ERP : HR module

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Enterprise ResourcePlanning & HRM

This document explains ERP, Its characteristics, its implementation in life cycle &

Human Resource Management

2012

Nainita Ghag

11030141047

3/19/2012


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Contents

Enterprise Resource Planning ....................................................................................................................... 3

Characteristics of ERP ............................................................................................................................... 4

Why is ERP required? ................................................................................................................................ 4

ERP Implementation Life Cycle ................................................................................................................. 5

Human resource management ..................................................................................................................... 8

How does HRM fit in the business life cycle?........................................................................................ 12

Which modules does HRM talk to? ........................................................................................................ 17

What is the data that is interfaced? ......................................................................................................... 18

What is the corresponding module in SAP? ........................................................................................... 19

ORGANIZATONAL KEY IN AUTHORIZATIONS ............................................................................ 22

TRANSITION OF DATA TO INTELLIGENT DATA ......................................................................... 23

LOGICAL DATABASES ...................................................................................................................... 24

PROJECT SCOPING.............................................................................................................................. 25

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 26


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Enterprise Resource Planning

ERP (enterprise resource planning) is an industry term for the broad set of activities thathelps a business manage the important parts of its business.

The information made available through an ERP system provides visibility for keyperformance indicators (KPIs) required for meeting corporate objectives.

ERP software applications can be used to manage product planning, parts purchasing,inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking

orders,etc.

The deployment of an ERP system can involve considerable business process analysis,employee retraining, and new work procedures.

ERP software integrates all facets of an operation, including development,manufacturing, sales and marketing.

ERP software consists of manyenterprise softwaremodules that an enterprise wouldpurchase, based on what best meets its specific needs and technical capabilities. EachERP module is focused on one area of business processes, such as product development

or marketing. Some of the more common ERP modules include those for product

planning, material purchasing, inventory control, distribution, accounting, marketing,

finance and HR.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/enterprise_application.htmlhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/enterprise_application.htmlhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/enterprise_application.htmlhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/enterprise_application.html


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Characteristics of ERP

Packaged software. Integrate the majority of a businesss processes.

Process the majority of an organizations transactions.

Use a data warehouse. Allow access to data in real time. Integrate transaction processing and planning activities. An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on

periodic updates.

A common database, which supports all applications. A consistent look and feel throughout each module. Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the

Information Technology (IT) department.

Why is ERP required?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems integrate internal and external managementinformation across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing,

sales and service, customer relationship management, etc.

ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Their purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions

inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside

stakeholders.


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ERP Implementation Life Cycle

THE process of ERP implementation is referred as d as "ERP Implementation Life Cycle". The

following are the steps involved in completing the lifecycle.

Shortlist on the basis of observation

Selecting an ERP package for the company can nevertheless be compared with the process of

"Selecting the right Person for the Right Job". This exercise will involve choosing few

applications suitable for the company from the whole many.

Assessing the chosen packages

A team of Experts with specialized knowledge in their respective field will be asked to make thestudy on the basis of various parameters. Each expert will not only test and certify if the package

is apt for the range of application in their field but also confirm the level of coordination that the

software will help to achieve in working with other departments. In simple terms they will verify


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if the synergy of the various departments due to the advent of ERP will lead to an increased

output. A choice is to be made from ERP implementation models.

Preparing for the venture

This stage is aimed at defining the implementation of ERP in all measures. It will lay down the

stipulations and criteria to be met. A team of officers will take care of this, who will report to the

person of the highest hierarchy in the organization.

Gap Analysis

This stage helps the company to identify the gaps that has to be bridged, so that the companypractice becomes akin to ERP environment. This has been reported as an expensive procedure

but it is inevitable. The conglomerate will decide to restructure the business or make any other

alterations as suggested by GAP analysis in order to make ERP user friendly. A choice is to bemade from ERP implementation models.

Business process reengineering

Changes in employee rolls, business process and technical details find place in this phase ofrestructuring most popularly referred as business process engineering. For more details on BPR

click here.

Designing the System

This step requires lot of meticulous planning and deliberate action. This step helps to decide and

conclude the areas where restructuring have to be carried on. A choice is to be made from ERP

implementation models.

In-house Guidance

This is regarded as a very important step in ERP implementation. The employees in the company

are trained to face crisis and make minor corrections as well because the company can neither be

at liberty nor afford the bounty to avail the services of an ERP vendor at all times.

Checking


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This stage observes and tests the authenticity of the use. The system is subjected to the wildest

tests possible so that it ensures proper usage and justifies the costs incurred. This is seen as a test

for ERP implementation.

Preparing the employees to use ERP

The employees in the organization will be taught to make use of the system in the day to day and

regular basis so as to make sure that it becomes a part of the system in the organization.

Post Implementation

The process of implementation will find meaning only when there is regular follow up andproper instruction flow thereafter and through the lifetime of ERP. This will include all efforts

and steps taken to update and attain better benefits once the system is implemented. Hence an

organization has to perform ERP implementation safely and correctly.

Errors in ERP implementation

ERP implementation failure is a major concern for companies. ERP implementation needs to be

done without allowing any scope for limitations and mistakes. If it is not done perfectly then thesuccess of ERP system will remain a question mark. The first and foremost factor that

discourages ERP in an organization is the exorbitant costs and investment. The second one is the

drafting of an ERP implementation plan to ensure ERP implementation success.


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Human resource management

Human resource management is the management of an organization's workforce, or humanresources. It is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of

employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and culture, and ensuring compliancewith employment and labor laws. In circumstances where employees desire and are legally

authorized to hold a collective bargaining agreement, HR will typically also serve as the

company's primary liaison with the employees' representatives.

HR is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century, when researchersbegan documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the

workforce. The function was initially dominated by transactional work such as payroll and

benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technologicaladvancement, and further research, HR now focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and

acquisitions, talent management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and

diversity and inclusion.

In startup companies, HR's duties may be performed by a handful of trained professionals oreven by non-HR personnel. In larger companies, an entire functional group is typically dedicated

to the discipline, with staff specializing in various HR tasks and functional leadership engagingin strategic decision making across the business. To train practitioners for the profession,

institutions of higher education, professional associations, and companies themselves have

created programs of study dedicated explicitly to the duties of the function. Academic andpractitioner organizations likewise seek to engage and further the field of HR, as evidenced by

several field-specific publications.


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In practice, HR is responsible for employee experience during the entire employment lifecycle. It

is first charged with attracting the right employees through employer branding. It then mustselect the right employees through the recruitment process. HR then onboards new hires and

oversees their training and development during their tenure with the organization. HR assesses

talent through use of performance appraisals and then rewards them accordingly. In fulfillment

of the latter, HR may sometimes administer payroll and employee benefits, although suchactivities are more and more being outsourced, with HR playing a more strategic role.

At the macro-level, HR is in charge of overseeing organizational leadership and culture. HR also

ensures compliance with employment and labor laws, which differ by geography, and often

oversees health, safety, and security. In circumstances where employees desire and are legallyauthorized to hold a collective bargaining agreement, HR will typically also serve as the

company's primary liaison with the employees' representatives (usually a labor union).

Consequently, HR, usually through industry representatives, engages in lobbying efforts with

governmental agencies (e.g., in the United States, the United States Department of Labor and the

National Labor Relations Board) to further its priorities.

The discipline may also engage in mobility management, especially pertaining to expatriates;and it is frequently involved in the merger and acquisition process. HR is generally viewed as a

support function to the business, helping to minimize costs and reduce risk.

Human Resource Management: EvolutionThe early part of the century saw a concern for improved efficiency through careful design ofwork. During the middle part of the century emphasis shifted to the employee's productivity.

Recent decades have focused on increased concern for the quality of working life, total quality

management and worker's participation in management. These three phases may be termed as

welfare, development and empowerment.

Human Resource Management: NatureHuman Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so thatthe goals of each are met. The various features of HRM include:

It is pervasive in nature as it is present in all enterprises.

Its focus is on results rather than on rules.

It tries to help employees develop their potential fully.

It encourages employees to give their best to the organization.

It is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups.

It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results.

It helps an organization meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well-motivated employees.

It tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in theorganization.

It is a multidisciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology,

economics, etc.


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Human Resource Management: Scope

The scope of HRM is very wide:1. Personnel aspect-This is concerned with manpower planning, recruitment, selection,

placement, transfer, promotion, training and development, layoff and retrenchment,

remuneration, incentives, productivity etc.

2. Welfare aspect-It deals with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, restand lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation

facilities, etc.

3. Industrial relations aspect-This covers union-management relations, joint consultation,

collective bargaining, grievance and disciplinary procedures, settlement of disputes, etc.

Human Resource Management: Beliefs

The Human Resource Management philosophy is based on the following beliefs:

Human resource is the most important asset in the organization and can be developed andincreased to an unlimited extent.

A healthy climate with values of openness, enthusiasm, trust, mutuality and collaboration is

essential for developing human resource. HRM can be planned and monitored in ways that are beneficial both to the individuals and theorganization.

Employees feel committed to their work and the organization, if the organization perpetuates afeeling of belongingness.

Employees feel highly motivated if the organization provides for satisfaction of their basic and

higher level needs.

Employee commitment is increased with the opportunity to discover and use one's capabilities

and potential in one's work.

It is every manager's responsibility to ensure the development and utilisation of the capabilities

of subordinates.

Human Resource Management: Objectives

To help the organization reach its goals.

To ensure effective utilization and maximum development ofhuman resources.

To ensure respect for human beings. To identify and satisfy the needs of individuals.

To ensure reconciliation of individual goals with those of the organization.

To achieve and maintain high morale among employees.

To provide the organization with well-trained and well-motivated employees.

To increase to the fullest the employee's job satisfaction and self-actualization.

To develop and maintain a quality of work life.

To be ethically and socially responsive to the needs of society. To develop overall personality of each employee in its multidimensional aspect.

To enhance employee's capabilities to perform the present job.

To equip the employees with precision and clarity in transaction of business.

To inculcate the sense of team spirit, team work and inter-team collaboration.


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Human Resource Management: Functions

In order to achieve the above objectives, Human Resource Management undertakes thefollowing activities:

1. Human resource or manpower planning.

2. Recruitment, selection and placement of personnel.

3. Training and development of employees.4. Appraisal of performance of employees.

5. Taking corrective steps such as transfer from one job to another.

6. Remuneration of employees.7. Social security and welfare of employees.

8. Setting general and specific management policy for organizational relationship.

9. Collective bargaining, contract negotiation and grievance handling.10. Staffing the organization.

11. Aiding in the self-development of employees at all levels.

12. Developing and maintaining motivation for workers by providing incentives.

13. Reviewing and auditing manpower management in the organization

14. Potential Appraisal. Feedback Counseling.15. Role Analysis for job occupants.

16. Job Rotation.

17. Quality Circle, Organization development and Quality of Working Life.

Human Resource Management: Major Influencing Factors

In the 21st century HRM will be influenced by following factors, which will work as variousissues affecting its strategy:

Size of the workforce.

Rising employees' expectations

Drastic changes in the technology as well as Life-style changes.

Composition of workforce. New skills required. Environmental challenges.

Lean and mean organizations.

Impact of new economic policy. Political ideology of the Government.

Downsizing and rightsizing of the organizations.

Culture prevailing in the organization etc.

Human Resource Management: Futuristic Vision

On the basis of the various issues and challenges the following suggestions will be of much helpto the philosophy of HRM with regard to its futuristic vision:

1. There should be a properly defined recruitment policy in the organization that should give its

focus on professional aspect and merit based selection.2. In every decision-making process there should be given proper weightage to the aspect that

employees are involved wherever possible. It will ultimately lead to sense of team spirit, team-

work and inter-team collaboration.3. Opportunity and comprehensive framework should be provided for full expression of

employees' talents and manifest potentialities.

4. Networking skills of the organizations should be developed internally and externally as well ashorizontally and vertically.


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5. For performance appraisal of the employees emphasis should be given to 360 degree

feedback which is based on the review by superiors, peers, subordinates as well as self-review.6. 360 degree feedback will further lead to increased focus on customer services, creating of

highly involved workforce, decreased hierarchies, avoiding discrimination and biases and

identifying performance threshold.

7. More emphasis should be given to Total Quality Management. TQM will cover all employeesat all levels; it will conform to customer's needs and expectations; it will ensure effective

utilization of resources and will lead towards continuous improvement in all spheres and

activities of the organization.8. There should be focus on job rotation so that vision and knowledge of the employees are

broadened as well as potentialities of the employees are increased for future job prospects.

9. For proper utilization of manpower in the organization the concept of six sigma of improvingproductivity should be intermingled in the HRM strategy.

10. The capacities of the employees should be assessed through potential appraisal for

performing new roles and responsibilities. It should not be confined to organizational aspects

only but the environmental changes of political, economic and social considerations should also

be taken into account.11. The career of the employees should be planned in such a way that individualizing process

and socializing process come together for fusion process and career planning should constitute

the part of human resource planning.

To conclude Human Resource Management should be linked with strategic goals and objectives

in order to improve business performance and develop organizational cultures that foster

innovation and flexibility

How does HRM fit in the business life cycle?

There is now an established literature in the field of HRM that highlights how possible

contingent variables determine the HRM systems of an organization. One among the long list of

such variables is the life cycle stage of an organisation: introduction (start-up); growth

(development); maturity; decline; and turnaround. Research findings reveal a clear association

between a given life cycle stage and specific HRM policies and practices. For example, it is

logical for firms in their introductory and growth life cycle stages to emphasise a rationalised

approach to recruitment in order to acquired best-fit human resources, compensate employees at

the going market rate, and actively pursue employee development strategies. Similarly,

organisations in the maturity stage are known to recruit enough people to allow for labour

turnover/ lay-offs and to create new opportunities in order to remain creative to maintain their

market position. Such organisations emphasise flexibility via their training and development

programmes and pay employees as per the market leaders in a controlled way. Accordingly firms


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in the decline stage will be likely to minimise costs by reducing overheads and aspire to maintain

harmonious employee relations (for more details see Kochan and Barocci, 1985; Baird and

Meshoulam 1988; Hendry and Pettigrew 1992; Jackson and Schuler 1995; Boxall and Purcell,

2003).

Typology of business strategies and HRM

Miles and Snow (1978; 1984) classify organisations as prospectors (who are doing well and are

regularly looking for more products and market opportunities), defenders (who have a limited

and stable product domain), analyzers (who have some degree of stability but are on the

lookout for possible opportunities) and reactors (who mainly respond to market conditions).

These generic strategies dictate organisations HRM policies and practices. For example,

defenders are less concerned about recruiting new employees externally and are more concerned

about developing current employees. In contrast, prospectors are growing, so they are concerned

about recruiting and using performance appraisal results for evaluation rather than for longer-

term development (for details see Jackson and Schuler 1995; MacDuffie 1995).

Generic HR strategies

Identifying the need to highlight the prevalence of generic HR strategies pursued by

organisations in different contexts, Budhwar and Sparrow (2002) propose four HR strategies.

These are:

talent acquisition HR strategy (emphasises attracting the best human talent fromexternal sources);

effective resource allocation HR strategy (maximises the use of existing humanresources by always having the right person in the right place at the right time);

talent improvement HR strategy (maximes the talents of existing employees bycontinuously training them and guiding them in their jobs and career); and

cost reductionHR strategy (reduces personnel costs to the lowest possible level).


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Budhwar and Khatri (2001) examined the impact of these HR strategies on recruitment,

compensation, training and development and employee communication practices in matched

Indian and British firms. The impact of these four HR strategies varied significantly in the two

samples, confirming the context specific nature of HRM. On the same pattern, there is a need to

identify and examine the impact of other HR strategies such as high commitment, paternalism,

etc. Such HR issues, which have a significant impact on a firms performance, are further

examined.


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Which modules does HRM talk to?

One of the factors behind organizations giving a lot of attention to their people is the nature of

the firms in the current business environment. Given the fact that there has been a steady

movement towards an economy based on services, it becomes important for firms engaged in the

service sector to keep their employees motivated and productive. Even in the manufacturing andthe traditional sectors, the need to remain competitive has meant that firms in these sectors

deploy strategies that make effective use of their resources. This changed business landscape hascome about as a result of a paradigm shift in the way businesses and firms view their employees

as more than just resources and instead adopt a people first approach.

The practice of HRM must be viewed through the prism of overall strategic goals for the

organization instead of a standalone tint that takes a unit based or a micro approach. The idea

here is to adopt a holistic perspective towards HRM that ensures that there are no piecemealstrategies and the HRM policy enmeshes itself fully with those of the organizational goals. For

instance, if the training needs of the employees are simply met with perfunctory trainings on

omnibus topics, the firm stands to lose not only from the time that the employees spend intraining but also a loss of direction. Hence, the organization that takes its HRM policies seriously

will ensure that training is based on focused and topical methods.

In conclusion, the practice of HRM needs to be integrated with the overall strategy to ensure

effective use of people and provide better returns to the organizations in terms of ROI (Return on

Investment) for every rupee or dollar spent on them. Unless the HRM practice is designed in this


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way, the firms stand to lose from not utilizing people fully. And this does not bode well for the

success of the organization.

What is the data that is interfaced?

Department Managers Personnel Module is a comprehensive human resources management

system. It provides both general and financial information about faculty and staff employees, as

well as students, post docs, temporaries, residents, and volunteers as required for the day-to-day

operations of a departmental business office. This module is often used with Department

Managers Accounting Module for projecting future salary and benefit costs and with the Grant

and Space Modules for generating comprehensive faculty profiles and reports for faculty

evaluation.

The Personnel module includes information such as:

Total salary and salary distributions Fringe benefit packages for individual and groups of employees Demographic data such as date of birth, gender, race, marital status, VISA, veteran,

handicap, and several user-definable codes

Home and office addresses for mailing labels and department directories Rank, Title, and tenure information for faculty with joint appointments in multiple

departments

Work performance review, leave, education, effort (for tracking RVUs), and certification Committees and who serves on them Position numbers and a position control system for managing position budgets at state

supported institutions


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What is the corresponding module in SAP?

SAP HR or SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) is one of the largest modules in the SAP

R/3 system which consists of many submodules like

Serial Number SAP HR Sub Modules

01 Organizational Management

02 Personnel Administration

03 Recruitment

04 Time Management ( automatically maintained by sap)

05 Payroll

06 Benefits

07 Compensation Management

08 Personnel Cost Planning09 Budget Management

10 Personnel Development

11 Training & Event Management

12 Travel Management

13 Environmental Health & Safety

Many of these sub modules are further sub divided into many components for eg Time

Management is further divided into Time Administration, Shift Planning, Incentive Wages andTime Sheet. Environment Health & Safety is further divided into Occupational Health &

Industrial Hygiene & Safety.

With the advent of mySAP, SAP HR was then called mySAP HR. What got added with

"mySAP" (mark this word) was the web services like ESS (Employee Self-Service) and the MSS

(Manager's Self Service) which gave empowerment to the employees and managers - employeesto better manage their own data and managers to better manage their own departments/divisions.

This became the turning point for SAP HR to shift from being a data repository to a strategic tool

where the HR departments now focused more of strategic tasks than administrative ones which

were now offloaded to the employees and managers using these self services.

Looking back at the earlier days, when the HR Head required a headcount report from all his

divisions, it would mean asking for each division to provide data and than receiving this data atthe HR Headquarters. Compiling the same and providing it to the management could possibly

take a few days to maybe weeks where the data accuracy could be questioned, data could be

redundant etc. This was due to the fact that the HR data would be sitting across in different

systems in different locations and the IT practices being followed differently (if not HR) at thesedifferent locations.If one could not get an accurate HR report one could wonder trying to get


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information of HR integrated to other functions like Logistics etc would have made life so

difficult for an HR consultant.

With the advent of SAP , and the SAP HR module , all the HR information for an

organization/company got collated at one place in a very structured manner.To find a specific

information for an employee (one who is on the payroll of the organization) or applicant(onewho intend to be on the payroll of an organization), all one needed to do is use a transaction like

"PA20" which is Display HR master data( note this is so important because this is the basis of anSAP system ie it is a transactional system) and enter the 4 digit infotype number to view an

infotype.

To see the address of an employee use the transaction "PA20" and go the Display HR master

data screen, enter the unique 8 digit employee number (this is the primary key to all employee

information ), type infotype 0006for that employee and see the current information or history

(using the list view)stored there.

Infotypes are also called information types and are pre-defined templates to enter sensible relatedinformation for an employee or applicant. for eg an address infotype would have fields like street

& house no, city, pin code.This infotype is unique and is represented by an infotype number eg

address has infotype no 0006. Some of the important infotypes are :-

Infotype Number Important Infotypes

0000 Actions(to capture hire to retire information)

0001 Organizational Assignment(capture employee's positions)

0002 Personal Data

0003 Payroll Status ( automatically maintained by sap)

0006 Address

0007 Planned Working Time(Store planned working hours)

0008 Basic Pay

0009 Bank Details

0014 Recurring Payments/Deductions(periodic)

0015 Additional Payments/Deductions(one time)

0016 Contract Elements


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0041 Date Specifications

2001 Absences

2002 Attendances

2005 Overtime

2006 Absence Quotas

2007 Attendance Quotas

0416 Quota Compensation

The above infotypes together in the same sequence form a part of the Hiring Action.To make

you understand this better just try and recollect the contents of your offer letter which yourorganization might

I hope this gives you some idea of what an infotype is.

This must have raised a question in many minds that "Hey ! I got the offer during my recruitment

so how come this is being referred to after hiring?" Well thats simple - this is because all your

relevant data that was captured during recruitment was transferred to the the master (called HR

master data)during the hiring process.

So how was it captured in recruitment?

Well, this was captured using recruitment actions like shortlist candidate, for interview, make

offer, offer accepted till you join the organization and sign the joining letter when your dataactually gets transferred from the Recruitment module to the Personnel Administration

module.Again this data was captured in recruitment infotypes.

So we can now get an idea that in SAP HR ,all data is captured in infotypes.

INFOTYPES CATEGORISED

1. Infotype 0000-0999 - Personal Administration2. Infotype 1000-1999 - PD objects (for OM)3. Infotype 2000-2999 - Time Management4. Infotype 4000-4999 - Recruitment5. Infotype 9000-9999 - For Custom Development

If you closely observe that many of the recruitment infotypes are clones of personneladministration infotypes.I hope this gives you some idea of what an infotype is. Lets look at what


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we mean by subtypes. A subtype is sub-categorization of an infotype. Not all infotypes are sub-

categorized and hence only some required infotypes would have subtypes.

Lets take the case of Address Infotype (IT 0006). Now we would like to use the same screen

template to store different types of addresses like permanent,Temporary, Office etc.This is

because we would be capturing the same type of information which would require the samefields like Street No, City, Country, Pin Code etc to capture different address types

information.SAP handles this by using subtypes for the Address Infotype (IT 0006). So to storeany Address Information we would need to specify both the infotype and subtype. Certain other

infotypes with subtypes are Dependents (0021), ID Data (0185) etc.

DATA AND AUTHORIZATIONS

When it comes to data these are the things that we can do to it

1. Create data ( in sap hr we do this by creating new records )2. View data ( by viewing the records created)3. Maintain data ( by changing/deleting records)

To be able to do one or three of the above , the sap hr user needs to be authorized to do so . Thisis a part of data security handled by sap using what is known as authorizations. Authorizations in

sap hr are handled through roles ( such as payroll administrator, training administrator , time

administrator where these roles are given create/maintain/view authorizations for combination ofhr objects/hr infotypes& subtypes /hr transactions/hr reports/hr clusters)called role based

authorizations or a combination of role based authorizations and the hr structures (like

organization structure, training calendar etc) called structural authorizations. These roles and

structural authorizations are assigned to the sap hr user based on his job profile.Data security is

the key andits important to know that you would see,create and maintain data based purely onthe tasks you perform in your organization as a sap user.So do not get upset if your colleague can

see more than you and does not divulge information as the authorizations would be based onhis/her job profile and remember that company confidentiality & professional ethics are the most

important qualification for any sap user.

Coming back to authorizations (this is for the configurators) , I mentioned earlier that

authorizations can be purely role based or a combination of role based and structural

authorizations . Lot of hr consultants state thatwe do not need structural authorizations as we canuse theorganizational key ( a field used for authorizations available only in IT 0001-

Organizational Assignment).However, one must clearly note that further authorizations using

role based authorizations can be provided by using organizational key field and that theorganization key does not replace the hr structures

ORGANIZATONAL KEY IN AUTHORIZATIONS

The organizational key is a 14 character code which is restricted to a combination of certainfields of the organizational assignment infotype -0001 like organization unit, personal area,personal sub-area, etc. Organization unit is a part of IT0001 and it is often used as a part of the


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organization key. For most organizations, the organization key suffices. However, when complex

authorization requirements arise than organizations with sap hr opt for structural authorizations.If you want an employee to have authorizations to certain employee data of 5 sub-ordinate

organization units you would probably have to maintain all the five organizational keys in the

role assigned to the employee which means more maintenance. This increases authorization role

maintenance and authorization errors ( if there is data inconsistency),which is realized byorganizations who are implementing or in a process of implementing structural authorizations.

If you want to restrict the sap hr user access on the basis of training calendar or other hr

structures then you would need to use structural authorizations and cannot use role based

authorizations unless you do some custom development( which is not recommended, when youhave standard sap meeting your requirements). I would give full credit to SAP for having

understood that many organizations deviate from the normal practices and have their own

specific practices for which wherever appropriate,Business Add-Ins also known as BADIs have

been provided to handle such scenarios.

For more detailed information and whenever in doubt, always refer to your experienced sap hrcolleagues for guidance and help. Refer to appropriate sap documentation provided by sap or itsauthorized education partners/vendors such as for ex. [1]. Please note that this wiki is purely a

discussion and not an education guide or a for formal sap hr training. The assumption here is that

all reading this wiki are young sap hr consultants who are looking for advice or a forum to sharetheir skills and knowledge.

TRANSITION OF DATA TO INTELLIGENT DATA

Coming back to the discussion on data ( i would be visiting this time and again) one needs tounderstand the transition of data with the advent and advancement of information

technology.Data started as drawings during stone age times , then came the paper and we havetext,numbers and language and with computers we had the database systems storing data in

structured format or we can call it structured data. With the erp systems such as sap we advanced

to Logical data and with the Business Warehouse we further advanced to strategic data. Thencame business intelligence and we are now in a quest for intelligent data.Its important to note the

transition of data from need driven to business driven and a continuous quest to improve

data.Companies who spend and invest in IT need to move with times and SAP has really helpedcountless organizations achieve this transition. Companies are realizing that good IT systems

means enhanced business returns, staying above competition and opportunities for growth. Of

course for this we need Human Resources ( i still do not like the word human capital , i would

prefer it to be called Human Talent)
http://help.sap.com/http://help.sap.com/


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LOGICAL DATABASES

For every sap hr consultant it is important to understand HR logical databases in sap hr. A layer

above the physical database lies the hr logical databases called PNP, PCH and PAP. Logical

databases contain data tables from sub-modules of sap hr.

depends on specification of object type

Logical Database Infotypes Logical Area

PNP 0000-0999, 2000 to 2999 HR Master Data & Time

PAP 4000-4999 Recruitment

PCH Infotypes of specified object type else all infotypes

Note : You should know when to choose between the PNP and the PCH logical databases whenbuilding your report or query and the key is whether you want the primary key for selection to be

the personnel number or the object type.If the primary key is to be the PERNR (personnel

number) then you should select the PNP logical database and if you want it to be any object typelike Oorg unit, S- position, C- job ,L- Business Event Group, D- Business Event Type E-

Business Event.etc, then you should select the PCH logical database. And PAP when the

primary key must be the applicant number

This means if you want to query by employee the business events attended, you choose PNP, and

if you want to know for certain specific business events who are the attendees, you choose PCH

logical database to build your query,program or reports.To conclude,we can say that to build ansap hr query ,user & standard sap programs or reports the preferred option and sap standard too,

we use logical databases. I have used the word preferred and not the only option because

querying also allows you to directly reference the physical tables without using logical databasesbut this is never recommended by sap due to problems that it creates in hr authorizations and

would overlook error handling provided by sap for the infotypes. All sap hr queries, programs &

reports should use the logical databases.Hence if an sap user does not have authorizations for thatobject or infotype which the program, query or report references, then it would throw an error for

the user.Please refer to the exhaustive sap help documentation for more information on sap hr

logical databases, infosets , reporting and querying.


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UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

Deviating from the question and answers, I would like to highlight a story from the Indianmythology. A teacher teaching his student archers asked them all to shoot an arrow at a clay bird

perched on the top of a tree and hit the eye of the bird. All the archers shot at the bird but only

one of them managed to hit the eye of the bird. When the teacher asked all the student archerswhat did they see when they shot the clay bird,some said they saw the bird on a tree,some said

they saw the bird perched on the branch. The archer who shot the eye of the bird was quiet.When he was asked by the teacher as to what he saw , prompt came his reply I saw the eye ofthe bird.What I am trying to highlight here is that it is very important for an SAP HR consultant

to understand what the customer requirements are and be focused on those requirements only.

PROJECT SCOPING

All projects are time defined based upon agreed business requirements. Delivering what has beenagreed upon is what the consultants need to focus upon. Do not try to deviate from what is

defined unless agreed upon by the customer and the project team. Save the frills, fancies andanything extra for the enhancements.SAP projects cost a lot of money and the estimation is based

on work to be done. A project's success depends on meeting the objectives, goals and

requirements for what the project endeavor was carried out within the defined time lines. If the

project deviates in cost, quality and time , it indicates that what was defined as required by thecustomer is not being met. Deviations to projects makes the project team loose motivation and

interest, disturbs human resource planning for other projects when they are to be released from

the existing projects and begin work on the other projects. In short it creates a chaos besidesfinancial losses.Many of us are in consulting and we need to understand the bottom line- time is

money. If your projects make profit, your company makes profit and you too profit. This should

be your motto.

So remember and drill this in your mind that requirements for an sap hr project are to meet the

companys goals and objectives in initiating the project and clearly not what the sap hr user oreven for that matter the sap configurator fancies or wants.The success of the sap hr project is

only when the project sponsor states that it is a success.


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http://www.bighead.co.th/Portals/47/BU2-

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Documents

ERP : HR module