SAP has announced the 2H 2021 SuccessFactors release information.
Preview release is on October 15 and production will be released November 19. You can view the full set of documentation in the What’s New Viewer here. For full details on the release cycle, check out the SAP SuccessFactors official product updates blog here.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
Highlights are identified by module and the type of change.
Universal- for modules enabled, universal means no steps are required to have access to the new functionality. These features are automatically made available.
Admin Opt-In – the admin must enable the new feature, usually in Admin Tools
Admin Opt-Out – the admin must disable the new feature, usually in Admin Tools
Provisioning Opt-In and Opt-Out require a Partner or Product Support request
For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of what’s new for 2H 2021 Performance Management below.
Performance Management
There is not much in the way of new functionality, just one universal update.
General Availability – Universal Updates
Configuration Center Support For Performance Management Form Templates
You can now view, download, and transport Performance Management form templates across tenants using Configuration Center. Prior to this release, only Feature Configuration was available under General Configuration for Performance Management. Now System Configuration and Manage Templates are available.
General Availability – Admin Opt-Ins
The admin opt-ins require the latest version of the home page.
PM Related Updates “For You Today” Section of the Latest Home Page
When the latest home page is used, a “For You Today’ card will appear for PM tasks.
You can enable to-do tasks on the latest home page in the Upgrade Center.
The tasks are:
- “Review Employee Performance” task available for managers
- “Review Employee Performance” task available for employees
To give managers a view of the form that need their review, cards are grouped into Direct Reports, Matrix Reports, and Other on the stack view. An example is shown below.
Users can go directly to the performance review forms from this card to complete the tasks.
Goal Management
There is one universal update for Goal Management. The majority of the new functionality is for the latest version of Goal Management. With each release more and more features become available.
General Availability – Universal Updates
View, download, and transport Goal Management configurations using Configuration Center.
It is now possible to use Configuration Center for Goal Management to view configurations, download configurations, and transport configurations across tenants. Configuration Center permission is required.
The view feature enables the admin to view configuration as well as see the username who made changes with a date and timestamp.
The download feature is useful to take a backup of your application’s configurations as well as for troubleshooting by an Implementation Partner or Customer Support.
The export feature can be used to export configuration in order to copy from the preview system to production.
With this release, after selecting the Talent configuration area, Goal Management is visible. The admin can then select the features to download.
After selection, the admin goes to the “Transport Mode” tab to initiate the download process.
Upon completion, the configuration bundles is downloaded in ZIP format. Configuration types are available as separate files.
Latest Goal Management
With each release, the latest version of Goal Management has functionality added that is already available in the current version,
Now supported in the latest version of Goal Management:
- Beta Goal Import
- Changing goal plan states in Goals
- User search
- Matrix relationships
Now available in the latest version of Goal Management:
- Spell Check
- Legal Scan
- Advanced user search by criteria
We will look at the new supported functions that are available for those using the latest Goal Management. We will start with the universal updates.
Early Adopters – Universal Updates
Mass Import Personal Goals in Latest Goal Management
It is now possible to use the “Import Performance Goals” for the latest version of Goal Management.
Change Goal Plan States in Latest Goal Management
It is now possible to update the goal plan state in the latest version of Goal Management. The ability to lock and unlock goal plans will be available and provides visibility of the goal plan state using the latest version of GM.
Goal plan states are used to control the action and field permissions before and after a goal plan is approved. Users with the “change-state” permission in the goal plan XML can now change the goal plan state in a more straightforward manner.
An example using goal plan states in the latest version of a goal plan is shown below. The current state has a dropdown list.
In addition, employees will be able to receive email notifications when their goal plan state changes. The notifications will include who changed the goal plan state and what the current goal plan state is.
Enhanced People Selector in Latest Goal Management
When using the latest version of goals management, the people selector will include matrix manager and matrix reports. If these matrix roles have permission, they will have access to view goal plans.
An example of the people selector in a goal plan is shown below.
If these matrix roles have permission, they will have access to view goal plans.
360 Reviews
General Availability – Universal Updates
View, download, and transport 360 Reviews configurations using Configuration Center
Similar to the Goal Management being available in Configuration Center, it is now possible to use Configuration Center for 360 Reviews to view configurations, download configurations, and transport configurations across tenants. Configuration Center permission is required cross tenants.
Before this release, 360 was not available in Configuration Center Now when selecting the Talent configuration area, 360 is visible. The admin can then select the features to download fro the Transport Mode tab.
Add External Participants When Users Have No Search Permissions
Users without permission to search for external users may now add them as form participants by email address. Users can enter the email address of an external user in the “Add a New External Participant” dialog box.
If the external user already exists in the system, the First Name and Last Name fields are automatically filled and users can select “Add” to add the external user as a participant.
An example is shown below.
General Availability – Admin Opt-Ins
360 Reviews Tasks on the Latest Home Page
When the latest home page is used, a “For You Today’ card will appear for 360 Review tasks:
- “Complete 360 Evaluation task” available for managers
- “Complete Your 360 Evaluation task” available for employees
Found on the latest Home Page, for any 360 forms for an employee, manager or raters, there is a card to prompt the user to review and complete the 360 Reviews form in the Performance inbox.
Users can go directly to the 360 review form from this card.
Calibration
General Availability – Universal Updates
There is a universal update for a calibration session.
Set max rating change span
In “Manage Calibration Templates”, if your data source is “Performance”, it is now possible to set a maximum rating change span. This setting can be found on the “Advanced” tab.
Once the span is set, if you make rating changes in the session, the following rules apply:
- If the rating change made doesn’t exceed the maximum rating change span, the rating will be changed
- If the rating change exceeds the maximum rating change span, an error message displays and the rating reverts to the original rating.
Shown below is the Calibration Template “Advanced Settings” tab.
Continuous Performance Management (CPM)
There are only admin opt-ins for this release of Continuous Performance Management.
General Availability – Admin Opt-Ins
New Qualtrics Survey for Continuous Performance Management
It is possible to integrate Qualtrics surveys with Continuous Performance Management. This integration allows you to collect feedback from employees after 1:1 sessions with their managers.
To use this feature:
- CPM must be enabled
- Qualtrics license for website and app feedback projects required
- “Manage Qualtrics Integrations” feature is enabled in Upgrade Center
The Qualtrics account is used to create the survey and view survey feedback.
An employee will be prompted to complete the survey. An example is shown below.
The user will see questions to answer.
Once completed, the admin may view the survey feedback.
Early Adopter – Admin Add -Ins
Enhanced Achievement Experience for Continuous Performance Management
This feature is only available if the latest version of CPM is used.
Achievements can be the default view on the CPM landing page, which enables quick access to achievements. The admin would have to select “Achievements view” as the default on the “Continuous Performance Management Configuration” page. An example is shown below.
When a user accesses CPM, the default view will now be the Achievements tab.
Feedback Integration with Microsoft Outlook
Continuous feedback may be enabled from a Microsoft Outlook add-in to make giving feedback easier.
In order to use this feature:
- Latest version of CPM must be enabled
- SAP SuccessFactors user attributes are mapped to Microsoft Active Directory
- Continuous Feedback outlook integration is enabled and the manifest file downloaded
- SAP SuccessFactors user attributes mapped to Microsoft Active Directory.
The employee will see an option to give feedback.
The feedback questions display and enable the employee to provide feedback.
Upon submission, a confirmation message displays. An example is shown below.
Depreciation
Deprecation of 360 Reviews v11 Version
November 18, 2022 is the end of maintenance for 360 Reviews v11 and will be deleted on May 20, 2023.
We have now covered the highlights of the PM related updates for 2H 2021. See our blog for 2H 2021 Career Development release features.
Do you need help managing your SuccessFactors Release cycles? Download our support services brochure or email info@worklogix.com to see how we can help!
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