Introduction

Big Bang is known as the preferable approach for deployment of SuccessFactors Employee Central; however, there is no designated IDPs document that describes details about the approach and explains possible steps of Big Bang. As the result, the approach is frequently speculated to be the simultaneous launch of all Employee Central functionality at once, which is not always true.

In this article we will explain how the Big Bang can be broken down into a number of discrete steps when implementing Employee Central over a live SAP ERP HCM.

Definition of Big Bang

Venkatesan Iyengar (2019) determines Big Bang as the approach wherein all countries / employee population go live and cut over to Employee Central at the same time.

Big Bang is opposed to the Phased approach, when countries, business units, types of employees or different functionality go live in a phased manner (Employee Central: Implementation Considerations for Phased Rollout, p. 5).

Can Big Bang leverage the techniques of the Phased approach? Or do we really have to launch different Employee Central functionalities at the same time?

The target Core Hybrid deployment model

Let us assume that our SAP ERP HCM system is already live and we implement Employee Central over it with the Core Hybrid deployment model, where:

• SuccessFactors is used as the system of record for Foundation Objects of Organizational Management, non-payroll-specific Employee Data, and Talent Management;
• SAP ERP is used as the system of record for Foundation Objects of SAP ERP Customizing Tables (e.g. T001 with Company Codes), Cost Centers, payroll-specific Organizational Objects (e.g. object type OR), payroll-specific Employee Data, Time Management, and Payroll.

For details about the deployment options, see guide Integrating SAP ERP HCM with Employee Central Using the Core Hybrid Deployment Option, p. 5.

Picture 1 shows the Core Hybrid model of SAP ERP HCM and Employee Central that we want to deploy. Do we have to launch all the functionalities and the data flows at the same time?

Picture 1 The target Core Hybrid deployment model of SAP ERP HCM and Employee Central

The Employee Minimaster

Let us assume that we have decided to implement Position Management first and then change the dependent configuration of Recruiting, Onboarding and Succession.

Position Management requires at least Employee Minimaster, which, in turn, requires Codes and Labels of respective Foundation Objects, as shown in Picture 2.

The Employee Minimaster is widely used in the Side-by-Side deployment model and, based on our expereince, it can be used for the Big Bang of Position Management.

Picture 2 The Employee Minimaster with the required data flows from SAP ERP HCM to EC

Position Management

Together with Position Management, we have to launch Company Structure, Job Structure, Pay Structure, and the respective data flows with SAP ERP HCM, as shown in Picture 3.

Picture 3 The data flows that are required to launch Position Management with Employee Minimaster

The launch of Position Management before Employee Data in EC has the following benefits:

• Hiring Managers can use Position Management in Employee Central;
• Organizational Structures (Company, Job, Pay, and Matrix Positions) are designed, updated, migrated, accepted and launched in Employee Central;
• The target data flows of the Organizational Data are designed, accepted and launched;
• Recruiting, Onboarding and Succession can be updated once Position Management is implemented.

Implementation of Position Management before Employee Data requires:

• Profound design of Organizational Structures;
• Understanding how the structures will influence the Employee Data;
• Clean Organizational Data;
• Migration of Organizational Data with use of the standard SAP programs.

If you can fulfill the above-mentioned requirements, then implementation of Position Management with Employee Masterdata can play the role of the interim step on the way to the Employee Data Big Bang.

Conclusion

Based on our experience, the Big Bang Implementation of Employee Central can be broken down into the three sequential steps:

• Implementation of Employee Minimaster and the respective temporary data flows with SAP ERP HCM;
• Implementation of Position Management, Organizational Data, and the respective target data flows with SAP ERP HCM;
• Implementation of Employee Data and the respective target data flows with SAP ERP HCM.

Reference list

1. Vladimir Latyshenko, 2020. The Core Hybrid integration model on the example of Cost Centers. SAPinsider, [online]. Available at https://www.sapinsideronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Core-Hybrid-Integration-Model-on-the-Example-of-Cost-Centers.pdf (Accessed: 06 November 2021).
2. Venkatesan Iyengar, 2019. Implementation Considerations for a Phased roll out of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central. SAP Community Blogs, [online]. Available at https://blogs.sap.com/2019/09/30/implementation-considerations-for-a-phased-roll-out-of-sap-successfactors-employee-central/ (Accessed: 06 November 2021).
3. Employee Central: Implementation Considerations for Phased Rollout. Document Version: 1.2 –2020-06-05. SAP SuccessFactors Community, [online]. Available at https://d.dam.sap.com/a/WSqDZAu/IDP%20Employee%20Central%20Implementation%20Considerations%20for%20a%20Phased%20Rollout%20V1.2.pdf (Accessed: 06 November 2021).
4. Integrating SAP ERP HCM with Employee Central Using the Core Hybrid Deployment Option. Document Version: 2H 2021 – 2021-11-01. SAP SuccessFactors Community, [online]. Available at https://help.sap.com/doc/ee0246e9eca34638b2764fb117938fd2/2111/en-US/SF_ERP_EC_CoreHybrid_Int_en-US.pdf (Accessed: 06 November 2021).
5. Employee Central Side-by-Side: Solution Architecture Considerations. Document Version: 1.3 – 2021-06-14. SAP SuccessFactors Community, [online]. Available at https://d.dam.sap.com/a/dbNfWkL/EC%20SBS%20Deployment%20-%20Solution%20Architecture%20Considerations%20-%20V1.3.pdf (Accessed: 06 November 2021).