Date: 7 Dec 2009
By Calvin Aquino
More and more organisations have leveraged technology to improve performance through various Human Capital Management initiatives or programs. As HCM strategies and trends change to adapt to the equally changing business environment, the need for continuous functional and technical innovation is imperative. SAP Enhancement Packages (EhPs) facilitates the introduction of these improvements by allowing organisations to deploy them at a time they are ready. Let's have a quick look at some highlights of the updates in HCM through the EhPs. The latest is currently EhP4 with EhP5 forecasted to be released in the second half of 2010.
| HCM | Talent Management |
Workforce Process Management |
| Enhancement Pack 2 |
- Learning Solution - Enterprise Learning |
- Administrative Services - Employee Interaction Centre |
| Enhancement Pack 3 |
- Talent Management Analytics - Localisation Topics - SAP E-Recruiting - MSS for SAP E-Recruiting - SAP E-Recruiting - Search |
- CATS Classic: cProjects Details - CATS Regular: cProjects Details - ESS for Personnel Information - ESS for Concurrent Employment & Global Employee |
| Enhancement Pack 4 |
- CA, Appraisals, Evaluations and Surveys - CA, Employee Qualifications for Concurrent/Global Employment - Localisation Topics - Enterprise Compensation Management - SAP E-Recruiting - Learning Solution - Performance Managment - Core Processes in Talent Management |
- CATS classic for Concurrent Employment - Administrative Services - Personnel Actions for Concurrent Employment - Time & Labour Management for Concurrent Employment - Employee Interaction Centre - CATS Classic for Concurrent Employment - Localisation Topics |
Learning Solution
In EhP2, the instructor/tutor portal was introduced to Learning Solution (LSO) enabling them to perform business processes such as managing participation. A new version of this role was introduced in EhP4 which supports instructors and tutors in carrying out the tasks involved in following up courses.
Other LSO changes in EhP4 include a new portal role providing course administrators with Web-based services for carrying out course preparation activities, course offering activities and day-to-day activities. Users will also see improved user interfaces for publishing course content, distribution of e-learning-type materials, and better support for course administrators in evaluating and analysing course appraisals in order to optimize the course offering using this information. Learning Management services for managers provide a user-friendly interface for administrating their employees' learning activities, getting an overview of required qualifications and booking courses and mandatory assignments for employees.
Enterprise Learning
Enterprise Learning environment combines Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional with SAP Learning Solution starting from EhP2 to provide integrated virtual learning rooms and capabilities for rapidly authoring e-learning content. Virtual Learning Rooms allow more opportunities for the instructor and learner to interact and maximise learning potentials.
E-Recruiting
The E-Recruiting module is a recipient of a number of new features and improvements in the last couple of EhPs. EhP3 includes new Web services for third-party services, dashboards for questionnaires, support group improvements, new candidate services, and improved handling of mass activities. There is also new support for scenarios in SAP Manager Self-Service (MSS) for managers' involvement in SAP E-Recruiting and in the overall decision process for one new hires (feedback on candidates based on talent pool needs, specific job postings and assessments with questionnaires).
A new Recruiter Portal Role and Recruiting Administrator Role will be seen in EhP4 allowing an overall view to all relevant information and services that recruiters and administrators need to complete their daily work. Other enhancements are around background checking, resumé parsing (to simplify extraction, administration, and storage of candidate data), reporting options, and some application performance improvements.
Talent Management
A long list of enhancements is introduced in EhP4 for Talent Management enabling greater capability around talent review and development as well as succession management. The talent profile serves as a foundation which provides employees, managers and talent management specialists with services for entering all information relevant for Talent Management about an employee. Talent Review Meetings and Side-by-Side Comparisons are new tools that would facilitate talent review processes. Talent development is then used to set up longer-term development plans for the organisation's talents and monitor their progress.
The talent management specialists are also able to ensure that the important positions in the company are identified and if these positions are to become vacant that they can be filled quickly and adequately if suitable employees are assigned to the position as possible successors. It is possible to specify a ranking sequence for the assigned successors and their readiness. When used with SAP Talent Visualization by Nakisa 2.0, these functions can be performed through a graphical user interface.
Enterprise Compensation Management
In EhP4, several additional reports are introduced to support HR with administering the compensation process. The reports support the planning process and progress (example: data on the status of planning by manager and organization), auditing the process (example: tracking of infotype 759 - Compensation Process) and additional administration task (example: changes made to compensation data). In addition, there is an enhanced HR administrator functionality allowing them to make changes, adjustments, deletion and so on) to certain compensation records en masse.
Performance Management
The performance management process gets new user-friendly interfaces for efficiently recording and editing all the required information in a predefined Performance Management process in EhP4. Web applications are also available to create and edit corporate goals and core values as well as assign them to the relevant group of people through a web application. Cascading of Team Goals is also now possible together with linking of individual goals for each employee to the higher team goals in the appraisal process. There is also an enhanced integration of Performance Management and SAP Enterprise Learning.
Self Services (ESS and MSS)
Improvements to the Employee Interaction Centre (EIC) were introduced from EhP2. In addition, HR Processes and Forms enable the automation of paper-based processes and forms. In EhP3, there are changes to the Personal Information scenarios allowing greater flexibility in setting up fields on Business Cards and Overview Screens. The enhanced ESS Address service also allows employees to maintain foreign address data. For MSS, a new business function is introduced to implement the Recruiting Work Center in MSS. Developments in EhP4 include new iViews in Career and Job, Working Time and Travel Management.
Other Enhancements
There are other enhancements in several areas across HCM. Concurrent Employment Management - Better support in handling records of employees with multiple personnel assignments/records. Localisation topics - Miscellaneous country-specific enhancements HCM administration services - New services for the Business Package for HR Administrator
Enhancement Pack 5
The enhancements that would be covered in the next pack have yet to be finalised. However, after seeing the improvements through the previous EhPs, there is great anticipation that EhP5 has a lot more to offer.