SuccessFactors administrator - expectations and all tools, skills that are required

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Overview

Summary

Interested in enhancing your SAP SuccessFactors solution's resilience? Drawing from observations of operational issues impacting our customers, I offer insights into the requirements for SuccessFactors administrators in this blog post. It focuses on addressing commonly asked questions about SF Admin/SF Solution Owner skills, without delving into operational models.

SAP SuccessFactors administrator, description

SF Admin will be mainly responsible for ongoing operation and administration, supporting (or conducting) minor configuration and change requests.

• SF Admin should also participate in research and development to enable continuing innovation; in other words, s/he is part of the adoption team and works with other internal and external parties. One of the key roles is at bi-annual release opt-in feature enablement. Furthermore, the SF ecosystem offers several innovation partners enabling new capabilities.
  (e.g. AI-powered candidate filtering or paperless organization targets require some enhancements or even further 3rd part solutions)

• SF Admin should also be able to conduct minor developments (e.g. copy from last year's PM forms and create the new PM forms with some minor adjustments, activate new features for the newer version of the interface via the upgrade center, or create some reports that business users require)

• SF Admin sets systems administration requirements, communication, and system security administration.
  (e.g. Solution will not be available during maintenance or Solution IP is changed or new features will be activated; all of these should be followed and shared with end users)

• SF Admin ensures that HR systems and related procedures adhere to organizational processes, policies, local regulations, and guidelines.
  (e.g. authentication system integration, some users have full access to SF solutions, and others have limited only to LMS. Follow the local regulations-add or remote some personal fields.)

• SF Admin should also be aware of the landscape and manages it incl. other 3rd party systems (if any) and interfaces.
  (e.g. Refresh or synchronize the environment. Or manage the interfaces for reporting solution SAP BW, digital signature solution, a simulation tool for organization management etc.)

• SF Admin should follow solution transitions as well as renewals of certificates.
  (e.g. SAP SF modernizes the platform and capabilities and informs admins to act on these, moreover, there are changes at SSO authorization token or SSL certificate renewals)

Further reading, System Administration Resource Considerations from the SF Community.

Remark: The SuccessFactors administrator is not necessarily SuperAdmin or Cloud Admin; these are different concepts!

SuccessFactors administrator, expectation

The ideal skill set for the SF admin team can vary depending on factors such as company size, operational model, and other unique characteristics. Nevertheless, I believe the following provides a reasonable foundation:

As outlined in the SF admin description, it's advantageous for SF admins to possess a balanced combination of the following skills:

• Proficiency in basic XML concepts, as XML is utilized in various forms within BizX.
• Competency in reporting, given that the SF suite offers out-of-the-box reporting capabilities. However, enhancing these capabilities using built-in tools or SAP SAC for people analytics is common.
• Understanding of authorization concepts and the ability to maintain them, as SF operates on role-based permissions (RBP).
• Knowledge of integration basics and tools, including familiarity with flat files, APIs, connectors, etc.
• Basic development skills (good to have, similar to MS Office macros), as BizX utilizes the MDF object-low code platform, enabling customers to enhance the solution.
• Admin Certification (SFX, to be explained) in the relevant areas
• Other tasks include but are not limited to, handling SSL certificates, checking the IP setting of the company and whitelisting SF IPs, being aware of the landscape, and integrating 3rd party solutions. 

SuccessFactors administrator, key certifications, and tools

Unless otherwise explicitly mentioned, all the following resources are exclusive to SAP S-users with Successfactors subscriptions.

Certifications

Product Support Accreditation Portal 

1. SAP Product Support Accreditation, 

The Support Accreditation is a self-enablement learning course at no additional costs that empowers customers and partners to make the best use of SAP’s support offerings and tools. Follow the link for the free course and certification exam.

As explained in the Support Accreditation, the SF admins should be trained about SAP case processing and limitations and requirements to avoid delays. As explained in SAP Product Support accreditation, the SF admins should be trained about SAP incident processing and limitations and requirements to avoid delays.

• Schedule an Expert, Ask an expert peer, and Expert Chat are diverse (free!) product support offerings that help administrators to get help as part of their subscriptions. Application component availability is enriched regularly.

• SAP Continuous Quality Checks and Improvement Services, our experts analyze your system and situation based on real-life data.

SFX - Admin training Courses list

2. SAP SuccessFactors Training and Expert Accreditation (SFX), SAP SuccessFactors Administrator Learning Center (SFALC) offers Access to on-demand, virtual training with multiple training options (PTO & Admin Training, available as e-Book and interactive e-Learning), and the SFX exams (with a digital 1-year valid certificate). SF admins should have the certification(s) for the module(s), they are responsible.

Follow the link for the SAP SuccessFactors Training and Expert Accreditation Overview.

Learning hub Enterprise Support Academy

3. SAP Learning Hub Enterprise Support Edition,

The SAP Learning Hub is the central portal for all SAP learning offers. It helps IT professionals build and maintain their solution proficiency in an SAP solution. With SAP Learning Hub, you can directly access the enablement you need to accelerate onboarding, software adoption, and mastery. The enterprise support edition comes as part of the subscription.

Follow the link for the SAP Enterprise support academy - SAP Learning Hub.

4. SAP Learning Hub Solution Edition,

SAP Learning Hub, solution editions help administrators build and maintain their solution proficiency in an SAP solution. It is an optional add-on, either a part of the Preferred Success contract or could be acquired via a separate agreement. 

With SAP Learning Hub, you can directly access the enablement you need to accelerate onboarding, software adoption, and ability. These focused solution editions offer digital learning resources tailored to your needs and feature 60 hours of hands-on practice through SAP Learning System Access, two exam bookings for SAP Certification, and online proctored exams. The certification is the same certification SAP consultants from partners had to pass to be eligible for provisioning access. 

Tools

SAP for me, next-generation customer portal

SAP is introducing a new customer portal SAP for me, some or all of the information sources below is or will be available at SAP for me. See the latest SAP Community blog post and video tutorial to explore SAP for Me.

The new SAP Enterprise Support reporting cockpit

1. SAP Enterprise Support reporting is an interactive dashboard analyzing and documenting the status of your SAP solution. You have details about opened incidents, cloud solutions and their availability, license, and usage/consumption metrics. You can also generate reports to have a good overview of your solution.

You need to follow the SAP Note 2834499 - How to access the SAP Enterprise Support Reporting cockpit

SAP Support Portal - User Management

2. SAP User Management tool is used to administer Universal S-ID linked to the customer number. Universal ID management (change, create, adjust etc.) is not done by SAP and is one of the core tasks of the system admin. It may be part of SAP SF Admin task (depending on the customer size it might be a task of other teams as well)

Cloud Availability Center (CAC)

3. The Cloud Availability Center (CAC) offers you a personalized dashboard with a focus on relevant information about your cloud product availability and maintenance.

Please use https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/cacv2 and enter your customer no or  directly update the link with your customer number https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/cacv2/customernumber

All the cloud products that are part of your customer number are listed and you will get easy and fast access to information. All notifications are listed and you can also check maintenance windows and if any service distributions and associated customer notifications.

Cloud System Notification Subscriptions

4. The Cloud System Notification Subscriptions (CSNS) application makes it easy to add, customize, and manage subscriptions to Cloud Availability Center notifications. Using this tool, SAP Cloud customers can remain constantly informed and receive timely updates regarding their SAP Cloud Services, including – but not limited to – planned and unplanned downtimes, and customer communication.​

Remark, please make sure that the SAP Notification emails are reaching your inbox, we know cases where the notifications are filtered or put in the junk folder.

SAP SuccessFactors What's New Portal

If you can not see any tenants, for points 4 and 5, please check the SAP Note 2587408 - S-user ID authorizations needed to use the Cloud Availability Center and Cloud Sy...

5. SAP SuccessFactors What's New is a portal where you can see all changes to SuccessFactors for each release. It is imperative for the administrator to be informed about landing universal changes as well as optional changes.

Product Release & Road Map Information

6. At the SF community, all Product Release & Road Map Information (SAP Product Roadmaps)is centrally available and regularly updated. The SF Community offers a lot more information, including several recordings for empowering. Still, for the admins, the release resources and road map, product advisory (also known as SAP Influence) is the crucial part of their core tasks.

SAP App Store

7. Learning Hub, Preferred Success Edition, It is an exclusive offer for SAP Preferred Success customers only. SAP Learning Hub, the Preferred Success Edition, helps administrators to interact with peers and SAP functional experts via a dedicated portal. Within this Learning Room, we have designed to provide targeted content and collaboration tools for your admin experience. (if it is your first access to PrS edition, one time activation is required via https://learninghub.sap.com/preferred-success link)

Learn - Provides a list of exclusive SAP Preferred Success content, videos, job aids, and small consumable materials to assist admins with daily tasks and adopting new features.

Collaborate - a forum to collaborate and discuss with other customers to share best practices, how other customers are overcoming challenges, and advertise enhancement requests submitted to get more votes.

Webinars – register for exclusive SAP Preferred Success live sessions and on-demand recordings, including: deep dive sessions of specific features, live demos, configuration settings, and expert recommendations.

Resources – provides additional documentation and quick links.

SAP Learning Hub Preferred Success Edition

8. The SAP App Store, In order to maximize your SAP investment and address your most demanding business challenges, you need to find a wide variety of solutions from SAP and our partners. The SAP App store is designed to help you find the most suitable extensions. As SF administrator, it is expected to review the new capabilities and identify the most relevant, impactful options for the business scenarios.

9. Customer Events Customer Empowerment Events Newsletter, An important newsletter that SF admins should follow and promote within the organization. After registering the newsletter, you will receive monthly updates on upcoming events that will empower SF Admins to effectively manage and stay current on your SAP SuccessFactors solution.

10. SAP SuccessFactors Compass, Register to receive monthly emails summarizing the latest information about our products, services, support, and resources along with a dose of strategic HR, all with a focus on those who maintain their company's solutions and processes.

11. SAP SuccessFactors Release Information Email, Delivered days before the Preview Release, this email provides a reminder of available release resources

12. Innovation Alerts: As SAP SuccessFactors continues to introduce further functionality, the Innovation Alerts provide enablement resources to proactively communicate product-related changes that impact or require action for our customers. This can include migrations or deprecations in features or functionality.

13. Solution Demonstrations: It is helpful to review the mainstream usage of the SAP SuccessFactors solution and check the latest innovations provided out of the box. Webinars and recordings are updated so that you will find the latest versions of the SF modules. 

Further reading, references.

• Ensuring the Success of Your SAP® SuccessFactors® Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide 
• About the user, authorization and administrator concept

Summary

Hopefully, this blog provides a clearer understanding of the basics and minimum requirements for SAP SuccessFactors Administrators. Establishing a robust SF admin setup is pivotal for ensuring seamless operations and continuous adoption.

I eagerly anticipate receiving questions from you, our customers, which will not only enrich the blog but also enable us to delve deeper into the requirements of SF administrators.