Where the Rock Stars and Heroes are…ASUG-SAPPHIRE 2012 – 20 of my top picks

[Former Member]

SAPPHIRE-ASUG 2012 was replete with celebrities this year.  No, I am not talking about Van Halen. No, I'm not talking about the appearance by Reggie Jackson on the SAPPHIRE show floor or the keynote by Lance Armstrong or the entertainment provided by Kevin James at the Executive Leadership Forum. 

If you recently attended the SAPPHIRE-ASUG 2012 Conference in Orlando, then you have come away with some insights, some wants, and some visions for the future.  The SAPPHIRE show floor was one of the best organized I have had the pleasure to witness.  Along with thousands of participants I roamed the demo pods, micro forums and theater presentations, enthused about how SAP is developing cloud, mobile, social media and big data and getting handon opportunities to touch the software and mobile devices.  But some of the most stimulating discussions were being held well beyond the bright lights of the SAPPHIRE show floor where the rock stars and heroes of ASUG -- customers, ASUG volunteer leaders and SAP-- talked about how to use the technology we all currently own. 

Here are just 20 of my favorite learning moments at ASUG and SAPPHIRE 2012. Most of these are available for you to review online at www.asugonline.com following a simple registration process. 

Real world experiences with on-premise Talent Management

Schwan Foods: From Jobs to Talent Assessment to BW Reporting - Integrated Talent Management at Schwan Food Company tells the story and provides insight into how to use SAP’S delivered solution versus a third party solution for succession planning.

Coca Cola Refresments:  SAP ECM Enhancement Pack 5 Improves Compensation Administration – thru maximizing their SAP implementation
and achieving efficiency by moving from 3 separate tools (SAP, Excel and SuccessFactors) to a single source for compensation budgeting and administration.

BNSF Railway:  Keeping e-Recruiting on Track with Enhancement Pack 4 explains how eRecruiting fits into BNSF’s hire-to-retire SAP implementation.  BNSF demonstrated the look and feel and capabilities of their new e-recruiting service. 

Duke University:  Transition from Kenexa to SAP Performance Management Flexible Template – tells how Duke maximized their SAP deployment by adding expected goals to the catalog, simplifying the maintenance of transfers and terminations within the appraisal period, and implementing a delegation feature.

Lockheed Martin:  Getting an Education-Implementing SAP’s Enterprise Learning describes the provisioning of learning for 132,000 employees with an easy-to-use interface, due-date logic and certification programs.

Comcast:  How SAP E-Recruiting Improved the Candidate Experience and Talent Management Efficiencies demonstrates how Comcast worked with SAP to maximize ROI by eliminating data entry and improving data integrity.  Their solution, which takes advantage of their SAP organization structure, improves usability thru the use of role-based dashboards, and automating and integrating compliance.

Process Efficiency and Increasing Your Return on Investment in HCM

Mars and Wrigely – shared their experiences with M&A in Case Study: Handling M&A With SAP-HR: How Mars and Wrigley United Their Two Environments

Disney – provided lessons in Automating and Integrating Management of PA and OM Data

Texas State University -  presented their CASE STUDY:  How Texas State University Reduced Paper and Improved Processes with HCM Forms

Seattle Public Schools – shared how they are Using GuiXT to Manage Personnel Actions

Southern California Edison – shared their experiences working with Deloitte in How a Utility Company Integrated Multiple SAP HR Systems for Seamless Payroll Processes.

Collaboration, Co-Innovation and Customer Engagement with SAP

The presentations in this category represent how SAP is working with customers in an agile environment to increase customers’ investment in their on-premise SAP software.  Take a look at:

Reinventing HR: OnDemand Co-Innovation between SAP and Customers,

SAP Enables Manager Self-Sufficiency with Flexible Technology

SAP Supports Learning-on-the-Go:  Mobile Applications for iPad

How the Next Generation of HR Professionals will Experience SAP:  Learn about the HCM Core Renovations

ASUG Influence Council activities currently in progress engaged customers in gathering feedback for SAP on Manager Self-Service, Mobile Applications and Data Privacy.  To influence SAP on these and other topics, contact influence@asug.com

Business Engagement and How to Lead the Way

In the HCM Community, What keeps HR executives up at night? was a frank discussion with SAP Mentors, Jarrett Pazahanick and Martin Gillet along with Steve Bogner of Insight Consulting and Jeremy Masters of Worklogix.  The panel discussion, led by Karen Heatwole of SAP touched on topics of interest in the audience, which ranged from tactical items like FMLA and concurrent employment to strategic focus for talent, cloud and mobility.  The hour long session was too short and was, sadly, not recorded.  But if you put a bug in the ear of your favorite ASUG HCM community leader, I’m sure they will organize more open discussions like this. 

“Change is going to happen so you might as well get used to it” – was a core message from Leadership 2.0’s Captain Lisa Leslie and ASUG’s CEO Bridgette Chambers during lunch with a select group of leaders in the SAP and ASUG ecosystem.  Watch the ASUG Broadcast of Gina Marchese interviewing Bridgette and Leslie about Leadership 2.0 on www.asugonline.com.  You can engage with the Leadership 2.0 community year round at www.asugleadership2-0.com 

One-Day Pre-Conferences Sessions that Provided a Full Conference by Themselves

If you missed out on this year’s pre-conference sessions, you missed a lot.  Those one da ypre-conference discussions and presentations were a whole conference by themselves with focused learning on hot topics of interest today.

Watch replays of theASUG 2012 Cloud Pre-Conference on YouTube.  There’s some very sage advice in these sessions on the pros and cons of purchasing,implementing,establishing SLAs and managing cloud services.  The business will see immediate gratification from implementing cloud services.
But IT can really make a difference by understanding and having the long term view of what it means to be in the cloud and helping your organization to
mitigate those risks.

Get a good sense of what occurred during the ASUG 2012 Mobile Pre-Conference by reading Jim Spath’s blog:  ASUG 2012:  Day Zero, Mobile Pre-con: baked, shipped, committed.   While I was unable to join these sessions, my co-worker did attend and brought back a lot of knowledge. 

Where the Boys Are was a 1960s American “coming of age” comedy in which Midwestern college co-eds on spring break demonstrated an alarming departure from traditional morals and behaviors of the day.   We are not so intimidated by change today.  We are, rather, in a continuous cycle of learning.  Where the Rock Stars and Heroes Are is a 2012 global story of the everyday people who collaborate, innovate and teach others how to use the SAP ecosystem. SAP is breaking down traditional business and IT practices with a push to the cloud and mobile and HANA.  SAP may sell us the technology; but I can guarantee that the users are going to help us negotiate, determine best practices,and drive towards efficiency and continuous ROI for our companies.  

Straight stories from real users, the rock stars and heroes of ASUG are available oneline at www.asugonline.com

Heroes personified: -- see the video by ASUG "Superman Didn't Need A Hero" ASUG 2012 on Vimeo