Tag Archives: Mobility

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

got mobility? HR Apps will Rule the World

HR2013, Mobility, MSS, SAPInsider, SuccessFactors, Uncategorized, , ,

Alright, maybe the title is a bit extreme, but I have seen a lot of excitement lately around mobility and HR. The question is not if mobility will hit mainstream HR platforms (be it on premise or SaaS), but rather how fast it will catch on.

So first things first, do you remember this?

Motorola DynaTAC8000X
Motorola DynaTAC8000X

It’s the Motorola DynaTAC8000X. For those old enough, the DynaTAC may be best known for being used in the 1987 movie Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas as corporate raider Gordon Gecko. Whether or not you were a fan of the movie, it’s pretty amazing to see this phone in action.

We have come a long way from the Motorola, having lived through the rule of Blackberry in the corporate world, until Apple came along with its iPhone and iPad innovations and flexed its muscles…

And now I reflect further on mobility, as I am getting ready for my HR Forum Q&A on the SAP Insider Learning Network, for Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 12:30-1:30pm EDT. The session title is Leveraging HR mobile apps: Mobility with SAP ERP HCM and SuccessFactors. (Please register for this ahead of time – you can also go ahead and leave questions already on the site.)

During my session at HR 2013 in Vegas, I felt a strong connection with my audience. Lots of interest – as well as – lots of questions around what SAP and SuccessFactors has in their offering. During my session “Guidelines and Best Practices for Deploying ESS and MSS on Mobile Devices“, (which I am also presenting at the SAPInsider Europe conference in Amsterdam in June), I was able to articulate a few themes that seemed to resonate well with colleagues.

Performing HR transactions on a mobile device?

Yeah! Performing HR transactions on a mobile device will become the norm and not the exception in the not-so-distant future. In 2011, Gartner predicted that 40% of ESS and MSS transactions will be performed on a mobile device by the year 2015.  Whether or not we will achieve this number is not the point here.  Another interesting stat: In 2015, projected sales of smart phones/tablets will be 1.7 billion units, whereas the projected sales of PC/laptops will be 400 million units. Definitely makes you scratch your head.

Bring Your Own Device

BYOD is leading the charge where consumer IT is the pioneer. We demand our HR apps to work a certain way since we use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Amazon, and Google on a daily basis. In fact, on the same device we shop Diapers.com, we can also update our performance management plan, or approve leave requests, or look at the current headcount numbers. Pretty amazing.

Consider This!

If you are going mobile for HR, here are some quick consideration areas:

Functionality – will depend on several factors including your device type (tablet, smart phone) but think about what processes actually make sense to be on a mobile device and what processes don’t;

Size/User Experience  – screen real estate matters; be sure to think about the user experience when operating a smart phones or tablet;

Connectivity – between WiFi and cellular networks, you can connect just about anywhere (work, home, airport, plane!);

Security and Infrastructure – understanding options around MDM (Mobile Device Management) software like SAP Afaria, and MEAP (Mobile Enterprise Application Platform) like SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform); and lastly,

Deployment Model: Are you developing native applications or web mobile applications?  This is an ongoing debate that has no winner. Some are of the ilk that there is no match to developing native mobile applications (using Objective C for iOS, Java for Andriod, etc.) so as to fully unearth the powers within the device (including its hardware, like camera functions). And then, there are others who believe HTML5 is the holy grail and browser-based access to applications is the most efficient and sensible option (e.g. for upgrades). There are pros and cons in both camps.

The Store is Open for Business

Last, did you know SAP has a store just like Apple has iTunes, Google Android has Google Play, Windows has Windows Store, and BlackBerry has AppWorld? You can find it at http://store.sap.com/. There’s also a mobile app for it on iTunes.

SAP mobile application iTunes
SAP Mobile Application Store

In addition to the SAP-built applications, the SAP vendor eco-system is also pushing the envelope and making some important innovations in this area as well. My company, Worklogix, has created some incredibly powerful mobile applications that our clients are loving. See below screen shot of Worklogix’s Mobile Desktop – which gives HR and Managers the ability to view their team (span-of-control), and initiate or approve transactions such as promotions, changes in position, termination, and hire/rehires.

Worklogix Mobile Desktop for HR and Managers
Worklogix Mobile Desktop

 

Have any questions on the above? Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, or contact me directly. Thanks!