PM v12 Acceleration (PMv12A) – Observations and things to plan around

PM v12 Acceleration is mostly in the hands of customers now. In my tenth year of PM and other configuration, I can say I’m happy to see this development. However, it still does provide partners the opportunity for true consulting as customers don’t know what they don’t know.

While PM v12A is light years ahead of previous releases in terms of functionality, there are still some gaps and a general lack of formatting customers find hard to swallow. Some issues I’ve seen and spoken to customers about include:

1. Section/Field permissions:  Admin can set these up in the template now, but can only permission up to 2nd Level manager and no higher.  Some companies may need read permission higher than 2nd level.  The only way to do that is with consultant help via the xml (EM+). Once this is done, the Admin cannot make any changes themselves in any other part of that section or field because the template see an EM+ role has been added and won’t allow the Admin to ‘save’.  Bottom line is the Admin can only permission so much in the template; there are limitations. We also find even after old forms are converted to PMv12A through the convert tool, old xml permissions are sometimes left in the code. Helpful Hint:  Check all converted forms for leftover permissions that are no longer valid.

2. Zero Ratings – A ratings of 0.0, which is allowed, has some issues.  If this rating is used, it will have an effect on the calculated ratings and can be seen in the Score pod, but will not show the numerical value or the label in the Performance Summary section of the form.  It just shows as a dash symbol. Best practice indicates we never advise customers to use a zero rating because of just these things. However, customers ARE ABLE TO make this selection, so the system inadvertently allows the problems. Helpful Hint: A zero rating does in fact cause a change in the overall rating and should NOT be recommended.

3. System Text – Much of the default wording cannot be changed for example, ‘Confirm 1: 1 Meeting’ button. While we can help through text replacement, it would be great if SuccessFactors would expand the system text customers can change in Text Replacement and perhaps the tool as a whole.

4. Old XML left in the form: Permissions can be tricky and behave differently per section and as always, order matters. Old xml permissions still linger sometimes even after the conversion tool does its job. Occasionally, we need to just eliminate a pesky form with issues and start from scratch. Helpful Hint: In the old days, starting fresh fixed more than one issue that couldn’t be found kind of like ‘rebooting’ the pc.

5. Ask for Feedback – This function does not always send the email to the feedback recipient, give the manager may get an error message, and there doesn’t seem to be any logic as to why the email will go to some internal recipients and not others. However, email itself is not always perfect in any system. Helpful Hint: Check that email permissions are set properly in the system with the admin making universal settings instead of allowing people to change their own.