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Creating a Worksheet

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Validate results by running the Check Tool
Launch a worksheet
Monitor status of launches
Update worksheets for employees
Delete worksheets

Check Tool

The Check Tool helps to eliminate common errors and catch configuration and data-related issues. It is recommended to run checks before launching forms, as the information returned by the Check Tool can provide valuable input to an administrator, and can be used to identify potential issues before a Compensation cycle begins with forms launched.

Prerequisites and Permissions

The Check Tool requires role-based permissions and Metadata Framework. To use the feature, grant the following administrative permissions:

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

The Check Tool can be launched directly from the Manage Worksheet page or by using Action Search. The checks available for Compensation and Variable Pay are as follows:

Check 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 for head of hierarchy: Use this check to determine if the top of hierarchy's Manager ID is set to NO_MANAGER for Standard Suite hierarchy and if the Manager ID is blank for Second Manager hierarchy method.
Check 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 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 for Formula Configuration Issues: Use this check to determine formula-related issues, such as toDate, dateDiff, toNumber, toString, lookup, arithmetic operations, if/else, and so on. This check can be applied at template or user level. A validation check is also available to determine if all user data file dates are formatted correctly, MM/DD/YYYY.
Check 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 parenthesis.
Check 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 and see what they have missed and can modify them before launching forms.
Check 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 and see what they’ve missed and can modify them before launching forms.
Check 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 worksheets: Use this check to determine if a lookup table exists, to validate data type mismatches for custom field and standard fields, to check case-sensitive duplicated field IDs.

The check results can be any of the following:

No issues found
Warning: Inconsistency is found. System proposes a solution.
Error: Inconsistency is found, admin must take action, which might include creating a ticket.

Launching of Worksheets

Compensation worksheets (also referred to as compensation forms), provide managers a framework to recommend promotions, salary adjustments, stock grants, and other changes to their team’s salary composition.

Once the compensation plan is created, you can immediately create forms. While configuring the compensation plan, you'll create forms to test if the configuration is visible on the form. During testing, you might consider routing the form first to you, and avoid using a proxy to open the forms.

To Launch Compensation Worksheets

Navigate to Manage Worksheets.
Choose Create Worksheets.
Enter a unique Worksheet Name.
Select Start/End dates (typically the Plan Period).
Select Due Date.
Select the top level manager/planner. (You must use the Find Employee button OR type the planner’s username. For example: "aathompson" instead of typing "Alan Thompson".)
Select the appropriate checkboxes.
- Include Inactive Users – If users are inactive in the user data file but need to be on the worksheet, check this box.
- Create worksheet for head of Planning only – launches a form only to the planner selected in Head of Planning; used mostly in testing scenarios in order to reduce form creation time.
- Send Email Notifications – if selected, planners are notified that forms are ready for review (assuming the Document Creation notification is turned on in Admin Center).
Click Launch Plan.

Launching Worksheets at Varying Times

Some organizations may have a need to launch worksheets to employees within a hierarchy at different points in the year.

Example:

UK merit planning takes place in March; Netherlands merit planning takes place in April.
Planners with teams in both countries will receive one worksheet with UK employees, and then another for Netherlands employees.

To configure this feature:

Use Action Search → Manage Employee Groups to create dynamic groups of employees. (Note that this option requires the Manage Employee Dynamic Groups option in RBP.)
Create Employee Groups based on the necessary criteria. These groups work similarly to dynamic permission groups in RBP.
- Select Create Group.
- Select a category from the People Pool and the associated parameters for that category.
- Click Update to view the members of the group.
- Exclude any members from the group as needed.
- Click Done.
Navigate to Program Settings → Advanced Settings.
- Select Do not duplicate employees on worksheets and Create worksheets by employee group.
  - The Do not duplicate option prevents users from being moved around on forms if their membership in a group changes.
  - The Create by employee group option will be grayed out if any forms have already been created. Delete worksheets to enable this option.
- Click Update Form Template.
Launch forms:
- Use the same process to launch as previously described, except for Step 3.
- A new option, Select a Group of Employees, displays for Step 3.
  - Choose the group of employees to be included on the form.
  - Planners will receive forms in their inbox with only the employees in the selected group.
  - Head of Planning can also be selected to narrow down the planners who should receive forms for the selected group of employees.

Remember, employee groups are dynamic, so in this example, if an employee changes location, they will automatically move to the employee group of that locations. As long as the Do not duplicate option is selected in Advanced Settings, the employee will not be moved between forms.

Launch Status Monitoring

After launch, a compensation plan is created for all planners in the selected hierarchy. Planners can check the status of the launch request from Monitor Compensation Jobs.

Monitor Jobs provides current status updates including times of completion.

Monitor Jobs via Provisioning

Another way to check on the status of a submitted job (this includes but is not limited to creating worksheet, importing the user data file, eligibility process, and so on) is by navigating to Provisioning → Monitor Jobs.

If the job process is not listed, navigate to View Waiting Jobs.

Worksheet Updates

The following actions may not be performed after a worksheet has launched:

Updating a formula in a custom field
Generating Compensation Statements

Updating Worksheets

Changes to data are inevitable. When changes are made during the compensation planning, in-progress worksheets need to be updated.

Some changes in the data will reflect automatically (upon opening/refreshing in-progress forms) but some need to be pushed manually. This list shows some updates and how they affect live forms.

Changes and Effect on Live Forms

Change	Does it affect live forms?	If Conditional, what's the condition?
Add/Edit Guidelines	Conditional	If the Enable Guideline Optimization setting is turned on, changes to guidelines (adding or updating) will affect live forms without the need to create forms.
Add/edit eligibility rules	Conditional	Must use the Update process to affect live forms
Standard field/column data updates	Conditional	Some fields/columns will update in live forms, like curSalary and pmRating. Check the "Reloadable" column of the Standard Column Appendix in the Implementation Guide to confirm.
Custom field with Import Key - UDF updates	Conditional	Only if set to Read Only and Reloadable
Custom field with formulaic calculation of other fields	Conditional	If the fields in the formula are reloadable, then yes. Changes will affect live forms.
Edit data affecting budgets	Conditional	Depends on whether the fields which contribute toward the budget are reloadable
Addition of goals in PM Forms	Conditional	Must use the Update process
Add new fields/columns	No
Edit field/column attributes in Design Worksheet	No
Make XML changes	No	NOTE: See the Guideline Optimization condition - this would affect changes to guidelines in XML as well
Add Budgets	No
Edit Budgets	No
Custom field with Lookup table - Lookup table updates	Yes
Pay Matrix/Currency Conversion updates to existing tables	Yes
Change in PM ratings	Yes

The following actions may be performed after a worksheet has launched:

Revising field-based permissions
Updating guidelines
Updating lookup table content

How to Update All Worksheets

To update all worksheets covered by a template, select Update all worksheets:

Select the Compensation Template to update.
Select the options to apply.
Click Update.

The following options are available:

Add new employee to compensation worksheet:
- New employees are employees that are hired and added as a user in the SAP SuccessFactors system after the administrator created the worksheets.
Newly eligible employees are also available to be updated into currently open worksheets.

Manager Hierarchy Changes

Move an employee’s compensation data from their old manager to their current manager.

Creating Worksheets for New Managers

A manager is treated as a new manager if they meet the following conditions:
- This manager is in user hierarchy of specified head of compensation planning and/or is manager of employees in specified dynamic group.
- This manager doesn’t have a worksheet created yet.
This manager will have a worksheet created if all of the following are met:
- This manager has at least one compensation eligible employee. If all of their employees are compensation ineligible, no worksheet will be created.
- If the option Move employee’s compensation data from old manager to current manager is not checked, then only employees under a new manager not in any existing worksheet will be in created worksheet. Employees already in existing worksheets will still be in those worksheets. If that option is checked, then employees already in existing worksheets will be moved to this worksheet.

Removing Inactive Employees or Planners

Remove inactive employees from compensation worksheets.
Remove inactive planners’ compensation worksheets.
- Use caution when selecting this checkbox. This will delete the planner’s entire worksheet, even if there are still employees on the worksheet. Make sure you first move the employees to a new worksheet before deleting an inactive planner worksheet.

Changes in Eligibility

Update compensation worksheets to reflect employee’s eligibility changes (if any).
- Update Budget
- Synchronize Bonus Data with Performance Management Form
- Apply the above selected updates to completed compensation worksheets as well. By default, update only applies to in-progress worksheet.
- Send email notification to planners who worksheet entries have changed.

Note

For more details, refer to the How do you update compensation worksheets? section of the SAP SuccessFactors Compensation Implementation Guide.

Update a Specific Worksheet

If changes are specific to a single worksheet, choose Update a specific worksheet:

Select the Compensation worksheet to update.
Select the options to apply.
Click Update.

Employee Membership

Also available on this page is Employee Membership.

Employees can be moved, deleted, and added to worksheets using this section.

Note that any manual movements will be overwritten when the mass update job is run.

Note

Employees can be deleted from in-progress or completed forms. Deleting employees from completed worksheets is normally done when the purge process is blocked due to users being part of the completed compensation worksheets from previous years. By deleting employees from completed forms, administrators can proceed with the purging process. Completed worksheets are marked with an asterisk.

Worksheet Deletion

Methods for Deleting Worksheets

Using Manage Worksheets: Appropriate for a small number of worksheets (under 100).
Using Delete Document: Appropriate for a larger number of worksheets (over 100).

Deleting Worksheets Using Manage Worksheets

Deleting Worksheets from Compensation Home

Navigate to Manage Worksheets → Manage Worksheets.
In the pop-up window, use the worksheet filter to narrow your search.
Select the box next to the name(s) of the item(s) to be deleted.
Click Delete.

Note

Result table can also be exported as zip and sorted.

Delete Worksheets from Admin Center

Navigate to Admin Center → Manage Employees → Manage Forms by User → Delete Form.
Search for the desired documents.
Hint: Leverage the filter options to search by template, form or route step to narrow your search results.
Select the relevant documents.
Click Delete.

Note

Deleting worksheets will also delete associated reward statements.

Purging

An optional setting in Actions for All Plans → Company Settings can be used to automatically purge deleted worksheets. As deleted worksheets reside in the same database tables as that of live worksheets, this can help improve Executive Review loading performance. To set the process, enter how old deleted worksheets should be before being purged. The system can auto purge 1 to 365-day old deleted forms.

There are two other purging tools available for Compensation and Variable Pay: Data Retention Management (DRM) and Data Retention Time Management (DRTM), the latter allows for different data retention times for different countries. To know more about purging settings for Compensation and Variable Pay, visit the SAP Help Portal for DRM and DRTM guides.

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