Setting Up a Program

• Plan Information

• Compensation Hierarchy

• Currency Settings

• Calculation Settings

• Manager Instructions

• Form/Worksheet Display Settings

This is the admin interface to configure SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay.

It simplifies administration by combining all configuration options into one screen. There is not as much XML configuration necessary.

Compensation Home is enabled in Provisioning and requires Admin 2.0. To get to Compensation Home, navigate to Admin Center → Compensation → Compensation Home.

Compensation Home is divided into sections:

1. Action for all plans

   • Complete general data imports and set up to be used by specific plans as needed. Examples:

     • Main Employee Data Import/Export (user data file)

     • Currency Conversion Tables

     • Lookup Tables

   • Manage Reward Statements

   • Manage Group Assignments

   • Manage Compensation Profile History

2. Monitor Jobs

   Confirm the status of import, launch, update, and calculation jobs.

3. Add new variable pay plan

   Create or copy a Variable Pay program.

Extra settings are available in Actions for all plans → Company Settings.

Enabling these features affects all plans.

• Disable locale based number format: when selected, planners are not be able to choose their desired number format. The system enforces the default format.
• Hide user photos on worksheet and compensation profile: disables photos to be displayed on worksheets.
• Hide download to pdf option in Employee Profile
• Disable locale number format on Reward Statements
• Disable header text wrap
• Include only completed variable pay worksheets, apply to generating reward statements: when checked, statements are generated for completed forms only.
• Enable Executive Review edit-in place: when this setting is selected, the Executive Review screen opens as editable and the planner can change recommendations for all employees at the same time, as opposed to planners selecting the Edit button in the gear box to edit the recommendations one at a time.
• Enable Variable Pay Excel Offline Edit: this setting makes it possible for the Bonus Payout Summary to be exported and modified offline in Executive Review. Offline changes can be made to both standard and custom entry level editable fields then have it imported back in Executive Review.
• Enable Role-Based Permissions for Compensation and Variable Pay Template Access: When checked, allows RBP to control who can manage individual templates.

By default, the Standard Hierarchy is used as the planner hierarchy. It can be changed later under Manage Users.

Supported hierarchies:

• Standard
• Comp Manager
• Standard with inactive users
• Comp Manager with inactive users

Hierarchies can also be modified in the XML template.

Breaks in hierarchy can cause forms not to be created. To check for breaks in hierarchy, use the Check Tool or by exporting users without managers from Define Planners → Troubleshooting Information.

• Conversion Rate Tables (for multi-currency programs)
• Functional Currency – currency used to perform calculations
• Currency Views Availability – enables multiple currency views on a launched form (for multi-currency templates). A default currency view can be set.
  • Import Functional - the currency conversion table needs to contain conversion rates from the functional currency into local currencies basis and custom fields as either local currency or functional currency
  • Planner - the currency conversion table needs to contain conversion rates from the functional currency and any planner currencies into local currencies
  • User - the currency conversion table needs to contain conversion rates from the functional currency into local currencies
  • Any - the currency conversion table must contain conversions of all currencies into all local currencies
• Reward statement currency – specifies in which currency the reward statement is displayed

If the program is not multicurrency, it is recommended to create a blank conversion table. Conversion values do not need to be loaded.

Display program dates instead of outlying assignment dates.

If the assignment start date or end date is outside the Variable Pay program dates, you can choose to display real assignment dates (No) or adapt the assignment dates to the program dates (Yes). For example, the Variable Pay program date is from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2018.

Marcus Hoff's assignment commences Oct 1, 2017 and ends Dec 31, 2018.

If set to No, Assignment Details appear as shown on the left of the following figure, Program Settings: Display Program Dates. If set to Yes, Assignment Details appears as shown on the right of the following figure, Program Settings: Display Program Dates.

Dynamic: can be turned on/turned off in already launched forms.

• Enable Flexible Payout curves: allows the use of unlimited number of steps and interpolation points.

• Enable Guideline Optimization: allows changes on guidelines to be reflected in progress worksheets without generating new ones.

• Show % symbol for percent type: allows custom percent field to display % sign, consistent with standard percent field format. If set to NO, the custom percent field displays as decimal. For example, 0.93 instead of 93%.

• Use MDF Rule instead of imported eligibility rule: allows administrators to use MDF Business Rule engine to define variable pay eligibility even for non-Employee Central integrated plans (more detail is provided later in the course).

This is the starting point for controlling who is visible on Variable Pay forms (Manager Form Eligibility).

• All employees are eligible

  • Choose this setting if you want to include all active employees to be visible in the variable pay worksheet.

  • Employees not part of any bonus plans are still visible on the worksheet, but with grayed-out details.

  • To exclude employees with no bonus plan eligibility or calculation, create a rule in manage form eligibility engine.

  • To exclude employees who have given their notice from the Variable Pay form.

• No employees are eligible

  When this setting is enabled, a rule must be created for employees to be included on the form. Otherwise, variable pay worksheets are not launched even if payout calculations are available.

Apply proration at the end of section calculation:

• If set to No, proration is applied on target amounts.

• If set to Yes, proration is applied on payout amounts, not on target amounts.

Apply proration rounding – Change the start and/or end date used in bonus calculation.

Let's use Wilma Sown as an example. Her assignment started January 8 (<10) and ended Dec 20 (>15).

Apply Bonus Plan Multiplier for section calculation – this allows the calculated section amount to be multiplied by the multiplier value.

• Multiplier applies to section amount payout level.

• Only relevant if the section contains goals (does not apply to Individual section when using overall rating).

Apply a single multiplier for each section calculation.

• If selected, the multiplier value entered on the settings page is used for all sections.

• If not selected, the multiplier value can be configured for each section in the Bonus Plan screen.

Configured via the autoSyncP4PData setting in the XML.

When enabled, it automatically pulls current performance data from Performance Management when the Variable Pay form is opened. There is no need to refresh the form.

However, this is not applicable if ratings are coming from Employee Profile or Calculated/Overall Ratings from Performance Management as it is refreshed every time Variable Pay form is opened anyway.

Set minimum threshold values/gates for business goals for calculating bonus payouts (more details provided later in this course).

This allows employees to view their calculated bonus within their Employee Profile, granted that permissions have been added to Succession Data Model.

Allows admins to restrict visibility and editability of standard and custom fields. Permissions can be created using standard system roles (EM, EA, EX) or group roles.

Prevents generating statements for employees using configured custom field.

These group filters for forecast bonus results.

Select Save to create your program, which essentially creates a new plan/form template XML. Though most configuration is completed in Admin Center, the plan template XML can be downloaded from Admin Center, edited, and uploaded to Provisioning. A few features require XML editing.

Display settings allow administrators more flexibility on how patterns are displayed in the worksheet.

• Include Budget: Determines if the budget panel is displayed. If deselected, budget panel does not display even if there is budget calculation configured in plan.

• Include Total: Setting which determines if the column total is displayed or not. If deselected, even custom fields configured to show column total does not be displayed.

• Rating Label Format: Determines how performance ratings are displayed: text, numeric, or number-text. Leading practice recommends using text to have more meaningful impact at steering rewards than simply numeric.

• Guideline Pattern Format: Determines guideline display pattern on the Salary tab. Can use the following keywords: min, low, def, high, and max.

• Enable Live Analytics: This setting enables a dashboard view of the plan payout.

• Freeze Columns for Scrolling: Freezes the employee column pane to always be visible when scrolling.

• Display Assignment Records in Manager Form: Specifies the order of employee assignment records.

• Manager Instruction and Legal Notices: Space for instructions or notices which must be displayed on the form.

• You can set the default sorting of how employees are displayed on the form. You can set by employee names or final payout and also set the number of employees per page.

This screen is available after initial settings are saved. It allows for program-specific configuration and management.

The top menu consists of three tabs or options:

• Plan Setup: Variable Pay program configurations
• Manage Worksheets: Create, delete, and modify Variable Pay forms
• Complete Compensation Cycle: Publish data to SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and generate reward statements

• Settings: Variable Pay general settings, display settings, Employee Central settings (for instance, Employee History Field Mapping), advanced settings, set bonus calculation settings, and set number format rules.
• Design Worksheet: Configure label names and visibility, column designer, set number formats, override permission, plan level executive review filters.
• Plan Details: Business goals, bonus plans, eligibility, goal weights, guidelines, and budget.
• Manage Users: Import and edit the employee history data and define the planner structure.
• Forecast Bonus: Create and generate forecasting results.
• Calculate Bonus: Initiate the bonus calculation process.
• Reports: Validation reports where admins can verify if the imported data is correct.

Variable Pay requires a route map which determines the workflow of a Variable Pay form. The route map is attached to the Variable Pay program in Advanced Settings and then it is followed when a form is created.

Example 1: For admins who want to review the forms before they are sent to managers, and again at the end, before they are sent to completion.

• User (a named comp admin who receives all forms and starts the process)
• Employee (manager)
• Manager (manager’s manager)
• User (a named comp admin who receives all forms before the process ends)

Example 2: For situations where the person, who launched the form, must be involved as a final review/staging/holding step at the end of the process.

• Employee (manager)
• Manager (manager’s manager)
• Originator (the person who launched the form)

• Use of Get Feedback edit and comments is not recommended.
• Be sure the Disable Ask For Comment Routing and Disable Ask For Edit Routing checkboxes are selected in Advanced Settings.
• Use of signature steps is not recommended.
• Forms can be routed to a previous step by selecting the Enable form routing to previous step checkbox in Advanced Settings. This is especially helpful if the second or third step reviewer wants the previous planner to edit recommendations or comments.
• Admins can also move forms backward if the Mass Route Document Backward option is selected in permissions.
• For executives and other levels in the organization who must have input in the planning process but do not need to be in the route map, it is recommended to use the Executive Review functionality (discussed in a later section).
• During User Acceptance Testing (UAT) or any testing, it may be necessary to mass route forms through Admin Center → Route Document.
• When routing forms, you have the option to select whether data should be validated before moving to the selected step.

When Skip form validation is selected, any unfulfilled requirements, such as forced comments, are ignored and the form can be advanced.

If theValidate form is selected, an error displays noting the required updates in the form before routing can take place.

Set Bonus Calculation:

Number of Business Goals Sections: Select from 1 (default), None, or Multiple.

• Choose none if business goals do not contribute to bonus calculation (bonus is calculated based on PM form goals only).
• Choose one if business goals will be under one category.
• Choose multiple if business goals will be categorized into multi-sub sections (this topic is discussed in detail in Unit 4).

Bonus Calculation Equation:

• This formula establishes how the final payout will be calculated.
• If additive, the final payout is the aggregate of Individual/Team and business payout.
• If multiplicative, the Individual/Team guideline serves as a multiplier to the total business payout.

Formula 1 is base x business performance.

The entire bonus is calculated based on the results of business goals.

Formula 2 is base × business performance × individual performance.

This formula incorporates employee performance into bonus calculation as a multiplier to business achievement.

Formula 3 is base × (business performance + individual performance).

This formula uses business and individual performances as weighted components of the bonus payout.

Formula 4 is base × business performance x team performance x individual performance.

This formula incorporates team and employee performances into bonus calculation as a multiplier to business achievement.

Formula 5 is base x (business performance + team performance + individual performance.

This formula uses business, team, and individual performances as weighted components of the bonus payout.

Goal Plan Name (An XML configuration file that defines the business goals csv file):

• Similar to a filing cabinet for goals to be loaded into later
• Uploaded into Provisioning
• Each Variable Pay program is assigned one unique Business Goal Name Template
• Template ID is referenced in the business goal data file

Business Goal Name on XML Template

• Every program uses the same template but with a unique ID in the 8000s.

• When variable pay plans are cloned, varpay objective templates are automatically created in the back-end.

Navigate to Provisioning → Import/Update/Export Variable Pay Goal Plan Template.

Select Browse and select the updated Business Goal Plan template for the Variable Pay program.

Select Upload.

Configure basis amount as:

• Imported column from employee history data file - This setting will require the basis amount to be uploaded as part of the employee history data file.
• Imported column from User Data file - For customers who want entire bonus to be calculated using one base amount. For example, even if the employee got a salary increase during the year and/or different assignments, the bonus target is calculated based on year end salary on 12/31.
• Custom formula (formula can contain only the fields defined in the employee history file) - This setting will require entering the numeric field IDs from background element to be used as formula.
  • Field names should be either ifld (integer) or ffld (float).
  • ffld1 is reserved for basis, do not use it for any other field.
  • When uploading employee history data, the basis column should still be included but with blank values.
  • Trigger basis calculation - used for SAP - VRP integration. Triggers a custom basis calculation when EHD is imported.

Import Key - Only used when a basis is pulled from the user data file.

Is the program based on Assignments - When each assignment has its own Performance Management form.

Rating Sources:

• Performance Management form
• Employee Profile
• Import by Employee
• Import by Assignment History

Retrieve ratings from Performance Management forms using:

• Calculated
• Overall (overallPerformance, overallCompetency, overallObjective, or overallPotential)

• Performance Review section

• Percent (Done) Complete as Rating

  

When using Calculated or Overall, the form name is displayed in the individual goal section details.

When using the Performance Review section or Percent Done as Rating, Performance Management goals is displayed on the Variable Pay form.

If using Employee Profile:

1. Choose which rating type to use:

   • Supports all four standard (competency, objective, performance and potential) and two custom types
   • Values shown in the dropdown are configured in the data model-background element

2. Effective date:

   • If the effective date does not fall between any of the start and end dates, the system returns N/A
   • In the case of multiple ratings on the same date, the system takes the last modified

• Variable Pay form is going to retrieve rating in the user directory file
• Define a custom column to store rating in the user directory file
• Define a rating scale in case you would like to display rating labels instead of numbers
• Ratings must match rating scale

Import by Employee

No form name or goals are displayed in the Individual Goal section details.

Imported rating is used.

• Variable Pay form is going to retrieve rating in the employee history file
• Define a custom column to store rating in the employee history file (through Data Model)
• Define a rating scale in case you would like to display rating labels instead of numbers
• Ratings must match rating scale

Import by Assignment History (ABR only)

No details for ABR form must use Compensation Profile.

Imported rating is used.

Bonus cap definition:

• Application multiplies the bonus cap percent by the assignment target amount to determine the bonus cap amount.
• Bonus cap amount is compared against the assignment payout amount and the lesser of two values is used for the employee’s bonus.

Bonus cap configuration:

• Configured in bonus plans import file
• Cannot be configured in the UI

The following example shows how the bonus cap is calculated for an employee with two assignments.

The total of the business goal payout amounts cannot exceed a preconfigured percentage of the prorated target amount for that assignment. The cap is applied at each assignment.

The total payout amount for the employee cannot exceed a preconfigured percentage of the sum of the prorated target amounts for the employee. The system applies the cap at the end, using the aggregate amounts.

Guidelines can be created for Individual and Team goals. Similar to the guidelines used for SAP SuccessFactors Compensation, they can be created using the following criteria:

• Rating

• Job Level

• Pay Grade

• Budget Group

• Custom Field

A maximum of three custom fields can be used as guideline criteria. The following custom fields that are of data type string, percent, and amount are supported:

• Custom fields with import key
• Custom calculated fields
• Editable fields (Enum fields)

• Hard Limit: Places a hard stop on guidelines for either min or max, whichever is specified in the guideline enforcement.

• Force Default on Rating or Custom Field Change:

  • If the user’s rating changes, the Individual Payout Percent column changes to the default for the new rating in already-launched forms.

  • If guidelines are based on custom fields and the user’s custom field changes, the Individual Payout Percent column changes to the default for the new custom field value in already-launched forms.

  • Example: Guidelines are based on location. If a user changes location, the default guidelines for the new location populate the launched forms.

• High/Low Action: Sets warnings or ignores if the Individual Payout Percent exceeds highs and lows defined in the guidelines.

• Guideline Enforcement: Sets warnings when exceeding min and max guidelines; works in conjunction with force commenting and hard limit.

• Performance Field can be set to so that it can be edited.

When the Performance Percent field is set to editable, planners are given discretion on payouts for the individual section on the worksheet.

The Force Comments feature can be added to trigger a justification comment if payouts are outside the defined guidelines. When configured, a bubble icon displays. If an amount outside the guideline is entered, the bubble turns red.

In the example in the following figure, Guidelines - Force Comments, the max guideline is set to 90%, but the planner has entered 100%.

Currently, the planner can still save the form but cannot send to the next step of the route map.

Note: Hard Stop must be disabled for Force Comments to work.

To enter a comment, the planner simply selects the comment bubble icon and enters the comment in the pop-up window. Choose Save and Close to finalize.

Once entered, the comment can be edited or deleted.

Force Comments can be configured in the Variable Pay XML plan or in the Admin user interface. Placement of the <comp-force-comment-config> tag within the XML is before comp-rating-source, as shown in the following figure, Placement of <comp-force-comment-config> Tag.

Warning messages can be customized at the field level.

Alternatively, Force Comments can be configured in the admin interface by navigating to Plan Setup → Design Worksheet → Define Standard Validation Rules.

These specify how the budget base amount is calculated. SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay supports the following modes:

• Direct Amount

• Percent of Custom Field

• Budget by Guideline (Individual & Team)

• Percent of Calculated Forecast (Forecast Business Achievement)

• Percent of Calculated Forecast2 (Forecast 2 Business Achievement)

• Percent of Calculated Results (Actual Business Achievement)

The budget percentage can be determined using the following approach:

• User: The budget percentage is defined at user level, imported from the user data file.

• Template: The budget percentage defined at plan level, specified budget value is followed for the entire plan.

• Group: The budget percentage is defined at group level, specified in group assignments.

There are three types of budget that can be added in SAP SuccessFactors Variable Pay:

• Forecasting

• Forecasting 2

• Results

Forecasting and Forecasting 2 are used only for building budget scenarios. When the final results are in, the Results budget type is used.

Budget spent calculation is affected by the bonus equation being used in the variable pay program. For additive formulas, budget spent only uses the discretionary portion of the payout. For multiplicative formulas, budget spent includes the business calculated amount.

Formula 3 (additive): Using percentOfCalculated mode.

Notice how the budget amounts are exactly the same. When using additive formula, the system only uses the discretionary portion of the payout as basis and disregards the business calculated amounts.

Budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Budget = Sum of Individual Target amount * Budget Percent

• Budget Spent = Total of Individual Target amount * Individual Percent

Formula 2 (multiplicative): Using percentOfCalculated mode.

Notice the difference in budget amounts. When using multiplicative formula, the system uses the business calculated amount as basis.

Result budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Results budget = Sum of Results Calculated Target Amount * Budget Percent

• Result Spent = Total of Results Target amount * Individual Percent

Forecast budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Forecast budget = Sum of Forecast Calculated Target Amount * Budget Percent

• Forecast Spent = Total of Forecast Target amount * Individual Percent

Forecast 2 budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Forecast 2 budget = Sum of Forecast Calculated Target Amount * Budget Percent

• Forecast 2 Spent = Total of Forecast Target amount * Individual Percent

Formula 3 (additive): Using percentOfCustomField mode.

Budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Budget = Sum of Custom Field amount * Budget Percent

• Budget Spent = Total of Individual Target amount * Individual Percent

Formula 2 (multiplicative): Using percentOfCustomField mode.

Result budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Results budget = Sum of Custom Field * Budget Percent

• Result Spent = Total of Results Target amount * Individual Percent

Forecast budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Forecast budget = Sum of Custom Field * Budget Percent

• Forecast Spent = Total of Forecast Target amount * Individual Percent

Forecast 2 budget amounts are calculated as follows:

• Forecast 2 budget = Sum of Custom Field * Budget Percent

• Forecast 2 Spent = Total of Forecast Target amount * Individual Percent

• Type the family name when the budget percentage is based on the group.

• Type the Import key when the budget percentage is imported in the user data file.

• Type the custom field ID when using percentOfCustomField mode.

• Type the column ID on the allocation columns if you would like to specify which field to use for the spent amount.

• Use Final Payout for Variable Pay instead of Total Individual Target – no longer used.

Allow, warn, or disallow managers to exceed a budget.

Create a budget message when a manager exceeds the budget.

The budget panel typically displays total amounts in functional currency. However, a planner can have multiple employees paid in different currencies and displaying budgets on different currencies may be required.

The groupBy function addresses this need. This must not be confused with calculating budgets based on groups. The groupBy function is used to display budgets separately but still using one budget calculation. groupBy can use the following attributes to display budgets:

• Local currency code – the only standard salary field supported

• Read only, Reportable, and String type Custom Salary field

Select the copy icon to create a new plan from an existing plan. Then specify the new plan name and dates.

Choose which data files must be copied during the cloning process. Then add the rating source for individual and team goals.

Set the EC effective date if using SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central.

The cloning process eases customer pain points in having to create a case ticket to have their plan copied year after year. This automates the variable business goal plan XML copy with a new Goal Plan ID, reducing the delays introduced by submitting a case ticket. It also reduces the risk of accidentally updating previous year results by automating new Goal Plan ID. If the plan also uses lookup tables, the cloning process allows the update of the reference to these tables.

The cloning process also copies the manager form eligibility of the previous template.

The Instance Synchronization feature ("instance synch"), enables customers to move configuration objects and settings from one SAP SuccessFactors company instance to another. It supports one-way and two-way synchronization, object-level permission control, multiple targets per source, and synchronization across different data centers.

Instance Synchronization uses a "push" model, meaning that configuration objects and settings are selectively "pushed" from the source instance to the target instance. Configurations cannot be pulled into the target from the source. Therefore, only users with access to the source instance – which, in many cases, is the customer’s testing instance – can use the instance synch tools.

For SAP SuccessFactors Compensation and Variable Pay, the only object targeted to use the instance synch tools is the Lookup Table.