Learn about SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central with the Comprehensive Guide!

December 29^th 2015 sees the release of the anticipated SAP PRESS title SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central: The Comprehensive Guide. The title is authored by two experienced Certified Professional’s in Employee Central – Rebecca Murray and myself – and the original Employee Central product manager at SAP SuccessFactors for over 5 years: Murali Mazhavanchery. The forward is written by the VP of Product Management for Employee Central at SAP SuccessFactors, Thomas Otter.

Let’s look into what’s covered in the book. But first… what’s it all about?

Overview

The 590-page book is designed for customers and consultants who want to understand the background, implementation, features and functionality, integration, and context of Employee Central. Additionally, it provides tips, tricks, and expert advice not found elsewhere. The book does not aim to reproduce implementation guides found on the Online SAP Help or SAP Service Marketplace websites. Although configuration is included, it does not aim to reproduce configuration found in these guides.

My one wish would’ve been to have closer to 1,000 pages so we could’ve made this the ultimate and complete guide to Employee Central, but there are only so many pages that you can realistically put into a book.

Chapter breakdown

After the foreword, introduction, and overview the book is split into three parts:

• PART I: Foundation
• PART II: Features and Functionality
• PART III: Integrating Employee Central with Other Systems

PART I: Foundation sets up the groundwork for understanding Employee Central and contains the following chapters:

• Employee Central Basics: covers logic object model, data models, deployment models, and various overviews of the basics of Employee Central
• Implementation Steps and Considerations: covers all you need to know when planning and executing an implementation of Employee Central
• Role-Based Permissions: a look at managing permissions in an Employee Central context
• Events and Workflows: what events and event reasons are and how workflows are an integral part of the system
• Extensibility: a look at how the Metadata Framework, Rules Engine, and SAP HANA Cloud Platform can be used to extend Employee Central functionality
• Foundation Objects: a deep-dive into the foundational objects that are used in employee master data
• Data Imports and Data Migration: a look at how data imports and data migration work, including significant tips and know-how to completing data import templates

PART II: Features and Functionality covers the various different features and functions that are provided in Employee Central and contains the following chapters:

• Position Management: a look at how Position Management can be used for solid organizational management:
• Employee Data: this covers everything you need to know about managing employees
• Employee Time, Absences, and Benefits: the real deal on time management and global benefits
• Global Assignments: how to manage expatriates and other employees on global assignment
• Contingent Workforce Management: the new Contingent Workforce Management feature used to manage contractors, temps, contingent workers, and more without the need for SAP Fieldglass
• Mass Changes: how to use the Mass Changes feature to make mass job updates
• Advances and Deductions: this covers both the Advances and Deductions features that can be used to provide employees with advances against their salary and setup deductions to recover these advances or other payments, such as benefits
• Employee Central Payroll: an overview of how Employee Central manages payroll
• Other Features and Functionality: A catch all for functionality such as Pay Scale Structure, Concurrent Employment, Document Generation, Alternative Cost Distribution, and Pensions Payouts
• Reporting: how to perform reporting on Employee Central data using ad-hoc reporting, Employee Central Advanced Reporting, and Online Report Designer
• Mobile: the mobile capabilities offered via SuccessFactors Mobile

PART III: Integrating Employee Central with Other Systems covers integration between Employee Central and other applications (including SAP ERP), as well as the various technologies and APIs offered.

How current is the book?

Writing any book on software that has four releases per year is tough. However, having an insight into the future releases and roadmap has helped parts of the book to be future-proofed for the foreseeable future. The book covers all releases up to and including the Q4 2015 release (b1511). In some cases, the book has been written to cover both current and future capabilities.

How can I get the book?

The book is available from SAP PRESS via the URL https://www.sap-press.com/successfactors-employee-central_3834/ and on Amazon via the URL http://www.amazon.com/SuccessFactors-Employee-Central-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1493212184.

Where can I stay up to date on SAP SuccessFactors, including Employee Central?

I recommend the SuccessFactors and SAP LinkedIn group, as well as the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central LinkedIn group.