Setting Up Pre-Program Tasks

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe how the user data file is used in SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay.

Employee Data File Management

SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay pulls data from multiple data sources. These are categorized into two data types: employee-specific and plan-specific data.

Employee-Specific DataPlan-Specific Data
Employee Summary Information
  • UDF
Business Goals
  • Goal File
Employee History Information
  • Assignment History Data File
Business Goal Weights
  • Goal Weight File
Employee Eligibility Information
  • Eligibility File
Bonus Goal Plans
  • Plan File
 Other Plan-Specific Data
  • Guidelines
  • Budgets
  • Conversion rates

The user/employee data file (UDF) is the main source of employee information for all SAP SuccessFactors, usually exported from HRIS and then imported to SAP SuccessFactors system via CSV. The same UDF is used to pass compensation data.

In SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay, however, only the UserID of employees are significant in order for employees to be part of the bonus process. Each employee assignment must have a valid UserID.

Planner Hierarchy

Variable Pay form is generated based on planner hierarchy. There are three methods of planning:

  • Standard Hierarchy
  • Compensation Manager Hierarchy
  • Rollup Hierarchy

A standard hierarchy uses the MANAGER column in the User Data File to establish the employees who would be considered planners and a Variable Pay form will be created for them.

A compensation manager hierarchy uses the SECOND_MANAGER column in the user data file to identify the planners. The SECOND_MANAGER column is used only for compensation and variable pay purposes. Compensation planners are different from people managers, hence with this method, planning is not generally impacted by organizational changes.

As the term rollup implies, the rollup hierarchy can assign the responsibility of planning to a higher level manager. This way, forms are not created for all managers but those designated only in the COMPENSATION_PLANNER_XX column of the user data file. This reduces the number of forms created.

Rollup hierarchy can be applied by using Update all worksheets.

The rollup hierarchy option of including the rolling up of managers in the worksheets, is enabled for the following selections:

  • Add newly eligible employees to compensation worksheet.
  • Move employee's compensation data from old manager to current manager.
  • Remove inactive employees from compensation worksheets.
  • Remove inactive planner's compensation worksheets.

Select Method of Planning

Select the planner hierarchy to be used for the compensation plan by choosing it in the Manage Users→Define Planners→Method of Planner drop-down menu. Once selected it is possible to navigate the chosen hierarchy. Search for a head of the hierarchy or a specific planner to drill down the planning hierarchy. Use the triangle next to each planner to expand or collapse a hierarchy.

Validating the Hierarchy

Forms are not created or launched because of breaks in hierarchy. There are two ways to check for breaks in hierarchy.

  • Export Troubleshooting Information from comp admin interface

    Go to Compensation Home→Select the template→Plan Setup→Define Planners → search for the planner → export users without managers and also export ineligible users

  • Check Tool is a feature available for all modules to check configuration inconsistencies. In Compensation and Variable Pay, the tool can be used to validate the following:

    • Check plan hierarchy for cyclic dependency

      Use this check to determine if there are any cyclic dependencies for a planner in their compensation plan hierarchy. A cyclic dependency is when Employee A is the planner for Employee B and Employee B is the planner for Employee A. When that happens, the system is not able to continue generating forms.

    • Check plan hierarchy for inactive planners

      Use this check to determine inactive planners in the compensation plan hierarchy. When the Hierarchy is not correctly defined it can happen that inactive Managers have direct reports still depending on them. As forms are not created for Inactive Managers these employees are not reviewed.

    • Check plan hierarchy for users without planners

      Use this check to determine users who don't have an assigned planner in the system. When using the Compensation Manager Hierarchy the field may contain the value NO_MANAGER. When that happens and the Head of Hierarchy has that value defined it is not possible to launch forms for the whole company (it is possible to launch single forms).

    • Check plan template for invalid configuration

      Use this check to determine invalid configuration in the plan template, such as when customers are defining custom formulas in fields and these formulas use values coming from lookup tables. These require the function toNumber or toString so the values are correctly displayed. In other cases, the formula syntax is incorrectly defined as there are missing parentheses.

    • Check plan template for reloadable custom fields

      Use this check to determine all the configured reloadable custom fields in the plan template. One of the most recurring incidents is when customer had already launched forms and for certain custom fields they import new values while worksheets are in-progress and expect the changes to be dynamic on the form, but as these fields were not defined as Reloadable = "true", the form still reflects the old value. This issue has no workaround and it is necessary to delete all in-progress forms and relaunch to update custom fields with new values. Defining a check that could tell how many custom fields are reloadable would help customers identify which fields have been defined as reloadable. That way, they could see what they’ve missed and can modify them before launching forms.

    • Check plan template for reportable custom fields

      One of the most recurring incidents is when customer has completed their compensation forms and want to see certain custom fields in Ad Hoc Reporting, but as these fields were not defined as Reportable = "true", they are not available for selection in reporting. This issue has no workaround and will necessitate deleting and relaunching forms. Defining a check that could tell us how many custom fields are reportable would help customers identify which fields have been defined as reportable. That way, they could see what they’ve missed and can modify them before launching forms.

    • Check plan template for statement setup

      Use this check to determine configuration issues with the statement setup that occurred while the compensation plan template was being set up, such as when you’ll need to configure the statement-specific XML attributes to "true" in the plan template. Note that includeSalaryStatement, includeBonusStatement, and includeStockStatement attributes need to be configured as "true" in the template to view the compensation statements under the Salary, Bonus, and Stock tabs in the worksheets respectively

    • Additional checks for calculation

      Use this check to determine if a lookup table exists to validate data type matches for custom fields and standard fields.

Check Tool Prerequisite and Permissions

The Check Tool requires Role-Based Permissions and Metadata Framework. Grant the following administrative permissions to use the feature:

  • Access Check Tool authorizes users to access the tool.
  • Allow Configuration Export authorizes users to export system configuration data from within the check tool.

Both permissions require a target population.

Launching the Check Tool

  1. Because the Check Tool is outside of Compensation Home, launch the tool by using Action Search.
  2. Choose Compensation from the Application drop-down.

    You will see a list of objects which validations are available, select the appropriate objects to run.

Summary

  • Variable Pay sources data from multiple systems, grouped as employee-specific and plan-specific; the user/employee data file (UDF) is the primary employee data source across SuccessFactors, typically exported from HRIS and imported via CSV, and also carries compensation data.
  • For Variable Pay processing, each employee assignment must have a valid UserID; only the UserID is required from the UDF to include employees in the bonus process.
  • Variable Pay forms are generated based on a chosen planner hierarchy: Standard (uses MANAGER in UDF), Compensation Manager (uses SECOND_MANAGER for comp/VP-only planners), or Rollup (assigns planning to higher-level managers via COMPENSATION_PLANNER_XX to reduce forms).
  • Rollup hierarchy can be applied via Update all worksheets and supports options to add newly eligible employees, move data to current managers, and remove inactive employees or inactive planners’ worksheets.
  • Select and navigate the planner hierarchy in Manage Users → Define Planners → Method of Planner; search for hierarchy heads/planners and expand/collapse levels to drill down.
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