Best Practices for Preparing for a

SuccessFactors Succession
Management Implementation

Sharon Cook
hyperCision Inc.

Produced by Wellesley Information Services,

LLC, publisher of SAPinsider. © 2014 Wellesley
Information Services. All rights reserved.
In This Session

•  Uncover best practices for implementing SuccessFactors

Succession Management and look at functionalities available
within the module
•  Discuss current HR trends to consider
•  Determine what your implementation team should consist of
•  Discuss the benefits of using the Metadata Framework (MDF)
•  See a demo of Succession Management with MDF
•  Look at security specific to Succession Management
•  Cover the business strategies and details needed to layout a
successful succession planning program including key system
information that allow those plans to become operational

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The succession management team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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Introduction

•  For some companies, succession management is a strategic

process that minimizes leadership gaps for critical positions and
provides opportunities for top talent to develop the skills
necessary for future roles
•  Wikipedia says: Succession planning is a process for identifying
and developing internal people with the potential to fill key
business leadership positions in the company
s  Succession planning increases the availability of experienced
and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles
•  The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is identifying jobs
considered to be at the core of the organization – too critical to be
left vacant or filled by any but the best qualified persons – and
then creating a strategic plan to fill them with experienced and
capable employees
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Why Succession Now?

•  In “What’s in Store for HR in 2015?”, published in the January/

February issue of HR Magazine, Bersin wrote that many
organizations struggle to facilitate internal talent mobility
s  Fewer than one-third have formal succession plans for all but
the very top levels, according to research conducted by Bersin
by Deloitte and published in November 2014
•  With talent shortages being a critical factor in today’s economy
can we really afford to not look at the best pool of talent we have
today – our own employees?

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Where Does That Leave Your Organization?

•  What is your overall strategy?

•  Key roles to one organization may just mean executive or
leadership roles
•  Other organizations look at key roles from the sense that the role
is critical to the operation of the business; to the pharmacy chain
that might be pharmacists and to the mining company that might
be geologists
•  Identifying how Succession Management fits into your overall
operation is critical to define the strategy
•  Why is Talent Management not treated the same as putting
product out the shipping door – part of our everyday business
process?

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The succession management team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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 Trends

•  Employees don’t expect to spend a lifetime with an employer;

leaving when a better opportunity arises and returning again if
situations are right to do so
•  With visibility into the market place, individuals that possess “in
demand” skills and knowledge have ready access to employment
opportunities creating the need to make internal opportunities as
appealing
•  What impact do current trends play on your outlook for
succession planning and management?

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Human Capital Trends

•  If you already read “Global Human Capital Trends 2014 Engaging

the 21st-century workforce,” the information on the next three
slides will sound familiar
s  If you haven’t read the article by Jeff Schwartz, Josh Bersin,
and Bill Pelster, you can find it at:
http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/human-capital/
articles/human-capital-trends-2014.html
•  The results of the survey of 2500+ leaders in 90+ countries
highlights 12 critical trends for Human Capital
•  Trends fall into three categories:
s  Lead and Develop

s  Attract and Engage

s  Transform and Reinvent

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Lead and Develop

•  Leaders at all levels: Close the gap between hype and readiness
•  Corporate learning redefined: Prepare for a revolution
•  Performance management is broken: Replace “rank and yank”
with coaching and development
•  The quest for workforce capability: Create a global skills supply
chain

Source: Jeff Schwartz, Josh Bersin, and Bill Pelster , “Global Human Capital Trends 2014 Engaging the 21st-century workforce”

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Attract and Engage

•  Talent acquisition revisited: Deploy new approaches for the new

battlefield
•  Beyond retention: Build passion and purpose
•  From diversity to inclusion: Shift from compliance to diversity as
a business strategy
•  The overwhelmed employee: Simplify the work environment

Source: Jeff Schwartz, Josh Bersin, and Bill Pelster , “Global Human Capital Trends 2014 Engaging the 21st-century workforce”

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Transform and Reinvent

•  The reskilled HR team: Transform HR professionals into skilled

business consultants
•  Talent analytics in practice: Move from talking to delivering on big
data
•  Race to the cloud: Integrate talent, HR, and business technologies
•  The global and local HR function: Balance scale and agility

Source: Jeff Schwartz, Josh Bersin, and Bill Pelster , “Global Human Capital Trends 2014 Engaging the 21st-century workforce”

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 Trends Impacting Succession

•  The majority of companies today do not feel they do a good job of

developing global leaders. Defining what is needed to be a good
leader and the necessary steps require a strategy and a
commitment to a timeframe
•  Succession allows for the identification of key roles and
successors for those roles, perhaps the easier of the challenges
when an organization then looks at means to develop the
capabilities of the individual to be ready for their next role
•  Making information available for employees to help identify their
preferred career directions, providing career coaching to align
expectations and make available meaningful development
opportunities allowing high potentials and others to see a future
with their current employer
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 Trends Impacting Succession (cont.)

•  The alignment of performance programs to drive towards

company goals by informing employees, coaching individuals and
teams to be successful, and removing dread from this process
can go a long way in retaining the employees and grow skill sets
•  Succession planning is not a process that flourishes in a vacuum
s  Identification of succession needs, organization alignment,
getting the right resources, and developing in alignment with
the company direction and individual career goals all hold many
dependencies
•  Defining the right tools to support the interdependencies seems to
be the simpler step in the overall process but none the less critical
to make the program manageable and not a once or twice a year
effort that sits on the self until the next round
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Tactical Decisions of Succession Management

•  Who will allowed to determine successors?

•  Can managers identify their own successors? 
•  How will key positions be identified?
•  What attributes will support the succession planning process?
s  Risk of loss, impact of loss, successor readiness, etc.

•  Typically there are two means to identify successors:

s  Discrete position – Successors for a given position

s  Pool succession – A pool of potential successors is defined,

e.g., executives.  An existing job code is then associated with
this pool creating a pool of talent that will apply to all positions
with that given job code. 

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The Succession Management Team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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Given Strategy, Trends, and Tactics

•  Team participants should be represented from:

s  Leadership sponsorship/participation to set strategy and vision

s  Organization development and planning to put strategy and

vision to an operational plan
s  Management and key knowledge holders to identify critical
roles and skills
s  HR to provide guidance and tactical process – HR may need to
develop career coaching skills
s  Systems staff to implement and facilitate the succession tool

s  Change management, communications, training

s  Succession managers/administrators/process facilitators

s  Employee participation

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The Succession Management Team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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Succession and Development Is a Holistic Process
That Benefits the Entire Company
For  Managers  and  HR  Leaders  
ü  Rate potential, risk of loss, & impact of loss
ü  Chart employees on 9-boxes
ü  Build talent pools Organization
ü  Identify key positions talent pipeline
ü  Find, nominate & approve successors
ü  Visualize impact of succession plans
ü  Analyze bench strength & successor
demographics More Effective Talent
Management
ü  Monitor effectiveness of succession plans

For  Employees  
ü  Select future roles
ü  Chart a career path Individual
Career
ü  See competency & skill gaps
Advancement
ü  Create a development plan
ü  Find the best learning activities
ü  Do I stay or do I go

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Succession and Development and SuccessFactors
Suite Integration

§  Launch job reqs from

succession org chart
Recruiting
§  Name external
successors

§  Shared Succession §  Show competency

position model Employee ratings for successor
between Central & Performance candidates
position Development §  Close competency
management gaps with
and development
succession
planning
§  Add learning
Learning activities from
succession org
chart & development
plans

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Use of Metadata Framework – Key Advantages

•  Permissions can be applied to the position objects directly,

eliminating the need for a “placeholder” user record behind the
position record
s  The position must have the attributes and values to support
effective permission definitions, such as department, division,
etc.
•  MDF positions support up to 200 custom fields of various types
s  Text, date, number, picklist, etc

•  Effective dating (the capture and tracking of past and future

changes to position records) will be supported for position
records
•  Search by position title on the Succession org chart

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Use of Metadata Framework – Key Advantages
(cont.)
•  Editing position records from the Succession org chart
s  Users need appropriate read/write position management RBP
permissions
•  Succession planning for target populations based on position
attributes with RBP
•  Effective end date attribute for positions exposed in ad hoc
reports for precise record retrieval

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Employee Central not Required … but …

•  As part of the product expansion for the Employee Central

module, which offers core HRIS data management and integration
capabilities, a new succession planning option has been
introduced which leverages a new, more robust position model
•  The MDF position model is available to all customers, not just
Employee Central customers
•  With Employee Central the following capabilities exist:
s  Support for multiple incumbents per position

s  Usage of a Position org chart (similar to the Succession org

chart, but designed around position management capabilities)
s  Workflow support for position changes

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System Requirements/Limitations

•  System requirements
s  This feature requires v12 UI

s  The feature requires use of Role-Based Permissions (RBP)

•  Current limitations
s  For customers without an EC license, multi-incumbent
positions are not supported
s  Customers have to import those positions with only one
incumbent
s  A workaround could be to add other “user fields” on position

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Metadata Framework Demo

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The succession management team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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Provisioning Steps Are Necessary

•  SuccessFactors or an implementation partner can make

necessary provisioning changes
s  Ensure v12 and Role Based Permissions are enabled

s  Enable Generic Objects (the Metadata Framework)

s  Change Succession Nomination method to “MDF Position”

s  Optional Background Element Position Portlet can be included

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Metadata Framework Administrator RBP Setting

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Work Within Admin Tools

•  Configure MDF position object and define field labels, visibility,

and custom fields
•  Define associations, searchable fields, and RBP Config on the
position object
•  Define picklist, if used for change reasons and for employee class,
job level, and/or regular temporary only if corresponding fields on
position are being used
•  Configure RBP permissions rules and roles
s  Verify field visibility based on EC or non EC implementation

•  Understand position target concept

s  The permissions are independent of the position’s incumbent;
thus, if a user has access to a position, that access continues
even if the incumbent changes on the position
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Controls Access Down to the Position

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What We’ll Cover

•  Introduction
•  Current trends in succession management and the impact on your
succession management implementation
•  The succession management team
•  SuccessFactors Succession Management and the benefits of
using metadata framework
•  Security and succession
•  Wrap-up

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Where to Find More Information

•  www.opm.gov/
s  United States Office of Personnel Management

•  http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/human-capital/articles/
human-capital-trends-2014.html
s  Global Human Capital Trends 2014: Engaging the 21st-century
workforce, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Bersin By Deloitte,
Deloitte University Press, April 2014.
•  http://community.successfactors.com/
s  Follow best practices and release information

•  http://www.successfactors.com/en_us/resources.html
s  Keep current by viewing webcast, whitepapers, and product
information
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7 Key Points to Take Home

•  Vision, strategy, and some key tactical decisions are needed prior
to system solution decisions
•  Succession Management won’t be a success if it is done once a
year and then put on a shelf for the other 360+ days
•  System options vary depending if Employee Central is used or not
•  Many aspect of Succession are controlled via Admin Tools so
strong administrators are key
•  Metadata Framework for Succession can used with or without
Employee Central
•  Looking how Succession fits into the “big picture” of an
organizations talent needs and programs is necessary
•  Without the right tools, Succession is likely to fail
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Your Turn!

How to contact me:

Sharon Cook
scook@hypercision.com
@SharonKCook

Please remember to complete your session evaluation

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Disclaimer

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an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective
companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by SAP SE.

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