We are in the third quarter of 2021, almost two years after the first onset of COVID, but the pandemic continues to affect lives globally! Across the world, fears about the delta variant are leading more businesses, schools, and travel destinations to require vaccination. Regulations and requirements around the COVID Vaccine are constantly shifting everywhere in the world, and employers are figuring out how to stay on top of the situation. Employers, businesses, and governments ask you to prove your vaccination status, a profoundly personal and political subject in some countries and states.
SAP had provided a simple custom MDF Object-based solution in 1H2021 Release: Health and Vaccine Portlet for our existing SuccessFactors customers to track and Health and Vaccine data as part of Return to Work/Office.
This blog will share use cases, and configuration steps to add the Vaccine Verification field my colleague jayakrishna.palakusi and I have prototyped in our demo instance.
One of the critical changes we have seen in the last six months is that many Governments have mandated Vaccines for Federal/State employees and have empowered Employers to track and validate employees' vaccine status. We have seen two common scenarios for vaccine validation :
- Many apps developed by various vendors are available to track vaccination status and aid during travel. E.g.in the Europe, EU Digital COVID Certificate.
- The EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation was entered into application on 01 July 2021. EU citizens and residents will now have their Digital COVID Certificates issued and verified across the EU.
Taking these recent global changes into account, in this blog, we are providing steps to create an attachment field for employees to attach vaccine cards or documents, verification fields, and related workflows/notifications in the existing Health & Vaccine Portlet.
Note: The Attachment field was not provided with the portlet when it was released first during 1H2021 because there was ambiguity over employers asking for vaccine cards. However, much has changed since then. Many health and work authorities such as EEOC and ADA in the US have revised and supplemented their original vaccine-related mandates.
The Vaccine Validation process in SuccessFactors is manual, i.e., to be done by one of the HR Admins after an employee provides proof of vaccination.
I want to recap that the Health and Vaccine Portlet in SuccessFactors is a Custom MDF Object; this is not a new product from the SuccessFactors HXM Suite.
Vaccine-related requirements are evolving rapidly and are very different for every organization: based on the type of business and where they are located. Keeping these crucial points in mind, we have provided a quick and effective method for our existing SuccessFactors customers to track such information.
The delivered Health and Vaccine Portlet is a template that customers can use as-is or enhance to fit their specific requirements. To learn more about why we went with the MDF Custom object approach and more details about the portlet, visit my Blog - Health and Vaccine Status Tracking Block/Portlet in SuccessFactors.
Figure-1 shows the design steps of our current prototype. We came up with these fields after talking to many of our existing customers based on common requirements. You can add more Fields, Workflow, Business Rules, and Notifications as per your specific needs.
You can access the detailed Configuration Guide to configure and add the above fields in the Health & Vaccine Portlet: Health and Vaccine Portlet Configuration Guide. The Vaccine Verification-related configuration starts from Page 32.
After completing all configurations, the COVID Vaccine Sub-tab in the Health and Vaccine Portlet looks like Figure 2. In this example, the Employee's Vaccine Status = Fully Vaccinated.
Figure 2- Vaccine Verification Fields
Employees can upload COVID Vaccine Card via Desktop or through a mobile app (iOS or Android) if SuccessFactors App is enabled and Employer uses SuccessFactors Mobile functionality.
Figure 3 shows that employees can go to Health and Vaccine Status Tab in People Profile from desktop/laptop login and upload a scanned and saved picture of the COVID Card.
Employees can upload either a .PDF or .JPG or. PNG image of the COVID card.
Vaccine Cards or Documents are sensitive medical records. If an employee chooses not to save the Card image on their desktop/laptop, they can directly take a picture from the SuccessFactors app and upload it to the portlet.
The advantage of a custom MDF Object is that you can enhance and modify it as needed. You could add more fields, workflows, notifications, etc., to track and report your employees' Health and Vaccine status. The fields in Custom MDF Objects are reportable and can also be used in Integration Center (IC) for Integration purposes.
If you wish to enhance the Health Status tab, you could use similar configuration steps and include an attachment field to store Negative COVID Test results. You could also add a new date field in the Vaccine tab to track Booster dates.
There are lots of possibilities to expand and enhance the portlet for Return to Office/Work planning. However, we suggest you work closely with your Legal and Compliance team to ensure any fields you are planning to add are within the purview of your Corporate and Local/Federal Compliance policy.
Related Blog : Health and Vaccine Status Tracking Block/Portlet in SuccessFactors People Profile
and Collecting Vaccine Data from Onboardee with SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding
***************************
SAP had provided a simple custom MDF Object-based solution in 1H2021 Release: Health and Vaccine Portlet for our existing SuccessFactors customers to track and Health and Vaccine data as part of Return to Work/Office.
This blog will share use cases, and configuration steps to add the Vaccine Verification field my colleague jayakrishna.palakusi and I have prototyped in our demo instance.
First, an important disclaimer: SAP is not providing any COVID Vaccine-related legal advice for our customers. We are simply showing how you can utilize SAP SuccessFactors to manage and track Vaccine validation-related requirements if it's permissible by local/federal authorities to do so in the location of your business !
Employee Vaccine Validation
One of the critical changes we have seen in the last six months is that many Governments have mandated Vaccines for Federal/State employees and have empowered Employers to track and validate employees' vaccine status. We have seen two common scenarios for vaccine validation :
- By Providing a Vaccine document
- Employers may ask employees to submit proof of vaccination; preferably, a copy of the card/document received post-vaccination. E.g., in the US, CDC provides a small white vaccine card.
- Via Mobile Apps with QR Code
- Many apps developed by various vendors are available to track vaccination status and aid during travel. E.g.in the Europe, EU Digital COVID Certificate.
- The EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation was entered into application on 01 July 2021. EU citizens and residents will now have their Digital COVID Certificates issued and verified across the EU.
Taking these recent global changes into account, in this blog, we are providing steps to create an attachment field for employees to attach vaccine cards or documents, verification fields, and related workflows/notifications in the existing Health & Vaccine Portlet.
Note: The Attachment field was not provided with the portlet when it was released first during 1H2021 because there was ambiguity over employers asking for vaccine cards. However, much has changed since then. Many health and work authorities such as EEOC and ADA in the US have revised and supplemented their original vaccine-related mandates.
Although the US EEO laws themselves do not prevent employers from requiring employees to bring in documentation or other vaccination confirmation, this information must be kept confidential under the ADA, like all medical information. Please refer to the EEOC site for more details.
Vaccine Verification Fields in SuccessFactors Portlet
The Vaccine Validation process in SuccessFactors is manual, i.e., to be done by one of the HR Admins after an employee provides proof of vaccination.
The steps provided in this blog about Vaccine Validation and Vaccine Card attachment will not be available as a solution to download from Upgrade Center. We have provided the design details and a configuration guide in this blog. If a customer has an HRIS team, they can follow these steps to add these enhancements or work with a Partner or SAP Professional Services team.
Please don't raise a SAP Support Ticket requesting to add these new enhancements.
I want to recap that the Health and Vaccine Portlet in SuccessFactors is a Custom MDF Object; this is not a new product from the SuccessFactors HXM Suite.
Vaccine-related requirements are evolving rapidly and are very different for every organization: based on the type of business and where they are located. Keeping these crucial points in mind, we have provided a quick and effective method for our existing SuccessFactors customers to track such information.
The delivered Health and Vaccine Portlet is a template that customers can use as-is or enhance to fit their specific requirements. To learn more about why we went with the MDF Custom object approach and more details about the portlet, visit my Blog - Health and Vaccine Status Tracking Block/Portlet in SuccessFactors.
Prerequisites to enable Vaccine Verification Fields
- Employee Central and Role-Based Permissions (RBP) must be enabled and implemented to configure the Vaccine Validation fields.
- The SuccessFactors Health and Vaccine Portlet has already been enabled and implemented in the customer instance.
Design - Vaccine Verification Process
Figure-1 shows the design steps of our current prototype. We came up with these fields after talking to many of our existing customers based on common requirements. You can add more Fields, Workflow, Business Rules, and Notifications as per your specific needs.
Figure 1- Vaccine Verification Process in Health and Vaccine Portlet
- For Vaccine Validation purposes, you could add four new fields to the Vaccine Tracking sub-portlet
- COVID Vaccine Card (Attachment field)
- Vaccine Card Verified = (Dropdown values Yes/No)
- Vaccine Card Verified By:
- Vaccine Card Verified On:
- These new fields are visible to employees when the Vaccine Status = Fully Vaccinated
- Trigger a notification to the employee, asking them to upload their Vaccine Card when Vaccine Status= Fully Vaccinated.
- Employees must have Edit access to the COVID Vaccine Card field only. You may decide to give Employee's View only access or no access to the remaining three fields.
- After Employee Uploads the Vaccine Card, an automatic configured Workflow is sent to the HRBP/ADMIN, assigned to the employee based on already configured dynamic group settings. The workflow process should work just like the existing workflow for other tasks.
- When HR admin receives the workflow, they will validate the vaccine card by opening the attachment and confirming the dosage dates entered by the employee, employee name, and Date of birth.
- After Successful Validation, HR admin changes the field Vaccine Card Verified = Yes, and Save the entries.
- Vaccine Status field changes to = Vaccine Verified
- Finally, a Notification email is sent to the employee and Employee's Manager confirming the employee's vaccine validation is complete, without any actual vaccine-related data: Sample text in our demo system: Congratulations! The HR team has validated your Vaccine Card. We appreciate and respect your efforts to keep the workplace safe!
Design Suggestions for Role-Based Permission (RBP)
- Employees must have access to the Vaccine Card attachment field
- You could give View access to Employees for the remaining fields, i.e., if their Vaccine Card was verified, Verified by, and Date of verification.
- Managers must not have access to the COVID Vaccine Card/Doc attachment field of Employees. But they may have View access to the remaining three fields for their direct reports. You can also decide not to give access to any of the Vaccine Verification fields to managers.
- HR Admins/HRBPs must have Edit access to the Vaccine Card Verified/Verified By/Verified On the field and View access to the COVID Vaccine Card Field.
Configuration Guide
You can access the detailed Configuration Guide to configure and add the above fields in the Health & Vaccine Portlet: Health and Vaccine Portlet Configuration Guide. The Vaccine Verification-related configuration starts from Page 32.
Please note that this configuration guide is intended for customers or consultants already familiar with Employee Central configuration and Admin Center activities, e.g. Configure Object Definition transaction, configuring workflows and templates, working with Business Rules. This configuration guide is not meant to teach basic Employee Central configurations.
How it works?
1. Employee Step - Attachment Upload via Desktop and Mobile
After completing all configurations, the COVID Vaccine Sub-tab in the Health and Vaccine Portlet looks like Figure 2. In this example, the Employee's Vaccine Status = Fully Vaccinated.
Figure 2- Vaccine Verification Fields
- Customers can change the label of these fields if needed.
Employees can upload COVID Vaccine Card via Desktop or through a mobile app (iOS or Android) if SuccessFactors App is enabled and Employer uses SuccessFactors Mobile functionality.
1.1 Uploading via Desktop
Figure 3 shows that employees can go to Health and Vaccine Status Tab in People Profile from desktop/laptop login and upload a scanned and saved picture of the COVID Card.
Employees can upload either a .PDF or .JPG or. PNG image of the COVID card.
1.2 Uploading via Mobile (iOS or Android)
Vaccine Cards or Documents are sensitive medical records. If an employee chooses not to save the Card image on their desktop/laptop, they can directly take a picture from the SuccessFactors app and upload it to the portlet.
- Open SuccessFactors App with Mobile iOS/Android device and go to People Profile.
- Click on COVID 19 HEALTH and VACCINE STATUS tab and select Vaccine Status. You will see the Vaccine Status sub-tab. Scroll down to see the Vaccine Verification Fields
- Click on Upload, and the standard options open up. You could attach a picture of the Vaccine Card from your photo library or take a photo and upload it to the portlet directly.
- When you have completed the Upload, Click Save, and it will show you the workflow.
- The workflow is sent to the employee's HR Admin/HRBP as defined in the system based on your existing RBP settings for dynamic groups.
2. HR Admin Step - Verifying the Vaccine Card
- The employee has uploaded and saved the Vaccine Card under Health & Vaccine Portlet in People Profile either via Desktop or Mobile. In this example, Brian Paulsen uploaded his Vaccine card.
- When saving, he can see that the request is going to the HR Admin Group (assigned based on his department) for validation and approval.
- HR Admin Madison Franklin picks up the request and reviews the workflow details. The workflow will show in the To-Do Tile, just like other workflows. This is how the workflow looks like :
- Madison opens the attachment, verifies the vaccine card or document dates, and matches them with Brian's entries in the portlet. Madison also reviews Brian's First Name and Last name, a DOB maintained in People Profile, to confirm that it matches the card.
- Once done, she clicks on Update and changes the Vaccine Card Verified to Yes, enters her name and Date on the Verified By and Verified On the field.
- Madison Approves the request, and the workflow is completed. You can notice the Vaccination Status field changed from Fully Vaccinated to Fully Vaccinated-Verified.
3. Emp/Manager Notification - Vaccination Verified
- Employees can also see the same Update in the People Profile tab.
- You can configure a custom Notification for both Employee and Manager when the Vaccine Card is validated in the system. Here's an example of what we have configured:
Conclusion
The advantage of a custom MDF Object is that you can enhance and modify it as needed. You could add more fields, workflows, notifications, etc., to track and report your employees' Health and Vaccine status. The fields in Custom MDF Objects are reportable and can also be used in Integration Center (IC) for Integration purposes.
If you wish to enhance the Health Status tab, you could use similar configuration steps and include an attachment field to store Negative COVID Test results. You could also add a new date field in the Vaccine tab to track Booster dates.
There are lots of possibilities to expand and enhance the portlet for Return to Office/Work planning. However, we suggest you work closely with your Legal and Compliance team to ensure any fields you are planning to add are within the purview of your Corporate and Local/Federal Compliance policy.
Related Blog : Health and Vaccine Status Tracking Block/Portlet in SuccessFactors People Profile
and Collecting Vaccine Data from Onboardee with SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding
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