Configuring Development Goal Plans Using Admin Center

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Modify Development Plan General Settings
  • Configure categories and fields in a Development Plan Template using Admin Center

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.

Development Goal Plan General Settings in Admin Center

Modify General Settings in Admin Center

You can edit the name, instructions, Development Plan start date and end date in the General Settings area of Manage Templates.

If multiple languages have been enabled in an instance, the fields can be updated for the different languages.

Modify Development Plan Settings in Manage Templates

Steps

  1. Using Admin Center, open the THR95 Development Plan.

    1. Using Action Search navigate to Manage Templates, select the Development tab and open the THR95 Development Plan.

  2. Change the English welcome text and the Deutsch (German) welcome text.

    1. Select General Settings.

    2. Enter the following Default welcome text in the Instructions to your Users: Welcome to your development plan. Work with your manager and mentors to build and refine your plan. For more details on development plans visit the SAP Help Portal.

    3. Change the language from Default to Deutsch (German).

    4. Enter the following welcome text in the Instructions to your Users: Willkommen zu Ihrem Entwicklungsplan.

      Note
      Start date and end date are grayed out. You can only change the dates under the Default language setting.

    5. Under Change Language switch back to default.

  3. Change the Start Date and End Date of the plan.

    1. Ensure the Start Date of your development plan is set to January 1 of the current year. 

    2. Make sure the End Date is set to December 31 of 2030. If you need to change the dates, set the end date first since the system will not allow you to set a start date that is later than the end date.

    3. Save your changes.

  4. Confirm your changes on the Development Goal Plan Screen.

    1. Use the Home Menu to navigate to Goals, then Development Goal.

    2. Verify you’re viewing the THR95 Development Plan.

    3. You should have the new Introduction instructions on the screen.

  5. Change the system language and verify the Deutsch welcome message.

    1. Navigate to the User Menu in the upper right of the screen and select Settings.

    2. Select Change Language.

    3. Select Deutsch (German). Choose Switch.

    4. Use the Home (Starseite) Menu to navigate to Goals (Ziele), then Development Goals (Entwicklungsziele).

    5. You should now see the German welcome message.

  6. Return the system to English.

    1. Navigate to the User Menu in the upper right of the screen and select Settings (Einstellungen).

    2. Select Change Language (Sprache ändern).

    3. Select English. Choose Switch (Wechseln).

    Note
    When using templates from the SuccessStore, translations are provided for some fields in some languages. In those scenarios, a change to the default text will not change the originally provided text. So in the case of a plan template name, if you change the default text when English US text has already been provided, the English US text will not change automatically to match your default text changes.

Configuration of Categories 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 Archive category, since users may not have new Development Plans every year.

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

The <default-category> element has the following considerations:

  • There is only one <default-category> that can be configured as such in the XML template.
  • The <default-category> always comes after the last </category> defined in the XML template. This order is enforced by the DTD objective-template_4_0.dtd. After creating new categories, you can delete the <default-category> element to control the order.
  • The <default-category> is optional and more frequently used in Goal Plans than Development Plans.

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

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 drop-down 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 drop-down option.
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 drop-down options in the standard Status field. A name, text color, and background color must be defined for the new drop-down 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.

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.

Configure Categories and Fields in Admin Center

Steps

  1. Add a new Category to the Development Goal Plan Template.

    1. Using Action Search navigate to Manage Templates, select the Development tab and open the THR95 Development Plan.

    2. Select Edit Categories.

    3. Add a new Category and name it Archived Goals.

    4. Save your changes.

  2. Edit the Description field.

    1. Under Edit fields, change the label of the Description field to Goal Description and make it a required field.

    2. Save changes.

  3. Move the Status field.

    1. By grabbing the six dots, move the Status field above the Start Date field.

    2. Save changes.

  4. Add the Competencies field and edit field settings.

    1. Add a new field of type Competencies and move it just below the Status field. Make it an optional field.

  5. Add the Purpose field and edit field settings.

    1. Add a new field of type Purpose.

    2. Make it required and move it just below Goal Description.

    3. Color code the dropdown options:

      • Develop in Current Role: Tangerine (#ED9COO)
      • Prepare for Future role: Purple Ink (#B795FF)
      • Enhance General skill set: Money Green (#B4BE35).

  6. Add a Custom field with the following settings: 

    • Field ID: done
    • Field Label: % Complete
    • Field Type: percent
    • Make it an optional field.
    • Save your changes.

  7. Verify your changes in the Development Plan by adding a new goal.

    1. From the Development Goal Screen, choose Create Goal and then Create from Scratch.

    2. Verify that all new fields are available in the Create Goal window.

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