Performance
Management at all? Should we continue using CSV file or Integration Add-On?
Thanks!
Hi Moon,
The CSV integration is reliable and changing it to web services would require a re-implementation of the employee data integration because you will be introducing middleware for this process and will need to implement that, as well as test everything works well. It shouldn't be such a large effort as you have already done most of the SAP configuration; the main effort is with introducing and testing PI for this area.
All the best,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Greetings ! Now I am in to a new SF implementation. I need your recommendation on data transfer file format from SAP HCM-->PI-->SF.
It would be nice if you could send the document / link on the PI integration & data format.
Thanks,
Suman
Hi Suman,
Please refer to documentation at
http://help.sap.com/hr_integration/ your solution is talent hybrid ( which details both direct and file based options for each module) look at those documents in detail others are for different deployment models. Cheers, Uppal
Hi Luke,
Is there a way to load Organization data into SF using flat file, we want to load this data to test requisitions in SF. We are working towards Hybrid solution and do not have the set up yet to send data from SAP to SF.
Is there a template available to load the data..
Please advise
thanks
Rajani
Hi Rajani,
What type of organization data are you looking to load? Using the add-on you can export employee data with their organizational information.
If you wish to import positions, it depends on the position model you are using. However, you should be able to download a template from Admin Tools.
Best regards,
Luke
Hey Luke,
Great overview. I have a question along the lines of the last, recent post from Rajani.
We have what I believe would be classified as a Hybrid model where SAP on premise is the source of truth for our classification catalog (Job object).
Is there in the works, or already built, an integration package which would integrate the Job OM object to the Foundation Data and/or Families and Roles structures which reside in Success Factors? These are the synonymous structures on the SF side and the import templates are extremely laborious to prepare.
Currently our organization is maintaining synchronization of the 2 platforms manually and we are looking for a more sophisticated method.
Any information you may have would be helpful.
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott,
The employee data integration will replicate employees and their organizational information. I believe family and roles reads the job data of employees in the system, so you should be able to work with this data. Are you finding that the system is not reading these jobs?
Best regards,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, it is true that the system does read the job data for employees via the user import process, however my question is more along the lines of creating the corresponding Family and Role master data in SFSF.
Our job objects are created in SAP OM, however there is no ready-made SAP extract (similar to the User export) to utilize this SAP master data to create/update corresponding master data in SFSF.
In SFSF, this data is/would be used to create new, or modify existing Roles. This data is also used in SFSF to populate the Oganization, Pay and Job Structures, utilized by SF Comp. Management, but also by SF Recruiting to populate salary ranges on job postings.
I am wondering if such an extract is planned by SAP, or if a best practice method for managing these data have been developed by customers utilizing such a model. Right now it feels like we are doing double maintenance of essentially the same data.
Again, any information provided would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott