SAP PS integration with KRONOS

[former_member282774]

Hi All,

Our requirement is to integrate KRONOS(Legacy) with SAP PS so time will be recorded from KRONOS and a dummy HR mini master will be maintained in SAP so time will be recorded in KRONOS and the Employee ID reference will be from dummy HR mini master so that cost can be captured at Project level.

Experts,please throw your insights on this business requirement.

Thanks,

Srini.

[former_member282774]

Hi All,

Our requirement is to integrate KRONOS(Legacy) with SAP PS so time will be recorded from KRONOS and a dummy HR mini master will be maintained in SAP so time will be recorded in KRONOS and the Employee ID reference will be from dummy HR mini master so that cost can be captured at Project level.

Experts,please throw your insights on this business requirement.

Thanks,

Srini.

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

What I have understood from your question is that you need an Interface between KRONOS and SAP for time booking.

Few points which you need to capture before developing this interface are as under:

1. In KRONOS you need to activate fields for Employee Code, Date, Hours, WBS, Network Activity,Cost Center ( Sender/Receiver) and Activity type which will be used in SAP to update the CATSDB table.

2. How often would you like to update the SAP System? what would be the frequency of the Interface.

3. How would you like the data to be updated in SAP? whether KRONOS is going to send a flat file or it would be through IDOCs or batch program?.

4. Are there any mandatory items which you need to capture in SAP PS for time booking?

Hope it helps you in developing your interface.

Cheers

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Thanks for your response.

1. In KRONOS you need to activate fields for Employee Code, Date, Hours, WBS, Network Activity,Cost Center ( Sender/Receiver) and Activity type which will be used in SAP to update the CATSDB table.

Does KRONOS has all this fields like WBS and Cost center fields..

FYI In our Business,HCM is out of scope

2.How would you like the data to be updated in SAP? whether KRONOS is going to send a flat file or it would be through IDOCs or batch program?.

Can you throw some insight on Flat file and IDOC(OR please recommend the best)

4. Are there any mandatory items which you need to capture in SAP PS for time booking?

Just Employee time and the cost must be captured at WBS element level.

Apologies I am asking you very detail. KRONOS with SAP is new to me.

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

It seems there is a lack of information with you to develop this interface.

Follow the below steps  to get a better understanding in addition to what i have mentioned previously. Also I will try and answer your queries. In real world this would cost you Dollars in Consulting World!!!

1. How are  the timesheets being booked in the current System? This would be your starting point. What all fields are available in KRONOS, against which object  the employees are booking their time? eg, Is there a project code?  a Cost Center? ( Get this Information)

2. As you said HCM is out of Scope, what you would definitely need is a Mini HCM master which will have the details of all the employees for you to update the data in the CATSDB and other tables.

3. What is the object you want the time to be updated against is PS? Is it WBS or Network Activity or Cost Center? This is define which program you will use to update the cost aspect of the time sheet. So it is very necessary to get this clearly defined.

4. Once the object against which time will be booked lets assume it is WBS. Then you need to modify KRONOS to have a field which can store the WBS value.

5. Here another question will arise how this WBS will be filled by the user? Do they know @ it? or does it has to be sent from SAP to KRONOS? Get a clarity on this as well from your business..

6. Once these points are cleared then comes the question of sending the data from KRONOS to SAP.. Now here the question you need to ask is do you want it to be real time or can it be updated on a fixed intervals? this will define which approach you can take.

7. Lets assume it is a weekly update then you can use a flat flie from KRONOS to SAP. The flat file is nothing  but a tab Delimited txt file which will have data @ the employee, hours ,date.. again  here also you need to get a confirmation from client @ the fields in the File which will be sent from KRONOS to SAP.

8. Now the last part of updating cost will be based upon against what you are updating the time in SAP. Assuming it is WBS then you need to use program RCATSCO to transfer the data.

Hope it clears your doubts...

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Thanks,Sammar.

Your help is really appreciated.

Yes,I agree with you that it cost dollars for the kind of solution you provided

Thanks Again.

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

If the issue is closed, You can mark your thread as closed

[former_member282774]

Hi Samar,

The issue hasn't closed yet

For Capex projects(Legacy System) ,time will be entered in KRONOS for the employees working for the Project(Data Object:Project Code) and that respective employee gets paid through ADP.There were roughly around 100 Employees.

MY customer entering time in KRONOS and getting paid through ADP but their requirement is to capture the time and book expenses at Project Level(Which doesn't make any sense to me).

-Can time be recorded and the expenses can be booked at Project level?(But already getting paid through ADP)

-If they are getting paid through ADP ,why do we have to book the expenses at project level for any respective employee?

-Or Can ADP mapped to SAP PS?

If we are recording time in KRONOS and paying them through ADP but where the cost goes at project level?

I need to come up with a recommendation.I request experts to provide me any inputs.

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

1. Is there a Plan to get rid of ADP and KRONOS altogether?

2. You cannot book time to a Project Code , but you can book to a WBSe or Network Activity in SAP PS. You can capture the time booked by an Employee and cost associated with it and keep Paying the employee through ADP. The question which will arise here would be how will you settle this expense which is booked on the project.

3. If you don't want to go through the pains of creating an interface between KRONOS and SAP and ADP, what you can recommend them is do an FI posting to the tune of the expenses incurred for time booking by the employees on CAPEX projects.

You can create a batch job by KB21N, or KB15N transaction to post the cost.. This is a dirty fix.

Cheers

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Samar,

Thanks for the reply Man.You been a great help.

In legacy(Non-SAP) they are recording time in KRONOS and get paid through ADP and they use Project code as a reference which says that particular employee worked for that respective Project(Project Code).

SO they are expecting same thing that they can book the time of an employee and book expenses at Project level(Since in legacy they use project code as a reference that employee worked for that particular project) though they are getting paid through ADP.As you said ,we can book Employee and cost associated with it and keep Paying the employee through ADP but what about settling the cost at project level?

Or IS there anyway we can just capture the cost at project level just for informational purpose?

How about creating Work centers for 100 employees and maintain price in KP26?

[sammar81]

I am off work these days.. so trying to get a hang of SCN

No you cannot capture at project level, PD is not a cost object in SAP PS. It's either a WBS or Network Activity against which you can capture cost.

You can create a Work Center and use Activity rates to capture the cost. But it will be a holistic view not individual. This is as good as doing an FI Posting for the  amount of work done..

If it is just FYI.. then why don't you create a Z Table which will have all the project codes in it.. and gets updated from KRONOS. It would be simpler and easy... And create a report out of this table..

[former_member282774]

Hi Samar,

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry I think I am not able to give you the proper requirement but still understood your inputs.

I don't want to consume your time.Let me give you a clear rough cut and please provide your recommendation.

Whoever Employee working for the project are full time employees also all enter time through KRONOS and they all get paid through ADP.But our customer idea is to capture that respective employee cost at WBS element level.

But,I was wondering why do we have to book the expenses of an employee at project level since they are entering time in KRONOS(Legacy) and expenses are being booked at ADP(Legacy) also getting paid through ADP.At this point I don't see any relevance for capturing the cost at WBS element level.

FYI We are not retiring KRONOS.

But,you made a valid point to create Z report which will pull all the KRONOS data for that particular project .

[former_member282774]

Hi Samar,

The issue hasn't closed yet

For Capex projects(Legacy System) ,time will be entered in KRONOS for the employees working for the Project(Data Object:Project Code) and that respective employee gets paid through ADP.There were roughly around 100 Employees.

MY customer entering time in KRONOS and getting paid through ADP but their requirement is to capture the time and book expenses at Project Level(Which doesn't make any sense to me).

-Can time be recorded and the expenses can be booked at Project level?(But already getting paid through ADP)

-If they are getting paid through ADP ,why do we have to book the expenses at project level for any respective employee?

-Or Can ADP mapped to SAP PS?

If we are recording time in KRONOS and paying them through ADP but where the cost goes at project level?

I need to come up with a recommendation.I request experts to provide me any inputs.

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

Sorry for getting back to you again

-KRONOS sends the date to SAP in a flat file(So we are only feeding employee time and hours to SAP)

-Activity group and Cost centers will be created in SAP

-HR mini master org structure will be maintained in SAP

Requirement:

In KRONOS they have labor code (labor code will be same as the Project code to identify in reporting that this group of labor worked for the respective project)

I am just worried about the mapping..

Possible mappings:

-Legacy employee data to HR mini master

-Activity groups and HR mini master will be maintained in SAP

I am assuming that labor code can be mapped to Internal Activity(Custom Program) to book expenses at Project level cuz Labor code can't be mapped to Project Number(Legacy Project code) since Project def is not a cost collector.

Please provide your inputs

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

In any new interface we need to make changes to the existing working of the system, so that we can cater for the new requirements.

In your case KRONOS needs to send you the following data in their Flat file for the upload of time sheets to be successful

1. Employee Code ( As per the Code Maintained in the HR Mini Master in SAP)

2. Cost Object ( WBS or Activity Code against which the Employee has worked) Not the Project code which they are used to..

3. Activity Type ( this will determine the costing in SAP)

4. Hours worked by the Employee.

This is bare minimum data they need to send to you for you to upload the data in SAP. If they have issues in doing any of the above listed your interface will not work!!

From SAP END:

1. You need a HR Mini Master, with the data of all employees in SAP.

2. You need infotype 315 for timesheets defaults..

3. You need Activity types and Cost Center rates maintained in KP26 for these employees.

4. You need to create batch jobs for posting the timesheets once the data is uploaded in the CATSDB table.

5. You need to put the uploaded timesheets as approved Status 30 in CATSDB while uploading..

6. After all this a good amount of TESTING to see this all works well

Now lets assume they don't want to change their existing practice and still want to track the time spent by the employees on a project.. Then the dirty fix would be to create a Z Table in SAP and get it updated by the data being sent by KRONOS.

Later on you can develop a mechanism to read through this data and do some postings to the project if required to capture the cost of the employees work on projects..

In my view the first step should be followed..

Hope it helps

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

KRONOS will be only sending Flat file that contains Employee Time,approved hours and employee Actual rate.

SO we are not maintaining any Work centers and Activity types since Actual cost is come from KRONOS.

Problem:

Labor code(KRONOS data) will be mapped to Cost Center

1.If we map a ‘Labor code’ to Cost Center (SAP) how does cost Captures at ‘Internal Activity”?

2.Can we map a Labor code to Cost Center as well as Internal Activity(Like Same string) to capture cost at Internal actviity?

3.If we just map 'Labor code' to Cost center how does cots flows in to Internal Activity?

Business is not worried capturing the Cost of an Employee by Employee ID? (They are fine as long as they see total cost of the Employees that are working for a Project.

Please suggest…

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

KRONOS will be only sending Flat file that contains (Employee data also time will be approved in KRONOS before we send a flat file to SAP.

As you said, I agree with creating a work center, activity type (KP26) and assigning them to a sending Cost center in SAP and do mapping from KRONOS to SAP as part of the interface.

Problem:

Labor code(KRONOS) contains employee data but I am struggling about the mapping ‘Labor code’ to SAP.I believe that ‘Labor code’ needs to be mapped to ‘Cost Center’ or ‘Internal Activity’ but the requirement is to capture cost at ‘Internal Activity level’

1. If we map a ‘Labor code’ to Cost Center (SAP) how does cost Captures at ‘Internal Activity”?
2. Would it make sense if we directly Map “labor code’ to Internal Activity?(Then how does cost comes into Activity since the cost comes from Cost enters)
3. Business is not worried capturing the Cost of an Employee by Employee ID? (They are fine as long as they see total cost of the Employees that are working for a Project.

Please suggest…

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

KRONOS will be only sending Flat file that contains (Employee data also time will be approved in KRONOS before we send a flat file to SAP.

As you said, I agree with creating a work center, activity type (KP26) and assigning them to a sending Cost center in SAP and do mapping from KRONOS to SAP as part of the interface.

Problem:

Labor code(KRONOS) contains employee data but I am struggling about the mapping ‘Labor code’ to SAP.I believe that ‘Labor code’ needs to be mapped to ‘Cost Center’ or ‘Internal Activity’ but the requirement is to capture cost at ‘Internal Activity level’

1. If we map a ‘Labor code’ to Cost Center (SAP) how does cost Captures at ‘Internal Activity”?
2. Would it make sense if we directly Map “labor code’ to Internal Activity?(Then how does cost comes into Activity since the cost comes from Cost enters)
3. Business is not worried capturing the Cost of an Employee by Employee ID? (They are fine as long as they see total cost of the Employees that are working for a Project.

Please suggest…

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

If all the data actual cost and hours both are being sent by KRONOS and you just need to update the same in an Internal Activity.. you can simply use the User Defined field in Internal activity to map the labour Code..

Does your project team knows which labour code to enter for their work which they did in KRONOS?

as mapping it to cost center will not help you...

Regards

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Thanks for the response,Sammar.

There are six labor codes for all the CAPEX projects across the plants.

Problem:

-We are not maintaining Work Centers and Activity types but Internal Activity requires 'Work Center' and Activity Type as a mandatory fields to post actual on Internal Activity.(Please correct me If I am wrong)

-Internal Activity needs to be confirmed to post Actual on the project since we are sending Actual cost from KRONOS so how does the 'Confirmation takes place".

Please advise

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

You can confirm an activity without work center as well.. In this case no actual cost will be posted to the Internal activity. It is not mandatory to have Work Center and Activity type in an internal activity.. You can create it without these as well..

Same goes for posting of actual cost. You can post to an internal activity using FICO transactions.. KB15N, KB21N etc or F-02 etc..

Regards

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

I need your advise again for KRONOS to SAP interface:

-KRONOS will be sending  Labor Code that contains'Actual Hours' and 'Actual cost' to SAP

-How to map a 'Labor code' to Internal Activity?

-Labor code already mapped to Cost Center so only Actual cost is coming to Cost center whereas Actual hours are not captured in cost centers ,Actual hours will be pulled in SAP report for reporting purpose.

PS requirement is to Map 'Labor code' to Internal Activity(Users wants to see Labor code Actual cost and hours at Internal Activity level)

Please advise.

[sammar81]

Hi Srini,

For any two way interface you need changes at both the ends. KRONOS cannot just send you labour code and cost and leave it to your imagination to map it in SAP.

they need to send you the Network Number/ Activity Number against which the time was booked and then you can pick this data and update SAP.

Hope it helps..

Regards

Sammar

[former_member282774]

Hi Sammar,

I need your advise again for KRONOS to SAP interface:

-KRONOS will be sending  Labor Code that contains'Actual Hours' and 'Actual cost' to SAP

-How to map a 'Labor code' to Internal Activity?

-Labor code already mapped to Cost Center so only Actual cost is coming to Cost center whereas Actual hours are not captured in cost centers ,Actual hours will be pulled in SAP report for reporting purpose.

PS requirement is to Map 'Labor code' to Internal Activity(Users wants to see Labor code Actual cost and hours at Internal Activity level)

Please advise.