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When integrating SAP Fieldglass with an HCM like SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, the following question often arises:

"Where should job postings for external workers be initiated - in SAP Fieldglass or the HCM?"

A job posting for external workers, such as freelancers and contractors, can be initiated in either one. But there are pros and cons to both. Let's break it down:

 

Approach #1: Initiating a job posting in an HCM


Many customers have opted to initiate job postings for external workers in their HCM. It provides a user-friendly, single login experience to start the process of hiring a worker - even if they are externals like freelancers, contractors or independent consultants.

The down side is that an HCM does not hold accounting information such as rates and cost centers. As a result, it cannot pass this information within the job posting to the the VMS. The downstream impact is that the full functionality of a VMS cannot be used.

As a workaround, many organizations using this approach resort to 'dual entry'. This means that they initiate a job posting in both their HCM and VMS. This invariably leads to a mismatch of data on job templates, master data and financial information.

Additionally, HCM-initiated job postings typically use the 1:1 model. This means that one job posting is used for one opening. This can be a drawback when there is a need to hire multiple external workers using one job posting. For example, an organization may want to engage a dozen independent truck drivers with one job posting. This is not possible using the HCM-initiated approach.

 

Approach #2: Initiating the job posting in the SAP Fieldglass solution



Source: SAP

 

Alternatively, job postings can be initiated in the SAP Fieldglass solution. This has a few benefits. First, end users as well as procurement and HR teams will be able to use the full functionality of the VMS. That's because useful accounting information is available within the VMS and flows through the entire initiate, negotiate, manage, and pay process.

Another benefit of initiating the posting in the SAP Fieldglass solution is having one 'record of truth' for all external workers as opposed having data in the VMS and the HCM. This eliminates the confusion of having data sitting in two systems.

Lastly, hiring managers are able to make changes to their posting by simply going into the SAP Fieldglass solution and making the change. The HCM does not facilitate making edits to the job posting after it is initiated.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the VMS approach, however. Users will need an additional login to access the SAP Fieldglass solution. Additionally, the approval structure within the VMS needs to be maintained to match what is in the HCM.

Regardless of which HCM you use, the pros and cons of either approach should be considered. On the whole, your organization will get more value out of a VMS by initiating job postings for external workers within the SAP Fieldglass solution.

To learn more about SAP Fieldglass integrations, click here.

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