Worklogix Blog

Author: Jeremy Masters

  • My top curiosities going into SuccessConnect 2025

    My top curiosities going into SuccessConnect 2025

    Please note: the opinions and comments expressed below are solely my own and do not reflect the views of SAP, SAP SuccessFactors, or the SAP Confidant Program.

    In a few weeks, many colleagues and I within the HR Tech industry will attend SAP SuccessFactors’ annual conference, SuccessConnect 2025 in Las Vegas. This year will prove to be a good one, as there are several recent events that will shape the portfolio for years to come.

    Selfie during this year’s SAPPHRIE conference in Orlando

    I have listed some of my top curiosities below. Please feel free to add comments to indicate some of your own questions or expand on any of my thoughts.

    1. Strategic direction of Talent Acquisition The acquisition of SmartRecruiters was recently closed, so how will this shape Talent Acquisition in the years to come for SuccessFactors customers? For those customers currently implementing SuccessFactors Recruiting or those who were looking to do so in the months to come, what will the guidance be from SAP? Certainly integrations will become a main discussion item, as pre-delivered integrations will need to be created and maintained in order for these two systems to sync. It will be interesting how these two solutions will co-exist within the SAP HCM eco-system… I feel like we are back 30 years ago, revisiting ‘best of breed’ vs ‘best-of-suite’, especially with all the recent acquisition news between SAP and Workday.
    2. Talent Intelligence Hub (TIH) Over the last year, I have been fortunate to work with several customers on TIH scoping, visioning, and implementation. Still in its (relative) infancy, this framework is extremely important to support Talent processes across the SAP SuccessFactors suite. Since TIH stores/maintains the skill and competency catalogs for the organization, it’s critical to get TIH design correct from the start (e.g. ensuring that you choose your rating scale since it’s irreversible!). A few important holes remain in the solution including:
      • When will advanced permissions be added to make rolling out to employee self service and manager self service viable? I’ve seen 1H 2026 from community blogs but let’s hope we hear officially from Product Management soon. We need this improvement in order to make permissions more specific to a particular set of competencies / skills. Could we expect permissions to use the Tag as the way to discern? Let’s wait to see what Product comes up with.
      • When will custom attribute types (not just the standard ones, i.e., skills and competencies) be available throughout all functionalities in Talent (e.g. career worksheet). Custom attributes are already integrated into the Job Profile Builder (JPB) but only integrate to the Growth Portfolio and not many of the legacy features yet.
    3. Onboarding 2.0 “Oh ONB 2.0, where shall I begin with thee?” This is a special module. Special kudos to the SAP Product Management team for delivering constant improvements in the recent years. This module has been a challenge to implement but features are slowly catching up with the ONB 1.0 offering.
      • Many are interested to see what’s in store over the next few releases, particularly in the US Compliance area (e.g. Form I-9, E-Verify WTPA for NY and CA).
      • User experience continues to be a challenge with this product but I understand improvements are on the way so we shall see!
      • How will SmartOnboard play into the onboarding space? Will be interesting, as ONB 2.0 is extremely tethered to Employee Central.
      • Earlier this year, I wrote a blog Top 5 tips when Implementing SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 2.0 it’s a quick read and could help some out!
    4. Report Stories continue to be a challenge for customers to adopt. Between issues with IAS syncing and overall end user experience, customers have been struggling to adopt. SAP has been offering training which I recommend for customers still needing assistance. FYI, People Intelligence in SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) is not replacing Report Stories (or ad hoc, for that matter). We know Ad Hoc was resurrected but we can eventually expect a new date. I am interested to hear more about People Intelligence and BDC during the conference.
    5. Can AI within SAP SuccessFactors gain traction in 2026? So far, AI use cases (for my implementations at least) have been discussed but not implemented. I believe 2026 will be the year where customers finally start moving the needle to use AI in SuccessFactors Talent Management. Currently, most customers are still trying to grapple with the foundational aspects of Talent with TIH, Opportunity Marketplace, and the rest of CTD (Career and Talent Development) and AI is mostly considered a “phase 2 item”. Let’s see if that changes in 2026.

    Please let me know if you’ll be attending SAP Connect 2025 in person, send me an email info@worklogix.com  and let me know!

    Do you need help implementing or supporting your SAP SuccessFactors system?  Contact info@worklogix.com for assistance, download our support services brochure, or visit our website for additional information.

    Worklogix

  • Top 5 tips when Implementing SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 2.0

    Implementing SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 2.0 is a critical step in creating a seamless, engaging, and efficient onboarding experience for new hires. However, to maximize the platform’s potential, organizations must approach implementation with careful planning and strategic execution. At Worklogix, we specialize in SAP SuccessFactors consulting and have helped numerous businesses optimize their onboarding processes. In this blog, we share our top five tips for a successful SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 2.0 implementation—ensuring compliance, automation, and a smooth transition for new employees while enhancing overall HR efficiency.

    1. Make Onboardee Experience a priority. Oftentimes during project work, we get caught up with what HR wants/needs to ensure onboarding requirements are met. This is expected of course, but ensure you are always keeping the onboardee experience in mind. More and more companies are involving their User Experience Team (if they have one) to be involved in the design, as well as potentially adding a “UX Testing” phase where the focus is on the experience of the new hire. Even though feedback from UX practitioners might not be achievable given system constraints, at minimum you’ve got some insights into training aids.
    2. Streamline your Onboarding Process. With the help of “Hire Template” configuration (view SAP Help documentation here), you can combine standard portlets (e.g. EmploymentInfo, JobInfo, CompInfo) with any custom portlets (i.e., data being collected via custom MDFs) in one step. This trick will provide a more streamlined process for the onboardee. This is one of several techniques that are available to make the experience streamlines for the new hire. You can also look to include some custom tiles on the New hire’s Homepage in order to message some important info like Benefits or a company overview.
    3. Ensure Data Purging processes are established before Go Live. Often overlooked, the processes around Data Retention Management are an important one, especially in Europe where data protection and privacy are always a primary concern. Configuring help for DRTM related to onboarding can be found here. The DRTM process for onboarding is a bit trickier than other modules, so please leave yourself ample time to configure and test.
    4. Don’t leave Onboarding Reporting as an afterthought! Onboarding reporting is delivered through SAP Story Reports from the People Analytics module. If not already implemented, you will need to integrate IAS into your environment as this is an important prerequisite. (IAS is soon to become a requirement across SAP SuccessFactors for all authentication). You can reference how to create a Report Story here on SAP’s Learning Journey site. Please note: there is no way to use “ad-hoc” reporting at all in the new module, as there is no domain available.
    5. Compliance, compliance, compliance! Everyone’s favorite, we know. At the time of this blog, SAP SuccessFactors currently supports compliance forms for the US, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Spain and the UK . You can see the full list of compliance forms here. Also, here’s the latest Compliance form updates. You should check in after each biannual release to see if more countries have been added. SAP SuccessFactors continues to invest in supporting additional countries around onboarding compliance.

    A successful SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 2.0 implementation requires thoughtful planning, configuration, and alignment with your organization’s HR processes but also delivering to onboardees expecting a good user experience. By following these top five tips, you can streamline onboarding, enhance new hire engagement, and ensure compliance while maximizing the platform’s capabilities.

    Do you need help implementing or supporting your SAP SuccessFactors system?  Contact info@worklogix.com for assistance, download our support services brochure, or visit our website for additional information.

    OW

  • Considerations when Implementing SuccessFactors Compensation or Variable Pay before Employee Central

    Considerations when Implementing SuccessFactors Compensation or Variable Pay before Employee Central

    Over the past few months, we have been asked from customers about considerations of going live with SuccessFactors Compensation (or SuccessFactors Variable Pay) before implementing Employee Central.

    Below are the main considerations when doing so:

    • Configuration –  The configuration of the module is largely the same whether implemented with EC or not.  That said, some retrofit would be needed if deployed earlier than EC.
    • Data –  Decisions on certain data definitions (e.g., Location, Division, and Department) are needed regardless of deployment.  If implemented within a non-EC environment first, those foundational decisions would need to be made at that time.
    • Automation – Components such as eligibility and manager changes are heavily dependent on data updates. If deployed as non-EC, automation may lag depending on the frequency of data update.  
    • Employee/Planner Experience – the employee experience will be the same to the end users regardless of deployment approach
    • “Publish” – At the end of the process, an EC-enabled template provides automatic updates to employees’ pay-related information.  For non-EC, the data would be exported to Excel/CSV for an upload/update to the source system. (If your HRIS system is SAP HCM, there are some standard integrations you can implement. Check out the SAP Help link here.
    • Compensation Statement – Compensation statements can be issued regardless of method. They will look-and-feel the same.

    Do you need help implementing or supporting your SAP SuccessFactors system?  Contact info@worklogix.com for assistance, download our support services brochure, or visit https://www.worklogix.com/implementation.html for additional information.

     Worklogix partners with clients to plan, configure, develop and integrate HR products and custom applications. We have assembled a global team with years of experience implementing HCM solutions. Our team is dedicated to understanding your business challenges, helping you leverage your technology and implement solutions that deliver results.

  • Five Healthy Behaviors to Maximize Your SAP SuccessFactors System

    Five Healthy Behaviors to Maximize Your SAP SuccessFactors System

    If you are a SuccessFactors customer (or soon to be one), here are our top five healthy behaviors to maximize the use of your SAP SuccessFactors system:

    1. Use the community site, which is located here: SuccessFactors Community Site You’ll need an S-User ID to log in (If you don’t have an S-User ID, you’ll want to contact your SAP and/or SuccessFactors administrator at your company). You’ll want to make yourself comfortable with this site, especially the sites available under “Quick Links” on the lower left of the screen.   From here, you can create a support ticket, review product documentation, and participate in SAP’s customer influence program where you can create and vote on ideas for future product enhancements.  
    2. Work in partnership with your SAP team. SAP assigns an AE (Account Executive), a CEE (Customer Engagement Executive), and a CSM (Customer Success Manager) to each customer.  Some customers have additional resources depending on their support level.  It’s important to establish the right relationship with these folks as they are your main communication back to SAP.
    3. Find the right implementation partner.  Most partners are not good at all things. You may want to search for partners here (Partner Certification Search, which is part of the Community Site above, rather than the Partner Finder on the SAP site. For example, Worklogix is a Recognized Expertise Partner in Onboarding/Recruiting as well as Talent Solutions (Performance/Goals, Compensation, Succession/Development), but we are not yet listed on that site.
    4. Be realistic with software expectations.  No software will be everything to everyone.  Not SuccessFactors, not Workday, and not the point solutions that some business folks are scheming to buy.
    5. Don’t forget the training. Yes, these cloud solutions are (in general) more intuitive to use, but don’t underestimate the need for training.  Visit the SAP SuccessFactors HCM Global Training site in the Community site, under Resources.  All too often, we see failed rollouts (or deployments that need to be reset) due to lack of training with the tool.  Like all software, it’s got its quirky parts.

     

     

    Worklogix Worklogix partners with clients to plan, configure, develop and integrate HR products and custom applications. We have assembled a global team with years of experience implementing HCM solutions. Our team is dedicated to understanding your business challenges, helping you leverage your technology and implement solutions that deliver results.