Book on SAP SuccessFactors Integration

SAP Press has announced a book on SAP SuccessFactors Integration. It is authored by many experts who work for SAP and partners. I am one of the authors. We have attempted to provide a reliable source of integration related information for those planning to move their human capital management software to the cloud. Almost all authors and contributors are hands-on experts with multiple integration implementations under their belt.

I have posted the preface of the book here to give you an idea of what is covered. Please note that it might undergo minor changes during the review and editing process.

I think this book will be a good complement to the book on SuccessFactors HCM Suite written by Luke Marson and Amy Grubb. I believe that these two books together will spread the knowledge and skill required to move human capital management systems to the cloud.

Preface

In a January 2014 article in the Wall Street Journal, Marc Andreesen, the Internet pioneer and venture capitalist compared the cost of starting a technology company today to the cost of starting  a technology company in the 1990s. He said that if you wanted to build an Internet company in the 90s, you needed to buy Sun servers, Cisco networking gear, Oracle databases, and EMC storage systems and spend a ton of money just to get up and running. He said that today’s companies can go to Amazon Web Services and pay per use to get the same services for about 1000 times cheaper. Such reduction in cost is speeding up the progress of technology and pace of innovation.

This innovation has revolutionized the consumer software industry and is spilling over to the enterprise software industry starting with customer relationship management, expense management and human capital management. Today, almost all innovation in the areas mentioned above are being done by vendors who provide their software as a service rather than as a package that can be installed behind the firewalls of an organization.

This journey to the cloud, for most areas of enterprise software, is inevitable. However, unlike consumer software where the costs for consumers are low and switching technology vendors is easy, enterprise software investments are huge and costly to abandon. So while the journey to the cloud for some customers will be swift, for some it will be in stages. This is one area where integration plays an important role. Integration can help organizations start their journey to the cloud from a place of their choice and at a pace of their choice.

In this book, we attempt to explain the evolution of enterprise software and how integration content and technologies from SAP and SuccessFactors can help you make your move to the cloud. We have split the book into multiple chapters. Each chapter addresses the needs of a specific audience and a specific set of topics.

Chapter 1 is about the evolution of Human Capital Management Software architecture, the current trends and SAP’s strategy to respond to those trends. If you are a chief financial officer, a chief information officer, chief people officer, vice president of human resources or director of information technology, this chapter is for you. We provide an overview of what is happening in the human capital management technology industry and describe how the technology landscape is evolving. We then discuss SAP’s strategy to respond to this evolution and talk about how SAP is helping you move to the cloud with various software deployment options supported by integration content and tools. We end the chapter with the integration road map published by SAP supporting the various deployment models.

Chapter 2 is about how information technology teams within organizations and software technology service providers can help customers make their journey to the cloud. If you are chief information officer, director of information technology, a partner in a software consulting firm, a solution architect or vice president of professional services in a technology service firm, this chapter is for you. We start by talking about who is moving human capital management software to the cloud and elaborate on the factors driving the movement of human capital management to the cloud. We then talk about the three main stages in the decision making phase of the journey to the cloud. The three stages are the business architecture review stage, the product review stage and the solution architecture review stage. We end the chapter by talking about the advantages of following the process and the risks you can minimize by following the process.

Chapter 3 is about the Full Cloud HCM deployment model of the SuccessFactors HCM suite. We start by discussing the architecture of the Full Cloud HCM deployment model and the target customers for the deployment model. We then detail out the packaged integrations that support this deployment model. Finally we cover the integration technology options and the roadmap for pre-packaged integrations.  If you are a  chief information officer, chief people officer, vice president of human resources or director of information technology in an organization running HR technology that is more than 10 years old, or have problems with employee administration and data consistency,  then this chapter can tell you how you can take a huge jump in technology and user experience innovation while reducing total cost of ownership for human capital management software at the same time.

Chapter 4 is about the Talent Hybrid deployment model of SAP and SuccessFactors. We start by discussing the architecture of the Talent Hybrid deployment model and the target customers for the deployment model. We then detail out the prepackaged integrations that support this deployment model. Finally we cover the integration technology options and the roadmap for pre-packaged integrations.  If you are a  chief information officer, chief people officer, vice president of human resources or director of information technology in an organization running SAP ERP HCM for employee administration and looking to move or adopt talent solutions in the cloud, then this chapter is for you. We tell you how you can start small with one or more talent solutions in the cloud and expand your talent solutions cloud foot print while reaping the return on your investment in SAP ERP HCM for employee administration. We also discuss how you can make your move to the Full Cloud HCM deployment model, once you are comfortable with the cloud. Finally we discuss the situation where customers have multiple SAP ERP HCM deployments and talk about how they can be connected to a unified talent solution suite from SuccessFactors.

Chapter 5 is about the Side-By-Side HCM deployment model of SAP and SuccessFactors. We start by discussing the target customers for the deployment model and discuss the packaged integrations available.

Chapter 6 is about reusable custom templates for integration that SuccessFactors professional services teams maintain and the application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by SuccessFactors for building custom integrations. This chapter also describes the best practice packages called Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDSs) available to implement the packaged integrations. If you are an integration designer, HR business analyst, integration consultant from a customer or a partner organization, you will find this chapter useful. The information in the chapter will help identify the vendors for whom custom integration templates are available and plan your implementation projects accordingly.

Chapter 7  is about integrating talent solutions from SuccessFactors with 3rd Party applications. SuccessFactors talent solutions including SuccessFactors recruitment management and the SuccessFactors Learning have packaged integrations and professional services delivered integrations with 3rd party applications. If you are a customer considering SuccessFactors talent solutions, you will find this chapter useful while reviewing the products and planning your implementation projects.

Chapter 8 is about implementing integrations in a Talent Hybrid model. In this chapter we discuss specific examples on how SuccessFactors modules are integrated, when an hybdrid model is implemented. The chapter will contain specific examples, tips & tricks and best practices that were followed while implementing the integrations. Where possible sample code will be provided and discussed. This chapter is meant for HCM functional consultants who configure SAP and SuccessFactors systems, technical consultants who configure middleware technologies to implement the integration and ABAP programmers who extend the integrations  to suit customer needs.

Chapter 9 is about implementing integrations in a Full Cloud HCM model. In this chapter we discuss specific examples on how SuccessFactors modules are integrated, when a full cloud model is implemented. The chapter will contain specific examples, tips & tricks and best practices that were followed while implementing the integrations. Where possible sample code will be provided and discussed.This chapter is meant for HCM functional consultants who configure SAP and SuccessFactors systems, technical consultants who configure middleware technologies to implement the integration and ABAP programmers who extend the integrations  to suit customer needs.

Chapter 10 is about migrating large volumes of data to the cloud during an implementation. Even though it is a topic adjacent to integration, it uses technologies and processes similar to integration. Like integration, it is also often overlooked while planning an organization's Journey to the cloud. This chapter is meant for solution architects, system administrators and project managers.