SAP has announced the latest updates and changes for SuccessFactors for the first half of 2022.
Preview release was on April 15 and production will be released May 20. 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.
For tips on how to manage a release, check out our blog here.
For your convenience, we’ve summarized the highlights of what’s new for 1H 2022 Onboarding below.
Overview
In this update we see SAP continuing to streamline the onboarding experience. From helpful to-do tasks and a few features that help smooth out the rehire process, SAP continues to pay more attention to details now that the latest onboarding product has begun to stabilize. We’ve divided up the new functionality in the latest release into 3 sections based on who is using the system and their visibility to the updates: “Onboarding Experience”, “Admin Updates”, and “System Updates”.
Onboarding Experience
In this section, we cover updates that are visible to new hires /rehires/managers/HR or affect their perceived onboarding experience. First, the Latest Home Page now shows 3 cards in the “For You Today” section relevant for Onboarding Tasks. The cards are “Data Review”, “Manager Activities” and “Compliance”. An example is shown below:
Within the “Data Review” card, users will see the “Review New Hire Data”, “Review Offboarding Data” and “Complete Rehire Verification” tasks. Within the “Compliance” card, users will see the “Complete Form I-9” and “Complete Form I-9 Signature” tasks. Within the “Manager Activities” card, users will see the “Set Goals for New Hires”, “Recommend Links for New Hires”, “Write Welcome Message”, “Assign a Buddy”, “Schedule Onboarding Meetings”, “Recommend People for New Hires”, “Prepare for New Hire’s Day 1″, Update New Hire’s Day 1 Locations”, “Request Equipment for New Hires” and “E-Sign Employee Documents” tasks for Onboarding. Also within the “Manager Activities card, users will see the “Announce Termination to Coworkers”, “Write Farewell Message”, “Create Knowledge Transfer Plan”, “Complete Knowledge Transfer”, “List Assets to Return”, “Schedule Offboarding Meetings”, “Track Return of Assets”, and “E-Sign Employee Documents” tasks related to Offboarding. This allows for quick access for managers and employees/new hires to complete their needed tasks.
Last, external hires can now also authenticate using IAS before day 1. This allows for a more consistent login experience between onboarding and when they are a full employee. You can read through the exact configuration requirements here: https://help.sap.com/doc/62fddbd651204629b46bbccbabf886ba/cloud/en-US/736b4c0e36fd46108cc6313c88a57722.html
Admin Updates
In this section, we cover those updates most relevant to system or HR admins. First is an update to the rehire process. Rehire can be a painful process if you don’t catch the fact that someone is a rehire during the recruiting and onboarding process. Not identifying a rehire properly can lead to miscalculation of benefits, giving away new hire bonuses unjustly, or even hiring blacklisted candidates mistakenly. This functionality helps fix just that problem! Now, when you use onboarding with SAP SuccessFactors recruiting, the system can automatically choose matching profiles as shown in the screenshot below.
This feature can be turned on using the switch on the “Onboarding General Settings” page as shown in the screenshot below:
You will also need to make sure you have the needed permissions and configuration settings listed here: https://help.sap.com/doc/62fddbd651204629b46bbccbabf886ba/cloud/en-US/58849ff3c0a44d6a991c22ec5df52abb.html
Additionally on the latest home page, users can now view an onboarding guide that includes onboarding meetings organized by their managers and orientation meetings organized by their HR admins.
There also now more compliance forms available for end users to fill out including the Starter Checklist for the Welch locale for the UK, the CC-305 Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability for the USA, DR 0004 Colorado Employee Withholding Certificate for the USA, and the WI – 221 Nonresident Military Spouse Withholding Exemption for the USA.
System Updates
In this section, we briefly cover items that the system handles automatically or are less visible to general users and admins. First, with the SAP Master Data Integration, workforce integration now replicates rehired employees only after manage pending hire is completed (before manage pending hire didn’t have to be completed). This allows for better data integrity so that only needed employees are sent to SAP Master data.
Secondly, the Compliance Metadata Sync, Onboarding Process Closure, and Where to Go Sync jobs have been decoupled from one job into three. This allows for better troubleshooting and more precise issue correction when one of the individual jobs fails and/or needs to be re-run. These jobs exist in provisioning so this update is transparent to all users except partners and SAP.
Wrap Up
From new cards on the homepage and simplified authentication to a simplified rehire process, we continue to see SAP making the onboarding process more smooth for all types of hires as well as HR and System Admins!
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!
Worklogix Blog 