The legacy SAP Community allowed members to earn karma points and badges by completing missions and acting productively (and positively!).
In the new platform, we’re moving away from points and missions, but we're still rewarding members for their behavior. In fact, on top of the ability to get badges, members can receive special privileges by moving up the community rank ladder. In addition, your past will have a bearing on the rank ladder, and you won't lose any old badges.
If you're already an active community member, you likely earned many badges on previous platforms. As covered in the What's New post about the new profile, you'll be able to view (and show off) all your badges -- including legacy badges -- from the new "My content" section.
On the right side of that page (beneath the navigation), you'll see a snapshot of the five latest badges that you've earned.
If you don't have five, you'll see the most current badges available. They'll remain grayed out until you earn them -- so make sure you take the necessary actions to add to your achievements!
Clicking "View all badges" takes you to a page showing everything you've earned -- including badges from the previous platforms. Again, a grayed-out badge indicates one that is available but not earned:
Not sure what you did-- or need to do -- to earn a badge? Just click the badge, and you'll get a description. For example, if the steps necessary for the "First Reply" and "First Kudo Received" badges aren't self-explanatory…
…you can check with a simple click on the badges:
You can follow the same steps to view other members' badges. Each badge will also show when it was received and how many members earned it -- indicating the rarity of each.
At launch, we'll introduce six new platform-specific badges -- some of which you can probably get almost immediately.
Easy enough, right? Maybe too easy? Well if you're after a challenge, take the time to complete the new Tour the SAP Community 2024 tutorial. We've updated this annual tutorial to reflect our community's new home, plus, if you're new to SAP Community and want to participate in blogging, you'll need to complete this tutorial before you can submit blog posts. (You can learn more in the What's New post about blogging.)
You can usually earn a badge through a specific action, but the rank ladders track progress for ongoing activities. You climb the ladder as you make valuable contributions and engage positively with other members. You'll advance when you receive good feedback (e.g., kudos and accepted solutions), participate in threads, finish our (previously mentioned) tutorial, and so on. Blogging, joining and starting conversations, and answering questions all provide a path to rise the ranks, so you can focus on the areas that you enjoy the most. And as you move up, you can even unlock unique privileges!
The community will have two rank ladders: one for SAP employees, one for other members.
The rank ladder for non-employees includes these levels, achieved in this order (although, as I'll explain in a moment, some of the "Active" ranks are practically parallel):
- Member
- Newcomer
- Discoverer
- Explorer
- Participant
- Active Participant
- Contributor
- Active Contributor
- Collaborator
- Active Collaborator
- Advocate
(There's also an SAP SuccessFactors Customer Alumni rank, but that's assigned manually for specific circumstances that don't apply to the majority of members, so I won't get into that here.)
You'll receive notifications when you go up a rank, and upon reaching some levels, you may be granted special permissions. For example, at the Active Contributor rank, you'll be able to accept or retract solutions for questions -- because, at that level, you'll have demonstrated a keen understanding of the community, Q&A, and SAP solutions. Also, around the Contributor/Participant/Collaborator levels, you can begin to specialize, as we know some people might prefer Q&A to blogging (and vice versa), so you can move in a direction that appeals to you and still move up.
To be clear: The entire community won't be starting at the lowest rank -- although, during the migration period of January 16 to 23, all SAP employees will show up as the Employee rank, whereas other members will have the Member rank. Once the migration ends and the SAP Community platform is no longer read-only, the real ranks will appear. If you're a community veteran, we'll be weighing your contributions, considering your behavior, and starting you at the rank you deserve for your previous participation.
The rank ladder for SAP employees ascends in this order, and we'll be sharing the associated privileges internally:
- Employee
- Associate
- Advisor
- Product and Topic Expert
As you explore SAP Community, you may notice some SAP employees with ranks not on that list. Those ranks can't be earned -- they just indicate the employee's position. For example, Community Manager is reserved for members of the SAP Community operations team (such as moderators and yours truly), so if you see that rank below a member name in the platform, know that that person is available to assist you with any questions, comments, or concerns about SAP Community!
You'll find a member's rank associated with his or her name wherever it appears in the platform -- on his or her "About" page, beneath a byline on posts, etc. For example, did you know I have a doppelganger in the staging system? (Fun fact: A German colleague once wanted to use that term in an email to me, but she didn't realize we use the same exact German word in English -- so she typed it as the literal English translation of "double-goer." Sorry, I digress…)
Anyway, jerryjanda isn't an SAP employee, and he's not active in the community -- because, let's face it, he's not as cool as I am. So he's at the Newcomer level…
As you probably noticed, jerryjanda has plenty of room to grow in SAP Community (Staging). Whether you are new to the community or have been around for years, you'll find opportunities to advance up the ladder. We can even add rungs if enough members reach the top, and we can take into account important activities outside of the platform -- such as organizing (and speaking at) events -- because a truly vibrant community extends beyond community.sap.com.
One day, the elite members who work hard enough to scale the ladder may find themselves invited into exclusive areas of the community site. They may even get nominated automatically for our SAP Champions program!
The key is contributing quality, not to find quick workarounds to cheat your way up the ranks. This new gamification system is meant to motivate you, recognize you, and thank you for being the type of member who makes SAP Community better. Participate often, act kindly to other members, and the top rungs will be well within reach.
The more you do, the further you'll go -- with our appreciation!
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