76082160 SAP E Recruiting

SAP Architecture Blueprint

SAP E-Recruiting

Document Version Status Date

1.0 Final June 2009

Author:Swetank Singh (I031698)SAP ERP-HCM

INTERNAL

PROJECT NAME/CPROJECT TITLE: SAP E-RECRUITING

SAP ARCHITECTURE BLUEPRINT JUN/2009

© 2009 - SAP AG Internal 1

AcknowledgementThe following colleagues contributed in various ways to make this edition of the document possible:Sagar Joshi, Ralf Wiedemann, Peter Enrico Vittoria, Satish Boddeti, Viqar Ali, Biraj Mandavlli, MaikeFeth, Michael Becherer and Vijaya Sarathi Durvasula (SAP E-Recruiting).



Table of Contents

1 Market and Product Background of Project/Program ..............................................................4

2 Architecture................................................................................................................................6

2.1 Relation to Overall SAP E-Recruiting Architecture ..................................................................6

2.1.1 User Interface ................................................................................................................6

2.1.2 Business Objects ...........................................................................................................6

2.1.3 Data Persistency............................................................................................................6

2.1.4 Integration with Other Systems.......................................................................................7

2.2 Main Architecture Concepts and Decisions .............................................................................7

2.2.1 Extensibility and Adaptability ..........................................................................................9

2.2.2 Business Objects ...........................................................................................................9

2.2.3 SAP E-Recruiting .........................................................................................................12

2.2.4 Total Cost of Ownership ...............................................................................................17

2.3 Deployment and Installation..................................................................................................18

2.3.1 Deployment Options.....................................................................................................18

2.3.2 Installation....................................................................................................................18

2.3.3 ABAP based Application Layers ...................................................................................22

2.3.4 Search using TREX......................................................................................................23

2.3.5 Configuration ...............................................................................................................24

2.3.6 Sizing and Scaling........................................................................................................26

2.3.7 Software Components..................................................................................................27

2.4 Integration with SAP ERP HCM............................................................................................28

2.4.1 Types of Integration .....................................................................................................28

2.5 Additional Important Aspects ................................................................................................31

2.5.1 System Components....................................................................................................31

2.5.2 Front End.....................................................................................................................32

2.5.3 Languages Supported ..................................................................................................33

3 Open Issues, Outlook and Risks.............................................................................................34

3.1 Open Issues and Outlook .....................................................................................................34

3.2 Limitations............................................................................................................................34

3.3 Risks....................................................................................................................................34

4 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................35

4.1 TREX Architecture................................................................................................................35

5 Further Reading .......................................................................................................................36

6 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................37



Table of Figures

Figure 1: Architecture Overview Diagram (Static Structure at Runtime)................................................8

Figure 2: Class Diagram (Design Time).............................................................................................11

Figure 3: Sequence Diagram (Requisition) ........................................................................................12

Figure 4: Create and Release of Requisition .....................................................................................13

Figure 5: Sequence Diagram (Candidate profile) ...............................................................................14

Figure 6: Activity Diagram Unregistered Candidate............................................................................15

Figure 7: Activity Diagram Registered Candidate...............................................................................15

Figure 8: Sequence Diagram (Admin Services) .................................................................................16

Figure 9: Standalone: I0-scenarios....................................................................................................19

Figure 10: Integration on one instance: I1-scenario ...........................................................................19

Figure 11: Integration on two instances: I2-scenario ..........................................................................20

Figure 12: Standalone Deployment ...................................................................................................21

Figure 13: Deployment in system landscape .....................................................................................22

Figure 14: Search Architecture..........................................................................................................23

Figure 15: IMG Configurations ..........................................................................................................25

Figure 16: Software Components ......................................................................................................28

Figure 17: System Components ........................................................................................................32

Figure 18: TREX Architecture............................................................................................................35



1 Market and Product Background of Project/ProgramPlanned release date: EHP4 SP01

Underlying SAP NetWeaver release: NetWeaver 701

Used SAP NetWeaver stacks: ABAP Java SAP NW

Scope of the project/program:

Re-design of the recruiter and administrator role

UI Conversion

o Applicant Tracking (Process improvements)o Work center for recruiter as starting pointo Requisition Management / Posting Process / Questionnaire Managemento Candidate Profileo Application Management (mass and single application entry)o Conversion of the administrator role from BSP to WebDynpro

Enhance existing functionalities

o Requisition Managemento Applicant trackingo Skill Assessmento Work centero CE, ALEo Correspondence Toolo Reportingo Mass Processing in different areas of E-Recruiting

Functional area and Pain points targeted in the current Solution:

Stability and flexibility

o Candidate Services are behind the firewallo SAP E-Recruiting for the branding of companieso Enhancements needed (field flexibility, customer specific info, localization)o Problems search (Expert Finder API and KPro API has performance issues), UI

adaptation, security issues

Mass data

o Number of applications up to 30.000-100.000 p.a.o Talent pool is growingo A lot of activities are performedo Problems performance, update/refresh of activitieso Roles: Recruiter

Re-focus on application management

o 90% of the SAP E-Recruiting day-by-day use is the classical application managemento Many of the candidates come from external job boardso Still a lot of paper applicationso Legal issues

Perception as a web application



o SAP E-Recruiting is considered a web applicationo Web standards are expectedo Quick access to informationo Problems not intuitive, not user friendly, missing standard functions

Perception as an office tool

o SAP E-Recruiting is used as a communication tool between recruiter, candidates, hiringmanagers, works councils etc.

o A lot of applications are coming in via e-mailo Problems Correspondence, letters, questionnaires, alerts, notifications, resume parsing

User interfaces in general

o Usability issues

Strategic goals SAP wants to achieve with the project/program:

To deliver a competitive UI

o By converting the Recruiter and Administrator UI into WebDynpro for ABAP and byredesigning the processes to increase the usability. It is not only a conversion project.



2 ArchitectureSAP E-Recruiting application is part of SAP ERP HCM and supports online job offering and online jobapplication. With SAP E-Recruiting, job applicants and candidates can search for job offers, registerthemselves in a talent pool, and provide their job application online using a Web browser. Recruiterscan post job requisitions within the SAP E-Recruiting application, but also on external job boards viaHRXML interfaces (see http://www.hr-xml.org).

Applicant tracking and reporting functions helps recruiters to process job applications in an organizedway and monitor the effectiveness of the recruitment department and process.

SAP E-Recruiting is an add-on to SAP ERP HCM and based on SAP NetWeaver, which can bedeployed in three different ways:

I0 - Stand-alone installation without any integration with a backend system (SAP ERP HCM).

I1 - Stand-alone installation with integration into SAP ERP HCM.

I2 - Integral part of SAP ERP HCM installation.

Usually SAP E-Recruiting is deployed as a stand-alone installation with firewalls protecting the accessfrom the Web to the SAP E-Recruiting applications and from the SAP E-Recruiting application to SAPERP HCM. Internal Users are usually behind the E-Recruiting firewall.

2.1 Relation to Overall SAP E-Recruiting Architecture

2.1.1 User InterfaceThe user interface of SAP E-Recruiting is completely role based and is displayed using a Webbrowser. The user interface is implemented using Web Dynpro ABAP and Business Server Pages(BSP) in previous releases. Further UI technologies which are used in SAP E-Recruiting are SAP GUI(for customization etc) and BeX UI. In addition SAP Duet is used to provide an alternative userinterface (for Managers and partly for Recruiters).

2.1.2 Business ObjectsBusiness objects, such as candidate, requisition, posting, and application are used for data retrievaland manipulation tasks. Each business object is implemented as an ABAP OO class (there areseveral classes for each object, e.g. for the candidate we have at least 3 BL facades, 1 infotype 1000representation and n infotype data representations such as CL_HRRCF_CANDIDATE_INFO). Data ofthese SAP E-Recruiting objects are stored in PD infotypes using the underlying PD framework. As aconsequence the entire data model of SAP E-Recruiting is based on the PD framework. For everycandidate (internal or external) in the SAP E-Recruiting system a business partner is created whichholds the identity and contact data.

Appraisal evaluation and survey engine is used for creating, publishing, and analyzing questionnaires,which are used for capturing information and evaluating the candidates in talent pool.

Note: - SAP E-Recruiting has own framework based upon the function modules and PD infotypes, thedecoupled PD infotype framework is not used.

2.1.3 Data PersistencyThe SAP E-Recruiting application stores data in both structured and unstructured formats. Businessobject data, for example about candidates, is stored in infotypes. A background job periodicallycollects the data of the SAP E-Recruiting objects, converts them into XML documents and stores theminto the knowledge provider (KPro). In addition knowledge provider (KPro) for unstructured data usedto manage documents and files, which are uploaded from the applicant as part of their resume data(i.e. profile master data) (MS Word documents PDF files, pictures and so on). Above mentioned KProdata is indexed by the search engine TREX to support fast search on posted jobs as well as suitable

http://www.hr-xml.org).



candidates. The SES (Search Engine Service) is used for managing structured data i.e. the infotypedata and will be stored directly in TREX indexes with the help of SES.

Apart from these there are some more data storages like

Business partner tables ( for storing candidates basic information and communication data)

Cluster (for e.g. storing the requisition status history)

Transparent tables (for e.g. process templates, EEO data etc)

2.1.4 Integration with Other SystemsSAP E-Recruiting provides interfaces according to HR-XML standards (see http://www.hr-xml.org) forintegration with external job boards. Job requisitions can be posted to these boards and applicationscan be received using SAP NetWeaver XI.

If not installed on the SAP ERP HCM server, SAP E-Recruiting is integrated with SAP ERP HCMusing RFC calls and ALE .The processes publication of job requisition and new data hire transfer aresupported with SAP NetWeaver XI, too. Existing employee master data within PA can be transferredand mapped to internal candidate in SAP E-Recruiting. In addition PD data like skills, qualificationscan also be transferred. In figure 1 a particular use case is depicted for requisition request. When amanager starts the process using HCM processes and forms of SAP ERP HCM server the requisitiondata is passed to SAP E-Recruiting via RFC. Apart from this SAP E-Recruiting integrates with MSS forrecruiting scenarios, ESS and HR Admin for hiring the candidate in SAP HR system.

Non-SAP ERP systems can be integrated using HR-XML interfaces and SAP NetWeaver XI. The SAPE-Recruiting also provide integration with other services like: -

Enterprise services are provided for resume parsing and background check

DUET – The DUET integration focus on enabling many of the SAP E-Recruiting functionsthrough Microsoft Office Outlook. SAP E-Recruiting will remain the system of record for allrecruiting activities touched through the Microsoft Office user interface.

BW

2.2 Main Architecture Concepts and DecisionsThe SAP E-Recruiting system is delivered in own software component ERECRUIT which contains thefollowing layers:

UI layer – This layer consist of two technologies for displaying the UI, those are the BSPtechnology and the Web-Dynpro ABAP technology which uses the floorplan manager (FPM).

RFC Layer – This layer is used in two scenarios, when an external candidate (or internal,depends on the system set-up) or an external portal has to interact with the business logiclayer of SAP E-Recruiting system. The business logic is deployed in the separate box; in thatcase to execute the business logic the RFC calls are made to the corresponding box, this willshield the business logic layer from external world.

Process Layer – These layers is for handling WebDynpro UI calls to the business logic layeronly for recruiter, administrator scenario and the candidate profile. This layer is interfacingbetween the UI layer and business logic layer where all the UI specific processing takes place.This layer acts as a façade to the business logic layer where it calls the relevant businesslogic layer and transforms the data specific for UI display.

Business Logic layer – This layer handles all kinds of business logic for the variousservices/functionalities provided by SAP E-Recruiting system like Admin Services, Requisitionmanagement, Candidate Services, Application management, Activity management etc. This

http://www.hr-xml.org)



layer’s logic is more or less independent of the product and describes classical recruitmentprocesses.

Access Layer – This layer is for direct database operation like select create, update, delete.The methods provided by access layer are used by the business layer; these methods havedirect access to carry out DB operations on database layer which consist of customizationdata, PD infotypes, ‘BUPA’, OTR etc.

Database layer – This layer is the database repository for SAP E-Recruiting applicationspecific data, it is based on PD infotypes. The database layer also contains customizing dataaccess and the KPRO which is used for storing the documents like Resume etc.

Apart from the above layers the SAP E-Recruiting application also has interaction with businesspartner framework, PD framework, AES engine and Search Engine (T-Rex), Workflow, SapQuery, BAS, Adobe/Smartforms.

The SAP E-Recruiting system is also connected to SAP ERP HCM having bi-directional dataexchange. The data flow happens for re-using the data available in the HR system likequalification catalog, requisition from hiring managers, internal employee information etc, similarlythe data is send to HR system from SAP E-Recruiting system like information about new hire etc.

The following diagram represents the scenario I2/BF2 (Integral part of SAP ERP HCM installation)scenario according to the SAP E-Recruiting classification.

Figure 1: Architecture Overview Diagram (Static Structure at Runtime)



2.2.1 Extensibility and AdaptabilitySAP E-Recruiting supports more than 18 countries with different language requirements. Due to thisthe globalization and extension features become extremely important. Infotypes support manycustomizing features for having different variants of the UI logic for various country language versions,for example enabling and hiding of UI fields, changing field attributes. In the WebDynpro ABAP UI thecustomer can add own fields in UI using enhancement framework. Similarly the customer can addDDIC fields but the process layer will require a modification. Since the business logic layer uses thePD structures and because the customer includes are within these PD structures, therefore nomodifications are required in business layer. Hence the extensibility feature is provided in terms ofeach layer like WebDynpro screens, Context and Business logic but only by modification.

Other adaptation techniques are given by the corresponding frameworks of Workflow engine, SAPQuery, Smartforms etc which SAP E-Recruiting leverages on.

2.2.2 Business ObjectsThe Design time architecture consists of following PD objects in the SAP E-Recruiting system.

Candidate: The Candidate object (NA) is the PD object representing the candidate, which canbe assigned to a talent group and can apply for job. It contains the details about the candidatein the SAP E-Recruiting system like work experience, education details, qualifications, desiredemployments etc.

Candidacy (Assignments): The candidacy object (NE) contains information about thecandidate’s activities performed, any qualifying event, and invitations send etc. (in the contextof a requisition). The table PD relationship table HRP1001 is used to determine the OBJIDs ofthe assigned candidate, application and requisition. Each candidacy is assigned to exactly onerequisition and either one application (in this case it is the original candidacy) or candidate.Sometimes both, the application and the candidate is assigned via HRP1001 (this is the caseof an original candidacy), the central table for extraction is HRP5133.

Application: An Application object (ND) represents an application which can be receivedfrom several sources for example online application i.e. in the SAP E-Recruiting system anapplicant enters application into the system via an Internet scenario (entered by Unregisteredor Registered application wizard), Application entry that is a paper-based applications (enteredinto the system by a data entry clerk using the minimal data entry) and resume parsing.

When an application object is created it is created in status ‘Draft’, In case where therecruiter/data typist assigns the candidate to the requisition , the system implicitly changes thestatus to ‘In process’, at this point the status-changed workflow is triggered. In case of onlineapplications the application object remains in status draft until the recruiter processes it. Theprimary reason for having this workflow is to acknowledge the applicants on receipt ofapplications. This workflow can be extended to handle some other specialized tasks also (likecreating some reminders to the recruiter).

The table HRP1001 is used to determine the OBJIDs of the assigned candidate, and posting.The attributes of the application are the status, the application date, and the GUID of theposting instance (publication). The central table for extraction is HRP5132.

Posting: The posting object (NC) contains the information about the publication (postinginstance) of requisition in different channels. When the posting object (NC) is created theGUID is also generated which is used in identifying the publications (posting instance). Thecentral table for the extraction is HRP5122. Only those records are taken into account, whichwere published. The OBJID of the posting is derived directly from the infotype record, theOBJIDs of the requisition from HRP1001.

Requisition: The requisition object (NB) display attributes like alias, and the job title. Theregular attributes are the status, the org unit, the job, the application end date, the target



group, the reason code (for the status), the industry, the functional area, hierarchy level, spanof control, employment start and end date, working time (or only the values from thecustomizing table like full-time/part-time), contract type, branch etc. There are various statuseswhich are associated with the requisition object lifecycle. As mentioned above when arequisition object is created, the posting text represented by posting object can also becreated. Once the requisition is changed to status “released” the publication can also becreated for all the postings technically in the backend but on the UI just the creation of postingtext takes place and then user can add publications. The central tables for the requisition areHRP5125 and HRP5126.

Positions of a requisition: The position object (P) represents the position for which therequisition is created (optionally). The enhancement of the requisition object allows theassignment of more than one position to a requisition.

Talent Group: The Talent group object (NF) represents various talent groups available in theSAP E-Recruiting system, the candidates can be assigned to the available talent groups.

Support Groups: The Support group object (NG) represent a group of recruiters and theperson responsible for requisition.

Application groups: The Application group object (NB) represents a group of a particularkind of Application. The regular attributes are the status, the industry, the functional area,hierarchy level, employment start and end date, working time (or only the values from thecustomizing table like full-time/part-time), contract type, branch etc.



Figure 2: Class Diagram (Design Time)

Note: The employees (Personnel Numbers) are distributed to the SAP E-Recruiting system using thereport RHALEINI (transaction PFAL). When the Personnel Management objects are replicated in theSAP E-Recruiting system, for each Personnel Number (P) in Personnel Management system, acorresponding Candidate (NA) must exist in SAP E-Recruiting system.

For each employee, the Personnel Number (P) and Central Person (CP) objects must exist inPersonnel Management. In addition, a Business Partner (BP) must exist for each Central Person (CP)if the (first) hiring date of the associated personnel number has been achieved.

SAP E-Recruiting creates a Candidate (NA) for each Personnel Number (P) for which a BusinessPartner (BP) also exists.

If Concurrent Employment (CE) is active, SAP E-Recruiting creates a Candidate (NA) for each CentralPerson (CP). Several personnel numbers can be assigned to a central person. Hence the cardinalityCP -> P is 1...n, the cardinality CP -> S is 0...n.



2.2.3 SAP E-Recruiting

2.2.3.1 Recruiter Scenario RequisitionSAP E-Recruiting has three basic roles, the Administrator, Recruiter and the Candidate (External andInternal), the following diagram shows the scenario of Requisition being created by a Recruiter. Oncethe Requisition is created and saved the Requisition is released, i.e. it is OPEN for hiring process.

Apart from this the recruiter can also create/edit questions, questionnaires or process templates sothat they can be used in requisition.

Sequence Diagram (considering layers) – This sequence diagram shows the typical sequence ofRequisition being created by a Recruiter and finally ‘Releasing’ to for publication.

Figure 3: Sequence Diagram (Requisition)



Note: The mentioned Common Component in above sequence diagram refers to other WebDynprocommon components which are called in the scenario and the Customized data represents thecustomized data from IMG for which the relevant API’s are called.

Activity Diagram – This activity diagram shows the activities which are performed in creating andreleasing the requisition.

Figure 4: Create and Release of Requisition

2.2.3.2 Candidate Overview and Profile

The candidate overview contains all relevant data like master data and application data of a candidate.This includes the data of the candidate profile, the requisition related data and the activity related data.The candidate overview is used to give recruiters a consolidated overview about the candidate.

Sequence Diagram (pertaining to layers): - This sequence diagram shows the typical sequence ofcandidate profile creation or editing an existing profile. The details which are captured are like Addressdetails, Qualification, Work experience, Education details etc. here the candidate can be also assignedto a talent group. The recruiter has an access to candidate’s profile, and if he/she finds the candidatesuitable for an opening then he can assign that candidate to the existing requisition.



Figure 5: Sequence Diagram (Candidate profile)



Activity Diagram – The following activity diagram show the scenario of two kinds of candidates, theregistered candidate and the unregistered candidate. In the registered scenario the candidate candirectly search the job, but for applying he/she need to create application and send. In case ofregistered candidate, he can search job and apply, if required he can update his profile.

Figure 6: Activity Diagram Unregistered Candidate

Figure 7: Activity Diagram Registered Candidate



2.2.3.3 Admin Services

The administrator role in the SAP E-Recruiting solution provides certain administrative services likemaintaining organization data (company & branch), maintaining Internal Users, Adjust Support teams,Maintain Agencies, Maintain Application groups, Audit Trail details etc. The ’Maintain Applicationgroup’ is one of the functionality which provides the administrator to create, update, copy and deleteapplication groups. When an application group is created, the system automatically generates aposting and a posting instance and this posting is assigned to the requisition/application object.

Figure 8: Sequence Diagram (Admin Services)



2.2.3.4 Applicant Tracking

Activity management (or applicant tracking) is the core of SAP E-Recruiting system. As part of therecruiting process, recruiters can carry out different actions or activities with candidates as theyevaluate them and take them through the recruiting process. These activities can be recorded ortracked, to ensure that the proper process is being followed. This is important for a couple of reasons.The first is for legal compliance reasons. In many countries companies need to be able to prove thatthey are recruiting fairly, and they therefore need to keep track of all interactions with candidates.Another reason is for reporting purposes. Companies want to know what recruiters are doing, howlong it takes to move a candidate through the process and what activities are being carried out.

2.2.3.5 Publication

The SAP E-Recruiting application enables the publishing of job vacancies on internal and external jobportals or channels. The job search can be done by sending the job vacancies on external job boards.

2.2.3.6 Talent Relationship Management

Talent Relationship Management (TRM) in SAP E-Recruiting application facilitates the creation oflong-term relationships with existing and potential employees. The basis for the talent relationshipmanagement is the talent warehouse. Both external and internal candidates can maintain there skillsand interests in talent database. Based on the maintained data, the candidates in the database oftalent warehouses the SAP E-Recruiting application provides the following functionalities:

Manage individual and long-term relationship with potential employees

Building and managing skilled and potential talent pool

Offer of the job positions available to potential candidate

Registered candidates can be short listed from available talent pool.

The talent relationship management includes the following features also:

Creating Talent Groups

Search for candidates in the Talent Pool

Segmentation of the talent pool by assigning candidates in talent groups

Creating TRM activities for candidates from the talent pool, for example, to provide additionalto services such as job offers, newsletters, sending questionnaires to candidates etc.

2.2.3.7 Reports

The SAP E-Recruiting delivers both real-time reporting using SAP Query and SAP BI for analytics.SAP E-Recruiting application also provides certain reports which enables recruiters and recruitingmanagers to real-time reports that they can run at any time to give them information about system anduser activity. The application provide flexible reporting user interface with real-time reporting i.e. byproviding selection criteria using POWL or the BEX Suite. Apart from this the system provides certainpre-delivered reports like Requisition Activity Report and Recruiter Activity Report, Recruiting VolumeReport, Requisition Pending Approval Report Incomplete Application Report, Offers Report.

2.2.4 Total Cost of OwnershipSince SAP E-Recruiting is shipped along with ECC, hence it incurs low TCO, moreover because onlythe software component that are required, need to be installed. When a new version of ERECRUITcomponent is available, it can be simply shipped along with the Enhancement pack into the Repositoryand, from there it can be pushed to all SAP E-Recruiting server installations that require it.



2.3 Deployment and InstallationThe SAP E-Recruiting is designed to be deployed standalone or integrated with SAP ERP HCM. TheSAP E-Recruiting application can be deployed in following three ways.

The first approach is the ‘Standalone Mode’ (I0) which means that the deployment is done withoutany integration with a backend system (SAP ERP HCM) there the setup of organizational data andqualification etc is done within the SAP E-Recruiting system while in the integrated scenario withSAP HR (I2) for initial setup the organizational data and qualification categories have to beimported via ALE from SAP ERP HCM.

2.3.1 Deployment OptionsSAP E-Recruiting can run fully integrated on one machine, on the basis of SAP ECC 6.0. In doing sothe SAP Business Partner concept enables you to make HR master data and organizational dataavailable to other applications.

SAP E-Recruiting can run on one machine and SAP ECC 6.0 on a separate instance. In this case,ALE Distribution enables you to make your enterprise structure available in SAP E-Recruiting. Thesystem automatically creates an employee in SAP E-Recruiting for each employee in the form of theSAP Business Partner.

2.3.2 InstallationAs mentioned above the SAP E-Recruiting is an add-on to SAP NetWeaver, which can beinstalled in three different ways:

I0 - Stand-alone installation without any integration with a backend system, this can againhave two kinds of installation scenarios where I0A (no SAP ERP HCM installed) and I0B (SAPERP HCM is installed but not active). For initial setup organizational data and qualificationcategories have to be imported via ALE from SAP ERP HCM.

Scenario I0A Scenario I0B



Figure 9: Standalone: I0-scenarios

I1 - Stand-alone installation with integration into SAP ERP HCM. In this case after completingthe recruiting activities, data is sent to the SAP ERP HCM for actual hiring either by using RFCor via SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI).

Figure 10: Integration on one instance: I1-scenario

I2 - Integral part of SAP ERP HCM installation: SAP E-Recruiting calls directly functions ofSAP ERP HCM, especially from PD. This kind of installation can again have two types ofinstallation scenarios.

In the scenario I2-A, only SAP E-Recruiting is contained in the system; the PersonnelAdministration is installed in one another system, separate from the E-Recruitingsystem. IMG activity “Software Runs on Different Instances”.

Scenario I1



In the scenario I2-B, SAP E-Recruiting is contained in an ERP system (E-Recruitment +HCM), but only E-Recruitment is used productively in this system; the PersonnelAdministration productive system, is installed in one another system, separate from theE-Recruiting system.

Figure 11: Integration on two instances: I2-scenario

The following diagram depicts sample deployment of SAP E-Recruiting in the I2 scenario, where theSAP E-Recruiting application integrates with SAP HR using the ALE, the application is deployedbehind the DMZ. The SAP E-Recruiting has integration with TREX server storing and retrievingdocuments.

Scenario I2A

Scenario I2B



Figure 12: Standalone Deployment

Apart from standalone approach the SAP E-Recruiting can also be deployed in the two additionalapproaches i.e. the ‘Stand-alone’ but with installation with integration into SAP ERP HCM (I1). In thiscase after completing the recruiting activities, data is sent to the SAP ERP HCM for actual hiring eitherby using RFC or via SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI). The third approach compriseof the Integral part of SAP ERP HCM installation: SAP E-Recruiting calls directly functions of SAPERP HCM (I2), especially from PD.

The deployment of SAP E-Recruiting (I1) solution is done by keeping in mind about the following:

UI based on WebDynpro ABAP for external candidate, Recruiter and Administrator and BSPonly for Recruiter and Administrator.

Getting all relevant data (application and customizing) via RFC from Backend in the Intranet

Search on TREX via RFC to Service on the Backend - no additional TREX in the DMZnecessary

Following is the sample system landscape after I2 deployments: - This shows that the HR system isthe central system and can be accessed by the SAP E-Recruiting box by RFC for data exchange.There can be two types of user one can be the external user thorough internet and other can be usingthe system within the intranet.



Figure 13: Deployment in system landscape

Following are the different technologies used for deployment/integration of complete SAP E-Recruitingsolution.

2.3.3 ABAP based Application Layers Web Application Server

SAP_ABA

E-Recruiting

o BSP: SAP E-Recruiting Presentation Layer (user interfaces)

o ABAP / OO: SAP E-Recruiting Business Logic, Access Layer, Process Layer,Controller classes, WebDynpro methods and BOR implementation.

o User Management: authorization data of all users



o KPRO and SES: storage and retrieval of all requisitions, posting and candidateinformation in XML formatted documents. The latter are compiled from Infotypes,tables and attachments.

o Infotypes: Storage of requisition, posting, candidate and application information,Talent groups, Support groups.

o Business Partner: storage of name and address data of all known users (includingcandidates), Branches, Agencies.

o Portal integration for MSS, Administrator and Recruiter UI’s, it provides the inbox/worklist for the above mentioned roles.

o New Foundation Layer

2.3.4 Search using TREXIn the search architecture indexing and search requests will be handled via KPro or via SESdepending on the kind of data (structured or unstructured). In addition the new version of theABAP client (STREX ABAP client) will be used.

Unstructured data like candidate attachments or free text files will be stored in a contentrepository. The management of unstructured data will be done by KPro. Structured data, thatmeans, the infotype data, will be stored directly in TREX indexes with the help of SES. Followingare the key features:-

o Indexing of all KPRO documents

o Storage of index on own file server

o Facilitating search of KPRO document on the basis of these indexes

Figure 14: Search Architecture



2.3.5 ConfigurationThe Configuration steps are required to set up the business scenarios in the system landscape.The Business Scenario Configuration is based on a business scenario and in this way coversprocesses and process steps in an SAP E-Recruiting application components and externalproducts. Configuration settings are to be done in each component of the business scenario,during the implementation. In SAP E-Recruiting application it has following configurations: -

IMG Configurations

o Business Server Pages (BSP Technology) – For exclusively using Business ServerPages (BSP) within SAP E-Recruiting to display user interfaces the IMG activities for SAPE-Recruiting except for the activities that are flagged as relevant for Web Dynpro ABAPhave to be carried out.

o Web Dynpro ABAP- For setting up SAP E-Recruiting to use Web Dynpro ABAP for thescenarios for internal and/or external candidates, the additional settings has to be done.For more information, see the Implementation Guide for SAP E-Recruiting by choosingTechnical Settings -> User Interfaces -> Settings for User Interfaces with Web DynproABAP in IMG.

o Technical Settings – In SAP E-Recruiting application, the system's technical settings areto be done to ensure that the system runs properly. These systems does necessarysetting for user administration, search engine, workflows, periodic services, SAP WebApplication server, reporting, user interfaces and dashboards.

o Basic Setting – In SAP E-Recruiting application these settings are carried out in systemto set the language, and configurations like company, business partner roles, attachmenttype for documents , setting of legal periods (Expiration and retention) etc.

o Recruitment Settings - In SAP E-Recruiting application, this is one of the most importanttype of configurations where settings for candidate (qualification, work experience,education etc.), applicant tracking (application sources, application scales, source types,activities, questionnaires etc.) and Requisition (Approval process, Posting, postingchannels, posting search etc.) are maintained.

o Tools – There are certain settings which provide the tools for Deleting external candidate,program to create internal users for the SAP E-Recruiting application, use this report todisplay the log that contains the search queries that were logged during the processing ofcertain requisitions.

WebDynpro for ABAP Configurations:

For using the Web Dynpro based User Interface the application configurations are used toconfigure the UI and control the behavior of the UI. For this the , first the Componentconfiguration are created for their Web-Dynpro components, and in the componentconfiguration , several properties of UI elements can be controlled, for example to hide UIelements, enable/disable UI elements etc. Component configurations are then linked toapplication configurations. Application and Component Configurations are provided andsupported by NetWeaver.



Figure 15: IMG Configurations



2.3.6 Sizing and ScalingThe sizing can be done based on the following sample: -

Database Server 2000 SAPS

o Operating System: Windows 2000

o Database volume: approx. 100 GB

o Database: Oracle, SQL server or SAP DB

o Number of processors: 4 (à 1 GHz)

o RAM: 8 GB

o Disk : 150 GB

o 1 client: production

Note: - If you use a non-distributed landscape setup, recommendation is

o 1 server with 2000 SAPS, 8 GB memory, and 150 GB disk

If you use a distributed landscape setup, recommendation is

o 2 servers with 2000 SAPS, each with 8 GB Memory and 150 GB disk

1 TREX Server 1000 SAPS

o Operating System: Windows 2000 Advanced Server (incl. service pack 2)

o Network protocol: TCP/IP

o SAP component SAP Gateway (standard): Version 6.10 or 6.20

o Number of processors: 4 (minimum à 1 GHz)

o RAM: 4 GB

o Hard disk capacity: minimum 40 GB (software installation / index)

Assumptions: Company size approx. 20,000 employees for Internal and external recruitment. TREXhas 5 indexes of 100,000 documents with various formats (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF files and so on).An average document consists of 10 pages

Rules of Thumb for TREX Servers (indication only)

Disk space

o Installation directory: at least 600 MB for the TREX software

o Index directory: at least 40 GB, depending on the number and type of documents tobe indexed

o If documents exist in different formats (Microsoft Word, PDF, and so on), the indexneeds approximately half as much disk space as the documents. For pure HTMLdocuments, the index needs about as much disk space as the documents.

o Queue directory: Approximately three quarters of the disk space required by theindexes. The documents to be indexed are kept temporarily in the queue directorybefore being forwarded to actually be indexed.

o Backup directory: Approximately 1.5 times the disk space required by the indexes.The backup directory is only relevant if you want to implement index replication or abackup/restore procedure. If this is the case, the backups of the indexes are stored inthe backup directory.

RAM



o The necessary available ram can be estimated as “Size of Index on disk (Indexdirectory) / 20”.

o The maximal size of ram that can be used by one TREX process is limited to 2GB onwindows systems and HP Unix, 4 GB on SUN Solaris.

o In practice this will be only relevant for the TREX index server process (indexinformation stored in ram for optimal search performance).

Remark: It's not possible to start more than one index server process per server.

Processor

o At least Pentium III with 2 processors, each with a clock speed of minimum of 1GHz.Pentium IV with two processors, each with a clock speed of 2 GHz, is recommended

Active users

o 10000 search requests per hour” is a good starting point to calculate the number ofactive users depending on the load profile per TREX server

2.3.7 Software ComponentsFrom development perspective SAP E-Recruiting is split into the following software components:

SAP E-Recruiting s/w component ERECRUIT contains the following packages logicallyassigned to the services PAOC_RCF_BL, PAOC_RCF_BL_XI, PAOC_RCF_MODEL_UI,PAOC_RCF_PROCESS_LAYER, PAOC_RCF_REPORTING,PAOC_RCF_REPORTING_OIP, PAOC_RCF_RFC_MODEL, PAOC_RCF_SE_SERVICES,PAOC_RCF_SFWS, PAOC_RCF_TALENT_BL, PAOC_RCF_TALENT_UI,PAOC_RCF_TEST_CASES, PAOC_RCF_UI,PAOC_RCF_UI_SELF_SERVICES,PAOC_RCF_WD_UI, PAOC_RCF_XI_PROXY

Other software components involved are SAP_HR; this component contains the packagerelevant for proxy classes for handling the hire request send from SAP E-Recruiting to SAPHR via XI in package PAOC_ASR_XI_PROXIES. This s/w components also contains thefollowing packages PAOC_OM_RCF and PAOC_TM (for organization managementinterfacing), PAOC_MSS_E_RECRUITING and PAOC_MSS_E_RECRUITING_V (for MSSinterfacing). The ERECRUIT software component does not have a hard dependence on thiscomponent.

BW s/w components contain the following packages PTM, PTM_JOB_FAMILY, thiscomponent is not a mandatory component, it is used for reporting.

ABA s/w components contains the following packages RS_BCT_ERC, RS_BCT_TM



Figure 16: Software Components

2.4 Integration with SAP ERP HCMAs described in earlier chapters the following are the most important types of Integration which SAP E-recruiting has with different components.

2.4.1 Types of IntegrationSAP E-Recruiting solution has integration with different components and services for its functionality torun; following are the various integrations for deploying the solution.

2.4.1.1 Integration with Organizational Management data

To get the integration with Organizational Management data ALE of Org Unit, Position, Job (HRrelease as low as 4.0B) was used, it was basic objects and were no real infotypes

The following OM objects were read from the OM data, (Infotype 1000): org units (O), jobs (C),positions (S) and the OM relations (Infotype 1001): A003, A002, A007, A008, A012, B002, B003,B007, B008, B012

The following are the features of this integration: -

HR data can be displayed within the requisition like Org unit, position and job.

Based on integration units that reference data extraction ABAP classes.

Examples of the data are working time for a position, account assignment feature.

This integration requires that the linked HCM system is ERP 2004 or higher.

When on SAP ERP recruiters can restrict positions found for the requisition to vacantpositions.



2.4.1.2 Personal data synchronization

The Employee data comes from HR when HR is the system of record (Infotypes 0000, 0001, 0002and 0105) like Organizational Assignment, Personal Data, Addresses, Communication Data andQualifications.

The data transfer is Synchronous when using ERP2005 on same instance and Asynchronous(ALE) when using earlier release or on separate instance

2.4.1.3 Qualifications Catalog

The qualification catalog in SAP E-Recruiting is integrated via ALE to the SAP HR qualificationscatalog, which transfers the qualifications and qualification groups which are relevant for SAP E-Recruiting.

The benefit of having a single competency database is that it does not scare external candidateswith many internal qualifications.

Note: SAP E-Recruiting can also have own qualification catalog for standalone implementations.

2.4.1.4 ALE Integration with SAP HRAs discussed above apart from using ALE for maintaining the qualification catalog the ALE is alsoused for inbound processing to creates or updates the candidates in the SAP E-Recruiting I2scenario i.e. PA Infotype and for sending data to achieve Concurrent Employment functionality.

2.4.1.5 HCM New Hire Interface

It uses new XI HR-XML based interface to bring candidate into HR. Data accessed through thenew Personnel Administrator role in ERP2005, the features are:

More flexible

Secure

Provides easier maintenance of system landscape and various integration points

Open industry interface in case of integration with non-SAP HR

The SAP E-Recruiting and ‘HCM Processes and Forms’ is integrated using the XI Content forHCM Processes and Forms. In this way, the data can be transferred from the SAP E-Recruitingsystem to the HR system using the XI interface and then trigger the hiring of a new employee inthe HR system (XI scenario New Hire Request from E-Recruiting (NEWHIREREQUEST)). Oncethe hiring process has been completed successfully and the ‘HireConfirmation’ XI message istriggered from HR system to the SAP E-Recruiting system.

2.4.1.6 BI Integration

The SAP E-Recruiting application needs the BW integrations for pre-delivered queries like:

Requisitions Created

Open Requisitions

Requisition Status Changes

Applications vs. Offers

Interviews vs. Offers

Offer vs. Acceptance



Time to Fill

Source of Applications

SAP Query - Query on HROBJECTS possible with logical database PCH.

The other use is extracting the talent pool data (e.g. qualifications of people in talent pool) and HRmaster data such as organizational units.

2.4.1.7 External Integration (XI scenarios / Web Services)

The external integration is done for various applications like: -

Job Board Integration uses XI to send HR-XML data to job boards

Candidate data Import –

o Import of candidate data for resume parsing (e.g. candidate uploads resume and thesystem defaults their work history etc.)

o Integration to resume parsing service providers that process paper, fax, email receiptof resumes.

o Import of candidates from legacy systems

2.4.1.8 Manager Self Services Integration

With SAP E-Recruiting following features are available in MSS:

Uses Adobe Form Designer for nice form layout

Defaults requisition information from HR

Can create and send requisitions to recruiters

Can receive requests for candidate feedback from recruiters

Approvals for requisitions, publication and delegation.

2.4.1.9 Integration to Internal Back-Office System

There are four kinds of integration available to Internal Back-Office System:-

Email Integration

o Emails can be sent directly from WAS. Receiving and administration via externalemail software

Resume Scanning and OCR software

o Requires third-party software (Optional)

o Enabled via upload of attachments and API’s for basic data import

Virus Scanner

o Requires third-party software

o Integrated via Business Add In (BADI) during upload of attachments

PDF Integration

o PDF view, print and download possible after overview

o Attached (MS Word, open office ware , PDF) documents can be uploaded andsend by email (e.g., contracts)



2.4.1.10 Integration to Internal & External Career Sites

There is integration to the Internal and External Career sites by devising the following: -

Intranet / extranet integration by embedding of URLs

o Unregistered search for jobs

o Register (if not already done)

o Log on

Upfront registration of internal candidates possible (company policy)

SSO possible for internal candidates (company policy)

2.4.1.11 Integration to Microsoft Outlook using DUET

The DUET integration focus on enabling some of the SAP E-Recruiting functions throughMicrosoft Office Outlook. SAP E-Recruiting will remain the system of record for all recruitingactivities touched through the Microsoft Office user interface.

The DUET integration will enable the following scenarios with E-Recruiting and Microsoft Outlook:

Schedule Recruiting Appointments in Outlook Calendar

Assign Questionnaires for Follow-Up

Notify Managers of Candidates in Outlook

View Active Requisitions in Outlook

Synchronize Information between E-Recruiting and Outlook

2.5 Additional Important Aspects

2.5.1 System ComponentsSAP E-Recruiting Release 6.0 EHP4 is an add-on i.e. software component ERECRUIT can beinstalled on the SAP ECC System or on any other system based on the SAP NetWeaver 2004S ABAPStack.



Figure 17: System Components

2.5.2 Front EndThe front end for SAP E-Recruiting can be rendered using the following two options: -

Internet Browser

o Required for recruiter, manager, business administrator and candidate access.

o System access via URL (parameters for language, client, and style sheet)

o Netscape (7.01), Internet Explorer (5.5+) but check note: 598860

o SSO for employee / recruiter access and administrator (not required)

o HTTP / HTTP(S)

o Memory cookies and active scripting (JavaScript) should be enabled

SAP GUI



o Required for system administrator (customizing and system administration)

o For SAP NW Business Client

2.5.3 Languages SupportedThe following 21 languages are supported in the standard:

Chinese (simplified), French, Korean, Czech, German, Polish, Danish, Hebrew, Portuguese, Dutch,Hungarian, Russian, English, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Japanese, Catalan, Finnish, Norwegian andSwedish.

Other languages may be supported upon request



3 Open Issues, Outlook and Risks

3.1 Open Issues and OutlookThere are following open issues:-

1. How to manage correspondence letters for candidates and individual adaptation

o Candidates getting acknowledgement letters for their application

o Candidates getting rejection or invitation letters

o A candidate getting intermediate replies etc.

2. How to edit the content for Job Postings

o Recruiters creates and publish Job Positing to the internet

The solution to above problem could be possible use of DOCX.

Correspondence Solution via DocX

o Create and edit Job Posting Texts for publishing

o Edit individual correspondence for candidates

3. Forms are processed on BL side and content transferred to UI

4. Forms are processed on both sides - it is difficult to handle for customer

5. Usage of SAP NW Business Client as a cockpit for external candidates. Comparable to a leanportal.

o Availability of zero footprint version open (must have)

o Branding options unclear

3.2 Limitations Approval Scenarios – Multiple approvals are not supported Sequential or hierarchical approval

steps required.

Confirmations - Personalized registration confirmation, Feedback after confirmation or denial,SLA etc. is missing.

My Planned activities List – Dashboard for candidates is missing.

3.3 RisksDialog user represents a potential risk (an external candidate might log on to the SAP GUI).



4 Appendix

4.1 TREX ArchitectureThe SAP NetWeaver search service TREX provides the following client options:

Java client for communication via HTTP/XML through SAP EP

ABAP client for communication via RFC within the SAP landscape

C++ and Python clients for internal service calls and development

Inside TREX there are four main services:

Name server for managing the internal landscape and allocating internal services

Index server for indexing and retrieval tasks using:

o Text-mining engine for classification and finding similar documentso Text search engine for searching and indexing unstructured texto Attribute engine for searching and indexing structured data

Queue server for managing asynchronous indexing

Preprocessor for retrieving documents and filtering them into HTML format and for linguisticprocessing

Figure 18: TREX Architecture



5 Further Reading [SAP06] Office of the CTO, mySAP Business Suite Service Provisioning, SAP ArchitectureBluebook, SAP AG, 2006

[SAP07] SAP Masterguide: mySAP ERP 2005 powered by SAP NetWeaver 2004s, SAPAG, 2007

References

[SAP07] SAP Architecture Bluebook, SAP ERP 6.0 (HCM) Version 1.0

Developer’s Wiki Pages:

ERP Architecture athttps://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/ERP2007Architecture

HCM Guidelines and Cookbooks (PA and PD Infotypes) athttps://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/HcmGuidelinesAndCookbooks

Self Service Development (ESS/MSS) athttps://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/XSSDevelopersCorner

SAP E-recruiting WIKI athttps://wiki.wdf.sap.corp/display/ERECRUIT/Home

https://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/ERP2007Architecture

https://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/HcmGuidelinesAndCookbooks

https://bis.wdf.sap.corp/twiki/bin/view/Applications/XSSDevelopersCorner

https://wiki.wdf.sap.corp/display/ERECRUIT/Home



6 Glossary

Term Definition

KPRO Knowledge provider

BI Business Warehousing

RFC Remote Function Call

PD Personnel Development

ALE Application Linking and Enabling

FPM Floor Plan Manager

MSS Manager Self Services

ESS Employee Self Services

POWL Power Work list

SES Search Engine Service

Documents

76082160 SAP E Recruiting