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fim
Active Contributor

Organizational Management could be understood from a simple example from our everyday life. We as “person” have different “attributes” and we are “linked” with others; persons and other things. I’m Faisal – a person and I’ve a small family therefore linked / related with other ‘persons’. As myself I’ve certain “attributes” such as a name, an address and I possess few things. So as a Person I and my family are one type of objects and the things I / my family possess are other types of objects. My cell phone is another object type and its related to me. By the way Cell Phone also has attributes (some common features as yours and few individual features such as IMEI) and therefore its another object type.

Whenever we talk about an object, we also mention the object type. You talk about Faisal and the other person doesn’t know what is Faisal so you’ve to tell Faisal is a Person. It may be a name of a brand so it’d be identified by an object type. Features of each Object Type (Person, Phone etc) are common, however, object is mentioned, its unique. So all Persons may have a name & addresses as object types but when you mention Faisal, it means you’re talking about me who has a different name & address than yours so I’m an object. Similarly the Cell Phone is an object type but when you talk about a specific cell phone which I’ve, its different than yours; it has its own IMEI number. So its another object. When I say Faisal owns a cell (123456789), it means Cell is related to him. It’s a relationship.

Now when you’ve got an idea what is an object type, the object, object attributes and their relationships, you’ve almost understood the Organizational Management – SAP HR Component. All of the businesses / companies you see around you have certain hierarchy with which you identify their functions. You also know a person with his function at the organization. Individual elements of the hierarchy which we typically call departments are known as Organizational Units in Organizational Management component. So Organizational Unit is another object type.  Usually these are defined according to function they perform such as a manufacturing business which produces a product may have functions like Purchase, Production, Sale, Finance and Human Resources. In this case all of these would be Objects with specific IDs. Within these major Org. Units, there could be further subdivision such as Human Resources could have Payroll and Employee Administration two different Units. So these are 2 more Objects within single Object Type “Organizational Unit”.

Within Organizational Units a business would have specific roles to perform chaired by Persons, such as “Head of Sales”. It is a position. Can you identify / define more positions from our example above? Yes, you’re right “Head of <<organizational unit>>” is a position. But wait, you don’t have only “heads”, you also have other positions. These could be Executives with different functions or Specialists in certain areas. All these are occupied with Persons. So Position is an object or object type, guess what? Well, you’re already familiar with the concept, it’s an another object type. But when you talk about a specific position such as Head of Sales, it’s an object. So how many objects you know from the Organizational Model till now? 2! Right. Ok, do you think we could say certain positions perform similar functions no matter to which org. unit they belong? A cleaner for instance, who cleans your office is not different in his tasks then the one in other office within your organization. So we could generalize the two cleaner positions with Job which is another object type. Let me ask you a question, if you’re working for a SAP Competency Center (an organizational unit specialized in providing Customer Support to his organization) as I do, what will be the job, a position and organizational unit in this example? Your answer is absolutely right, SAP Competency Center is an organizational unit, a Consultant is a job and HR Consultant a position which I occupy.

You know what? You already know Organizational Management. You’re familiar with Object Types “Organizational Unit”, “Position”, “Job” and “Person” who form the Organizational Hierarchy. Each of these Object Types have different attributes and they are related to each other as well. Let us explore the relationship now. I’m Faisal (an Object) defined by “Person” (an object type) and hold a SAP HR Consultant position (another object) defined by “Position” (object type). My position is defined by a Consultant (an object) classified as Job (object type). SAP HR Consultant (Position) belongs to SAP Competency Center (Organizational Unit). Does it make sense? Wao! You’re about to finish the overview of Organizational Management.

By the way you’re already done with Object Types, Objects, Relationships and Attributes. Now it’s your turn to get back to me and explain what do you think of Organizational Management? We can go further if you liked the topic! Waiting to hear from you! Let me tell you something interesting this component is a base component, not only for HR but also for various other applications so do learn it!

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