Hello HCM experts,
Recently, SAP delivered additional integration functionally for the SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics (WFA) solution, which I want to highlight.
Before we get into the details about what’s new, however, let’s first explore the history of this solution. When it was first developed, the solution was called Infohrm and it was one of the first cloud-based offerings for HR analytics. Customers only needed Internet access and a subscription to use the software. One of the things customers really found valuable in this application was the ability to load data from various sources, regardless of vendor.
SuccessFactors, which is now an SAP company, acquired Inform Business Impact, the company that built Infohrm. Even to this day, the solution, which has since been renamed SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics, continues to be vendor agnostic when it comes to data loading. This is highly beneficial to a lot of SAP customers because they have system landscapes that have technology from numerous vendors. Because of the ability to get deep, collective insights into data from various sources, HR analytics has become a significant differentiator for many companies.
Comparative Data Key to HR Analytics
The original Infohrm solution provided other valuable functionality as well, including a benchmarking library. Because this was – and is – a cloud-based solution, the software could pull in benchmark data from Infohrm customers into a centralized database to fill the benchmark library. The cloud environment allowed each customer’s data to be protected by a dedicated data cube that kept their data securely isolated from others, but an aggregated abstract to be used for benchmarking purposes. This is an opt-out option for all customers
The benchmarking database gave customers whose data was in the library access to aggregated extracts, which provided them with highly informative data analyses. Customers not only gained insight into their own HR performance, but they were also able to see also how their company performed against others in the same industry or of the same size.
These benefits proved that the solution had great potential for SAP customers. In fact, the automated reporting functionality in Workforce Analytics has helped customers reduce HR full-time equivalent (FTE) resources by as much as 50%. In addition, we’ve seen other customers save up to 4 million USD in temporary hires after they had an integrated view into their workforce.
Introducing Integration Add-on 1.0
After SAP acquired SuccessFactors, we began developing programs, tools, and methodologies to help customers leverage more of the HR processes in SAP and SuccessFactors software. SAP’s extensive development in this area has significantly increased the functionality of this solution. Our goal has been to do this as efficiently as possible and at the lowest possible total cost of ownership for customers. SAP customers can now benefit from a faster adoption and a low risk implementation of Workforce Analytics with these developments.
To fully optimize the integration of WFA, SAP developed extractors that pull data from SAP HR into the WFA application. These extractors are part of the recently released Integration add-on 1.0 for SAP ERP Human Capital Management (SAP ERP HCM) and SuccessFactors Business Execution (SuccessFactors BizX).
Customers can leverage their existing on-premise core HR investments and extend them with additional value from WFA. Additionally, the WFA solution will soon be available on the SAP HANA platform, which will maximize performance of the application. We’ve also improved the user experience of Workforce Analytics to benefit all the people who use the application, including executives, managers, HR business partners, and administrators.
So what is actually offered in the Integration Add-on 1.0?
As mentioned earlier, WFA was vendor agnostic, with functionality that allowed data to be pulled into the solution from various sources (amongst which SAP ECC. Because this data loading from SAP sources was already built into Infohrm, customers can still use that functionality to pull data from SAP ECC into Workforce Analytics. Since the Integration Add-on 1.0 these extractors are part of the SAP standard delivery. In addition, with SAP high standards for software development, customers can expect quality maintenance and support, with an efficient installation process and implementation support.
You can install the Integration Add-on on SAP ECC, and access new reporting functionality such as field mapping, error checks that optimize data gathering, and the ability to produce reports in a .csv format. Data can be transferred via a file transfer protocol (FTP) or a secure FTP connection and loaded into Workforce Analytics.
With this new functionality, people can zero in on the data they want to analyze. They can focus on the whole company, certain parts of the organization, or only on a specific employee group of interest.
We set up the Integration Add-on as a rapid-deployment solution, which means that there will be a fixed scope offering for faster implementation. The Integration Add-on 1.0 Web site provides detailed information, including product availability, installation notes, and even a Cookbook for configuration.
And what can be extracted?
The Integration Add-on has extended the extraction functionality in WFA. You can transfer any relevant data in the personnel administration (PA) and organizational management (OM) areas of your SAP software. This includes i.e. employee contact data, job functions, wage categories, and work hours. You can also pull in talent-related data, such as performance reviews. For OM data, you can move any objects and relationships to Workforce Analytics to obtain a complete picture of your HR assets. In addition, you can combine this information with data from SuccessFactors talent modules for insight into talent pools, skill shortages, and pay-for-performance processes.
What’s next?
Although this post talks about a cloud-based solution, keep in mind that SAP’s workforce analytics strategy also offers customers an on-premise deployment option (as mentioned in my previous blogs). We continue to invest heavily in both. However, since this post is about the SuccessFactors WFA, I want to conclude with this thought.
SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics offers you a vast amount of standard metrics (200+), along with benchmark functionality. It’s a solution that will soon run on SAP HANA and is suitable for all business users, from executives to HR professionals. In addition, it has a Workforce Planning (WFP) solution built on top. This solution allows organizations to tie their HR strategy to their overall company strategy. This blog holds more information on our workforce planning solutions offering.
If you want to start using HR analytics and have not already made a significant investment in SAP Business Warehouse, I would recommend WFA as a strategic direction for you to pursue. You can immediately benefit from the integration of WFA with existing SAP software. You’ll also benefit from new functionality from a deep R&D investment, a strong roadmap of enhancements to come, and a predefined implementation approach that ensures a successful delivery.
More information on SuccessFactors WFA and WFP can be found on these links:
- Workforce Analytics Promo:
http://www.successfactors.com/resources/download/successfactors-workforce-analytics-promo/
- Workforce Analytics Overview:
http://www.successfactors.com/resources/download/successfactors-workforce-analytics/
- Workforce Planning Overview:
http://www.successfactors.com/resources/download/successfactors-workforce-planning/
I will keep you updated on new developments for on-premise, cloud and hybrid solutions in the HR analytics area .
Best regards,
Frans
