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Manager Self Service Transactions in Position Management

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Empowering managers to review and take actions on positions among their teams.
Using AI capabilities to create and update positions

My Team Positions page

Managers in organizations can use My Team Positions page to manage and update positions for their teams. Within this page, they will be able to perform the following actions:

View their direct reports' positions and those under their direct hierarchy that do not have assigned employees.
Edit position details or create new positions using the Employee Central Quick Action templates for Position Management.

The page can be accessed from the standard quick action Manage Team Positions in the Home Page or navigating to Company Info, where a sub-tab My Team Positions will be available for managers with lower-level positions within their hierarchy. A total of up to 50 active lower-level positions will be displayed, in ascending order, based on the position external code.

Note

Only positions that are valid and effective today are displayed. Future-dated positions are not shown.

The My Team Positions page displays the positions With Assigned Employees and Without Assigned Employees. Each tile will show the following details:

Position Code
Position Title
Job Title
Current/Target FTE
TBH Status
Incumbent Photo

Note

If the position has more than 2 incumbents, the system displays the name of the first incumbent and X others, where X is the number of other incumbents assigned to the position.

And from the same page, they can initiate transactions based on the use cases for positions, if the Employee Central Quick Actions feature is enabled in Manage Employee Central Settings, and an administrator has set up the use case templates in Manage Data. Through role-based permissions, an administrator can grant access to the use case templates to the Managers role.

Employee Central Quick Actions for Positions

You can define Employee Central Quick Actions for positions using templates for commonly used actions on positions, such as creating and editing. Using the templates, you can tailor use cases for your company and business requirements.

Currently, the available use cases in Employee Central Quick Actions specific to Positions are:

Change Location of Position
Change Job Details of Position
Change Organizational Data of Position
Change Working Time for Position
Change "To Be Hired" Status of Position
Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule)
Create Same-Level Position (Copy All Fields)
Reclassify Position
Deactivate Position

A total of 5 templates for each use case can be configured, but a manager should only have access to a single template for each use case, which can be easily controlled in Role-Based Permissions.

The following table includes the different fields that mandatory or default for every case. You can add more fields that are supported, like other standard fields and custom fields if required, but the total number of base fields can’t be more than 8. Otherwise the system won't let you save the template until the number is corrected.

Use Cases for Employee Central Quick Actions for Positions

Use Case	Supported Fields	Comments
Change Location of Position	Location (default and mandatory) Custom fields	It is required to have permission to Insert or Correct the Position object, granted in Miscellaneous Permissions.
Change Job Details of Position	Job Code (default) Job Title (default) Custom fields	Job Code or Job Title are mandatory. It is required to have permission to Insert or Correct the Position object, granted in Miscellaneous Permissions.
Change Organizational Data of Position	Business Unit Division Department (default) Cost Center Legal Entity Location Custom fields	It's mandatory to have one of these fields: Business Unit, Division, Department or Cost Center. Note You can only change the Legal Entity if the position is not staffed. It is required to have permission to Insert or Correct the Position object, granted in Miscellaneous Permissions.
Change "To Be Hired" Status of Position	To Be Hired Custom fields	To Be Hired is default and mandatory.
Change Working Time for Position	FTE (default) Standard Hours Custom fields	FTE or Standard Hours are mandatory fields.
Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule)	Position Code (only required if the code is NOT auto generated).	This use case will create a position with the Rule for Defining Copy-Relevant Position Fields configured in Position Management Settings
Create Same-Level Position (Copy All Fields)		All fields are copied over and can be edited by the user, with the exception of localized fields.
Reclassify Position	Position Title Job Title Job Code Pay Grade Pay Range Custom fields	Job Code, Job Title or Pay Grade are mandatory.
Deactivate Position	Status Custom fields	Status is default and mandatory

Note

For additional information about which fields are allowed and other parameters, you can review the Implementation guide:

Supported Field Types in the Employee Central Quick Action Template for Positions

Other Quick Actions relevant to Positions

Previously, we have learned about the specific use cases to update position attributes, which can be initiated from My Team Positions page. However, there are also use cases within Employee Central Core, where the position hris-field (on the Job Information) can be used and empower managers to initiate changes themselves.

The following use cases would have the option to include Position field. All three use cases have the Job Information as the base object, and will require a corresponding Event / Event Reason:

Employee Central Core Quick Actions - Position (Job Information)

Use Case	Fields supported	Event	Notes
Transfer	Position Manager Business Unit Division Department Location Cost Center Timezone Holiday Calendar Time Profile	Transfer	Position or Manager are mandatory. Position is the default field.
Promotion	Position Manager Pay Grade Job Code Is Eligible for Car Is Eligible for Benefit Is Eligible for Financial Plan Pay Group Pay Scale Area Pay Scale Type Pay Scale Group Pay Scale Level Notes	Promotion Job Change	Position, Manager, Pay Grade or Job Code are mandatory. Job Code is the default field.
Demotion	Position Manager Pay Grade Job Code Is Eligible for Car Is Eligible for Benefit Is Eligible for Financial Plan Pay Group Pay Scale Area Pay Scale Type Pay Scale Group Pay Scale Level Notes	Demotion Job Change	Position, Manager, Pay Grade or Job Code are mandatory. Job Code is the default field.

These type of actions would be initiated from the employee's Profile or via Manage My Team quick action on the Home Page.

In this example, a manager initiates a transfer of an employee to a new position. In this case, we can also display the Incumbent of Parent Position to filter the available positions based on a specific employee. This option will be available if the setting is enabled in Position Management Settings → UI Customizing tab.

The available positions to select from will respect the permissions granted to the manager. Once the manager selects a new position, a workflow will need to be submitted to approve the transaction, since typically this type of change will require to be reviewed. On the workflow details, we can confirm the position is updated and therefore the new attributes are propagated on to the Organizational and Job Information.

Initiate Position changes from My Team Positions page

In this example below, a manager selects one of the lower-level positions and initiates a quick action use case Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule), which would add a new position but some of the attributes (Position Code, as well as other fields like Job Code, FTE or Standard Weekly Hours) can be changed.

Steps

Log in as a manager or use Proxy Now to navigate as a manager with child positions.
Navigate to My Team Positions using Action Search, or selecting the Quick Action on the Home Page.
Select one of your existing positions With Assigned Employees, and use the More Actions menu, to expand the available actions.
Select Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule) from the available actions.
Assign your own Position Code. Other fields will be copied over from the source position but can be edited, if needed.
Save your changes. If there is a workflow to approve the new position creation, it will be triggered and sent to the approver(s) to confirm the creation of the new position.

Result

A manager has successfully created a new position from My Team Positions page.

Create and Update Positions from My Team Positions page

Your organization wants to empower managers to use My Team Positions page and the available use cases in Employee Central Quick Actions for Positions to complete quick transactions themselves for their direct reports. In this exercise, the administrator will set up some use cases and grant permissions to Managers, so they can explore the functionality.

Steps

Grant permissions in RBP to Manage Employee Central Quick Action templates.
1. Log into the instance as an administrator.
2. Navigate to Manage Permission Roles using Action Search.
3. Locate the System Admin permission role, and select Edit.
4. Select Next to navigate to step 2. Add Permissions.
5. Scroll down to Manage Business Configuration permission category, and enable all the permissions (View/Edit/import/Export) for Employee Central Quick Action Template permission.
6. Select Next and Save to save the changes.
7. Log out and log back into the instance to ensure permission changes are effective.
Set up Change Location of Position and Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule) Quick Action Templates.
1. Navigate to Manage Data using Action Search.
2. Select Create New → Employee Central Quick Action Template.
3. Select Change Location of Position as the Use Case. You will find it on the drop-down list. Notice that, when selecting it, the other details are pre-populated.
4. In the Position Information section, verify that the Base Object is Position (Position) and the Field is Location (location) Leave it as-is and do not add any other fields..
5. Choose Save to save the template.
6. Select Create New → Employee Central Quick Action Template.
7. Select Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule) as the Use Case. You will find it on the drop-down list. Notice that, when selecting it, the other details are pre-populated.
8. In the Position Information section, verify that the Base Object is Position (Position), and there are several fields: Position Code, Job Code, FTE, Standard Weekly Hours.
9. Add two more fields in the Position Information: Position Title (externalName) and To Be Hired (vacant). Select Position (Position) on the Base Object dropdown list, and on the Field dropdown, locate the Position Title (externalName).
10. Use the arrows to place the Position Title (externalName) under Position Code (code)
11. Select again Position (Position) on the Base Object dropdown, and on the Field dropdown, locate the To Be Hired (vacant).
12. Select Save to save all changes.
Grant permissions in RBP to Managers to use the Employee Central Quick Action templates you have created.
1. Navigate to Manage Permission Roles using Action Search.
2. Locate the Manager Role permission role, and select Edit.
3. Select Next to navigate to step 2. Add Permissions.
4. Scroll down to Employee Central Quick Actions permission category, and grant Use permission for the templates you have created Change Location of Position (CHANGE_POSITION_LOCATION) and Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule) (CREATE_NEW_POSITION_FROM_GIVEN_POSITION) .
5. Select Next and Save to save the changes.
6. Log out and log back into the instance to ensure permission changes are effective.
Navigate to My Team Positions page to test the Quick Action templates for Positions.
1. Use Proxy Now as an administrator to proxy as Carla Grant, and access the instance as a manager.
2. From the Home menu, navigate to Company Info → My Team Positions.
3. Locate the Sales Director, SW. A regular position whose incumbent is Vic Stokes, one of your direct reports.
4. Select the ... on the Position card to display the available actions. Select Change Location of Position.
5. Select today as the effective date, and change the location to New York. Choose Save to save the changes.
6. Select again the ... on Vic Stokes' Position card and choose the action Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule).
7. Create the position and set the following details from the available fields:
  - When should these changes take effect?: Today's date.
  - Position Code: DIR_SALESSE.
  - Position Title: Sales Director, SE.
  - Job Code: Director, Sales.
  - FTE: 1.
  - Standard Weekly Hours: 40.
  - To Be Hired: Yes.
8. Choose Save to save all changes.
9. Verify that the new position appears under the section Without Assigned Employees. This position is now TBH. You can select the option View in Position Org Chart to see all the details.

Using SAP Business AI to Create a Position

SAP Business AI Assistant - Joule

Leveraging its generative AI capabilities, Joule aims to understand your requests, retrieve information, and complete your tasks in a conversational way. For example, instead of manually navigating to a feature or page buried deep, you can describe the current task to Joule, who will help automate tasks or take you to places where you can find desired data. By using Joule, you can easily interact with the system and increase your productivity.

Note

There are several prerequisites before enabling Joule, such as an SAP AI Units license, and an SAP BTP enterprise global account. Customers should contact their Account Executive for additional information about all the licensing requirements, including Generative AI message allocation, one of the key capabilities of the AI Assistant. Check the following resource in SAP Help Portal to find out more details:https://help.sap.com/docs/joule

Joule in SAP SuccessFactors supports three conversational patterns: transactional, navigational and informational.

Transactional: Assists users in efficient completion of their tasks on the conversational user interface, saving their time from going to corresponding pages to do the tasks.
Navigational: Helps users navigate to the functionality they're looking for without having to go through multiple links to reach a destination page.
Informational: Helps users retrieve the information from existing documents without having to ask HR for assistance.

Creating a Position with AI Assistant

In this example, a conversational pattern between a manager and the AI Assistant will help on the creation of a position using one of their direct reports as a reference. The use case to create a position is already set up with Employee Central Quick Actions and permissions are granted to the manager to create a same-level position, as well as the permission to Access to Joule.

Note

Joule supports a number of transactional use cases from Employee Central Quick Actions, including Creating a Position (Create Same-Level Position (Copy Rule) use case). The use case Create Same-Level Position (Copy All Fields) is currently NOT supported. More information can be found in the Joule in SAP SuccessFactors guide: Transactional Use Cases

On the context of Positions, the quick actions for Transfer and Promotion explained previously are also supported transactional use cases in Joule.

Using natural language, an employee requests to create a position, and Joule displays the manager's direct reports, to select an employee as a reference to create the new position. In the following step, we have a chance to make some changes on the new position before it is created.

The manager requests to modify the location and Joule assists on completing the transaction. Furthermore, manager decides to select a specific date as an effective date for the new position. As a last step, the position will be submitted for approval, and the workflow will be triggered to seek approval before the position is finally created.

Change Position details using Joule

On another example, a manager initiates the AI-Assistant to change the position attributes for one of their direct report's positions. The following sequence of images will navigate through all the steps, from the initial communication with Joule, until the position changes are submitted for approval.

Change Position details using Joule - 2

Change Position details using Joule - 3

Change Position details using Joule - 4

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