1998 using workflow to manage employee vendor data

Using Workflow to Manage Employee Vendor Data

Margaret Woo and Dominicus Van Asten The Coca-Cola Company

SESSION CODE: BT1998

The Coca-Cola Company

Most Valuable brands

Complete and accurate data is achievable even when shared across data domains

Data owners can be accountable for complete and accurate data if they are aware of data issues

Validating data upfront and using workflow to route errors to responsible data owners gives visibility and ensures timely error resolution

Key Learnings

• HR Master Data maintained in HR client

• Employee reimbursed in Finance client

• IDOCs passed from HR to Finance client

• Standard SAP program creates vendor records from HR record

• HR data is updated via Employee Self Service and/or through HR teams in regional centers

• Vendor data is maintained by vendor maintenance groups (VMG) located in regional centers

Background

Employee Reimbursements

Customized program created duplicate employee vendor records

Expense reimbursements were misdirected and required manual intervention

Lack of process ownership resulted in delayed error resolution

No formalized error resolution process

Challenges

Employee Vendor Maintenance Flow

Single Landscape

HR processor /

Employee

AP Custodian

HR Master Data

Vendor Data

Preparation

Vendor Batch

Input sessions

Vendor Data

Posting

AP Master Data

Batch input error list

Rejected Employees

Reference Vendor

Maintenance

New and changed

employee data


Dual Landscape

HR processor /

Employee

AP Custodian

HR Master Data

Vendor Data

Preparation

Vendor Batch

Input sessions

Vendor Data

Posting

AP Master Data


Rejected Employees

Reference Vendor

Maintenance

New and changed

employee data

HR Mini Master Data

Synchronization (ALE)


Issues

HR processor /

Employee

AP Custodian

HR Master Data

Vendor Data

Preparation

Vendor Batch

Input sessions

Vendor Data

Posting

AP Master Data


Rejected Employees

Reference Vendor

Maintenance

New and changed

employee data

HR Mini Master Data


Limited set of validations

Copied version from1998

Manual follow-up by AP

Manual follow-up by AP

‘Obscure’ reporting

Process Inconsistencies across locations

No email address auto maintained (remittance advice)

Multiple reference vendors ;

inconsistencies across locations


Results

HR processor /

Employee

AP Custodian

HR Master Data

Vendor Data

Preparation

Vendor Batch

Input sessions

Vendor Data

Posting

AP Master Data


Rejected Employees

Reference Vendor

Maintenance

New and changed

employee data

HR Mini Master Data


Extra set of validations

SAP release

compliant

Report is for reference only

Reduced set of errors

‘Obscure’ reporting but

limited cases

Process

harmonization

Email addresses automatically updated

Reference vendor simplification

Automatic assignment and

monitoring via workflow

Statistics and metrics

Project Objectives

Establish formal process and assign

accountable process owners

Correct and enrich the data

Utilize standard

SAP functionality

Define roles & responsibilities and

train staff

Project Deliverables - People

Identify types of errors

Create reference manual

Train associates

Project Deliverable - Process

Document procedure for setting up

system job variants

Establish notification of new

personnel areas and company codes

Establish routings to deliver

work items to teams for action

Implement process to monitor

errors and track corrections

against SLAs

Project Deliverables - System

2

Employee data in HR

system

3

Employee data sent

to Finance system

2

Employee data in HR

system

3

Employee data sent

to Finance system

Project Deliverables - System

Provide visibility to errors

Route workflow items to

accountable teams

Utilize standard PRAA

and additional validations

Proactively monitor the process

Deliver open items daily to HR and VMG teams via email

Provide end user e-mail link to work item

Provide options to display master data, to take corrective actions or exit

Assign items individuals or teams

Project Deliverable – Work Items

.

Project Deliverable - Work Item Status

Count and track the number of errors and

corrective attempts

Project Deliverable - Reporting

To identify type of error, where it is happening,

effectiveness of corrective effort, timeliness of

correction

Project Deliverable – Overdue Escalation

• Manager receives overdue list via email

• Manager can run ad hoc report for details

The design and development objectives were aiming for

Solution sustainability and scalability :

SAP support packs and releases

Integration of new codes and locations

HR business decision to keep SAP HR or not

User empowerment and ownership

Maintenance and Monitoring tools

Control tables mainly directly maintained in production

Master data set-up and validations

Process reporting and alerts

Development Components

Vendor maintenance program (PRAA)

Workflow templates (SAP workflow builder)

Custom control tables

Custom programs

Scheduled processes

OSS notes

Development components

Stay tuned for more details ….

Vendor maintenance program

Back to standard

Additional validations via modifications

Modification assistant on allowing for new SAP versions



Different types - 1. Process settings

Agent resolution

Error parameters : code, description, landscape, …

Process settings mainly maintained directly in production via dedicated transaction


Drivers

HR Org Objects


Different types : 2. Process status

Summarized process information : key dates, current status , agent, …

Duplicated information to the workflow log but makes data faster

available upon request

Foundation for process monitoring reporting and statistics


Workflow templates

Developed with SAP workflow builder

Leveraging the HR organization structure

Different scenarios depending on the agent type

HR processor HR landscape

AP accountant FI landscape

AP administrator FI landscape

One instance per detected error


The error type

determines the

agent type and

landscape

Custom programs

Employee vendor email address added to record

Status reporting


Custom programs

Extension to the pending item reporting (aged, backlog, …)

Specific instance workflow log (encapsulation of SWI6)


Scheduled jobs

HR master data synchronization : hourly, no changes

Employee vendor update : daily per location grouping)

Employee vendor email update : daily globally

Collective notification on pending items : daily, no changes

Status reporting

Master data validation


PRAA new features (1) – to be evaluated


(1) New for us. Support packs installed Spring 2015 –

feature can be retrofit via OSS notes. Attention corrective OSS notes

Details here on this feature

Pre-implementation

Errors logs in system Over 14K

Duplicate vendors 7839

Missing vendor records 462

Vendor record with invalid Personnel# 71

Post-implementation

Average less than 1 error log

Validations trigger work items for resolution

March 2015 – 57 HR errors and 6 vendor errors

Statistics

Business process requiring multiple data domains must be clearly defined with owners identified.

Good data from multiple data domains is possible when there is active ownership

Using workflow to trigger pro-active actions and monitoring procedures is effective and easy to implement

Process owners must be clearly identified to ensure that workflow control tables are maintained

Continuous monitoring and training due team changes

Summary

Appendix

HR Data Validations (Appendix)

Vendor Data and Variant Validation

(Appendix)

Contact

Margaret Woo: [email protected]

Dominicus Van Asten: [email protected]

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING

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SESSION CODE: BT1998

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1998 using workflow to manage employee vendor data

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