Upgrading to Latest Goal Management – Cycle Planning & Preparedness – Best Practice Approach

[VanessaLi]

Target Audience

Customers using Goals/Group Goals in legacy version of Goals Management who need to continue using the same existing goal plan template in the latest version of Goal Management (Reimagined Goals UI), as oppose to uploading/creating a new template for a new goal cycle to start fresh.

Why now?

You may have seen article: https://groups.community.sap.com/t5/product-and-customer-updates/plans-underway-to-make-latest-versi... that we have plans to Universal Push all customers to latest version of Goal Management in 2H 2024. Therefore it will eventually become inevitable that you have to review how this upgrade impacts to existing templates. We highly recommend you plan your upgrade before we universal push to reduce disruption of your goal cycle to a minimum.

Disclaimer

We always recommend starting a new template when upgrade to latest version of Goal Management.

Most customers create new goal plans every year. A customer wanting to roll out latest version of Goals Management in the middle of the year has to be dealt with caution.

Please understand that reimagined goals is NOT just a user interface upgrade. It introduces new functionality and new ways of working (integration to CPM, OKR, etc). It is not, and was never intended to be a flip of the switch upgrade. Customers with very simple configurations will have very small impacts, however customers with more complex processes will certainly need to be more thoughtful when they move to the new version.

Read on if you still want to use the same goal plan template in the latest version of Goal Management. 

Scenarios and Best Practices

Scenario 1:

You are using a 2023 goal plan template right now and want to upgrade to latest version of Goal Management in 2024 year using a different goal plan template.

Best Practice:

This should be the easiest scenario.

• Finish off the 2023 goal cycle in legacy goals
• Upgrade to latest version of goals
• Create a new template for 2024 goal plan
• Done!

Scenario 2:

You are using a 2023 goal plan template right now and want to upgrade to latest version of Goal Management in the middle of this goal cycle year using the same goal plan template. You don't have group goals created in that old template.

Best Practice:

• Read about the overview of latest version here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_PERFORMANCE_AND_GOALS/4a24e48b5c384b18a81f6b661305021e/... make sure you are well aware of its reduced scope, limitations and changes to goal plan templates
• Proceed to upgrade to latest version of goals
• Convert the existing template so that this 2023 goal plan template can continue to be used in latest version, the integration with other modules like Performance Form, 360 Forms should stay intact. (If you do not convert, this template will be in read only mode and cannot allow any changes to data, so you must convert templates here). Read more about converting templates here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_PERFORMANCE_AND_GOALS/4a24e48b5c384b18a81f6b661305021e/... 

Scenario 3:

You are using a 2023 goal plan template right now and want to upgrade to latest version of Goal Management in the middle of this goal cycle year using the same goal plan template. You have group goals created in that old template.

Best Practice:

• Read about the overview of latest version here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_PERFORMANCE_AND_GOALS/4a24e48b5c384b18a81f6b661305021e/... make sure you are well aware of its reduced scope, limitations and changes to goal plan templates
• Proceed to upgrade to latest version of goals
• You CANNOT convert templates containing Group Goals in them, this is not supported due to its complications and disruptions it will cause to ongoing Performance Forms.
• You MUST create a new template after you upgrade to latest version of Goal Management, hence taking us back to Scenario 1.

Scenario 4:

You have overlapping cycles – the 2023 goal plan will be left open for 2-3 months whilst the reviews happen (often via a Performance Form) and final changes are made, and the 2024 goal plan is already opened for the new year.

Best Practice:

• Continue with the old cycle, the 2023 goal plan in legacy goals and finish that off
• At the same time, go ahead with creating a new goal cycle 2024 goal plan still in legacy goals (but don’t create group goals for the new cycle yet, you can create Team Goals though, this is to prepare for the future template conversion)
• After old cycle is completed, now upgrade to latest version of goals
• Convert existing 2024 goal plan (this should work due to no group goals being present), read more about how to convert here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_PERFORMANCE_AND_GOALS/4a24e48b5c384b18a81f6b661305021e/... 
• At this point the old 2023 goal plan would have finished and will be in read only mode once you are upgraded to latest version of goal management, so you don't need to keep maintaining and changing the data in it. Continuing using new 2024 goal plan in latest goals, and integration with Performance Forms will also stay intact

Scenario 5:

You are using a 2023 goal plan template right now and want to upgrade to latest version of Goal Management in the middle of this goal cycle year using the same goal plan template. You have group goals created in that old template, but you still want to find a way to continue using the group goals you already created.

Best Practice:

• Before you upgrade to Latest Goal Management, first export those group goals into an Excel csv file to save as a backup copy, making a note of which goal IDs are master/source goals, and which goal IDs are assigned/child group goals. This is used for later.
• Now remove/delete those group goals using the Beta Goal Import tool in Admin Centre
• Then upgrade to Latest Goal Management
• Immediately convert your 2023 goal plan (now without group goals)
• Import the backup csv file into the converted goal plan using the admin tool Import Performance Goals
  • Here you need to first identify the master/source group goals you made a note of earlier and import those using Action ADD.
  • Now you need to use Action ASSIGN to assign them as child Team Goals into the newly converted goal plan
• Now you should have successfully transferred the group goals from the Legacy version into team goals in the Latest version.

Leave a comment to any questions and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

[burcukaya]

Hi,

I have a question about Universal Push,
We are planning the use Goal Plan in Legacy Version on 2024 January and also we're planning to have group goal in those goal plan.(As we checked the all document about Latest GM, we understand that,Group Goal is not gonna be supported in Latest GM.)As you mentioned, you will force to universal  for Latest Goal Management in 2h 2024. Is this a problem for us? Because we will have a legacy goal plan and we will have group goal , also we will have opened forms etc.
Does this affect the ongoing process ?

Thanks for your attention,

Best,

[CarsonWongIVC]

@burcukaya I believe you (as well as all existing customers) will be impacted. I personally suggest you to adopt the latest GM from day 1 so that your users will not be confused on the UI/Feature changes.

By checking the SAP help document, there are a lot of limitations (eg. not support SMART goal, group goal, link/align goal, print goals, layout configuration, tasks/targets table, category-level goal count/weight, etc) which some may be supported in later releases but some may not. There are not much info on it.

[VanessaLi]

@burcukaya  sorry for missing your message. Yes, having group goals in the Legacy version will mean that you will no longer be able to use them or convert them in the Latest version anymore (cannot update or change data, you will still be able to view them). I highly suggested that you directly move to Latest version right now for your new goal cycle.

[CarsonWongIVC]

Hi @VanessaLi,

I found some useful functions are not supported in current release, wonder if you have any 'insider' news those will be really faded out or back in later releases:

1. Goal Plan Layout (layout configuration)
2. Print Goal / Goal Plan
3. Link Goal
4. Goal Count and Goal Weight on Goal Category
5. Tasks table and Targets table

Thanks,

Carson

[VanessaLi]

@CarsonWongIVC 

1. Goal Plan Layout (layout configuration)
   1. no longer supported. As we have a 'card' layout display, the traditional layout configuration for list view will be deprecated.
2. Print Goal / Goal Plan
   1. this will be supported in the 2H 2023 with limitations to the content being able to be printed (do not support printing of CPM activities and Learning Activities)
3. Link Goal
   1. due to low usage in our customers (data analysis has been made), we will no longer be supporting this.
4. Goal Count and Goal Weight on Goal Category
   1. customers can raise enhancement request for this but this is not planned in the near term.
5. Tasks table and Targets table
   1. this is replaced by Milestones table which should be able to cover similar functionalities as the target and tasks table.

[CarsonWongIVC]

Thanks @VanessaLi for your quick reply. Appreciated that.

It is fine for 1-4 and point 5 may be required for customers who are using several tables for different purposes. They will have to redefine the goal structure.

[CSwartz]

Hello,

@VanessaLi - I noticed Custom Learning Activities are no longer supported, are there any plans in future releases to enable this?

Thanks,
Carrie

[Karen_Slate]

With the upgrade to the new Goal Module, we are requesting that the goal detail area character limit is changed from 500 to 2000 characters.  It currently only allows 500 characters (including spaces).  This causes an issue when you convert your prior templates over to this new Goal Module.  If people had more than 500 characters on their original goal plan  itself, it basically cuts off the text at exactly 500 characters.  This seems like a bug that needs to be corrected before we go live with this upgrade.  Thanks!

[Alex7]

Hi, we are using both tables - Milestone and Tasks. For us, it is very important to still have the Tasks table because it is not possible to add the Milestone table twice in the template. @VanessaLi  , what you can recommend for us?

[VanessaLi]

@CSwartz Custom Learning Activities will be supported as of the 2H 2023 release. Please monitor our help guide change history.

[VanessaLi]

@Karen_Slate Goal description will be raised from 1000 to 2000 characters as of 2H 2023 release. Goal name however will remain unchanged at 500 characters. This is because of the current design architecture we have for goals where it does not allow many characters to be displayed on the UI (card view, header section).

[wens]

Hi, employees have input custom learning activities in their development plan earlier this year. Will the upgrade to latest goal management discard those custom learning activities? Thanks.

[VanessaLi]

@wens custom learning activities will be supported in this upcoming 2H 2023 release.

[EMO]

I just moved to the new goal format, and need to convert so that my employees can edit current goals and add new goals to finish their ongoing PM form. Unfortunately, we also have group goals, which were not migrated before we changed to the new format, and now are not able to convert to the new format, so my employees are not able to correctly update their goals from last year to finish the PM form. Are there any work arounds for this? I have raised the question but am not getting any satisfactory responses. Thanks!

[EMO]

This comment goes with my comment above :  Vanessa (? I believe) mentioned when I was attending the webinar today on November 2023 2H Release - Talent Management Release Q&A (Performance and Goals, Succession & Development, Opportunity Marketplace), that I should ask my question in this blog.  I wish that I had attended this webinar before, but I didn't so now Im in a catch 22 situation.  Can't give edit / create access but can't convert either, because it is too late.  I am excited about the new goal plan, however, and don't want the frustration with the PM form for my employees to overshadow how great the new goal plan is...  Thanks!  

[VanessaLi]

@EMO please evaluate Scenario 5 in the blog and see if it helps?

[Ericson_Cardozo]

Hi There Vanessa

We have Group Goals in our 2022 objectives (as part of PM form) and those are completed now. When the universal push is done in 2H 2024 without option to opt-out, will that plan too change and group goals be gone from that. Or that will be in Read only state and still have all the information as is (including Group Goals).

Please advise as I need to set expectation of my business users accordingly.

Thanks in advance

[VanessaLi]

@Ericson_Cardozo Group goals will be in Read only mode.