With the SAP SuccessFactors transition from Onboarding 1.0 to the redeveloped Onboarding solution, customers will reap a number of technical benefits that arise from by using a product that has an integrated technical platform with the rest of their SAP SuccessFactors HXM suite.
- Common configuration skillsets
The SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding 1.0 product had an entirely different underlying system design. This meant that any configuration of Onboarding 1.0 required a unique configuration skillset. As an example, retail organizations may have compliance requirements of certain legal documentation for new hires that were not yet adults; this requirement and all its underlying logic had to be configured in Onboarding 1.0 by the client as unique panels, using a technical configuration concept and user interface that didn’t exist anywhere else in SAP SuccessFactors.The new Onboarding leverages the SAP SuccessFactors ubiquitous Metadata Framework (MDF) architecture. Today, that same requirement is built in the new Onboarding product using the same objects, screens, and rules that are used in Employee Central, reducing the need to have a resource that understands a legacy configuration.
- Improved integration capabilities
Without a unified platform, SAP SuccessFactors had to work to maintain underlying master data from the core of SAP SuccessFactors into Onboarding 1.0. This included items such as candidate details, user lists, and organizational structures. An innate truth of any integration is that whenever two systems must talk to each other, there’s always a risk they don’t communicate accurately or in a timely matter.With the new Onboarding, components like hiring manager, candidate, and organization details are all in the same system, so they’re all immediately available to each other. For example, now if you insert a division due to an acquisition and add it in Employee Central, the new Onboarding will know immediately because it’s looking at the same database where the Division was just entered. Likewise, if a hiring manager’s email changes, clients no longer must manually update it in more than one place – the fully integrated Onboarding module will already know.Additionally, from an API integration perspective, Onboarding 1.0 was managed independently, with slight technical nuances. Again, in the new module, onboarding is unified because the onboarded employee details are already a part of the Employee Central API objects. For example, you can easily include onboarded candidates into your system provisioning integrations like Azure, if you wish to begin access processes prior to an employee’s first day.
- Launchpad for future improvements
Getting rid of different underlying architecture and unifying the data model paves the way for SAP SuccessFactors to overcome past limitations around improving the Onboarding tool. With common architecture – a big item — SAP is able to focus on broadening the feature set, configuration capabilities, and interplay with other modules.
Now, default integration capabilities can be simply enhanced with Work Zone. More business rule scenarios can be defined for the customer to further configure the system according to their needs. Having a single data model from which to work will greatly improve the system enhancements offered with each future release of Onboarding.
As the depreciation of Onboarding 1.0 nears, it is important for organizations to begin their conversion journey. There are many variables to assess when it comes to planning your project, including your main business drivers, potential changes to business processes, change management impacts, and other integration considerations. Success depends not only on an on-time and on-budget implementation, but the alignment of your technology to critical business objectives and metrics, user adoption, and long-term governance. Blue Crab Consulting has over 20 years in the HR Software industry and specialize in becoming a trusted advisor to our clients and helping organizations realize the full potential and ROI of their HCM Investments. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you strategize your future with the SAP SuccessFactors’ integrated Onboarding experience.
