How Norwegian Streamlined HR Processes with SAP SuccessFactors

Each new member of Norwegian’s flying staff needs a background check, a signed contract, and a record that will satisfy regulators. In peak season, the airline brings in hundreds of new joiners within weeks.

Norwegian used to manage that work through spreadsheets and an archive detached from SAP SuccessFactors, its HR system of record. It now handles that work through SuccessFactors, using two applications built on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) by PXMSOFT, a Gavdi Group company.

The technology was only part of the change. Norwegian’s HRIS director, Per Hagen, said a key lesson was not to copy the old structure into the new system.

What Norwegian Needed From Its HR Document Process

Norwegian already ran its core HR processes in SAP SuccessFactors, with Employee Central as its master data source, when it implemented SuccessFactors Onboarding. The airline wanted one digital process from job application to new hire.

Its existing document setup could not support that. The candidate-to-hire process ran across 38 department spreadsheets. Contracts were drafted in Word, and some tasks relied on homemade SharePoint solutions. In a PXMSOFT webinar, Hagen said the archive was not connected closely enough to SuccessFactors to support the new process.

Hiring flying staff adds another step. Norwegian requires them to pass a background check that includes a police certificate and documentation covering the previous five years. Hagen said the checks bring legal complexity and a large volume of documents. The pressure rises in peak season, when each new joiner needs a signed contract.

Norwegian set out to replace that setup with one flow and one source of truth, Hagen said, so HR could see where every candidate stood.

How Norwegian Extended SuccessFactors with PXMSOFT

Norwegian chose to build on what it already had. It worked with PXMSOFT to add two applications that sit on top of SuccessFactors: Document Management and Background Check. Both use SuccessFactors data and sign-on, and Document Management opens from SuccessFactors menus and the employee People Profile.

Hagen had not worked with BTP before, but he said building on the same data source reduced complexity.

Document Management generates contracts and other documents from Employee Central data. Documents can be created one at a time, in bulk, or automatically when specific employee data changes. Documents can then go through approval and e-signature – Scrive, in Norwegian’s case – before they are filed in the employee’s archive.

Background Check, meanwhile, gives HR and security teams one dashboard to track each candidate’s screening, from document requests through to approval, and records who approved each check, when, and on what documentation. At Norwegian, candidates use it to upload the documents their check requires. Completed checks are filed in the same archive as the candidate’s contracts.

Implementation began with workshops for HR teams across the eight countries the project covered. Norwegian had planned to carry its 96 archive folders into the new system. PXMSOFT’s project team challenged HR to explain why each folder was needed, and Norwegian reduced the structure to 28. Hagen said the decision stayed with Norwegian, and he credited PXMSOFT for questioning the old structure.

What the New Process Delivered

HR teams built the templates with PXMSOFT, adapting them where local law required. Contracts and addendums went live first, within three months, and HR has since added more document types itself.

PXMSOFT’s case study shows the result as one auditable, role-based system. It replaces manual data entry, and eight countries went live at the same time. The case study also links the change to a tighter GDPR posture and to the audit readiness that aviation regulators require.

Access follows the role-based permissions Norwegian already had in SuccessFactors, so the same rules decide who can see each contract or check. The two applications also work together. If a candidate fails the background check and is terminated, a message goes to Onboarding so HR can act.

Hagen said the biggest improvement has been clarity across stakeholders. Coordination that used to rely on emails now runs through shared dashboards, where stakeholders can see when a document moves from in process to signed.

The case study says the setup supports Norwegian’s seasonal ramp-ups, and the airline is phasing that capability in. At the time of the webinar, Hagen said HR was creating contracts one at a time to learn the process. Norwegian planned to switch to bulk generation for its next seasonal ramp-up.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

Keep the HR system of record at the center. Extensions that work from SuccessFactors data and permissions add capability without creating new places where employee records and access rules live. That keeps compliance and audit exposure easier to manage as HR processes expand.

Treat process redesign as part of the investment. Norwegian rethought its document structure and templates before go-live, and its HR teams did much of that work. Executive sponsorship of that redesign produces a system built around how the business works now.

Phase automation to match organizational readiness. Starting with essential documents and adding volume and automation later gives HR time to build confidence before peak demand tests the process. Pacing change this way protects critical hiring periods while capability expands.