Resources aren’t just inputs from raw materials. They can also encompass people, as any human resources department would know. SAP Fieldglass offers users of SAP S/4HANA the ability to link their human resource management to their resource planning by tying external workforce management to the system. Procurement of human resources using external and third-party add-ons has been a sore point for many SAP users. Now, SAP Fieldglass hopes to introduce more transparency through the transactions it adds to the S/4HANA system. Businesses can use SAP Fieldglass to manage their spend directly from the SAP dashboard. But exactly how useful is this in practice?

Understanding SAP Fieldglass

SAP Fieldglass is a cloud-based system that interfaces with SAP S/4HANA directly, allowing for transactional manipulation of external employee data. The contingent or Statement of Work (SoW) process modules can read data about the workers, including granular data such as time sheets or invoices. The enterprise’s spend on these costs can be tracked directly through SAP S/4HANA, removing the need for extraneous interfaces to get that data across. Integrating SAP Fieldglass benefits the business through holistic supply chain tracking, analysis of company-wide expenses, and how each procurement category impacts the company’s expenses.

SAP Fieldglass And Standard Integrations

Like most SAP releases, Fieldglass comes with standard connectors that can be used or configured to work with most external management systems. These connectors can directly transfer time sheets or invoices from the external system to SAP as readable data. In addition, SAP Fieldglass also comes with specific, productized integrations. Businesses can seamlessly transfer items from SAP Fieldglass to SAP S/4HANA for billing and invoicing purposes using these connectors. Integrations between SAP Fieldglass and SAP S/4HANA are categorized as:

• Master data replication (SAP S/4HANA to SAP Fieldglass)
• Business vendor/partner data replication (SAP S/4HANA to SAP Fieldglass)
• Transactional object creation (SAP Fieldglass to SAP S/4HANA)

Integration Methodology

So, how does a business connect SAP Fieldglass to SAP S/4HANA? Middleware is the most common solution, with tools such as SAP Integration Suite or SAP Process Integration doing the heavy lifting. Third-party integration tools can also connect SAP Fieldglass to SAP S/4HANA if desired. Each system can leverage its default formats with a minimum of additional configuration. This approach speeds up the speed of integration significantly.

SAP Integration Suite has a leg-up on other integration methodologies since it offers predefined iFlows, which keep the configuration simple. The iFlows already come with transformations and logic communication necessary for these systems to integrate. Endpoints will need to be configured, but this is a trivial task. If the enterprise uses third-party software, transformations will have to be used within the middleware to allow for seamless data movement. SAP recommends using mediated connectivity for all connections to retain the security of the SAP system.