SAP SuccessFactors Extended ECM (xECM) by OpenText- An overview

[Ajinkya1]

Hi All,

After my last blog ‘Employee Central Service Center- An Overview’ which talked about the ticketing solution (Ask HR) offered by SAP, I thought it’s a good idea to provide an overview of another interesting product offering by SAP SuccessFactors which is ‘SAP SuccessFactors Extended Enterprise Content Management by OpenText’ (xECM for short). This blog shares information on the ‘Document Management with SAP SuccessFactors as leading application’.

OpenText has many document-management related products and solutions of its own. However, this one is specifically developed along with SAP SuccessFactors (SF for short) to ensure tight integration of business processes and technologies from SF and OpenText.

In this blog we will cover-

1. Key Features of xECM


2. Block diagram of the integration of SuccessFactors and xECM


3. Key terms


4. How document filing works


5. Information in Q&A form


6. Preparation for implementation


7. Useful links

Target Audience

Anyone who is interested in the document management solution- SAP SuccessFactors Extended ECM by OpenText.

Disclaimer- The information shared here is based on the information gathered and interpreted during an implementation. It’s valid for SAP SuccessFactors xECM by OpenText version 22.3. Please refer the Product documentation- implementation guide before starting implementation.

Key Features offered by SAP SuccessFactors xECM by OpenText

The product primarily offers-

1. Integration with SAP SuccessFactors


2. Integration with SAP HCM


3. Document Generation


4. Document Management


5. Records Management

Features (source- https://www.eimdemo.com/ClickTours/xecmforsuccessfactors/index.html#!/screens/461193778)

 

Block Diagram- Architecture

Below block diagram is conceptual representation of the integration between SAP SuccessFactors and xECM by OpenText. The document filing (flow) is explained in section- ‘How document filing (flow) works’.

Block Diagram: SAP SuccessFactors Extended ECM and SAP SuccessFactors integrated (Conceptual Representation)

Key terms to know in simple words

• Portlet- It’s a section of screen in SuccessFactors that is designed to collect or display information like Personal Details, Job information, Ratings. Custom portlets can be created using MDF object to capture data or attachments.
  


• Central Workspace- It’s a folder structure that contains employee documents. It can have subfolders as well. Basically, a one-stop-shop to access documents that have been perhaps filed from various places of SAP SuccessFactors applications.


• CMIS Repository- It’s a folder structure that hosts any attachment from the integrated source system like SAP SuccessFactors. It uses the international standard of Content Management Interoperability Services- CMIS.

• Attachment Declaration- A configuration in OpenText that allows you (consultant/bizadmin) to setup rules to file the documents in specific folders and tag document classification to them. There are some additional configuration options available in attachment declaration but let’s leave to technical consultants.
  

How document filing (flow) works

The xECM product seamlessly integrates with below modules of SAP SuccessFactors-

1. SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Management


2. SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding


3. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central


4. SAP SuccessFactors Talent Management modules
   
   
   
   1. Performance and Goals Management
   
   
   2. Compensation
   
   
   3. Succession and Development
   
   
   
   

Route 1: Step 1- All Modules of SuccessFactors are integrated with OpenText extended ECM via component called CMIS repository. This component can hold the documents even when ‘Central workspace’ of the employee is not created.
In this step, user uploads an attachment from the SuccessFactors portlet field; and saves the record.

Route 1: Step 2- When a central workspace is created for an employee, the documents in CMIS can be moved to the central workspace using a configuration component called ‘Attachment Declaration’.
This step is performed automatically for documents once configured.

 

Route 2: Only 1 step- From SuccessFactors home page, a tile can be configured to launch OpenText xECM central workspace where the documents migrated from CMIS can be viewed. Additionally, new documents can be uploaded directly to the central workspace.

Tiles on SF Home page to launch central workspace

Information in Q&A form

Let’s see more information in question & answer form.

Is customization possible in OpenText xECM?

Both SuccessFactors and OpenText have customization possibilities. Being cloud products, it’s important to be vigilant about the customization you request/perform in the system. A primary reason is sustainability of the customization. Often customization to handle deviations to standard system behavior led to compromised experience in long term.

The OpenText xECM product gets updates every quarter; and hence it’s wise to not customize standard system. However, you could consider developing custom reports to support the business as there’s a little offered in the standard product as of today.

Can we store any custom document from SuccessFactors screen to xECM?

Yes. In SuccessFactors, there’s a feature to create custom screens call MDF portlets which can be designed to capture information which is not available in the standard portlets. You may also face a situation where employees need to submit documents along with the information. In such cases, you can define a ‘document type’ and dedicate an attachment to this document type so that when user uploads a document, SuccessFactors and in turn OpenText xECM can automatically place the attachment in designated folder for future reference.

How does integration of Onboarding work with xECM?

SuccessFactors onboarding- the new one and not onboarding 1.0- can integrate with OpenText xECM. It also provides you a way to design custom portlet where you can setup attachment configurations to flow the documents to xECM with specific document type and file them under desired folders in central workspace.
There’s a very good blog by Manjunath BK that describes how technically it’s achieved- ONB 2.0 Documents Integration to OpenText.

How does User information sync from SuccessFactors to OpenText xECM?

There are various sync jobs available in xECM that flow information from SuccessFactors to xECM.
The jobs include-

1. User Sync Job


2. Create-update workspace Job


3. Permission Sync job


4. Group Sync Job

 

How role-based permissions (RBP) are managed in xECM?

xECM has primarily has 3 functional rights i.e. roles-

1. Employee


2. Manager


3. HR_Administrator

While the first two are self-explanatory, the 3^rd one- HR administrator role is interesting. Business processes often contain multiple types of administrators and different target populations. As there’s only one role- HR administrator- in xECM, you may wonder how it could serve the purpose?
The answer is in the design of the product. SuccessFactors and OpenText developers have wisely provided a configuration- ‘HR Functional Rights’.

Here you can map multiple permission roles of SuccessFactors to the single functional right HR_Administrator.

The ‘Granted’ and ‘Target’ permission groups of SuccessFactors synchronize with OpenText xECM ensuring the correct administrator gets access to the documents of employee.

SuccessFactors Roles and Groups setup

Role Mapping: SuccessFactors to xECM

 

How can we provided read-only access for some users in central workspace?

The recommended permissions for HR_Administrator in xECM is ‘See’ and ‘See content’ which ensures read-only access. Further, there’s a configuration called ‘Perspective Manager’ which basically controls the screen layout and widgets for the user. You need to ensure that there’s Central Workspace widget i.e. folder structure-document explorer selected. The target users will be picked up from the Leading application- SuccessFactors.

 

How can we provide Edit access to central workspace?

In ‘Perspective Manager’, you have an option to select ‘File Upload’ widget which will allow the users to upload documents in central workspace.

 

How deletion of documents works in central workspace?

The documents directly uploaded in the central workspace can be deleted using the ‘delete workflow’. The approval is optional. However, this option ensures that the person using this option has permissions to delete the document.

SuccessFactors and OpenText xECM both allow document generation facility. How to use them?

Even if OpenText provides document generation facility, it’ recommended to use SuccessFactors’ document generation whenever the module offers it. For example, Offer letter generation can be done from both products; but creating it from SF-RCM module ensures seamless process in recruitment module.
If you generate the offer letter from OpenText xECM, it will not sync with SuccessFactors RCM module (at least today.)

Hence, utilize the document generation feature from OpenText when there’s no option in SuccessFactors process or no need to integrate the file back to SuccessFactors module. For example, work contract document.

Which Business Object Types are supported in xECM?

There are 4 business object types from SuccessFactors that are supported in xECM for document storage.

1. Person


2. Candidate


3. User


4. Onboardee

Supported Business Types

Are there any pre-defined document categories in SuccessFactors? If yes, what are those?

There are predefined document categories which get enabled based on the SuccessFactors modules and countries you enable. Below table lists some samples.

Document Entity	Document Category ID	Document Category Name
Candidate	BACKGROUND_CHECK	Background Check
Candidate	CANDIDATE_HISTORY	Candidate History
Candidate	COVER_LETTER	Cover Letter
Candidate	GEN_ATTACHMENT	General
Candidate	PROFILE_ATTACHMENT	Profile
Candidate	RESUME	Resume
Onboardee	ADMINISTRATIVE	Administrative
Onboardee	CUSTOM_NEW_HIRE_DOCUMENT	Custom New Hire
Onboardee	POLICY_AGREEMENT	Policy Agreement
Person	PERSON_INFO	Biographical Information
Person	PERSON_RELATIONSHIP	Dependents
Person	GENERAL_COMPLIANCE_DOCS_PERSON	General Compliance Documents
Person	HOME_ADDRESS	Home Address
Person	NATIONAL_ID	National ID Information
Person	USA_OTHER_COMPLIANCE_DOCS	Other USA Compliance Documents
Person	PERSONAL_INFORMATION	Personal Information
Person	SUPPORTING_DOCUMENTS	Supporting Documents
Person	USA_E_VERIFY	USA E-Verify Forms
Person	USA_I9	USA I9 Forms
User	AUSTRALIA_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	Australia Compliance Forms
User	CANADA_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	Canada Compliance Forms
User	COMPLIANCE	Compliance
User	CPM_ACTIVITY_ATTACHMENTS	Continuous Performance Management Activity Attachments
User	CUSTOM_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	Custom Compliance Forms
User	DEFAULT	Default
User	EMPLOYEE_TIME	Employee Time
User	JOB_INFO	Job Information
User	MENTOR_APPLICATION_ATTACH	Mentor Application
User	MIGRATED	Migrated
User	NEWZEALAND_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	New Zealand Compliance forms
User	OPPORTUNITY_MARKETPLACE_ASSIGNMENT	Opportunity Marketplace Assignment
User	PERFORMANCE_REVIEW	Performance Review
User	TIME_ACCOUNT_PAYOUT	Time Account Payout
User	TRANSCRIPT_CERTIFICATE_ATTACH	Transcript Certificate
User	UK_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	UK Compliance Forms
User	USA_ADDITIONAL_TAX_FORMS	USA Additional Tax Forms
User	USA_COMPLIANCE_FORMS	USA Compliance forms
User	USA_WTPA_FORMS	USA Wage Theft Protection Act Forms
User	USA_WITHHOLDING_FORMS	USA Withholding Forms
User	WORK_ORDER	Work Order
User	WORK_PERMIT	Work Permit Information

 

There are some pre-defined document categories in SuccessFactors which are stored in OpenText CMIS repository but do not have supported entities and hence can stored under ‘Native documents’ folder.
Below table shows such document categories.

Document Entity	Document Category ID	Document Category Name
Calibration Session	CALIBRATION_SESSION	Calibration Session
Company	BENEFITS	Benefits
Company	IMAGES	Images
Company	POLICY	Policy
Job Application Interview	EMAIL	Email
Job Application Interview	INTERVIEW	Interview
Job Requisition	MISC	MISC
Job Requisition	REQ_ATTACHMENT	Requisition
Library	APP_ATTACHMENT	Application
Library	CANDIDATE	Candidate
Library	JOB_OFFER_ATTACH	Job Offer
Library	OFFER_LETTER	Offer Letter
Offer Letter	OFFER_ATTACHMENT	Offer

 

Preparation for implementation

If you have decided to implement SAP SuccessFactors xECM by OpenText in integrated form with SuccessFactors, you need to consider below points-

1. Certification- OpenText will validate the certification in the xECM product before a consultant can initiate configuration. This is like what SAP does when a consultant requests provisioning access to implement SF modules.
   Ensure your selected partner holds the Extended ECM for SAP SuccessFactors Cloud Policy Compliant Practitioner credential which is mandatory for all OpenText Cloud practitioners.


2. Product License- As a customer you can procure the xECM product license directly from OpenText or SAP could resell them to you when they provide you SuccessFactors licenses.


3. Getting started- You (IT-contact) will receive a confirmation email from OpenText that the solution is ready to go, along with tenant details and access instructions.
   There will be an OpenText onboarding manager who will accompany you throughout the implementation journey ensuring that you get the necessary support.


4. Implementation- For implementation work, you may go for OpenText Professional Services or select a certified implementation partner. Email partners@opentext.com for a list of certified implementation partners.


5. Preparation- If you already have any document management system; and are looking to migrate over to SAP SuccessFactors xECM by OpenText, then you can prepare a template with information- Document Category/Type, Folder to host the document.
   If you are going for a greenfield implementation, then it’s recommended to look for a ‘global approach’ to define folder structure that appears in Central Workspace unless there’s absolute necessity to have a different folder structure by region or country.

Useful links

1. Guided Experience- There’s a guided experience of OpenText product functionalities here. The experience is crated for Version 21.2 but holds relevant information even today (version 23.3- September 2023).


2. Product Documentation- OpenText hosts product information, customizing guide and user guides on their support portal.
   

I hope this information helps you understand what SAP SuccessFactors xECM by OpenText solution offers and prepare better for the implementation.

Feedback is always welcome!

Keep Learning And Keep Sharing!