[Most recent] SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning Q3 Content Update

[RF-Fa]

When the new Q3 business content for SAP Analytics Cloud has been released over the weekend of August 21st, this update included as well the next version of SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning (SAP Best Practices). In this content update many enhancements and extensions to the Q2 SAP Best Practices content have been added which we'll look at in more detail in this blog.

SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning is a pre-configured set of implementation and configuration accelerators containing a SAP Analytics Cloud business content package - shipped via the SAP Analytics Cloud Content Library - process flows and end-to-end test scripts for each of the scope items Strategic Workforce Planning and Operational Headcount Planning, complemented by documentation on how to run data integration jobs to extract data from SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and details on what the pre-configured planning templates, models, and data actions are made of.

In a nutshell, the Best Practices package published via Best Practices Explorer contains everything that you need for understanding how this SAP Best Practices package has been designed and created and how it can help in accelerating the implementation of SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning.

As with all SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors the business configuration content is expected to be enhanced, changed and extended during the implementation project to build out a full-fledged go-live solution for the customer utilizing all the great SAP Analytics Cloud capabilities which might not have been included in the SAP Best Practices templates.

Let's look now into what's new in the package and the three scope items of the SAP Best Practices and the innovations with the Q3 update.

Workforce Planning Start Page

For centralized role-based access to the Workforce Planning content, we have added a central start page:

 

Strategic Workforce Planning

Strategic Workforce Planning is the process of determining future workforce demand and supply, identifying the gap, defining risk responses to close workforce gaps and their cost impact.

The planning process starts with creating the demand plan based on strategic output targets, such as revenue for specific strategic planning scenarios. Then the supply plan is created, taking into account planned hires, terminations and retirements. These two plans result in the gap plan indicating shortages and surplus per planning dimension, such as organizational unit, location, and job classification. After identifying demand, supply and gap risks, planners define risk responses (HR interventions strategy) to close identified workforce gaps. In the final step the cost impact of the workforce strategies is determined. Comprehensive pre-built analytics stories support the planning activities. The solution is designed with planning administrator and planner roles in mind with role-specific launchpads.

Innovations and new features highlights:

• New cost impact component for planning the cost of the planned HR interventions / Risk Response Strategy


• New pre-built analysis page for cost impact analysis


• Updated planning administrator and planner launchpages


• Added Job Family as additional planning dimension


• Removed separate version and scenario input controls for charts so that now one input control can be used

Operational Workforce Planning by Position

Operational Headcount Planning by Position is the process of planning the headcount for a twelve months planning horizon. The planning is performed on a position level per organizational unit and allows for planning of new positions, position transfers, employee transfers and position terminations. Transfers are planned between cost centers of the same organizational units (not across organizational units). In a second step the salary adjustments per position are planned. Local guidelines including merit and benefits are used to calculate total cost. Comprehensive pre-built analytics stories support the planning activities. The solution is designed with planning administrator and planner roles in mind with role-specific launchpads.

Innovations and new features highlights:

• Added partner position and partner cost center dimensions for improved usability and analysis


• Added the possibility to select the start period of the planned position change via date selection value help


• Added Local Guidelines configuration capability for job classification-specific cost elements, e.g. bonus and commissions


• Refactored existing analysis charts and added new analytics plan insights

 

Operational Headcount Planning by Job Classification

Operational Headcount Planning by Job is the process of planning the headcount or full-time equivalents for a twelve months planning horizon. The planning is performed on a job classification level per organizational unit and allows for planning of hires, terminations and transfers-in and transfers-out. In a second step the salary and merit increase per job classification is planned. New positions (i.e. job classifications) together with annual salary can be created in specific locations for planning of new headcount and full-time equivalents. Three types of comprehensive pre-built analytics stories support the planning activities. Firstly, the analysis of the Plan with e.g. net change and salary-related charts. Secondly, Actual & Plan analysis presenting key measures including break-downs by period. Thirdly, Actual vs. Plan analysis providing e.g., the calculation of variances.

Innovations and new features highlights:

• Regression tested the available content against latest product versions

 

You can get a real-life impression of our SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning content in this replay of an open webinar that we have hosted end of July and which included a preview of the now released Q3 content:
July 27th Webinar Registration – SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning

Again, all assets that come as part of this SAP Best Practices package have been released on Best Practices Explorer.

We'd love to hear back from you about your experiences with the pre-configured content and how this content hopefully has helped you in building additional capabilities on top of standardized template content and in accelerating time-to-value in implementation projects.

[JohnL]

See our dedicated expert page for SAC Enterprise Planning content:
Enterprise Planning Content | SAP Analytics Cloud | SAP Community

[RF-Fa]

Thank you, John, for cross-referencing as well the new Q3 SAP Human Experience Management Workforce Planning content. This new SAC content is another content package in addition to the SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning which we have had out since Q4 2020 and which this blog highlights. Cheers, Rainer

[Duc]

Hi Rainer,

Thanks for sharing. 

I understand that SuccessFactors Workforce Planning is in maintenance mode. So what is the difference between the sunset SuccessFactors Workforce Planning and the solution presented in this Best Practice?

Thanks,

Duc.

[RF-Fa]

Hello Duc, thank you for your question and apologies for the delay in my reply.

The most obvious difference is certainly the technology. The new SuccessFactors Workforce Planning fully embraces SAP Analytics Cloud as the application that powers the planning processes - both, for Strategic as well as Operational Headcount Planning. With that Workforce Planning becomes integrated into other planning processes across the divisions and LoBs and can be seen as a part of the xP&A processes.

From a planning process perspective, I think it's fair to say that especially in Strategic Workforce Planning, the SAP Best Practices content packages follows the former planning process steps of (1) forecasting demand, supply and gap, (2) Risk Analysis, (3) Risk Mitigation / HR Intervention Strategy and (4) Impact & Cost Modelling.

For Operational Headcount Planning, the SAP Best Practices integrates with Position Management of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, similar as the former solution did. Again here using a different technology provided with SAP Analytics Cloud.

It is therefore not possible to provide a feature-by-feature comparison of the former and the new Workforce Planning with SAP Analytics Cloud. Please be aware as well that SAP Analytics Cloud offers a whole wealth of capabilities, features and functions which have not been built into the content of this SAP Best Practices package since it wasn't possible to define the 80% ready-to-go feature set that a content package reflects. This is different from demo ware.

Hope this helps in exploring the differences and capabilities of Workforce Planning.

Best, Rainer

 

[edwiromero_s]

Thanks john.leggio and rainer.faulstich for bringing this up, because I am starting to get a bit confused. I understand that the main difference between both contents can be that the content referenced in this blog has strategic workforce planning, but what would be the main difference (or the strategic one to choose one content or the other) between the operational Workforce planning from the SAP Human Experience Management Workforce Planning and SAP Best Practices for SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning? 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[RF-Fa]

Hi Edwin, thanks for posting this question. I do agree, so far we haven't worked on a kind of side-by-side comparison or some decision matrix on when to choose which content best, especially with regards to Operational Workforce/Headcount Planning. I will try to give it some initial thoughts here:

• If the account-based model and the usage of SAC stories fulfills the requirements and shall be used for the implementation, the Best Practices is a good starting point. If the New Model and Analytics Designer for advanced user experience is preferred or required, then the HXM content is more ideal to start with.


• Best Practices includes the integration to SuccessFactors and is built with certain elements of Employee Central e.g. Position Management and Salary Midpoints in mind. S/4HANA data integration or data objects is not pre-configured in the Best Practices. The HXM content contains an add-on content package which provides S/4HANA planning content.


• In Best Practices we have one scope item for job classification- and one for position-based planning. These two scope items use different models and stories. Therefore, although they can be used in parallel, they are not really integrated from a technical or process perspective. HXM content has an aggregated and a detailed planning scope which integrates as well from a data perspective.

Hope this helps in coming to a decision about which content is a more ideal fit.

Best regards, Rainer

[edwiromero_s]

Thanks Rainer,

I appreciate your quick reply.

Regards