Customizing the SAP SuccessFactors instance

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Customize the SAP SuccessFactors application themes
  • Set up a Company Logo
  • Use the Edit function on Resources, Help, and Tutorials
  • Maintain Custom Navigations

Create, edit, and modify Themes

The Manage Themes page, accessible from the Action Search, lists all the SAP SuccessFactors standard and custom themes. The theme will determine the colors that users see in the interface. The Visible to column lists the theme that is currently shown to your employees. To access the Theme Manager, go to Admin Center and navigate to Company Settings > Theme Manager.

Theme settings for the latest Home Page

You can use the Theme Manager tool to apply theming to the latest home page.

The following theme settings are available in the Fine Tune → Home Page (Latest) section:

  • Greeting text color: This is the color of greeting text (such as "Good morning!").
  • Quick action background color: This is the color of quick action tiles.
  • Quick action text and icon color: This is the color of the text and icon used on quick action tiles.
  • Card icon color: This is the color of icons used on cards.
  • Card link color: This is the color of hyperlink text used on cards.
  • Card button border and text color: This is the color of button border and button text on cards.
  • Card button hover color: This is the color of buttons on the latest home page when you hover or focus on them.

These options give customers the capabilities to make the latest home page more consistent with other pages in the application.

Note
You cannot change the text color or background color of home page cards.

Horizon Visual Theme for SAP Fiori

Horizon visual theme is part of a new design language for SAP Fiori, which is being applied across all SAP applications to deliver a consistent user experience. It provides a modern, friendly user interface and modular design system.

The Horizon visual theme is turned on automatically for all customers, by default. It is a purely visual change. Although it's now enabled by default, you can still turn it off if your organization isn't ready to adopt it yet. To disable the Horizon theme, go to Company System and Logo Settings and deselect the Enable Horizon visual theme for SAP Fiori checkbox.

For further information check: Horizon Visual Theme for SAP Fiori

The Horizon visual theme is available on the most commonly used pages in the HXM Suite. It's a purely visual change. To test it out, you can enable it and disable it in Admin Center with no impact on functionality or data. If you use a custom theme in Theme Manager, it's not affected.

Note
 During the early adoption phase, the Horizon visual theme is supported on many, but not all, pages. Older styling is still used on some pages. We'll add support for more pages over time.

The Horizon visual theme is intended primarily for common employee experiences, on the most commonly used pages. It isn't available on most Admin Center pages.

When you enable the Horizon visual theme, you're opting into it on all pages that support it, for the entire HXM Suite, including pages that add support for it in the future.

When enabled, the Horizon visual theme updates the styling of several UI elements:

  • Updated font sizes and weights
  • More rounded corners
  • New base color scheme (for UI elements that don't have their color defined in Theme Manager)
  • Updated icons
  • Updated margins and padding
  • Updated shadows
Hint

The latest visual theme for SAP Fiori is "Horizon". The Horizon theme is now available for testing and for productive use in all SAP SuccessFactors systems. It’s replacing both of the previous base themes Quartz (for SAP Fiori 3) and Belize (for SAP Fiori 2), that will be deleted on November 17, 2023.

Apply, create and delete a Theme

Business example

Themes determine the colors and look of your SuccessFactors instance. Your company theme was created during configuration; however, you can edit and modify it. You can customize how screens display across your company, or you can choose to have screens display differently according to group.

Task 1: Apply a Theme

In this exercise, you apply a different theme to your instance using the Theme Manager.

Steps

  1. Apply a different theme to your instance using the Theme Manager.

    1. Use the Action Search to navigate to Theme Manager.

    2. On the Manage Themes screen, choose the Dark / Gray & Blue / Metallic radio button in the Default column to set this as the default theme.

    3. Select Save.

    4. In the Save Changes dialog box, choose Yes.

    5. Log out and log back in to see the changes.

Task 2: Create a Theme

In SuccessFactors you can use standard themes or create your own theme. You have been asked to create a new theme for use in your SuccessFactors instance.

In this exercise, you create a custom theme.

Steps

  1. Create a theme using the Theme Manager.

    1. Use the Action Search to navigate to Theme Manager.

    2. On the Manage Themes screen, choose Create a new theme.

    3. On the Create a Theme screen and in the Theme name field, enter SF Theme.

    4. Choose the Page background color field, enter#9608FC.

    5. In the Accent color scheme based on field, enter #9C81AA.

    6. Choose the Generate button to create additional shades based on the #9C81AA color value. Then choose Generate again in the popup window.

    7. Choose Save and then choose Save again in the popup window.

  2. Make this theme the default theme.

    1. Use the Action Search to navigate back to Theme Manager.

    2. Choose the SF Theme radio button to make this the default theme.

    3. Choose Save and then choose Yes in the popup window.

Task 3: Delete a Custom Theme

Your company has built up a repository of custom themes. You have been assigned to delete themes that are no longer in use. In this exercise, you delete a custom theme.

Steps

  1. Delete a custom theme.

    1. Use the Action Search to navigate to Theme Manager.

    2. Select the theme that was the default before you created your custom theme and make it the default again. Global Training Theme II is usually the default theme.

    3. Select Saveand in the Save Changes dialog choose Yes.

    4. Log out and log back in.

    5. Go back to the Theme Manager and delete the theme you created in the previous exercise SF Theme. Select the 3 buttons to the right of the theme you want to delete.

Result

You have Applied, Created, and Deleted a Theme.

Fiori user experience

SAP Fiori is the common set of design principles and UI standards at SAP. It provides a modern user experience that is consistent throughout the HXM suite and across other SAP solutions.

Fiori design is reflected in most new features and enhancements delivered over the past several years. During this time, we have also gradually applied the Fiori style to common UI elements, such as dialogs, buttons, icons, and widgets, so that they appear and behave consistently across the HXM Suite. We even provide you a way for you to apply Fiori styling to legacy pages throughout the HXM Suite, to keep them consistent with newer pages.

Following the Fiori standards, a new header is available and can be activated from Provisioning.

What changes with this new header?

  • The (Magnifying glass Search) icon can be used to show or hide the search field. The search field is shown by default, but can be hidden.
  • When no employee photo is available or you don't have permission to view it, the avatar image now displays the person's initials (for Latin alphabets) or a gender-neutral icon (for other non-Latin characters). The standard gender-neutral icon replaces the SAP SuccessFactors gender-neutral placeholder image.
  • Right-aligned logos are no longer supported. All logos are now left-aligned.
  • You can no longer switch between different types of search, in systems that are integrated with SAP Jam. Search results are combined, including both the SAP Jam search and the SAP SuccessFactors search for people and actions.
  • The order and placement of icons in the page header are adjusted to follow SAP Fiori standards. The (Show Me) icon is now on the same side of the avatar image as all other icons.

Customers expect a consistent user experience across SAP applications. These changes make the SAP SuccessFactors header consistent with SAP standards.

Upload your company logo

Your company logo was set during configuration. However, as an administrator, you have the ability to modify your company logo at any time. The logo will display on the top right of all pages within SAP SuccessFactors. You can upload your logo to the SuccessFactors server (recommended), or may point to a logo on a URL outside of the SuccessFactors server.

Note
We recommend that you have your logo hosted on SAP SuccessFactors servers to ensure a secure and consistent environment. For best results, we recommend your logo be prepared as follows:
  • File format: Transparent GIF

  • Pixels: 210 wide x 40 high

  • Color mode: RGB

Company logo upload

To upload your company logo to be hosted on a SAP SuccessFactors Server, go to Admin Center > Company Settings > Upload Company Logo, then browse for the image file on your computer. Select the image, then choose the Save button. If you have an existing company logo, it will be displayed on this page until the logo is changed.

Point to a logo on a URL

Another method of configuring your company logo within SAP SuccessFactors is by setting the location of the logo to a specific URL where it is hosted, such as your corporate server. In order for your logo to be displayed in SAP SuccessFactors, it must be posted on a Web server for access.

To do this, go to Admin Center > Company Settings > Company System and Logo Settings. Enter the URL of the Company Logo on the field provided and click Set Company Logo URL.

Note
Using this method can cause warning messages to display for your users, as SAP SuccessFactors is a secure website and your logo is posted on a site outside of that secure environment.

Customize the Resources Page

The Resources page can be configured to display additional information about the company to end users. You can place text, images, and links within this page. To access Resources, select Company Info from the Home dropdown menu then click the Resources tab from the top.

You can create and edit the content by clicking the edit icon in the upper right corner of the Company Resources box.

Customize Help and Tutorials

Online help is available to users by selecting the Help & Tutorials icon in the page header within most pages of SAP SuccessFactors. This is however not available in the Home page and for some products like Calibration or Continuous Performance Management. You have the ability to enable/disable this link by module (or page) in the instance by navigating to the desired page, selecting the icon Help & Tutorials > Disable it now.

As an administrator, you can edit the information that is available to your users in the Help & Tutorials page by adding custom content. Similar to adding Resources, choose the edit icon at the top right of each portlet to change the text visible to users.

Note

Help and Tutorials feature will be deleted on November 15, 2024.

Customize Navigation

Custom Navigations provide the ability to navigate to a new location, such as an external URL or a custom report, which is not accessible using default system options. Custom Navigations can appear in Action Search, the main Navigation Menu, People Profile "Jump To" and "Employee Records," and from "Take Action" and "Go To" within an employee quick card. This gives companies great flexibility in customizing their instance of SAP SuccessFactors, as they can now seamlessly provide quick access to other tools outside of SAP SuccessFactors, centralizing the workspace.

Custom navigation must be enabled in Provisioning.

To configure Custom Navigations in the instance, navigate to Admin Center → Company Settings → Configure Custom Navigation. The following table describes the configuration options:

Field

Description

Menu Item Label

This is how the link appears in the user interface. For custom actions, this becomes the "display label" in Action Search.

ID

This can be any text or numeric value. You can use any convention you wish, but every custom navigation link, regardless of its location or locations, must have a unique ID.

Link Type

Custom actions created in Action Search do not reflect these settings. Action Search only supports "same browser" behavior. Both internal and external custom navigation actions open in the same browser tab.

For other custom links, you can select the following:

  • Internal Link

  • Used with a SAP SuccessFactors deep link in URL field

  • External Link - Same Browser

  • Used with an external URL. Opens in the same browser window.

  • External Link - New Browser

  • Used with an external URL. Opens in a new browser window.

URL

Enter the URL or deep link that you want to make available in action search.

Menu Location

To create a custom action, select Action Search in the dropdown menu. For custom actions, it is recommended that you only select one location, Action Search, in this menu. This is due to the fact that localization and link types are handled differently in action search than with other custom link locations. For other link locations, you can select one or more locations.

Permissions

This dropdown displays the permission roles and groups configured in RBP. Only those selected will see the Custom Navigation.

Update the Company Resource Page

Business example

The Resources screen is available to users who want to find out more information about your company. You can place content and links to your company information and edit the content to ensure that it is current.

In this exercise, you update the Company Resources screen.

Steps

  1. Navigate to the Company Resources screen.

    1. From the Home dropdown menu, choose Company Info.

    2. On the Company Info screen, choose the Resources link.

  2. Update the Company Resources screen and assign the link to SAP website.

    1. On the Company Resources tile, choose the Edit icon.

    2. Highlight the word SuccessFactors in the first sentence on the page.

    3. choose the Hyperlink icon.

    4. In the Link dialog box, in the URL field, enter www.sap.com.

    5. choose Target.

    6. In the Target field, select New Window (_blank) as the target.

    7. choose OK.

    8. choose Done.

Result

You updated the Company Resources screen.

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