SAP SuccessFactors Know-How: A booster for Centric Employee File

CH Media had already been working with an electronic personnel file for some time; it was part of the previous personnel administration software from a third-party provider. In contrast, the company processed salary payments with SAP HCM. SAP's cloud strategy and the fact that there were redundancies between the two systems led to the decision to rely on SAP SuccessFactors in future. The modules in use are SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central (EC), SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (ECP), SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding and SAP SuccessFactors EC Time Tracking.

For the HR department, it was their first time working with SAP, as the payroll team with SAP HCM is based at CH Media's finance department. Now both teams are working with the same system.

The project started in August 2023; in June 2024, SAP SuccessFactors and Centric Employee File went live in parallel. Centric took over the data structure from the previous personnel file solution and migrated the existing dossiers. The implementation of Centric Employee File would have been possible even earlier, but Centric was guided by the SAP SuccessFactors implementation schedule.

Full-text search and template management as USPs of Centric Employee File

Barbara Müller, project team member and now Senior HR Systems Manager at CH Media: “The provider did a convincing job of coordination together with the project team and SuccessFactors implementation partner. The latter had initially suggested various providers to us when selecting a file solution that would correspond with SuccessFactors.

With Centric, we found the text search particularly exciting. You can search for a word in all documents, even across files. What we liked about Document Builder was the maintenance and management of the templates, which are very easy to handle compared to other products.”

Other customers testify to smooth cooperation with Centric

The information provided by reference customers was particularly informative for Barbara Müller and her project team. They all described the collaboration with Centric as uncomplicated. “The members of the Centric project team were available as agreed,” reports Sandra Wittmer, who accompanied the project as an independent HR consultant and HR project manager.

“They were always immediately available and all timelines were adhered to. This is how uncomplicated, efficient collaboration should work.”

The HR department creates new documents with the Centric Document Builder, and the finished documents can then be filed directly in the personnel file. Or someone uploads a document during onboarding.

Automatic synchronization between SAP SuccessFactors and personnel files

The documents are generally only saved in SAP SuccessFactors; however, as they are required in the file, Centric has created a synchronization function that retrieves the file from SAP SuccessFactors.

To really put the document generator through its paces, the project team at CH Media selected some particularly difficult templates. These included requests for further training, including the reimbursement of costs. Or employment contracts: each with different text modules, depending on the management level. The logos of the media company's various brands also have to be integrated into them and the corresponding listings or attachments have to be included if a certain sentence is included

30 Document templates have already been created

The more text modules and combinations, the more complex the template. Centric provided support for the first of these document templates, but HR Services colleagues quickly learned how to generate them themselves. There are now 30 templates, in German and French. When a new document is created, the current master data is transferred directly from SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors and the finished documents are stored in the personnel files.

Centric Solutions are reducing operational costs

As a service department, Human Resources is under constant cost pressure. In view of this, tools like those provided by Centric are key levers for reducing operational expenditure in the individual HR departments. “We’ve seen how much Centric reduces the likelihood of errors, and on the other hand, we have seen a massive reduction in manual effort,” says Merten Klocke.

Take an employment contract, for example – it used to be typed out in Word, taking up to half an hour. Today, it can be created automatically in just a few minutes. As part of cost-cutting measures and strategies, Document Builder is now a central part of DEUTZ's HR strategy. Along with the digital employee file, it will become even more important in the coming years.

Workflows based on the file have been set up for the reimbursement of training costs, for example. “A colleague from the specialist team was amazed at how easily and quickly this works,” says Sandra Wittmer. The person in question opens the tile, uploads the document and with one more click the matter is done for them. The end user is told what to fill in. Previously, they had to scan the application document, send it by e-mail and first find the correct addressee. The new application process benefits end users in particular, but also HR employees. Barbara Müller: “They no longer have to forward anything, transfer data by hand, etc.,” she says. The time saved for them in this process alone is between 30 and 50 percent - a leap in efficiency.”

Further time savings result from the automated filing of documents in the personnel file after a process has passed through the various stations in the workflow and has been signed by Docusign in each case.

each time.CH Media uses electronic signatures with Docusign for various HR processes, such as the conclusion of an employment contract - which in Switzerland is usually concluded in writing.

Automated workflows, easier document creation, transparent filing and a jump to Payroll - at CH Media, the combination of SAP SuccessFactors and Centric products has proven itself from day one.