Configuring Development Goal Plan Templates

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to discuss the steps needed to change an existing development plan template.

Development Goal Plan Templates Overview

Development Goal Plans are configured using the Development Plan Templates, which are configured using Manage Templates in Admin Center. Once you open Manage Templates, you'll use the Development tab for all Development Goal Plan Templates.

The Manage Templates screen is shown with Development selected.

Inside the Development tab, one or more templates may display, depending on the number of active plans or previous changes. It is best practice to create or modify a new development template every 3 to 5 years. Because career development often requires accumulation of new skills or competencies, which may take some time, a development template is updated less frequently than a goal management template. The frequency of changes to the template may also depend on your culture or talent management strategy.

Options	Actions
Show Active Templates Only	If checked, only active templates display in this area of Admin Center. If unchecked, all templates display (active or not).
Add SuccessStore Template	Select to add a new development goal plan template from the SuccessStore.
Upload New Template	Select to upload a new development goal plan template.
Template ID	ID number of the development goal plan template.
Template Name	Name of the development goal plan template.
Default	Sets the default plan for end users when they open Development Goals.
Active	Allows the template to display to the end user in the dropdown on the Development Goal Plan page.
Updated On	Date the template was last updated.
Date Range	Date range defined in the plan.
Display Order	Controls the order that the plans show up in the user’s dropdown list.
Update	Select the red arrow to upload a new copy of an existing development goal plan template.
Download	Select the green arrow to download the development goal plan template and edit it with an XML editor.
Revisions	Opens an audit trail of all revisions to the development goal plan template.

To create a new template, simply select Add a New Template and choose the desired template from the SuccessStore. Save the template name with the year to assist in future updates. You can also create new goal plan templates by starting out with an existing template and copying it.

Note

New development goal plan templates can be added through SuccessStore, or existing templates can be uploaded.

Copying a Development Template

If you would like to copy an existing template, select the template name within the Development tab. Once the template opens, a copy of the template can be made by selecting Save As as seen in the screenshot below:

The Manage Development Goal template screen is shown with Save As chosen to create a template copy.

Give the template a unique or updated name and then make any desired changes to the template. As you complete this action, your template name updates. Save the new template after any changes are made.

Template Permissions

If a newly created template cannot be seen, be sure to check Admin Center→Set User Permissions→Manage Permission Roles to see if permission was given to the template itself within the Goals area. This section is shared between Goal Management and Career Development Planning. So, you will need to specify which templates per role to access. To select multiple templates, select the radio button to the right of ALL and open the goal list. Check the boxes for the templates to which you wish to give access and close the list.

The Goals user permission is shown with the full list of goal plans open for choosing individual goal plan templates.

Development Plan General Settings

Similar to Goal Management, Performance Management, and many other SAP SuccessFactors modules, Development Plan configurations reside in an XML-based template. Many features of these XML-based templates can be configured in Admin Center as well. Use action search to navigate to Manage Templates and select the Development tab. Then select and open the development plan you would like to edit.

What are General Settings?

The first item within a development plan is General Settings. This area of the template contains key attributes which set up the plan's main functionality. General Settings do not include the fields, permissions, and layout of the plan.

Some features within General Settings can be configured by a customer's administrator in Manage Templates and others must be configured by a consultant via XML coding. This training will include both options, starting with Admin Center.

The Basic Development Plan General Settings are displayed on Admin Center page.

Modify General Settings in Admin Center

The following areas of the development goal plan can be modified using the General Settings area of Manage Templates.

Edit the name of the Development Plan
Enter specific instructions to appear at the top of the Development Plan
Use the rich-text editor to change font size, color, style, or add a link to an external website
Enter start and end dates (these are the dates that will default for all goals added to the plan)
Change the language (if applicable) and enter appropriate language text

Category Configuration in Manage Templates

Category Management in Admin Center

A single default Development Goals category exists as a placeholder for all goals. However, additional categories can be created if desired. One example of a use case would be to create an Archived Goals category, because users may not have new Development Plans every year.

The Add a New Category page is displayed.

Note

Multiple categories will create a Category dropdown when creating development goals in the instance. With a single default category, there is no Category dropdown.

General Settings Modified by Professional Services or Customer Success

In addition to modifications to the General Settings, it is possible to add or delete categories and fields in the development plan template. However, these options may be limited to the original configurations set up during implementation unless the XML has been modified by a Professional Services Consultant or a Customer Success request. For example, there are several other settings in General Settings that are only visible in the XML representation of development plan templates. Help from Professional Services consultants or Customer Success will be needed to make these changes within the XML code. Consultants generally capture this information as part of the implementation process. It is important to have this information well before your system goes live and to work with your consulting partner to make sure you understand the available options so that you can make the best choices for your organization.

Note

Configuration guides or documents are typically presented during the implementation project. If you do not have these items, contact your Professional Services consultant. In addition, it is the responsibility of the customer or administrator of the system to update the configuration guides as changes are made moving forward.

Some examples of attributes only available via XML modification are listed below. This list is not exhaustive, so you should work with your consulting partner to make sure all options are explained. Several options are similar to options used in Business Goal Plans but some of them are not utilized in Development Goal Plans. For example, cascading of goals is not supported with Development Goal Plans.

XML Options and Descriptions (Partial List):

XML Options	Descriptions
instructions-viewdefault	Instructions for a development plan will be visible by default if this option is set to true.
alerts-viewdefault	Alerts for a development plan will be visible by default if this option is set to true.
new-obj-share-status-public	When set to true, a newly created goal will appear as a public goal. When set to false, a newly created goal will appear as a private goal.
use-text-for-privacy	This attribute allows users to view the visibility field so the privacy of the goal can be changed (Public/Private).
max-goals	This attribute defines the maximum number of goals for a goal plan. If the number of goals exceeds the max-goals value, a warning will be displayed.
min-goals	This attribute defines the minimum number of goals for a goal plan. If the number of goals is lower than the min-goals value, a warning will be displayed.

Configuration of Standard and Custom Fields in Admin Center

Add Fields in Admin Center

There are several standard fields and unlimited custom fields that can be added for development goals. Not all fields can be added through Admin Center. Some fields, like the competencies and milestones fields, must be added through Provisioning using XML code.

All fields will have a label, a field ID, and a field type. Labels can be localized to any language you have enabled in the system. Two additional options are whether the field is required and whether it can be shown in the People Profile block.

When you add a new template through the SuccessStore, you automatically get the following fields:

Goal: This identifies the name of the goal. The field type is textarea, but it can be changed to text via XML.
Description: This is an explanation of the goal. The field type is typically a textarea.
Start Date: This is the start date of the goal. The field type is date.
Due Date: This is the due date of the goal. The field type is date.
Status: This is the current status or state of the goal. The field type is enumeration (enum), which is displayed as a dropdown list of options.

Select the Field type from dropdown to add the field.

Adding a Field

Adding a field is as easy as choosing the Add a New Field option on the left side of the screen and then selecting the field you wish to add. You’ll have the following options while adding new fields (outlined here, and covered in more detail in an upcoming exercise):

Select the language you wish to edit using the Change Language option or leave it as default.
Create a Label.
Check the Required Field box if the field should be required. This will add a red asterisk to the end user view.
Change or add dropdown options for fields with a Field Type of enum. You can control font, background color, and sort order.
When working with fields of type enum, choose Add a New Value to add a new dropdown option.

Select the details to be added in the Purpose tab.

Note

Field ID and Field Type cannot be changed for standard fields. For custom fields, the ID and Field Type will be configured at the time the field is created.

To edit fields, select the field you wish to edit and make the necessary changes. You can also reorder fields in Admin Center by selecting the six-dot icon to the left of the field and dragging and dropping to a new location.

The example below shows how to add a new value for the dropdown options in the standard Status field. A name, text color, and background color must be defined for the new dropdown value.

The Status field also has an extra option named "Trigger Completion." This allows you to select which status state triggers the goal to be marked as completed. You can select one of the states from the dropdown, or if you leave it blank, the last state value in the list will trigger the completion of the goal.

Various screenshots are displayed to edit the fields in Admin Center.

Delete Fields

Fields can be deleted using the trash can icon that appears when you hover over the field.

Note

All fields except the Goal Name (Field ID: name) can be deleted.

Conversion of an Existing Template to the Latest Goal Management

If you need to continue using some of your existing templates, you will need to convert them into the latest version using the tool provided within Manage Templates.

Note

Going forward, convert only those templates that you are currently using. It is not necessary to convert every single template. New templates created will not require any conversion.

The templates converted will retain their ID. The original template is copied with a new ID and renamed as Original Name Backup in the read-only mode.

Navigate to Manage Templates and select at least one template to convert. Alternatively, you can add a new template from SuccessStore or Provisioning, and it will be displayed in the Latest Goal Management version.

The existing templates in your instance are convertible. You can run the Conversion tool which will ensure the template is ready to go. Any fields that are not supported will be set to optional (not required) if they were used previously, and while they will remain in the template, they will not be shown in the UI.

Create a new Development Plan Template in Admin Center

In this exercise, you will create a new Development Plan Template in Admin Center.

Steps

Using the Action Search, locate Manage Templates and Development.
Select Add a New Template and choose the Basic Development Plan template from the SuccessStore.
Choose Add to my instance and provide a name for the template.
Save the new development plan template.

Modify General Settings to a Development Plan Template in Admin Center

In this exercise, you will change the instructions and the start/end dates to a template in Admin Center.

Steps

Using the Action Search, navigate to Manage Templates and select Development.
Select the Development Goals template.
Select General Settings to view the instructions, start date, and end date.
Enter some text in the Instructions to your users area.
Enter current dates in the Start Date and End Date fields. Change the end date before changing the start date.
When finished, save the development plan template.
To view your changes, navigate to Goals→Development Goals.
Note
If you cannot see your new or modified template, be sure to check your setup in Manage Permission Roles by granting permission to the template under Goals→Goal Plan Permissions. Either All needs to be selected or the development goal template must be chosen to grant permissions.

Result

This concludes the exercise: Modifying General Settings to Development Plan Template.

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