Have you recently implemented SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central or may be going live in the near future? If yes, then you will still need to preserve your project momentum as your “new system” will require support, whether you have additional post go-live maintenance activities or users need to be trained on features that they will own. With so many resources and training materials available, it can be hard to determine where to start and which materials to choose from. Often, most Administrators get “overwhelmed“ if they receive too much information, and their productivity drops when they spend hours in training. This blog will provide suggestions on how to get started on the path toward becoming an Employee Central Administrator with some tips on how to structure your training based on the available training options.
The criteria below can help you decide which kind of training to opt for:
Project timeline and/or criticality: We would recommend you start administrator training four (4) weeks before go-live. This way the core team will collectively have all the necessary knowledge and be ready to administer the system soon after go-live. We realize not all projects follow an ideal schedule and it is typical for training to be held close to go-live. In such scenarios, it is not advisable to wait for full product training or Super Administrator training late in the implementation. It is recommended to identify the user audience, divide the Administrators into groups and then choose the training topics. If possible, we always recommend that the Super Administrators be involved in the entire implementation, and assist the project team with as many tasks as possible. This allows the Super Administrators hands on practice and establishes a comfort level with the new solution(s).
Administrator competence: There are several resources like project team orientation guides, job aids, etc. at every phase of the project that can benefit Administrators. Once the project team or Administrators decide how comfortable they are with their business processes, a decision can be made on whether to provide full product training or tailored training based on their scalability.
SuccessFactors Employee Central training can be split up into different levels:
1. Must know/ limited functionality features training (subset of Super Administrator responsibility)
Some of the must know topics are listed below:
- User navigation (Employee and Manager Self Service)
- Roles & permissions using role-based permission framework
- Adminsintrator training
Below are some of the common administrative tasks that are performed after go-live:
- Adding & managing employees
- Defining transactions, events, event reasons, and self service
- Set up and run mass changes
- Terminate an employee and redistribute any remaining direct reports
- Approve or reject requests
- Add new location, department or business unit
- Add a pay component
- Workflow administration
2. Full product training or Super Administrator training
We recommend this when projects are on schedule and there is sufficient time to prepare Administrators and support teams.
3. Need based /on-demand training
Training materials are tailored to the specific type of user/audience to provide direct and relevant information. For example, as your organizations changes, there may be scenarios which require mass data changes for reorganizing teams or groups of employees. In this scenario, you can plan this activity and request for training on this specific feature: Manage Mass Changes Tool. In my experience, most of the organizations have benefited from this type of training and found this cost effective and productive.
4. Self-paced training
Several training materials can be found online for those that prefer self-paced training:
For more information on how to become an awesome SAP SuccessFactors Administrator, check out this blog.
