This blog is to explain one of the standard features of Position management settings in Success factors - Transition period. Essentially, a transition period occurs when an employee leaves a position and a successor is appointed to that position before the incumbent leaves it. This means that the position is overstaffed for that time. The transition period can be either defined globally or in position types. However, if you have defined in both the places, the global setting will override the position type settings.
There are 3 different scenarios that are being covered as part of this blog. They are,
The attributes which are used for the transition period are Use transition period (Boolean), Period (number), and the Unit (Enumerator).
As I mentioned earlier, the transition period can be defined in position types.
We have the standard MDF object for the position type transition period in the system. It needs to be associated with the MDF object position type.
The transition period for the respective position type needs to be defined in the manage data > position type.
There is an option in position management settings > UI customizing > Allow selection only of positions that have the status to be hired in MSS job information and hire, this needs to be set to No to be able to display the position in the job information UI/Hire UI. I understand that this is one of the most important settings where the customers will feel that all the positions are getting displayed in the job information, although it is occupied. To overcome this scenario, we need to acquire SAP Best Practices, where the position can be restricted to be able to view within their Legal Entity/Line manager hierarchy. The Line Manager hierarchy scenario can be achieved through business rules and RBP. The same has been explained in detail here.
Alright, let's see a scenario where the transition period is enabled in the position type (regular position) for 1 month. A regular position is used with 1 FTE. Terminate the incumbent in the near future (within 1 month period) and make sure the workflow is approved.
Hire a new employee in the same position. Also, check if the company which is selected is the same as the company that has been defined for the position.
Once the new employee is hired, the position org chart will be shown as overstaffed.
Since it is a Regular non-mass position with 1 FTE, it will not be available for further allocation of employees through job information / Hire UI.
Let's take a regular mass position with 2 FTE. Terminate the incumbent and approve the workflow. Assign a new employee to the same position.
Since it is a mass position, the system will allow further incumbents to the same position.
To overcome this, we may need to use the standard field position control in the position MDF object.
Once it is enabled, the position will not be available for further allocation of an employee.
You might wonder, if the regular non-mass position with 1 FTE has had the position control field in place, will the transition period works? It will! Because the regular non-mass position with 1 FTE will work the way it is regardless of the position control field.
The position control field is to restrict the target FTE based on the FTE defined in the position. It should be ideally used for mass positions.
Let's see how the transition period works for the managers who are leaving the organization. A regular non-mass position with 1 FTE is used. If Mr. Thomas Lin is leaving the position, what will happen to his direct reports?
Well, Mr.Thomas is terminated in the system and the workflow is approved. However we have selected Mr.Thomas' direct reports to be reported to his position hierarchy, but the system is again allowing us to make a decision while hiring a transition incumbent. I have selected direct reports to stay with the current manager. The current manager is Mr.Thomas' manager - Ms.Monica. This is purely based on the HR/organization to decide.
Alright, the direct reports are now reporting to Mr.Thomas' manager Ms.Monica Chen. However, the system detects that there is a future change in Mr. Thomas' position and suggests a supervisor change based on the automated daily hierarchy adaptation.
The Automated daily hierarchy adaptation works when the hierarchies are out of sync. In this above example, Mr.Thomas' direct reports are now reporting to Ms.Monica although Mr.Thomas' position has got an incumbent. In order to fix these inconsistencies, you have to schedule a job that will set the correct supervisor based on the position hierarchy.
The BizX Daily Rules Processing Batch job needs to be scheduled in the provisioning with daily recurrence. Now, the automated daily hierarchy adaptation can be switched on along with the offset in Days, to specify the offset in future days to be considered by the daily hierarchy adaptation. If you want to adapt the hierarchy on the date at which it gets out of sync, set the value to 0. If you want to adapt it one week before it gets out of sync, set the value to 7.
The above blog covers the different transition periods with regular position scenarios. The same applies to the shared position as well. However, there may be some exceptions to be considered like Workflow for direct reports, the terminated employee plans to revoke his/her termination before the last date of leaving.
If the terminated employee plans to revoke his/her termination and if we have deleted the termination record from the employee profile, the manager hierarchy will not be changed automatically in the system. There should be a manual intervention by the HR admin/system admin to make the decision to either create a new position and move the new employee or transfer the terminated employee to a new position.
The workflow will get triggered based on the org chart and the supervisor, which is currently assigned in the employee profile of the direct reports. Therefore, the existing workflows of the terminated employee should be manually transferred to the desired employee. Additionally, if the workflow has been configured based on the position relationship, the workflow will get triggered to both the employees assigned to that position, which will again need a manual intervention to resolve.
To conclude, the transition period will give you the benefit to hire a successor before the terminated employee leaves the organization. However, some of the exceptional HR scenarios need to be handled manually.
Annexure:
We will see the other scenarios in Part 2.
There are 3 different scenarios that are being covered as part of this blog. They are,
- Regular position
- Mass position
- A regular position with Manager as incumbent
The attributes which are used for the transition period are Use transition period (Boolean), Period (number), and the Unit (Enumerator).
As I mentioned earlier, the transition period can be defined in position types.
We have the standard MDF object for the position type transition period in the system. It needs to be associated with the MDF object position type.
The transition period for the respective position type needs to be defined in the manage data > position type.
There is an option in position management settings > UI customizing > Allow selection only of positions that have the status to be hired in MSS job information and hire, this needs to be set to No to be able to display the position in the job information UI/Hire UI. I understand that this is one of the most important settings where the customers will feel that all the positions are getting displayed in the job information, although it is occupied. To overcome this scenario, we need to acquire SAP Best Practices, where the position can be restricted to be able to view within their Legal Entity/Line manager hierarchy. The Line Manager hierarchy scenario can be achieved through business rules and RBP. The same has been explained in detail here.
Scenario 1 - Regular Position
Alright, let's see a scenario where the transition period is enabled in the position type (regular position) for 1 month. A regular position is used with 1 FTE. Terminate the incumbent in the near future (within 1 month period) and make sure the workflow is approved.
Hire a new employee in the same position. Also, check if the company which is selected is the same as the company that has been defined for the position.
Once the new employee is hired, the position org chart will be shown as overstaffed.
Since it is a Regular non-mass position with 1 FTE, it will not be available for further allocation of employees through job information / Hire UI.
Scenario 2 - Mass Position
Let's take a regular mass position with 2 FTE. Terminate the incumbent and approve the workflow. Assign a new employee to the same position.
Since it is a mass position, the system will allow further incumbents to the same position.
To overcome this, we may need to use the standard field position control in the position MDF object.
Once it is enabled, the position will not be available for further allocation of an employee.
You might wonder, if the regular non-mass position with 1 FTE has had the position control field in place, will the transition period works? It will! Because the regular non-mass position with 1 FTE will work the way it is regardless of the position control field.
The position control field is to restrict the target FTE based on the FTE defined in the position. It should be ideally used for mass positions.
Scenario 3 - Regular position with manager as incumbent
Let's see how the transition period works for the managers who are leaving the organization. A regular non-mass position with 1 FTE is used. If Mr. Thomas Lin is leaving the position, what will happen to his direct reports?
Well, Mr.Thomas is terminated in the system and the workflow is approved. However we have selected Mr.Thomas' direct reports to be reported to his position hierarchy, but the system is again allowing us to make a decision while hiring a transition incumbent. I have selected direct reports to stay with the current manager. The current manager is Mr.Thomas' manager - Ms.Monica. This is purely based on the HR/organization to decide.
Alright, the direct reports are now reporting to Mr.Thomas' manager Ms.Monica Chen. However, the system detects that there is a future change in Mr. Thomas' position and suggests a supervisor change based on the automated daily hierarchy adaptation.
The Automated daily hierarchy adaptation works when the hierarchies are out of sync. In this above example, Mr.Thomas' direct reports are now reporting to Ms.Monica although Mr.Thomas' position has got an incumbent. In order to fix these inconsistencies, you have to schedule a job that will set the correct supervisor based on the position hierarchy.
The BizX Daily Rules Processing Batch job needs to be scheduled in the provisioning with daily recurrence. Now, the automated daily hierarchy adaptation can be switched on along with the offset in Days, to specify the offset in future days to be considered by the daily hierarchy adaptation. If you want to adapt the hierarchy on the date at which it gets out of sync, set the value to 0. If you want to adapt it one week before it gets out of sync, set the value to 7.
The above blog covers the different transition periods with regular position scenarios. The same applies to the shared position as well. However, there may be some exceptions to be considered like Workflow for direct reports, the terminated employee plans to revoke his/her termination before the last date of leaving.
If the terminated employee plans to revoke his/her termination and if we have deleted the termination record from the employee profile, the manager hierarchy will not be changed automatically in the system. There should be a manual intervention by the HR admin/system admin to make the decision to either create a new position and move the new employee or transfer the terminated employee to a new position.
The workflow will get triggered based on the org chart and the supervisor, which is currently assigned in the employee profile of the direct reports. Therefore, the existing workflows of the terminated employee should be manually transferred to the desired employee. Additionally, if the workflow has been configured based on the position relationship, the workflow will get triggered to both the employees assigned to that position, which will again need a manual intervention to resolve.
To conclude, the transition period will give you the benefit to hire a successor before the terminated employee leaves the organization. However, some of the exceptional HR scenarios need to be handled manually.
Annexure:
We will see the other scenarios in Part 2.
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