Successfactors Employee Central Payroll or On premise Payroll
Successfactors BIZx module is a complete HCM solution in the cloud, but one thing was lacking in Successfactors universe was in house Payroll.
Since SAP HCM has one of the best payroll solutions in terms of functionality (supporting more than 60+ country versions), robustness and stability, It was imperative that Successfactors reused the SAP Payroll ie integrate with SAP HCM system to make itself complete HCM solution in the cloud, instead of developing it from the scratch which would have taken years.
Hence Employee Central Payroll was born. First of all, Employee Central is what is PA/OM or Core HR we would call in SAP HCM world along with ESS, MSS and HR self services. Hence if customers moves to Employee Central (EC), we call this full cloud and EC becomes system of record.
This distinction is important to make at the outset so we can differentiate the roles of the two disparate HCM solutions. This implies no actual hiring, firing or master data changes are done directly in ERP HCM system once it integrates with EC (this is recommended), although if you do direct changes in ERP HCM system it would be overwritten by replication once EC data flows into the system through BOOMI
Below architecture diagram shows EC integrating with SAP HCM system, Now then there is also a nuance between EC Payroll and On Premise Payroll.
Lets clarify this before we explain the architecture.
EC Payroll is a system given by SAP to Core Cloud customers (for example) who never had HCM footprint to run the Payroll, But large customers who already had ECC (HCM) footprint and wants to leverage their ECC (possibly for other modules), integrate their HCM On Premise with EC by taking advantage of the Cloud innovations.
Below are salient differences, although not exhaustive
EC Payroll | EC On Premise Payroll |
---|---|
Hosted By SAP | Customer own ERP HCM system and hosted internally or by third party |
To run Payroll and other tax activities* (can change in future to include more functionality) | Typical HCM solution and used for other HCM sctivities, No restrictions as per license |
Support Package upgrade done by SAP Payroll Operations matching the SFSF release (refer the Service Catalog for responsibilities Employee Central Payroll – SAP Help Portal Page ) |
Customer Basis Team is responsible |
Latest Support Package | Customer defines the Support Package Strategy |
No OS(operating system) Level Access | OS level access |
SAP ERP on premise payroll prerequisites:
- Refer section 2, 3 and 4 in Employee central EC ERP Hand book for ERP System set up. – Install SAP add-on’s on SAP ERP system and install HR related and Non HR related SAP Notes in SAP ERP.
- SAP ERP Central component 6.0 and SAP BASIS 700 SP 18 and higher version are required.(Changes with functionality needed due to mashup screens and Payroll Control Center)
- Enable OData communication in Employee central.
- Customer IT needs to open up the HTTPs Endpoint via 443 port to make sure that SAP ERP web services are accessible from BOOMI middleware (data Integration) and EC (payslip mashup)
- SAP ERP 6.0 EHP6 system is required to use Pay slip UI and must be replicated from EC to ERP using the add-on PA_SE_IN.
- Payroll Control Center is available in EHP7 or as an add on to EHP6.
Now coming to the below diagram, an robust and stable integration engine is needed to send Payroll relevant data to EC Payroll system or On Premise system henceforth we can call this ERP HCM system, for this BOOMI(by Dell) and now HCI (HANA Cloud Integration) are being provided which what we call replicates the master data etc to HCM system using Iflows. EC and HCM are both SAP solutions now which makes it easier to be integrated seamlessly
Iflows are standard delivered Integration content by SAP to integrate EC with ERP HCM system, Currently for full Cloud scenario, We have below standard iflows delivered to cover different scenarios for ERP HCM integration, there are other iflows also, for third party integration
ie
Employee Central Integration – SAP Help Portal Page
Replicating Employee Master Data from Employee Central to SAP ERP
Organizational assignments replication plus generic replication of organizational objects (including custom objects)
Replicating Absence Data from Employee Central to SAP ERP
**We have also seen customers developing their own iflows too to meet their custom requirement.
BOOMI Uses Compound Employee API for querying the changes in an elapsed time period and OData API for alert framework(confirmation message back from ERP HCM to EC) i.e. to update the Data replication monitor in EC to inform if the data was successfully updated in the infotypes for the employee or not. Below diagram will make it clear.
As you see there is a scheduled replication process, Schedule of this process is configurable i.e. for example say every 5 to 10 minutes which means any changes (masterdata, Organisation data or time data) done in EC in last and every 5 minutes would be picked by this BOOMI process and sent to ERP HCM system using webservice etc which is done in SOAMANAGER configuration as mentioned in the EC Payroll Implementation guidebook Employee Central Payroll – SAP Help Portal Page . Data is sent as shown in above diagram.
Schedule Replication for regular execution
Create an own Environment in the Boomi Atom Management.
Assign your Atom to the Environment
Deploy your process to the Environment
Schedule the Job Execution for the deployed process
Also, We have encountered lot of customer queries on Payroll Lock and Correction, Let me explain this :
- If payroll is locked in SAP for payroll process, how does the interface handle that?
If the payroll is locked for a payroll area, the replication of those employees will fail. Those failed employees are shown in the replication monitor in EC as failed employees. If necessary, those employees can be forced to be replicated also in the lock period via manual triggering of replication out of the error monitor (corrections can be triggered for those employees also during payroll lock period). After releasing the payroll area again you can select all other employees in the payroll error monitor to trigger missing updates. Advantage: In EC changes to employees are not locked during payroll processing.
Payroll Correction Phase also, employees will not be updated and hence needs to be manually re-triggered via Data replication Monitor or a rule can be written in EC to automate these employees similar to locked Payroll area which is delivered as standard.
For Troubleshooting, using Data replication monitor in EC and SLG1/SRTUTIL in ERP HCM system.Once replication hits the ERP HCM system, it creates a log in transaction SLG1 that describes the processing messages and will give any master data issues if it failed
Also, If there is no SLG1 log or SRTUTIL log, probably the error is from BOOMI side or Compound Employee API side and then BOOMI Process logs or the API Audit log in EC can be checked for troubleshooting
Transaction SLG1 can be used for further issue tracking (Object PAOC_SF_PA and Subobject EE for master data replication as an example):
Another point to explain is webdynpro screens in EC for some country specific scenarios which can be activated, Payslip is a webdynpo application reused here. UI Mash up is a portlet available in EC. Data from backend system is made available through the UI for display and edit. Mashup Screens doesnt use BOOMI as it directly updates the infotypes.
There are further many points to explain,i did try to condense lot of information here which are enquired on regular basis by many customers. In next blog, I would cover more topics in detail for OM and Time data, I would highly recommend to refer the guides for further reading.
We delivered Max Attention services to maximise the potential of your Employee Central Payroll Implementation at many large customers. Please contact us if you need further information on how you can leverage these services for the smooth and successful implementation.
Interested to hear how SAP MaxAttention can help Successfactors implementation in your company? We’re happy to help! Email us at sapinnovationzone_coena@sap.com
Nice one - how many countries is currently supported by the SuccessFactors cloud payroll
70+
Regards,
Jwala,
Employee Central certified.
Wrong It will support 35
About 35 (not 70+)
ok ......may be infuture
Yes at the moment, We have GA available for 35+, Every quarter release we are adding more, this 1602 release will see Taiwan and UAE.
More information can be got from release notes
https://connect.successfactors.com/Community/Pages/splash.aspx?redirectreason=notregistered&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.successfactors.com%2Ft5%2FSupport%2F2016-Release-Schedule%2Fba-p%2F111303
Below is the list :Argentina Australia Austria Brazil Canada Chile China Colombia Czech Republic Finland France Germany Hong Kong India Ireland Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Spain South Korea Sweden Switzerland UK USA Venezuela
Keep my fingers crossed for Denmark in a future release 🙂
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing
Many thanks Imran 🙂
Really Good and Informative Info Siddharth. Thanks for Sharing
Many thanks Avinash
Thanks for sharing excellent stuff
Many thanks Ramesh
So from a support consultant 's perspective , the core HCM payroll solution isn't going anywhere . EC payroll is very much SAP 's HCM payroll except that instead of directly running it an interface works between SF and on premise solution , replicating master data , running the payroll and then importing results to cloud again . Right ?
That's correct, Payroll as such would be hosted as Cloud Payroll at the moment which is nothing but good old SAP On Premise Payroll.
Note for EC Payroll, Now we have Point to Point Integration from 1605, I ll update the link shortly.
Also, We don't import Payroll results to EC, there is no standard integration for it. Can you explain why you need results to cloud? do you mean in Employee Central?
Yes either EC or any other premise where I can see the Payroll results .
The need for import is ..
if I am not seeing the payroll run as a payroll admin /support consultant real time and I wait for the on premise solution to run it .. shouldn't I be seeing the results once they are done ?
I mean ..for now I only have the data replication monitor to see the error log and not a direct means in SF/EC central to see the error log real time .
first of all payroll is run on On Premise or EC Payroll system only, ie using Se38 or a btach proess, so you ll be checking it there
Data replication monitor is for different purpose.
But to view status and run payroll, we also use Payroll Control Center which is in EC and present realtime info on payroll activities and can be leveraged ie whats happening on EC Payroll or SAP HCM on premise payroll system
Thanks for sharing Siddharth,
I would like to ask you a question about the roles and permissioning please. In the EC we are using the RBP but is it the same for EC payroll or we are using the same logic as we used in the ECC and NW-portal?
Thank you,
Filippos
Good question as many get confused, Please note you ll continue to use RBP as the main authorization tool in purview of EC, Only for Mashups you would need to assign a backend generic ESS role only in ECC. Even for this a general role is available in ECC for the user ie for exampleSAP_CLOUD_EMPLOYEE_ESS_PAYSLIP* for seeing pay statement in EC
Also, if you are using Payroll Control Center, you ll define additional roles in ECC all are standard delivered.
if you are planning to use any custom mashup etc, you ll control it via ECC authorization and only for displaying it would be in EC RBP.
Let me know if I have clarified. Handbook has more information on it
Thanks for Sharing Siddharth,
I would like to ask you below questions:
1.IT0655 flag has to be set for ALL employees if they are to be excluded from manual payslip printing. Can I use the P2P replication BADI to update IT0655 for all new starters. The assumption is that the payroll team will remove the flag to enable manual payslip printing on request. Can IT0655 flag be set automatically by replicating data from EC to EC payroll?
2. Setting ‘run payroll upto’ date on IT0003 for payments after leaving. Can this be automtocally set by replicating data from EC to EC payroll?
Regards,
Utkarsh
1) yes you can for the new hires to update additional infotype or fields.
From the guide, You have to use BADI B. As we don't usually send IT0655 from EC.
Probably you can make this a custom field and send it and map it via BADI as well
https://websmp203.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/012002523100008869102015E
There are two types of BAdIs you can use to enhance the SAP ERP HCM default logic for specific infotypes. ● BAdI A: BAdI that is processed after the standard mapping logic but before the infotype update Use BAdI A to extend or modify the mapping logic for all infotypes of the standard set, for when basic extensibility is not sufficient. You do not need to update the Infotype Framework in the BAdI. ● BAdI B: BAdIs that are processed after the standard import logic for an employee but before save. Use BAdI B to extend the replication scope to infotypes that are not a part of the standard set. The comparison between old data and mapped data and the update to the Infotype Framework has to be done in the BAdI. We recommend you use the generic update logic described below.
2. This ll be taken automatically in EC Payroll ie SAP HCM system, you don't need to worry about it as Payroll run will set this automatically
You only send payroll revelant master data to SAP HCM (EC Payroll System) and rest is done in EC payroll system ie update of IT0003 etc
Thank you Siddharth...
Hi Siddharth,
one more question:
Determination of Personnel Area and Sub-areas. Do we need BADI to populate the values as the values are derived using company code? Replicate Enterprise Structure(Company Code, PA and PSA) from EC to EC Payroll or SAP HCM.
Regards,
Utkarsh
you can use the mapping table
There is a section called Key mapping of Organisational Terms, you can map as below
In the Spro, you would see the documentation for it.
Location-> PermanentEstablishmentID
->Personnel Area
Best practice is to concatenate following ERP fields into the EC location:
P0001-WERKS personnel
P0001-BTRTL personnel subarea.
For example
•Location: Maps to 2 ERP fields: P0001-WERKS personnel area and P0001-BTRTL personnel subarea. Best practice is to concatenate the two ERP fields into the EC location DE010001. Use capital letters and numbers only.
•ERP check tables for location:
Table T500P for field WERKS
Table T001P for field BTRTL
Thank you Siddharth.
Hi Siddarth,
We are currently replicating with BOOMI as the middleware. We would like to move the replication process to PTP and would like to confirm if we can use both PTP and the current process together.
Could you please let me know if we can use both together?
Thanks,
Aparna
p2p can only be used in scenario for EC payroll
so if you have that you can replace BOOMI with p2p
you can't use both togather for same integrating content ie for example master data
hope this clarifies
Thank you Siddarth! We are currently using EC Payroll with Boomi replication from EC. We would like to switch to PTP but are worried if it would break anything. So we would like to know if we can turn off boomi replication and start using PTP. For whatever reason can we switch back to Boomi Replication?
Is there a technical limitation(like a switch) which prevents from using PTP while using Boomi replication although we want to use only one. I am just curious as to if there is any switch. When looked at the PTP replication program i didn't find any.
Appreciate your input.
Aparna
Note P2P and BOOMI has different settings and customisation, If you switch to P2P, i dont think you can switch back to BOOMI! You should test this in your pre prod environment ie P2P replication and once comfortable only then available in production.
https://blogs.sap.com/2016/07/19/ec-payroll-point-to-point-integration-p2p/
You can see the steps here. there is no switch per se but more customisation steps
https://websmp207.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/012002523100007691112016E
first implementation and we have customer have sap ERP payroll he want to integrate it with successfactors
what the steps or any content to know the process?
Yes you can do that, as it would be EC on Premise payroll
Here you would be migrating data from ERP to EC first step ie one time job, as EC would be system of truth now and then start doing EC to ERP replication via HCI for Master data etc
you can refer these guides here, This is called Core Hybrid Scenario
https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_EMPLOYEE_CENTRAL_INTEGRATION_TO_SAP_BUSINESS_SUITE
i have found Cost Centers, Organizational Data, Employee Master Data Replication and Employee Data Migration and Replication
which one of them if i just want payroll or all of them?
you would need all of it, Cost center is to EC from Finance for employees to be staffed to Cost center
You ll be doing, Master data, Org data replication to ERP for Payroll. Org data depends but not necessary for payroll, are you planning to use Position management in EC/
Cant we do Payroll directly in SF Do we still need to depend on HCI or Dell Bhoomi to integrate data from SAP or Non SAP System
There is no payroll in SF< you need ECP system which doesn't require HCI or BOOMI
refer my other blog for it ie point to point