We’ve broken down the major SAP® SuccessFactors® H2 2021 updates into bite-sized pieces to help you easily digest the latest changes. In this post, we’ll look at what’s new in Compensation & Variable Pay.

More H2 2021 Analysis:

Employee Central | Recruiting | Onboarding | Learning | Analytics | Performance & Goals | Compensation and Variable Pay | Payroll

Update Video

If you prefer video, join Rizing’s AMS Consultant Tracy Kramer as she breaks down the new features in the Compensation and Variable Pay in this video from the Rizing HCM YouTube channel:

Publishing Enhancements and Updates

Following the SuccessFactors trend to provide a more dynamic and stress-free way to publish from compensation plans to Employee Central, this release provides several important and easy to use tools.

Integration with SAP Employee Central (EC) is required.

Configuration

  • We can now publish to Compensation Information fields that aren’t specific to recurring or non-recurring pay components.
  • We can also now publish back to a custom MDF object created to capture compensation information.

Both upgrades remove manual intervention for the admins by allowing them to publish directly instead of exporting/importing after the cycle is complete.

While the Comp Info option is a universal upgrade, the MDF option does require provisioning to enable.

Cycle maintenance

  • There is the new Employee Central Publish Report. This report is part of the Complete Compensation Cycle > Publish Data menu and provides a post-publish report that you can export as a spreadsheet to view.
  • We are now able to select up to five fields to include in the publish filter instead of just one, allowing flexibility in aggregating groups to publish.

Both features are self-service, but the new publish report will require a Role-Based Permissions (RBP) update to your compensation administrator role to be able to view and run.

Advanced Executive Review Upgrades

Advanced Executive Review Filters were released in H1 2021. The H2 release includes significant enhancements to make this tool more efficient and user-friendly.

  • We are now able to disable population views that aren’t relevant to your instance. For example, if you don’t use Matrix Managers, you can disable the Matrix Reports view from the Advanced Exec Review Filters to make the options more intuitive for your planners.
  • We can use a newly added filter option Outside Guidelines or Salary Range option in the Filters Options. This can be added to any filter and toggled between Yes/No to see populations within or outside of guidelines or salary range.

If you haven’t enabled this feature, it’s worth reviewing. It’s enabled in the Actions for All Plans > Company Settings > Enable Advanced Executive Review Filters.

The feature will be on for all users and all plans, but with the ability to save filters, toggle between filters, filter using field on the compensation plans, and other features specific to this advanced tool, it’s worth learning.

Bulk Print in Executive Review Upgrades

This is a much-anticipated tool used to bulk print compensation statements from Executive Review. It’s had a shift in configuration, moving from the module level to the planning template level.

  • First, the checkbox to enable this feature is now on the Page Setup > Settings > Settings page, at the bottom.
  • This field is dynamic, allowing it to be updated during the planning cycle. This shift also provides more detailed log files indicating whose statements were printed, excluded, or unavailable.
  • Second, the Download Statements popup now presents a navigation hyperlink to Check Print Job Status, taking the planner straight to the reporting queue where the statements will print.

This navigation saves planner up to five clicks and offers even more instruction and guidance on how to access print jobs.

Both upgrades are universal and available with no additional permissioning or intervention.

Spot Awards Now includes Anniversary Awards

You can now create awards using the Points-Based program to celebrate employee anniversaries or other service awards. The awards program can be set up to respect different milestones as well as different recognition by country, region or regional subgroups.