ESS - Prepare Your Team for a Successful ESS MSS Implementation

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SAP HR concepts,technology, andbest practices

Part 1: Prepare Your Team for a Successful ESS/MSS

Implementation

by Raj Kishore Jogam, HCM ESS/MSS Managing Consultant, Yash Technologies Ltd. December 15, 2007

Review the skills, roles, systems, and business packages that you need to assemble during the

preparation phase for an Employee Self-Service or Manager Self-Service implementation.

Key Concept

Employee Self-Service (ESS)and Manager Self-Service (MSS)are business packages implemented

through SAP NetWeaver Portal to create a simple, central location where employees and managers can

perform common tasks. The portal hosts employee- and manager-related information, such as working

time, payment, personal data, reports, and user settings. ESS and MSS are part of a larger concept of SAP

HCM self-services, which enables users to edit and retrieve personal and company data more efficiently. In

the Preparation phase, it is crucial to plan ahead and carefully align your organization for an

implementation of this magnitude.

A lead HR functional employee is key to the success of a self-services implementation. In this three-part

series, Ill outline the HR functional experts role in the project, starting with this article addressing the

preparation phase of the project. The preparation phase includes building a team, configuring the system,

and identifying needed business packages.

Future articles focus on your org structure, security and authorization, the homepage framework and

Object and Data Provider (OADP), and several other tips to implement self-services successfully. Ideally,

the functional employee should work closely with an experienced self-services expert and become the

functional self-services expert for the company.

The article is specific to ESS/MSS on SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.0 and SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 6.0.

It refers to business packages for ESS (SAP ERP 6.0) 1.0/1.2 and business packages for MSS (SAP ERP 6.0)

1.0. If you are not acquainted with self-services terminology, see the sidebar, Essential ESS/MSS

Concepts.

Assembling Necessary Skills

The first step is to set up the self-services implementation team. A self-services implementation requires

various skills, often both internal and external, based on the in-house technical skills available. Refer to

Table 1for details about the necessary skills and resources.

Basis resources Security resources Other necessary skills

Portal systemadministrator

Portal security ABAP resource

NWDIadministrator

NWDI security Workflow/Universal Worklist(UWL) resource

SAP ERPadministrator

SAP ERP security Portal resource

Self-services functionalresource

Table 1 Team resources and skills

Team Roles

This section describes how each of these resources fits into the overall self-services implementation. The

Basis resources are commonly divided into three roles: Portal system administrator, SAP NetWeaver

Development Infrastructure (NWDI) administrator, and SAP ERP administrator.

Portal system administrator:This person is responsible for installing, performance tuning, and

performing various portal system administration activities. He or she is also responsible for maintaining theconnectivity between the different systems in the landscape and the portal availability in general.

NWDI administrator:This person installs NWDI, performs NWDI post-installation activities, and

maintains the NWDI system for Java development, version management, and transport. The traditional

Change and Transport System (CTS) is used for R/3 migration, whereas you use NWDI for Java code

migration.

SAP ERP administrator:This person works directly with your SAP ERP system to ensure a smooth

implementation and addresses any SAP-related issues that you may encounter.

The security resources need to have a clear understanding of how the portal roles and ERP authorizations

work together to give the right access levels to users. The security resources are usually divided into three

roles: Portal security, NWDI security, and SAP ERP security.

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Portal security: This person maintains security roles and authorizations on the portals.

NWDI security:This person must provide the necessary access to developers who might be required to

modify or enhance the self-services applications.

ERP security:This person needs to work closely with the lead HR resource to understand HR authorization

objects and structural authorizations involved in the HR security setup to configure the ESS/MSS roles and

authorizations properly in your ERP system.

The following other self-services-specific resources are also required to prepare for and implement ESS and

MSS for your organization:

ABAP resource:An ABAP resource might be required to write ABAP code to implement Business Add-Ins

(BAdIs) to enhance self-services applications, write function modules, create SAP queries for MSS reports,

and develop or maintain Smart Forms or HR forms for time statements and total compensation statements,

for example.

The major chunk of an ABAPers development time would be spent implementing BAdIs. SAP provides

various BAdIs for enhancing each self-service. For example, you can use BAdIs to limit the subtypes that

are visible on the ESS personal information application.

Lets assume that an organization has two subgroups of employees, external and internal. You want

external employees to be able to view and maintain Main Bank and Other Bank information in the bank

ESS application. The internal employees should be able to maintain Main Bank, Other Bank, and Travel

and Expenses Bank. ESS configuration does not allow subtype configuration at the employee subgroup

level. In this scenario, you implement the BAdI HRXSS_PER_SUBTYPE . You code the subtype availability

logic based on the requirement.

Workflow/UWL resource:The requirement for the workflow and UWL resource depends on whether or

not workflow-related applications are implemented in the project. Some of the workflow-related

applications are time sheet approval, clock-in/out corrections approval, training course approval, travel

request approval, and personnel change requests. Corresponding configuration of UWL on the portal is

required for the execution of these work items.

Portal resource:The portal content administration and developer perform the portal- related content

administration and development activities. The portal developer resource is required to have working

knowledge of Web Dynpro for Java to enhance and modify the self-services applications. Self-services

applications are built on a framework called Floor Plan Manager. Knowledge about this framework goes a

long way towards maintaining the applications properly.

Self-services functional resource:This role is the heart of the entire implementation and is responsible

for configuration of the self-service in the ERP system along with coordinating the entire implementation.

He or she is responsible for configuring the required self-services, coordinating with the security team for

implementing the right authorizations and providing functional specifications for the ABAP, portal, and

workflow resource to enhance or develop new and existing self-services applications. Because the technical

resources are not expected to have HR functional knowledge, the self-services functional resource would be

responsible for writing the test cases and would be active in the testing phases.

Tips for Team Composition

An organization generally is assumed to have the following skill sets in-house:

Basis administrator

ERP security resource

ABAPer

Lead HR functional resource

Workflow resource

The portal administration and security specialist help the in-house administrator get up to speed with the

portal technology. This would be a one-time requirement assuming that the company implementing self-services does not have any previous SAP portal installed and working.

This external self-service functional resource helps the in-house lead HR resource to understand the

implementation configuration and methodologies. The in-house HR resource must ensure that the external

functional and portal resource configures, customizes, and develops self-services applications with the

companys current and future requirements in mind. In-house HR resources should ensure that any

enhancements to the standard applications do not work negatively on the future requirements.

Setting Up Future Requirements for the System

Here is an example of how to plan for future requirements:

Current requirement: Manager of personnel area XXXX can see the general information of the

employee, but he should not be able to view the date of birth of an employee.




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Future requirement: Manager of personnel area YYYY can see the general information of the

employee and should also be able to view the date of birth of an employee.

Wrong way: Disable the date of birth field on the application blindly

Right way: The developer should be made aware of this requirement and to code this logic

based on the personnel area. Proper test cases, if required, should be prepared by the lead

HR functionalist to ensure that the future requirements are not hindered by the current

implementation.

The Technical Landscape

A self-services implementation requires the following system landscape: SAP ERP. SAP NetWeaver

Application Server with integrated Internet Transaction Server (ITS).

Portals. SAP NetWeaver Portal along with the following components:

ADS installed

UWL installed and configured

IGS enabled

NWDI.NWDI is required for developing and enhancing the application, maintaining version management,

concurrency control, and Java code (Web Dynpro for Java) migration. Concurrency control defines a

controlled way of allowing multiple users to simultaneously access the same resource.

Business Packages to Implement

Business packages are predefined content for performing business operations. It is important to decide on

the business packages that are required for the implementation, depending on your landscape and

functional requirements. SAP Note 1007341 helps you understand the landscape possibilities for the various

business packages to be implemented.

In my example, I assume that your organization wants to implement self-services on the SAP NetWeaver

2004s landscape (7.0 with ECC 6.0). You need to deploy the following four business packages to

successfully implement self- services in this architecture:

Business Package for Manager Self-Service (SAP ERP) 1.01.

Business Package for Employee Self-Service (SAP ERP) 1.0/1.22.

Business Package for Common Parts3.

Business Package for Self-Service Administrator (SAP ERP)4.

Significance of Business Packages

1. Business Package for MSS (SAP ERP) 1.0 contains all the services relevant to MSS. These services are

geared toward enabling a manager to perform their duties easily. Refer to Web site

http://service.sap.com/mssfor further descriptions.

2. Business Package for ESS (SAP ERP) contains all the services relevant to ESS. These services enable

employees to access and update their data in the system. Refer to http://service.sap.com/essfor detailed

descriptions of the various services offered in this business package.

3. Business Package for Common Parts contains applications used by other business packages. Business

Package for MSS uses many objects that are provided by Business Package for Common Parts. Two of the

most often used ones are Launchpad, which launches MSS reports, and Internal Service Request (ISR)-

based services. To successfully run the Launchpad service and the Common Parts-based portal objects, the

administrator needs to assign the manager to both the MSS and common parts roles.

4. Business Package for Self-Service Administrator. Most of the self-services applications are built on a Web

Dynpro framework called Floor Plan Manager (FPM). This is a content administrator-related BusinessPackage that helps the portal content administrator to tune the self-services applications according to

company-specific requirements. This is not an end-user based Business Package.

For example, the standard ESS Leave Request Application shows the team calendar to employees.

Employees can see if anyone else is taking leave and can decide whether to take the leave on a particular

day or not. If your company policy does not want an employee to look at other employees leave

applications and leave dates, the portal content administrator could use the Business Package for Self-

Service Administrator to remove the team calendar application from the leave request application.

Two business packages that are not mandatory but that you may want, based on your implementation

scope, are Business Package for Project Self-Service (helps the project lead and the team members to

perform their day-to-day project- related tasks) and Business Package for HR administrator. This business

package for HR administrator provides you with user interfaces to perform human resources activities in HR




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Personnel Administration-Administrative Services (PA-AS). Using the Business Package, the HR

administrator can process employee records, initiate hiring, and run various employee reports.

Ill provide more detail on setting up your organizational structure, understanding security and

authorizations, and testing in my next article. In my third article, Ill explain how to configure the

homepage framework and OADP with a specific example.

Essential ESS/MSS Concepts

Adobe document services (ADS):A number of self- services forms are based on Portable Digital Format

(PDF)-based Adobe document services (such as employee time statement, personnel change requests, HR

processes, and forms).

Cross-Application Time Sheet (CATS):Delivered service in ESS helps employee to enter times into the

HR system.

ESS: The standard SAP ESS applications are developed using Web Dynpro for Java. ESS applications run

on the portal. These applications retrieve the information from the underlying ECC systems. Employees can

modify the data in the back-end ECC system directly.

Internet Graphics Server (IGS):The IGS enables the application developer to display graphics in Web-

based applications. The Team Calendar is an MSS application that displays employee absence and

attendance information. The manger can view this information for the employees reporting to him.

Life and Work Events (LWE):Events that occur in personal and work lives of the employees that require

tasks to be performed in a specific sequence. For example, the personal life event marriage might require

an employee to change his or her name, change address location, or change the benefits plan. The work

life event change in employment status may require an employee to change communication information.

MSS:The standard SAP MSS applications are developed using Web Dynpro for Java. It retrieves

information from the underlying ECC systems. Managers can see employee information, run reports, and

take actions such as approving leaves.

Personnel Change Requests:Functionality that enables managers to request changes to employee data.

After a proper approval process the HR administrator performs the required changes requested by the

manager in the HR system. For example, the manager can request a change in the working time for any of

the employees reporting to him or her.

SAP Java Connector (SAP JCo):Applications use Java connectors (adaptive Remote Function Calls

[RFCs]) to connect to the ECC system. Portal self-services applications generate a remote function call to

the underlying ECC system using SAP JCo to retrieve and perform actions on the data.

SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure (NWDI): Component provides

development/change/transport environment for SAP NetWeaver Java platform. It runs on SAP Java engine.

SAP NetWeaver Portal:This is the Java engine where the self-services applications are deployed.

Employees log on to the portal to access and run these services.

SAP System Landscape Directory (SLD):Maintains information about all installable and installed

elements of the system landscape and is a server application that communicates with a client application

by using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Self-services:A general term describing all services belonging to ESS and MSS.

Universal Worklist (UWL): A portal technology that gives users a unified and centralized way to access

their work. UWL helps end users to view all their work items, SAP messages, and alerts in a single place.

For example, a sales manager can use UWL to approve/reject leave requests, approve/reject travel

requests, and find sales related alerts.

Web Dynpro for Java: Web Dynpro delivers a model to develop Web applications without writing much

programming code. Most of the SAP-delivered self-services applications are developed using Web Dynpro

for Java. However, ESS 1.2 has a few Web Dynpro services that are ABAP-based, including some Travel

Management-based services.

Raj Kishore Jogamhas worked on SAP HCM global implementations as an ESS/MSS consultant. He has

experience implementing ESS/MSS on all system landscapes. Raj also has experience in the Personnel

Administration (PA), Organizational Management (OM), and Time Management SAP HCM modules. His

primary focus is on HCM portal implementations. You may contact Raj via email at [email protected].


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ESS - Prepare Your Team for a Successful ESS MSS Implementation

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