8.2    Integration with SAP SuccessFactors

SAP allows you to integrate SAP S/4HANA Cloud with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central in nearly all SAP S/4HANA Cloud editions. One exception is SAP Hybris Marketing, which we’ll discuss in detail in Section 8.3.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud does not cover any HR processes, so an external HR system needs to be integrated. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is SAP’s solution for cloud-based personnel administration.

Of course, you can also import employee data from files. This scenario is ideal for trial systems but less suited for production systems. SAP provides a specific application importing employee data (see Figure 8.27), which you can find as a tile (Import Employees) on the SAP Fiori launchpad for administrators.

Figure 8.27    Importing Employee Data from a File

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is always integrated with SAP S/4HANA Cloud via middleware, i.e., software that maps individual data fields to each other and initiates the data transfer. The middleware in this case is SAP Cloud Platform Integration, which is available to all SAP S/4HANA Cloud customers. See Figure 8.28.

Figure 8.28    SAP Cloud Platform Integration

[»]  SAP Cloud Platform Integration

SAP Cloud Platform Integration is used to integrate web-based applications. You can build and run these integration scenarios on the SAP Cloud Platform (previously, SAP HANA Cloud Platform, HCP). The platform is hosted in SAP Cloud. The integration via SAP Cloud Platform Integration is the preferred method for SAP S/4HANA.

For more information, go to https://help.sap.com/cloudintegration.

This integration comes in two variants:

• Integration managed by SAP
• Integration managed by the customer

In the first case, SAP initiates the integration in the background in coordination with the customer. SAP will configure SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Cloud Platform Integration, and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. This variant is ideal for customers who want to introduce SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central in an integrated system landscape quickly. Changes or adaptations are not possible with this variant.

The second variant is ideal for customers who have already used SAP S/4HANA Cloud or SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central on a production system for some time and want to integrate them with each other. Due to certain prerequisites in the data models of the two systems, you might need to adapt the default integration; for example, the length of some fields in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central fields may need to be mapped to SAP S/4HANA Cloud fields. These adaptations can be required in the middleware and in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. To give customers or SAP implementation partners more freedom for adaptations, SAP provides the Employee Central Integration communication scenario (SAP_COM_0001).

The business functions of the two variants are the same. Employee-related data (for example, pictures) are transferred from SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and cost centers, and vice versa.

Table 8.6 provides an overview of the system requirements (new implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud or live systems) for which SAP manages an integration variant.

Scenario	Managed by SAP	Managed by Customer	Managed by Customer	Managed by Customer	Managed by Customer
SAP S/4HANA Cloud	New	Production	New	Production	New
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central	New	New	Production	New	Production
SAP Cloud Platform Integration	New	New	New	Production	Production

Table 8.6    Overview of Selection Scenarios

Figure 8.29 and Figure 8.30 illustrate partial aspects of these transfer methods in detail. You can find additional process diagrams for this integration in the documentation of your SAP S/4HANA Cloud edition integration, but these two figures are the most important ones. They describe the integration process in detail, including replication or data flow and the individual process steps in the middleware.

You can create or change employee data in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. The middleware will initiate the data transfer of these changes to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and the relevant employee data records will be updated or created. In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the employee data records are mainly used as business partners in the “Employee” role. Consequently, these changes are also made in the business partner data.

Figure 8.29    Employee Data Transfer Process

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central always needs the latest cost center information from your financial system. These cost centers are therefore transferred from SAP S/4HANA Cloud where they are maintained in the employee data records. Together with the employee data, the assignments of employees to cost centers are then imported to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system.

Figure 8.30    Cost Center Transfer from S/4HANA Cloud to SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

The following sections describe the configuration of this integration.

8.2.1    Configuration in SAP S/4HANA Cloud

To set up the communication between the systems, SAP S/4HANA uses so-called communication scenarios, which contain specific configuration parameters, for example, the interface to be used, and other settings. A prerequisite is that all systems involved must be ready for integration, for example, the required certificates have been imported, etc.

The first step is to create a communication user. SAP Fiori’s communication administration applications, in particular in the Maintain Communication Users app (see Figure 8.31), allow you to create and manage communication users. Under Certificate, upload your client certificate for SAP Cloud Platform Integration, which you obtained with your administration user for SAP Cloud Platform Integration.

Figure 8.31    Creating a Communication User

The next step is to create the communication system. The respective app is also available in the communication administration.

1. First, assign a system ID and system name in the Create Communication Users app and click on Create.
2. Now, maintain additional fields in Technical Data, such as the host name, the client number, and so on.
3. In User for Inbound Communication, find the communication user that you created in the previous step.
4. In Authentication Method, select the authentication method with SSL client certificates. Also select this method for the user for outbound communication. Now, the communication system is configured.

In the final step, you’ll maintain the communication agreement, again in a specific application:

1. To create a new agreement, you must select a communication scenario. For communication scenario for integrating with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is SAP_COM_0001 (employee integration).
2. Next, select the communication system you just created and keep the name of the communication user that you maintained earlier (see Figure 8.32).
   

   Figure 8.32    Maintaining a Communication Agreement

Now, the configuration in SAP S/4HANA Cloud is complete.

8.2.2    Configuration in SAP Cloud Platform Integration

To be able to adjust Integration Flows (IFlows) in SAP Cloud Platform Integration, Eclipse needs to be installed. In addition, you’ll need a key store explorer tool to ensure a secure data transfer by using a digital key. (Eclipse is also available as freeware.)

To implement the configuration, you’ll require specific authorizations (as shown in Table 8.7).

Application	Role
<your_tenant_id>iflmap	ESBMessaging.send
<your_tenant_id>tmn	AuthGroup.IntegrationDeveloper
<your_tenant_id>tmn	AuthGroup.BusinessExpert
<your_tenant_id>tmn	AuthGroup.Administrator
<your_tenant_id>tmn	ESBMessaging.send

Table 8.7    Authorizations for Middleware Configuration

SAP provides predefined IFlows in the SAP Content catalog for the integration. The detailed documentation lists which packages or IFlows you need to use.

[»]  Additional Information on Integration Packages

You can find the integration packages for employee assignments and the related configuration guide in the SAP API Business Hub at https://cloudintegration.hana.ondemand.com.

Narrow the search in the catalog, for example, by entering the search string “employee.”

To access the SAP API Business Hub, you’ll need an SAP Community Network user account (https://www.sap.com/community.html) to log on.

You must copy every IFlow to the customer-specific work center where the IFlow is configured, for example, data field mappings. To copy IFlows, you’ll have to maintain the address of the target system and the address of the source system. After that, the IFlows in SAP Cloud Platform Integration are activated.

8.2.3    Configuration in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

To avoid adaptations in SAP Cloud Platform Integration or of the used IFlows, you should adapt the data model in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. Table 8.8 shows some examples. You can find a detailed list in the documentation.

Data Range in Employee Data	Field	Restriction
Contact Information • Telephone Details	Country code	Do not enter leading zeros, for example, only 1 for the U.S.
HR Data • Address	City	Max. length = 40
	Country (USA, AUS)	Max. length = 40
	ZIP code	Max. length = 10

Table 8.8    Adjusting the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Data Model

In SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, you’ll create a user with the role SFAPI, which needs to be equipped with certain rights. This user is only used in the SAP SuccessFactors interface and is necessary in order to establish a connection between the middleware and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. Of course, this user also requires a password. If you set “-1” as the maximum password age in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, the password will never expire. When a password expires, the connection is interrupted.

Now, you’ll have to define your SAP S/4HANA Cloud system as the target system for employee data replication. You can specify the target system in the administration environment of your SAP SuccessFactors instance under Manage Data. You can also create a new replication system if one does not exist yet (see Figure 8.33).

[»]  Additional Information on the Configuration

You can find more details on the configuration in the documentation for your communication scenario in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

Figure 8.33    Creating the Replication Target System