Product Update: Retirement of Standalone SAP SuccessFactors Learning Management System

SAP SuccessFactors will no longer support standalone Learning Management System (Learning/LMS) – Learning environments not used in conjunction with the SuccessFactors platform – after the Q3 2018 release. All SuccessFactors Learning customers (both validated and non-validated) will be required to run Learning in an integrated environment with the SuccessFactors Platform enabled.

Single Sign-On (SSO) into the LMS will also require the SuccessFactors Platform as of the Q3 2018 release. However, SAP will allow native login into the LMS for customers with certain user populations that, today, log directly into the LMS with an LMS username and password.

Please refer to the retirement dates below and note the difference for non-validated and validated LMS customers and start planning now for this transition!

Non-Validated LMS Customers: Q3 2018

Non-validated customers will see this change with the 1808 release arriving in Preview on August 18th, 2018 and in Production on September 15, 2018.

Validated LMS Customers: Q2 2019

Validated customers will see this change with the 1808 release arriving in Sandbox and Stage in October 2018 and in Production in April, 2019. Final dates TBD.

What are advantages of integrating LMS with the SuccessFactors Platform?

• Theming
• Action Search
• Mobile and other features not available in a standalone Learning environment

What happens if you do not integrate BizX and LMS?

Users will still be able to login to LMS through the native login page BUT…

• Stand-alone learning customers will no longer be supported and will be required to become integrated (i.e. implement BizX Platform).
• No more maintenance patches or bug fixes. Future roadmap enhancements will only apply to integrated instances of the LMS
• SSO authentication will shift to BizX Platform. That is, there will be no option to integrate via SSO directly into the LMS.
• SOAP APIs will be deprecated; customers that still use any, will need to migrate to using OData APIs (might require custom APIs to be developed by Professional Services).
• The “check system” feature for admins and end users will be deprecated.
• Certain features that are redundant in SuccessFactors will also be removed, such as the user's talent profile and mobile UI.

Will I still be able to use my LMS after the Q3 2018 release?

NO: If your LMS has SSO enabled and is not integrated with BizX, then users will not be able to login to your instance after the 1808 release. For this reason, it is important to integrate your LMS to BizX as soon as possible to ensure that there are no disruptions to your Learning and Development business.

Does this change affect users currently logging into LMS with username and password/native login within an integrated BizX instance?

This change will not affect native login with username and password, however - internal user should be logging in through BizX. It is recommended you disable this login method.

Update: For customers with an external user population that log directly into the LMS with an LMS username and password, in Q1 2019, Talent Profile will be replaced with an account management feature that will allow users to manage a limited set of fields.

For more information on this, please read this SAP SuccessFactors Knowledge Base Article.

Contact us today to understand the benefits of using Platform integrated SuccessFactors Learning and we can help you formulate a plan for transition.