Optimizing SAP SuccessFactors with Digital Employee File from Centric

There was one problem, however: In contrast to the previous personnel management system, a digital employee file was lacking. Thomas Henzler, Chief Information Officer at Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH: "In any case, we wanted to use a digital employee file that was as well integrated with SAP SuccessFactors as possible. Ideally, users should not even notice that it is a solution that does not come from SAP itself. And thirdly, we were looking for a solution that was as intuitive to use as possible" – product features that Centric Employee File for SAP solutions perfectly combines.

Go-live in just a few weeks

Only a few weeks passed between the decision for the file solution at the beginning of 2018 and the go-live in the spring. The Centric team took care of all the provisioning, while Piller Blowers & Compressors did not have to sign any additional contracts with SAP to use the SAP Cloud Platform. The company simply defined the file structure, permissions, and user roles. A few files were created on a test basis and functions such as deletion periods and document storage were run through – no further effort was required: As a standard solution, the system already provided all the functionalities that Piller Blowers & Compressors needed out of the box.

Once in use, the solution was convincing from the very first moment. Firstly because employees don't even notice that they are working outside of the SAP solution. Centric Employee File for SAP solutions uses the familiar design of SAP Fiori and offers employees in the HR department direct access to employment contracts, references, and HR master data from SAP SuccessFactors. A security concept based on SAP authorization management also ensures that only users who are actually authorized to view sensitive personnel data are allowed to do so. The tried-and-tested SAP procedures are also effective when it comes to data privacy and deadline management – keyword: European General Data Protection Regulation.

Six employees work with the solution and manage the employee files of around 400 employees. They took over the digitalization of the current file inventory, while the scanning of legacy files whose retention period had not yet expired was handed over to an external service provider.

New system runs 30 to 40 percent faster

When the files were scanned in-house, it was immediately clear: With Centric Employee File for SAP solutions, digitalization is much faster than with the previous solution, which still required a dedicated scanner. Thomas Henzler estimates that the new system runs 30 to 40 percent faster, which represents a considerable reduction in time. In day-to-day work, the course is also set for greater efficiency: particularly due to the seamless integration with SAP SuccessFactors, because navigation to other systems or applications is no longer necessary to look at a file.

"We are very satisfied with the solution and are happy to have Centric as a partner with expertise not only in the classic ECM environment, but also as a proven SAP specialist," says Thomas Henzler.

Data model expands with current needs

Thanks to the use of the SAP Cloud Platform, the file structures are flexibly scalable. The IT department at Piller Blowers no longer has to worry about its own server resources and infrastructure: Everything runs on the SAP Cloud Platform and the data model grows with the actual demand. Many SAP customers are very interested in fully integrated cloud products for SAP applications. Solutions such as Centric's Digital Employee File, which are based on the SAP Cloud Platform, deliver added value to companies such as Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH.

"File management itself is easy to handle, the training effort was negligible. We showed our colleagues how everything works two or three times, then they started scanning the current employee files on their own," says Thomas Henzler.