When it comes to finding the most accurate and reliable payroll solution for your company’s needs, a solution that offers advanced analysis tools and a full range of functions, including pay calculation, payroll reporting, payment scenarios, and tax compliance requirements, is critical to your success.
The solution you’re looking for? SAP SuccessFactors Payroll.
Read on to learn more about Payroll and Compensation Management in SuccessFactors Employee Central, as well as where our team of senior-level SAP consultants can fit in your organization.
What is SAP SuccessFactors?
SuccessFactors is SAP’s latest and greatest cloud-based HR solution to help organizations manage their core HR operations more effectively and efficiently.
SAP SuccessFactors acts as a Software as a Service (SaaS) tool and offers various applications from core Human Resources (HR) applications like SAP Employee Central and Employee Central Payroll and functional modules like Talent Management and Employee Experience Management.
Does SuccessFactors Have Payroll?
SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (SAP ECP) is a cloud-based solution that provides advanced payroll processing and management capabilities for a more manageable way to look after their internal SAP Payroll system, including core integrations with third-party systems and other user interfaces, like SAP ERP Financials, SAP S/4HANA Finance, and more.
SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll helps users automate and accelerate payroll processing, reduce risk for errors in payroll and employee master data, simplify global payroll processes, and improve the full user experience by ensuring employees are paid accurately and on time each pay period.
The Big 5 SuccessFactors Payroll Modules
Here are a few key modules in the SuccessFactors EC Payroll suite of applications:
1) Employee Central Payroll (ECP)
The Employee Central Payroll module offers a comprehensive solution to help SAP users improve their payroll processing and management processes and intuitive tools that provide the functionality needed to handle multiple different payroll scenarios, including multi-country and multi-currency payroll systems.
2) Global Tax and Regulatory Compliance (GTR)
With the GTR module, SuccessFactors users are more equipped to stay up-to-date with updates and changes to local, state, and federal tax laws, regulatory obligations, and retention policies.
GTR functionality not only improves visibility into compliance requirements for SAP users, but it also offers tools to help companies facilitate more consistent processes across business units to maintain compliance across the board.
3) Payroll Control Center (PCC)
PCC is a single payroll platform that provides the tools and resources needed for HR professionals and Payroll administrators to oversee and maintain essential payroll functions throughout the organization.
The Payroll Control Center also offers advanced payroll analysis tools to simplify error detection tasks across systems and improve employee trust with more effective payroll administration and better detection of anomalies and errors in pay data.
4) Advanced Reporting and Analytics (ARA)
The ARA module provides a well-defined, robust analytics and reporting solution to help SAP users combine important HR and Payroll data in a single payroll solution to improve employee data visibility and maintain simple and consistent processes throughout the SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll solution.
5) Time and Attendance (T&A)
T&A in SuccessFactors provides an intuitive time and attendance management system so SAP users can more accurately and efficiently track employee time and ensure employees are paid correctly for their time.
The Time and Attendance module makes it easier for customers to track and log hours worked, manage employee absences, request time off, and keep up with Paid Time Off (PTO) and vacation hours used to not only maintain employee integrity but also improve employee trust through more accurate time, attendance, and payroll management solutions.
Main Advantages of Payroll Management in SuccessFactors
- Reduced administrative burden and improved employee efficiency through the automation, acceleration, and localization of payroll management processes
- Innovative, scalable Payroll and Compensation management solutions to keep up with changes in the industry and adapt to business growth and change over time
- Reduced overall costs through an integrated payroll management system that connects core Payroll and HR processes across organizations
- Improved connectivity and collaboration across Employee Central and Employee Central Payroll solutions through point-to-point integration
- Unique, engaging user experiences with functional HR software that offers more consistent and reliable HR management processes across teams and business units
- Improved compliance and reduced risk through localization efforts and support for laws, guidelines, and regulations throughout the community and beyond
Things to Consider When Implementing SuccessFactors Payroll
Choosing to implement a new SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll solution is one thing, but ensuring your team is set up for implementation success is an entirely different feat, no matter the size of your organization or the complexity of your SAP ERP landscape.
Let’s look at a few key considerations when implementing Employee Central Payroll…
Build a Strong Project Team
When achieving the most successful SuccessFactors implementation possible, having the right team in place to handle project requirements and implementation tasks is your key to success.
From an experienced Employee Central Payroll team lead to team members dedicated to system development and maintenance, employees focused on building out training methods for the new solution across user groups, and everything else in between, a functional implementation team can be a make-or-break factor in your success.
Create a Plan
Creating a plan before your SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll implementation project begins is essential in familiarizing your employees with the software, improving their willingness to move away from the old legacy system, and acknowledging them as critical stakeholders in the project.
With a digital transformation project like an Employee Central Payroll implementation, providing support for your employees throughout the initial onboarding process is important. Still, you’ll also want to offer additional on-demand resources for system performance and IT-related issues to ensure employees are supported to and through their Go-Live date.
Define Project Scope and Success
Before signing a Statement of Work (SOW), it’s essential to define the scope of the implementation project, as well as how success will be represented across each team or area of the organization involved in the project.
Without this key step in the process, essential implementation phases could be overlooked, core features may be forgotten, and project success definitions may not be aligned with your organization’s needs, potentially leading to lost time, underutilized resources, and unsatisfied SuccessFactors customers.
Test Your Solutions
Testing your SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll system is one of the most critical steps in the implementation process because, without ensuring your new system operates as expected before making it accessible to end-users, your organization could suffer from the consequences of disengaged employees and inconsistent payroll processing operations.
Parallel payroll tests are typically run in both your legacy system and the new Employee Central Payroll solution to ensure Employee Central Payroll delivers the correct results to end-users, and accurate payroll data is guaranteed once the new solution goes live.
Assess Integrations and Updates
Whether you need to integrate SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll with your external Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, third-party reporting tools, or any other external applications, the SuccessFactors Integration Center provides the tools needed to build and test inbound and outbound integrations across business units.
This way, your team can ensure the SuccessFactors system is operating correctly, and integrations between systems are built and managed in a way that helps optimize core business processes, extend the functionality of your system, and make the most out of your SAP investment in the long run.
5 Main Types of Data in SuccessFactors Payroll
1) Personal Data
Personal data is the information that makes up an employee’s profile, including their full name, roles and responsibilities, how many hours worked per week, and essential information about the nature of their employee contract.
This type of data is crucial in calculating employee pay, and for Employee Central Payroll to operate as expected, personal data must be entered into the Employee Central HR software.
2) Regulatory Data
Regulatory data, including information about taxes, garnishments, and regulatory constraints, is typically entered directly into payroll processing systems to ensure employees are paid accurately and the appropriate tax deductions are derived for each employee.
While this type of data is usually entered into a payroll system since it’s not relevant for most HR processes, Employee Central features allow regulatory data to be entered into the payroll system from the centralized Employee Central user interface.
3) Compensation Data
Compensation data includes all the information relevant to contracted pay rates, including hourly rates for employees paid by the hour and annual or monthly salary rates for salaried employees.
For Employee Central Payroll to function properly, your Compensation Management system doesn’t have to be in the SuccessFactors solution, but finalized pay rates and amounts for employee bonuses must be accessible in Employee Central or Employee Central Payroll solutions.
4) Time Data
For employees whose compensation depends on hours worked, time data must be handled and managed correctly throughout your SAP ERP system. Time data not only includes hourly pay rates for time entered, but it also incorporates complex local rules associated with overtime pay and Paid Time Off (PTO).
Time data and pay rules are typically located within the time system and sent to the payroll system using functional interfaces. Once the time data has been transferred from the time system to the payroll system, Employee Central uses the data to apply pay rates and determine payment amounts for each employee during a pay period.
5) Financial Data
Finance data is an essential component of the Employee Central Payroll system as it is required to ensure payments are correctly accounted for in the company’s financial books.
This type of data typically includes company codes, vendor codes, general ledger codes, and cost and profit center information. In a system like SAP Employee Central, direct interfaces can be used to provide the right financial data to the payroll system.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help enhancing your SuccessFactors Employee Central solution through advanced compensation administration and personal data management or additional support moving from an outdated on-premise payroll system to SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our team of senior-level SAP consultants has the functional expertise, technical skills, and real-world payroll experience needed to lead you to success, regardless of the complexity of your payroll operations or the size of your organization.
Getting Started with Us
Interested in learning where our SAP consulting services can fit in your organization? Ready to get connected with one of our experienced SuccessFactors consultants to chat about your Employee Central Payroll project needs?
Contact us today to get started with one of our expert SAP SuccessFactors consultants!
