The client company has requirements to implement their compensation cycle. Every company has an increment cycle yearly, and we take advantage of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll to implement solutions based on their requirements. Currently, I am implementing a solution for a client.
Compensation cycles have become more secure and compliant while payroll data is now easier to validate
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll offers a People Profile where employees can access all details about their compensation. This is the most fascinating and crucial part of the work.
Real-time payroll calculation is a feature that most software also has, so there is nothing special about it. Compared to other vendors and software, SAP is better for security and other aspects. This is the primary reason clients prefer SAP rather than Workday or other solutions because of the security.
The strongest point of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is compliance and security. This is the most significant advantage they hold against other software in terms of compliance and security with local and international laws.
The detailed report and reporting part of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is helpful for clients and consultants because it helps us validate our data and what is in the system. Since SAP acquired a software company, mostly it is third-party software which they integrated with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll. The reporting tool is very helpful, but because it is third-party software that was acquired by SAP, it takes a long time to load the screen, and the saves and logouts occur easily. There are some runtime errors, but logically the tool is good. The reporting tool is comparatively good, but since it was third-party software which was integrated, it is somewhat problematic.
What needs improvement?
From a coding perspective, there are server timing issues. The system gets logged out, and there are issues from a coding perspective. From a feature perspective, most software has the same features, so they cannot implement more features in compensation because it is a crucial part. There are more issues with the software rather than the features. The time and saving time are problematic. There are some errors and rendering issues. Sometimes we get errors without our faults, which is where the inconsistency with their features exists.
One area I want them to improve is the integration part where we can integrate systems with third-party software. Workday and Oracle provide very good integration suites, but SAP, because they are more focused on security, is hesitant. Their systems are somewhat legacy, so they do not support third-party software as comparably well.
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll has introduced story reports in the analytics part, which is a good feature. They are removing legacy systems like detailed reporting and Canvas. In 2028, they plan to remove these systems. Story reports is a pretty good feature where we can view graphs, tiles, and all information on one screen with the data.
I would suggest they improve their community. SAP Community is pretty good, but they can improve their database with tech tips and documentation where they put every single scenario into written documents so that every client can find solutions without waiting for replies. The community should be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for one year and eight months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability and reliability are pretty good overall. I would not say this for the analytics part where the reliability is quite low, but the system as a whole, including Employee Central or Compensation, has pretty good reliability. You can rely on the system, and there is no issue with that.
Sometimes the software is reliable, but sometimes it throws errors. These errors can be because of our mistake, the system's mistake, or some runtime errors. When this happens, we have to speak with the technical team of SAP. We raise a ticket and get an appointment to speak with them.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is pretty good because they are launching updates every six months. They have a 1H release and 2H release for each year. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is very scalable. If you look ahead three or four years from now, the software will not look like what it looks now. Senior consultants say the same thing, that the software is pretty scalable and they are making it more integratable and friendly. The SAP team is working on that.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is pretty good. They reply in a timely manner and also provide solutions, which is what matters.
Technical support quality sometimes depends on the person sitting in technical support. Because they provide solutions, I would rate them seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
We call it an implementation process where we implement a solution for a client. First, the business part is handled by the executives. After that, my part comes when I have to set up client kick-off meetings and workshops where I gather requirements from the clients. I learn how their solution needs to be, what they are looking for, what their pain points are, and what they suffered last year. Based on that and based on suggestions, we suggest a solution where both SAP's features and client requirements are considered. Sometimes client requirements are outside of SAP's features, and we cannot do it in SAP. We strike a balance there so that the client is satisfied and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll can support us.
The first step is the kick-off meeting and workshop where we do requirement gathering. The second step is the initial setup where, based on the gathered requirements, we plan how we are going to develop the system. This is the planning phase. After that, we go for UAT one, which is User Acceptance Testing. We develop a system from our end while discussing with the client and go for User Acceptance Testing one. For some clients, there are two or three User Acceptance Testing cycles because their requirements are extensive and they are constantly changing requirements. After taking sign-off from the UAT, we move into production. This part is done in QA and quality assurance systems or UAT systems.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Most clients have very high market capitalization, so most of them only use SAP rather than Workday. Workday is more affordable compared to SAP. There are more affordable options available, but due to compliance and security reasons, clients choose SAP. The features are the same in every software. Workday has better features compared to SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll.
What other advice do I have?
Rather than providing a technical specialist, they could increase their community. SAP Community is pretty good, but they can improve their database with tech tips and documentation where they put every single scenario into written documents so that every client can find solutions when a problem arises without waiting for replies. They should improve the community.
I would rate this review an eight overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
