IMP Lessons Learned from a Global SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Implementation | 2016

Key Lessons Learned from a Global SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Implementation

At the recent SuccessConnect 2016 conference, iXerv Americas co-founder and COO Jeroen Wielens co-presented a case study with a customer that detailed the customer’s journey to SAP SuccessFactors and the lessons learned along with way.

The customer, a global automotive components manufacturer, chose SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central in order to:

• Increase visibility into workforce productivity and costs
• Build a better HR infrastructure to support growth
• Improve the ability to plan, allocate and manage workforce
• Implement a scalable platform to help transform HR into a more strategic business function

The case study discussed how the customer overcame challenges in unifying business processes across multiple countries and regions, implementing payroll centralization, managing change, and localizing Employee Central Payroll.

In summary, some highlights of the customer’s lessons learned during their Employee Central and Employee Central Payroll implementation include:

Program Management: The customer initially chose to handle program management internally. However, inconsistent project plans and failure to meet critical milestones led them to look outside for help managing the project. Finding an experienced partner to manage the project took pressure off internal resources who were less familiar with day-to-day project management and work and improved project efficiency and accuracy.

SAP SuccessFactors Resource Strategy: Many of the consultants originally presented were strong in talent management but not in Employee Central or Employee Central Payroll. The customer quickly realized they needed assistance from a partner who had the specific Employee Central expertise and not just general SAP SuccessFactors talent management skills.

Implementation Approach: The customer’s initial implementation approach was based on their past on-premise implementation. Failing to develop a plan that met the unique differences in a cloud implementation lead to inconsistencies in design, prolonged timelines, unnecessary resource burdens, and an increased data conversion effort. After the pilot, the customer refined its implementation approach. The focus was changed to getting core modules (Recruiting/Employee Central/Employee Central Payroll) in place for countries as a whole, while looking to implement the talent modules regionally. Understanding how a cloud HCM implementation differs from on-premise is critical to the success of any project.

source : ixerv.com