Tag Archives: HR Renewal

HR Renewal and SAP Fiori: What Should I Do?

ESS, HR Renewal, HR Tech, HR2016, SAP Fiori, Self Services, , , , , ,

Several years ago, SAP found themselves in a situation which happens to many large software companies. Two separate parts of the organization developed new HR functionality to solve for a common gap: usability.  On one side, HR Renewal came to fruition – a new landing page built off SAPUI5 with a new navigation and user experience. The other – SAP Fiori – was a cross-function solution (inspired with a Google design team) with a separate entry point (SAP Fiori Launchpad) and its own user interface using SAPUI5.

Many customers are now perplexed on how to move forward given both are viable solutions to solve SAP’s long-plagued usability problems, especially in the areas of Employee and Manager Self-Service.

It’s apparent that the bulk of innovation will go into SAP Fiori apps, since SAP Fiori is being leveraged across all platforms (On premise, SuccessFactors, Fieldglass, Ariba, etc.) It is SAP’s answer to a common UX, despite the disparate systems behind it.  Vishal Sikka (ex-CTO of SAP, now CEO and MD at Infosys) layed out his vision at the 2013 SAPPHIRE show.

VisionfromVishal

His “Fiori UX Paradigm” – drawn by hand and reminiscent of the days when the best solutions in software began on the back of a napkin – showed his vision, which SAP is trying to execute on.

So, with all this talk on SAP Fiori, does this mean that HR Renewal is dead? No. The functionalities are still more plentiful in HR Renewal (by a long shot), and are highly relevant for HR Professionals. It is unlikely that SAP will endeavor to re-write these apps in SAP Fiori. Although SAP Fiori is the better choice from a mobile perspective (since it’s responsive and device-agnostic), HR Renewal is still a good choice for companies who want to roll out services to their HR teams (admins, reporting) who don’t want to deal with the SAP GUI. The hard-core services performed in HR Renewal (i.e., Personnel Administration and Organizational Management updates such as employee movement scenarios and organizational updates) would almost certainly be done on desktop and not on device (e.g. I can’t see an HR admin performing a complex promotion/inter-company transfer on their Smartphone).  This should relieve some of the frustration from customers when they realize a majority of the transactions that are new with HR Renewal are using the Web Dynpro ABAP technology which is not mobile-optimized (as opposed to SAPUI5).

I will tackle more sound-bytes in future blogs. In particular, the question may not be HR Renewal versus SAP Fiori, but perhaps how could they work together for your organization.

Until then, please leave some questions or comments below…

SAP Fiori, HR Renewal – Reference Material

HR2015, SAP Fiori, SAP HCM, SAPInsider, Self Services, ,

I did a recent podcast for SAPInsider, the conference producer for HR2015. You can hear the podcast and view the transcript here. Many of the questions were a precursor to the kinds of the questions I am sure we will be hearing from customers this year at the HR 2015 conference as well as ASUG/SAPPHIRE. Questions specifically around the roadmap for HR Renewal versus SAP Fiori and where/when/how these roads will merge within the SAP HCM space. Lots of questions around integration, mashups, and what types of skill sets customers/consultants will need in the future around these technologies.

Here are some of the resources that are available to us out there, specifically around SAPUI5 and its related offerings:

SAP Fiori Apps Library: Probably your best starting point for Fiori apps

HR Renewal 2.0 SAP Help documentation

The new SAP PRESS book on HR Renewal and SAP Fiori, the new Employee, Manager and HR Professional self service, from myself, Brandon Toombs, Kris Bland, and Justin Morgalis.

All Things Fiori and, specifically for HR, SAP HCM Fiori apps on SCN

My session on “Latest Enhancements in SAP ERP HCM Self-Services: HR Renewal, SAP Fiori, and SAPUI5“. The rest of my sessions are here:

I also suggest you check out some sessions on these topics by two of the finest in the business: Martin Gillet and Brandon Toombs. Both will both give you an independent viewpoint on what’s good (and bad) about these technologies.

Brandon’s session on “Guidelines and requirements for adapting to the HR Professional role UI” will definitely be one to check out for those interested in understanding what’s new for the HR Professional. The rest of his sessions are here.  You might also want to check out his blog series on SCN on comparing Employee Central and HR Renewal/SAP Fiori here: Blog 1 |  Blog 2

Martin’s session on “An A-to-Z guide to streamlining HR processes across desktop and mobile devices with SAP Fiori” will be another great session to understand how SAP Fiori fits into your overall desktop and mobile self service strategy. The rest of his sessions are here.

Less than two weeks to the conference, and will be great to see many of industry friends again.

If you are going, please drop by booth #410 where Worklogix will be exhibiting and say hello.

 

Best,

Jeremy

 

HR2015 – What You Want to Know at This Year’s SAP HR Conference

ESS, HR Renewal, HR2015, Mobility, MSS, SAP Fiori, SAP HCM, SAPInsider, Self Services, , , , , ,

Hello friends,

The HR event from SAPInsider is almost upon us.  Please visit the website to see more details on what’s scheduled. Please visit me at one of my sessions, or at booth #410 in the Exhibit Hall during the show.

HR2015
The Bellagio will host this year’s SAPInsider conference, HR2015

I just recorded a podcast with Ken Murphy, Features Editor for SAPinsider & insiderPROFILES, about the conference and some hot topics.  It was a great discussion with him, as we exchanged thoughts on HR Renewal, SAP Fiori, SAPUI5, user adoption, change management, security, and other big league topics. I will update this post once that podcast is released so you can have a listen.

For those customers preparing for the conference, this is what I could be curious to listen for during the conference:

  1. What are the latest innovations within the SAP HR space around SAP Fiori?  Will there be another wave of HR apps released? If so, when? How will SAPUI5 apps be expanded in the HR space, or will they?
  2. How will HR Renewal continue to innovate, in areas like SAPUI5 replacement (of Web Dynpro ABAP services), as well as a more intuitive navigation scheme? In my opinion, the current lane approach looks fresher than previous homepage layouts, but also can cause more challenges for user adoption. This is something that I will discuss at the conference.
  3. Will HR Renewal and SAP Fiori “merge forces”, or will we they continue to be deployed in separate releases, style sets, etc? It’s important that we hear from SAP on these roadmap items, especially after Vishal Sikka’s (relatively) recent exit.
  4. What’s the “portal of choice” now for customers? Or, is there even a frontrunner? Currently, we have SAP NetWeaver Portal, NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC), SAP Fiori Launchpad, SAP Fiori within SAP Portal,  and other 3rd party portals (SharePoint, WebSphere are top).  How do we navigate these options, and which one’s best for customers?
  5. What’s new in the HR Professional role? For this, I would attend my co-author Brandon Toombs‘ session “Guidelines and requirements for adapting to the HR Professional role UI”. Brandon is a force to be reckoned with on this topic.

Hope to see you at the show!

Jeremy

(you can follow me on Twitter @jeremymasters)

HR Wrap-up from SAPPHIRE/ASUG 2013

ESS, HANA, HR Renewal, HR2013, MSS, SAP Fiori, SAP HCM, SuccessFactors, , , , , , ,

Hi friends,

I attended SAPPHIRENOW/ASUG 2013 conference this past week.  I went in search of some answers to questions I discussed in my last blog.  I will touch on all those items and more in this blog.

Quick Thoughts on the Keynotes

I had overall mixed feedback for the keynotes. I thought Bill McDermott’s segment with sportscaster James Brown and guests was impactful, with a great customer endorsement from Under Armour. In the afternoon, Seth Godin was a great speaker and thought provoking. On Day 3, Professor Hasso Plattner also gave a nice summary of HANA within a Q&A format. This worked well for the most part, though it did get too technical at times for the audience, who were looking for more practical applications to how HANA will make their business/life better.  It was disappointing to not hear from Lars Delgaard (who was absent due to a personal matter), especially for the HCM folks in the audience.

Overall, the timing on the Keynotes was not managed well – starting late (approximately 10-15 minutes) and then ending a good 25-30 minutes late on certain days. The audience for those venues can be engaged for one and a half hour max. Any more, you will start to lose the audience and the crispness of the session looses its impact. Hope that gets adjusted next year.

What’s in a Name, and Should We Care?

During the keynotes, I exchanged several tweets on the product name and correct capitalization of SAP HANA, since I had been seeing it written in a variety of ways: hana, SAP Hana, HANA, and SAP HANA.  Thanks to Jonathan Becher, CMO of SAP, he set the record straight:

So, we all now know from the source: the official name is SAP HANA.

While on the subject, do we even know if HANA stands for something? Usually capitalization indicates an acronym, right? For example, SAP stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing … Say that five times fast ;o)

SAP’s new UI offering, SAP Fiori, was also getting its name hacked in the Twitterverse during the conference. There were also folks confused whether Fiori was FIORI.  At least we didn’t hear Fury.  Again, Jonathon set the record straight:

 

That said… should we really care about all this grammar? I’ll let you decide, but I would think consistency will help with the marketing behind this important product from SAP.

SAP Core HR and Employee Central

I chose to leave this section SAP Core HR and Employee Central instead of SAP Core HR versus Employee Central. The reason being: it was clear from the sessions that SAP is investing in both. In his session on “The 2013 Guide to SAP HCM Improvements: On-Premise and Cloud”, Jean-Bernard Rolland made it clear that SAP will not be forcing any customers to migrate from SAP Core HR to Employee Central. In fact, SAP has been and will continue to make investments in the SAP Core through the HR Renewal program.  (Manager and Employee landing pages are planned to be released in July of 2013). This is good news for on premise customers who are not ready for the cloud. Vendors, like Worklogix, also offer an option for improved usability on premise of Core HR for HR professionals, Managers, and Employees. (You can check out that solution, HR Desktop, here).

Bottom line is this: as SAP consulting partners, we need to continue offering customers options since each customer’s roadmap is situational on a number of factors including their existing investments, and technology/organizational readiness.

Also kudo to the entire ASUG HCM team, as I heard most attendees say that the sessions were valuable and informative.

Yet Another UI Option: SAP Fiori

SAP’s latest UI offering (available version 1.0 as of May 2013) is SAP Fiori, which boasts a rapid deployment of 25 of the most used applications (some HR, some non-HR like Procurement and Sales).  It’s framework is based on SAPUI5 (i.e., SAP’s HTML5) but also needs the SAP Gateway (exact version: SAP NetWeaver Gateway 2.0 SPS 06) for consumption of these services. It is device-agnostic, meaning it will work on any device such as smart phone, tablet, or desktop.  Part of the appeal is that it can work on current investment, with an intuitive and “responsive design” (i.e., the screen will re-format based on device).

Current offerings within an HR context for ESS (employee self service) include the following:

  • Time Sheet
  • Leave Request
  • Paystub
  • Benefits Overview

Current offerings within an HR context for MSS (manager self service) include the following:

  • Approval of Time Sheets
  • Approval of Leave Requests
  • Generic Approve Requests

You can check out the Fact Sheet here, the pre-requisites here.

Remembering some recent innovations around SAP, we saw Eh5 UI Renovations in 2010, the MSS Add-on 1.0 and CORBU in 2011, HR Renewal in 2012, and now SAP Fiori. SAP Fiori is the first “mobile first”-developed technology from SAP which is a step in the right direction. That said, the app list for HR is basic and many SAP customers will balk at the price ($150 per user, one time setup).  It also lacks any role for HR (current roles: Employees, Managers, Sales reps, and purchasing agents).

It’s too early to know whether SAP Fiori will be an attractive option for customers using SAP HCM. SAP hopes that it’s not another flop like Duet, which got little to no traction, despite being a very cool concept. On the ground, I am still seeing customers wanting to leverage their existing portal investments, whether it be Netweaver, Sharepoint, or Websphere. And I don’t see that going away anytime soon.

What are your thoughts?

SAP HANA and its application for SAP HCM?

I attended an informative session “Leverage the power of SAP HANA in HCM” with Srikanth Gopalakrishnan and Michel Wulf from SAP on the developments and innovations around SAP HANA for Human Resources.  The discussion was mostly payroll-focused, as some of customer pain comes from longer-than-desired SAP Payroll processing times. The in-memory capabilities around SAP HANA will be able to power the business suite, as a platform, by greatly speeding up processing and analytic time. This innovation will be available for customers running SAP Payroll on premise, as well as for customers using the SAP Payroll cloud option (i.e., SAP R/3 instantiated payroll in the cloud).

Oh, and still no word about a full, native cloud payroll on Employee Central, but this could be in the making behind several closed doors.

Next Stop: Amsterdam!

It was great seeing customers, partners, and colleagues at the show. It was an enlightening week for me and my colleagues – thank you SAP and ASUG!

For my European friends, see you next month in Amsterdam for the SAPInsider HR2013 conference.

Jeremy

You can follow me on Twitter: @jeremymasters

My SAP HCM Preview to SAPPHIRE/ASUG 2013

HANA, HR Renewal, Hybrid, Mobility, SAP HCM, SAPInsider, SuccessFactors, , , , , , , , ,

Hi gang,

SAPPHIRENOW 2013 Conference
SAPPHIRENOW 2013 Conference

Like some of you, I will be attending SAP’s annual customer conference next week, SAPPHIRENOW, May 14-16 in sunny Orlando, FL.  It is also co-located with ASUG, the annual customer-focused conference for SAP’s largest user group. The event is an exciting conference since we get to hear directly from SAP, on hot topics and the overall roadmap. Specifically, within HCM there will be much focus on several topic areas which I will be listening for.

Here’s my top 5 list of SAP HCM topics I will be looking for during the conference:

1. What will HANA do (and be) for HCM?  Jarret Pazahanick wrote a nice piece on HANA for HCM on SCN here. With some of the topics on the roadmap  and under consideration (e.g. Compensation and Benefits modeling), it makes me wonder how (and when) on premise customers will consider using HANA. Of course, after yesterday’s announcement of SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, SAP’s direction is clear for those companies ready for cloud.  For those on premise customers, there is still more information they need to understand what HANA can deliver for them. I will be looking next week at how HANA’s value can be realized for both customers on premise and those seeking cloud-based HR solutions.

2. What options do customers have for a refreshing User Experience? (i.e. what about HR Renewal and the other options that customers have for improved usability?). I wrote a blog on HR Renewal a few weeks back which you can read here, where I talk about “refreshing the UI”. Certainly, the new HR Renewal will be a welcome option for many customers (already on, or upgrading to ECC 6.0, Enhancement Package 6).  Robert Moeller, Solution Owner, Core HR at SAP, also just wrote a nice piece on this here on SCN, around Feature Pack 3 of HR Renewal which became available on March 13, 2013 to customers. Also, if you haven’t listened to the recent podcast from Insight Consulting Partners, please check it out here.  I was honored to join Insight Consulting Managing Partner Steve Bogner, and podcast members Brandon Toombs and Martin Gillet. Both Brandon and Martin will be at SAPPHIRE this year as well.

3. Any news about Payroll in the Cloud from SAP? If you haven’t already read this piece from Holger Mueller, do yourself a favor a read his blog “And suddenly…Payroll matters again!“.  SAP has been very light around this topic since the SuccessFactors acquisition.  The question on the table of course is whether SAP will build out a full cloud payroll solution, or keep with their instantiated hosted payroll offering (complimented with vendors like ADP). Next week, I will be keen on understanding if there is any buzz on the ground at SAPPHIRE regarding a payroll cloud initiative.

ASUG Annual Conference 201
ASUG Annual Conference 2013

4. Continue feeling the customer pulse around on premise v. hybrid v. full cloud On Tuesday, I will be co-presenting a session on a success story of how our organization, Worklogix, helped a leading pharmaceutical company with their global ECM (SAP Compensation) on premise solution. You can view the abstract of this session here if you would like to attend.  There is also a variety of SuccessFactors sessions as well, which you can see here. I will continue to meet with customers (existing and prospective) to get their perspective on this critical topic area – always one fiercely debated with lots of strong opinions.

Mobile Desktop
Menu screen for the Mobile Desktop by Worklogix

5. Understand the traction around mobile HCM. I wrote a blog on mobility and held an HR Forum Q&A for the Insider Learning Network which you can check out the transcript here.  Did you know SAP has a store like iTunes, and specifically for the HR Line of Business? Check out SAP’s apps, as well as those from software vendors who drive innovation in this great eco-system like Worklogix, EPI-USE, and hyperCision.  I will be looking to understand SAP’s direction with mobile applications, especially with regards to pricing and future innovation both using SAP HCM (Afaria as MDM and SUP as MEAP) as well as SuccessFactors offerings.

Whoever is going, please drop by booth (pod) #2027b to say hello to me and the rest of the Worklogix team who will be in the Exhibit Hall. Hope to see some of you soon!

Jeremy

Mobile Desktop

Refreshing the UI: HR Renewal, HR Desktop and Mobility

ESS, HR Renewal, MSS, Self Services, , ,

During the HR2013 Conference in Las Vegas this year, I was honored to be the moderator of a panel “SAPexperts LIVE! Panel Discussion: Recent Enhancements to Employee Self-Service/Manager Self-Service”. You can also check out the video posted on Youtube video here.

During the session, there were several key themes resonating, but one of which was the new program from SAP called HR Renewal.

HR Renewal

HR Renewal is a program started a few years back from SAP that was meant to refresh the user experience for HR. It’s now also being extended to include ESS and MSS start screens, with shipments scheduled later in 2013.  The basic idea was to refresh the user experience for the HR functionalities within XSS (think self service for HR Professionals), as well as ESS and MSS. This is a response to some of SAP’s competitors (e.g. Workday) and the overall direction needed from SAP to provide functionality outside of the SAP GUI.

Some other useful blogs on the subject include those from Jarret Pazahanick (SCN | Twitter)  in SCN:

New SAP HCM Functionality – HR Renewal 1.0 – Initial primer (dated June 1, 2012)

SAP New HR Renewal Functionality and Roadmap – Additional information (dated Oct 10, 2012) from Jarret on HR Renewal.

SAP HCM Enhancement Package 6 and HR Renewal – Overview (from Dec 19, 2012)  of a key points of an HR Renewal Podcast

HR Renewal, ESS, MSS
Landing Page for HR for HR Renewal

Jarret also did a nice podcast not too long ago with the folks from Insider Learning Network. You can listen to that here.

For those of you who have a license to SAPExperts, you can read here about the HR Renewal program from Jean-Bernard Rolland, Vice President, HR Solutions, SAP.  (SAPExperts Login Required)

The standard SAP Documentation is here for HR renewal 1.0 Support Package (SP) 10, which is also referred to as “HR renewal 1.0 Feature Pack 3”.

For additional information on the HR Renewal, you can check out the SAP Note 1701634 (HR renewal 1.0: Release Information Note). (SAP Marketplace Login Required). You’ll also want to check out SAP Note 1691232 (Installing SAP HR renewal 1.0 on ERP 6.0 EHP6). (SAP Marketplace Login Required).

If you are on Twitter, you can follow the Solution Owner, Robert Moeller. His handle is @Robert_SAP. In fact, he sat down with the SAP HCM Insights Podcast team to record a session which you can listen to here.

Below is the latest Product availability matrix from SAP, where you can clearly see:

  • HR Renewal is the successor to the MSS Add-On 1.0
  • SAP enhancement package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0 is a prerequisite
  • No current successor products/releases for this at this time
HR Renewal
Product availability matrix/version for HR Renewal

HR Desktop

For those companies not on ECC 6.0 Enhancement Package 6, or for those looking for alternatives to SAP’s HR Renewal functionality, Worklogix’s HR Desktop offers another compelling UI for SAP HCM. The HR Desktop offers a full suite HCM visualization, including quick access to employee information and organizational data. HR Desktop forms an important backbone for Worklogix’s eForms (HCM Processes & Forms). For more information about the HR Desktop, click here, or you can contact me directly.

HR Desktop Employee Profile
Employee Profile HR Desktop by Worklogix

 

HR Desktop Form Wizard
HR Desktop Form Wizard by Worklogix

Mobile Desktop

In addition to this, the HR Desktop has a mobile framework for customers. The mobile framework – call the Mobile Desktop – offers customers with a cost-attractive solution to manage HR processes end-to-end from a mobile device.

Mobile Desktop
Menu screen for the Mobile Desktop by Worklogix
Mobile Desktop
Approval screen for the Mobile Desktop by Worklogix

Regardless of technology choice above (or other options), it is clear that SAP customers are gaining more options on how to deploy their applications, and moreover – how to deploy applications using a user interface that will provide a consumer-grade experience to the end user.

Usability predicts user adoption. In today’s world, this is necessity and not a luxury.

Until next time,

Jeremy