SAP has made it clear that SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics will eventually be augmented by an HR-friendly version of SAP® Analytics Cloud—SAP’s analytics tool built on SAP Cloud Platform. At SuccessConnect in Las Vegas last week, we saw a glimpse of what is to come for analytics in SAP® SuccessFactors®.
The Analytics Cloud-powered solution—called People Analytics—includes three elements that work with access to all SuccessFactors data in a single place, according to SuccessFactors product lead Amy Wilson, who demonstrated the tool during her product-focused keynote on the Park MGM stage. The three elements are:
- Simple reporting
- Smart analytics that correlate and predict automatically
- End-to-end planning and budgeting
Wilson stressed that a key difference between People Analytics and Workforce Analytics is a “breakthrough user experience.”
“It’s about engaging our leaders and enabling them to be able to manage change and to be able to make the right decisions, so that the business can move forward, and the right changes can be made,” said Wilson.
Other features include voice interactivity, which will allow users to ask questions, and insights from the data will be brought up automatically. There’s also the ability to build eye-pleasing visualizations that can be customized on the fly, meaning chart types and color palettes can be changed with a click.
Read why HR analytics are important–and different from reporting.
Waterfalls of SuccessFactors Data
Wilson was especially excited about the addition of waterfall charts in People Analytics and said she’s been “waiting 20 years to have a native waterfall chart in my HR application.” Waterfall charts are bar graphs that break out the cumulative impact of events.
The example that Wilson showed in the picture below demonstrates a waterfall chart for total headcount. On the far left is the headcount at a starting point, with the current headcount on the far right.
The variables that impact headcount, represented by the smaller green and red bars, account for the difference between the starting point and current state—new hires, retires, transfers, and terminations. This provides the “waterfall” aspect of the chart.
Single Source of HR Truth
By pulling in data from across the SuccessFactors suite, People Analytics gives users the potential for a single source of truth, and the ability to eliminate a few e-mails and spreadsheets along the way.
Having a single source allows for better decision making on the part of leadership—especially when that data is presented in an appealing and easy-to-understand manner. The key to the success of People Analytics in SuccessFactors will be the user adoption, and SAP is betting an intuitive interface, along with eye-catching visualization, will bring those necessary end-users to the application.
Wilson did not provide an exact timeline for People Analytics in SuccessFactors during her Las Vegas keynote, but she did say at SuccessConnect Berlin that it will be going into beta this fall.
Contact us to build out your HR analytics capability in SuccessFactors.