Mass upload of Custom Goal Library and Goal plans in SAP SuccessFactors

[AshishBhati]

SAP SuccessFactors Performance and Goals Management has provided standard goals library which has more than 500+ objectives associated, now some of the companies use custom goals as per their needs and corporate practices. Some goals require more detailed information which needs to be customized as per position, department, division or country specific.

The goals management requires strategies and objectives for the company to align their workforce for accurate utilization. Goals Management implementation within SuccessFactors is sometimes cumbersome when an organization doesn’t have a talent management process in place, for implementing the best practices, the talent management team should work during the implementation on defining the best possible objectives at every level of employee position which serves to achieve the goals of the company as well as for an individual employee career growth.

This document will explain you the step-by-step process of creating custom goal library and then mass uploads those goals in a goal template. This document will be divided into three sections –

1. Permission settings of goals management


2. To define and import custom goals library


3. Mass upload custom goals to goals template.

Part 1 – Permission settings

Check the custom goal plan template is ready. This template should be custom built. Make sure you should not load custom objectives in predefined SAP given standard goal template. Always select your custom goal template.

Path - Admin Center -> Goals Management -> Manage Templates



Fig 1.1

Check the permission roles for accessing goal plan permission.

Path - Admin Center -> Manage Permission Roles -> Select your Role name and go to -> Goals



Fig 1.2

Next, also check if you able to import/export goals library and import goals in permission roles.

Path - Admin Center -> Manage Permission Roles -> Select your Role name and go to -> Manage Goals



Fig 1.3

Part 2 – Import Custom Goals Library

Now as we have proper authorization to import/export goals library and goals objectives into our system. Prepare the .csv file format for loading the goals library and goals objective.

First, export the template for goals library and use it as a framework for loading the custom goals library.

Path – Admin Center -> Goals Management -> Import/Export Goals Library



Fig 2.1



 

Fig 2.2

After exporting the goals library by selecting the template, the .csv file may look like below snapshot in Fig (2.3)



Fig 2.3

Important fields in the library templates are -

• Action Type - it may be ADD, DELETE or UPDATE actions which is currently accessible. There is another action type introduced ASSIGN which will be used for Mass Action directly from Goals homepage. ADD action will add the goals in the library. DELETE action will delete the entries which already uploaded, but you need to use the same .csv file with which you added the goals library. UPDATE action will modify the contents which you Added earlier, again use the same .csv file which you used before.


• Entry_Type - Following categories will be used to specify the Library main fields like
  
  
  
  • GoalLibrary - the name of custom goal library
  
  
  • Category - the goals category, for example - Delivery, Practice, Financials etc.
  
  
  • GoalLibraryEntity - Here define goals objective or any identifier which will further use to define our goals in another sheet. It may
  
  
  
  


• GUID - this is an important pointer within goals library, this number should be unique.


• PARENT_GUID - this number should be linked with GUID to associate the objectives with the respective categories.


• ENTRY_NAME - provide the detail of the objective which you prefer to give.

 

To import goals library, follow the similar path as mentioned in Fig (2.1) and this time select the Import Goals Library option as per below Fig 2.4.



Fig 2.4

Another pop-up window will appear to select the custom .csv file of goals library and click on upload.



Fig 2.5

By uploading the .csv file of goals library, our second part is completed.

 

Part 3 – Mass uploading of goals in goal plan template

First export the template of Goals from “Beta Goals Import” section.

Path - Admin Center -> Goals Management -> Beta Goals Import



Fig 3.1

Click on "Beta Goal Import"



Fig 3.2

Select the template for which you want to upload custom goals with the help of custom goals library and click on “Generate CSV header”. This will give you a baseline template which needs to be filled/updated with proper information associated with goals.

Some of the important fields of this template are –

• Action – In this field, use ADD, DELETE or UPDATE actions for goals. Use ADD for new additions of goals.


• GUID – In this field, use the GUID which is created in the custom Goals library for objectives. It is better to keep GUID as numbers.


• Objective_Category – This should match with goals template category.


• Objective_name – This can be any objective for the respective category and GUID’s, for example – “Billable utilization based on project hours” etc..


• Objective_metric – This should be some percentage, in most case we use 100%. This is more of the quantifiable metric that reflects the employee's performance towards its stated goals and objectives.


• Objective_weight – The weight is assigned to each goal to prioritize the number of goals assigned to employees. This is important to measure as of how best an employee performed in each objective. For example, if an employee delivers both pre-sales and project deliveries functionalities, then based on the nature of work functions you may assign the goals for pre-sales at 30% and project deliveries at 70% as weights. This is just an example.


• Objective_Start – Provide the start date of goals to be activated.


• Objective_Due – Due date is the end of the goal plans which needs to be achieved.


• Objective_State – For initial load, provide state as “Not Started” and likewise.

Once the importing goals plan file is ready to load, then follow the path mentioned above to go the “Beta Goals Import”. Fig (3.2) will represent the screen and on this screen select the appropriate template and then choose the file to upload. Also, select the character encoding as



Fig 3.3

Select the Goal plan template, choose the file to import within Goals template and use the UTF format. Click on Import tab for upload.

Points to remember -

• Custom goal library is only needed when you have objective which are not available in predefined standard goals library of 500+ objectives.


• While creating the .CSV format worksheet, first download the standard goals library file format from “Import/Export Goals library” and adjust it as per your needs.


• Always use “Beta Goals Import” to upload custom goals in goals template.

 

This process is simple and used when mass uploads of goals are required for an entire organization, set of departments, a group of employees, divisions etc..