
This blog post introduces you to master data setup and key identifiers in each participating system of the standard integration between SAP Fieldglass and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central for external workforce management. For successful integration, it is essential to understand the various systems involved and their function, the strategic approach for master and transactional data maintenance, process distribution, and data model mapping between the systems involved.
The details explanied in this blog post are part of the Implementation Design Principles (IDP) document so take a look at it for a full-fledged explanation and further scenarios. IDP documents are owned and managed by SAP SuccessFactors Product Management and are developed in close collaboration with our experienced implementation partners. This IDP document was jointly authored and created with our partners Ulf Widén Gewers (CoreChange), Dirk Schirmer (Empleox GmbH), Sondre Grahl (Zalaris) and my colleague Anoop Garg (SAP) and has been reviewed by the product management teams at SAP.
In an SAP-powered end-to-end intelligent enterprise landscape, four systems are involved in managing Total Workforce Management: SAP Fieldglass, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, the SAP S/4 HANA system, and the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).
Now, let us look at what master data each system is responsible for. The below images and table provide the source system where the admin master data as well as personnel master data are created and transferred to the receiving system.
SAP S/4 HANA System | SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central | SAP Fieldglass |
If you use SAP S/4 HANA, the master data, such as company codes, cost centers, plants, and purchasing org, are replicated from SAP S/4 HANA to SAP Fieldglass and SAP SuccessFactors. | SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is the source master for maintaining organizational structure (Business unit, division), job classification (job code) and position. | Job postings, external workers ( contingent workers, SOW workers and profile workers) and their work orders are created in the SAP Fieldglass system. |
Admin Master Data and their source system
Personnel Master Data and their source system
It is essential to have synchronized master data and required associations of the master data objects available across these systems to ensure end-to-end processes work seamlessly. Foremost, one must recognize the source system and how they are propagated to other receiving systems.Any master data change must be replicated to the receiving systems to prevent data going out of sync and causing errors in the process.
If MDI is available in the landscape, it is recommended to use this to replicate the master data. The other way is to set up point to point integration for syncing master data from Employee Central to SAP Fieldglass with the help of SuccessFactors Integration Center and its 6 pre-defined templates (.icd files) for foundational data & user data. The pre-delivered templates can be found in the SAP API Hub. SAP Fieldglass connectors need to be configured to integrate master data from Integration Centre and then scheduling the SFTP uploads on a regular basis from Employee Central. The worker data from Fieldglass is replicated to Employee Central via the standard integration flow. The Data Flow Diagram below shows the replication of Master and Transaction Data between SAP Fieldglass and SAP SF Employee Central.
Master data & transaction data flow between SAP Fieldglass & SuccessFactors Employee Central
Note that the company code in the SAP S/4 HANA system is called a legal entity in SAP Fieldglass and in SAP SuccessFactors.
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is the source master for maintaining organizational structure (Business unit, division), job classification, and position and is replicated to SAP Fieldglass. Employee Central Position Management manages all the position creation and approval to secure headcount and view the organizational chart. A position replicated from Employee Central to Fieldglass enables requisition creation in Fieldglass against which a contingent worker is staffed. Note that position is not a mandatory field for all types of external worker replication. Job Classifications should be in sync between Employee Central and Fieldglass to ensure that a position in Employee Central corresponds to a Job Posting Template in Fieldglass. Note that the standard integration exists or replicating Job codes from Employee Central to Fieldglass. For a detailed explanation of how Position Management Integration and Configuration works, check in the SAP Help guide & in the IDP.
The master data in SAP Fieldglass is also referred to as foundational data. Here, Job requisition templates are created for external worker hiring. During the job posting creation, data is prepopulated with the position data from SAP SuccessFactors. The external worker was hired in the SAP Fieldglass system and replicated to Employee Central. During the external worker creation o,nly the allowed combinations of Manager, Business Unit, Site, Cost Center, Job Code (or Job Classification) should be permitted in Fieldglass to keep the correct allocations and responsibilities during the end-to-end process.
Any data discrepancies in Worker integration from Fieldglass to SuccessFactors or other downstream system will result in the integration failing until it is corrected in the source system. To manage replication of the master data among the systems, it is recommended to the use Master Data Integration Service. The SAP Help guide provides a detailed explanation of it. Now, let's examine the key identifiers in each of these systems and how they are used.
Security ID and Consolidated Worker ID are two critical key identifiers in SAP Fieldglass in this integration. Security_ID is unique and stays the same for a contingent worker even with different assignments. It is mapped to the person_id_external and User fields in Employee Central. Security_ID is a mandatory field that must be configured and activated for use in SAP Fieldglass. Details of how Security_ID should be set up and configured can be found in section 5.1.1 in the IDP.
Additionally, the best practice is to enable Consolidated Worker feature. If enabled, Consolidated_Worker_ID (Consolidated Worker ID) can be used in place of Security_ID. The Consolidated Worker feature allows to view all the assignments of the worker from a single record. The Consolidated Worker company configuration can be activated for companies using the Enable Security Information company configuration. Please refer to the details of using Consolidated Worker ID in rehire scenarios in section 5.4 & 6.4 of the IDP.
User ID, Assignment ID and Person ID External are the key identifiers of an employee’s employment relationship with a legal entity(company) in Employee Central. User ID is a mandatory field and cannot be changed. Assignment ID is similar to User ID, but Assignment ID can be changed. Person ID External field identifies the person and will be the same for multiple employment contracts that an employee might have with a company during their tenure. User ID and Person Id External of Employee Central is mapped to Security ID or Consolidated Worker ID of Fieldglass. For a comprehensive field mapping list look at section 6.1 of the IDP and the Field Mapping Information section in the Help guide
In SAP S/4 HANA, the identifier Central Person (CP) represents a natural person in the organization's workforce. The identifier PERNR (Personnel Number) represent person's contract with an organization (legal entity) in a particular country. In SAP S/4 HANA system, the PERNR (Personnel Number) is of main interest.
User ID or Assignment ID from Employee Central map to the PERNR in the S/4 HANA system. User ID (14-character string field) need to be transformed to an 8-digit numerical number as S/4 HANA expects PERNR to be. Where Assignment ID is available and set up as a numeric field in Employee Central with 8 digits– this ID could be used for PERNR creation in S/4 HANA. It is recommended to have the Central Person created by internal number range in SAP S/4 HANA. Please refer to the IDP for more details that explain which BAdI to use and a sample coding for PERNR creation.
Employee Central can connect to SAP S/4 HANA via the Business Integration Builder (BIB) framework delivered on SAP S/4 HANA where the employee master data and organizational assignments are replicated. Please refer to the SAP Help guide for more details on how this integration works - Replicating Employee Master Data and Organizational Assignments from Employee Central to SAP S/4HANA. Alternatively, Employee Central’s workforce person data and work assignment data are replicated to SAP S/4HANA using the SAP Master Data Integration service running on the SAP Business Technology Platform. For more details, please refer Workforce Replication in the SAP Help guide.
In my next blog post, I will be exploring other aspects of this integration, such as the configuration prerequisites, user provisioning using IAS/IPS configuration, standard vs. custom integration and & a few other related topics.
Additional resources:
Implementation Design Principle
Implementation Guide for SAP Fieldglass Integration with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central
Integrating Employee Central with SAP Fieldglass
Integrating SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central with SAP Master Data Integration
Replicating Master Data Using SAP Master Data Integration Service
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