With the Objective Setting and Appraisals function, mySAP ERP supports users in implementing a workflow-enabled performance feedback process. In the latest release of R/3 Enterprise, SAP delivers status and workflow support for Objective Setting and Appraisals. It allows you to tailor the performance feedback process to your company’s needs.

Using HR Extension Set 2.00 for R/3 Enterprise, we’ll show how to implement an employee-initiated performance feedback process. Our example is of a workflow notification requesting that the manager approve objectives after the employee has entered them in the system. By using a similar approach, you will be able to set up various performance feedback processes such as an approval by the manager’s manager or a person in the HR department after the direct manager has appraised the employee.

The Role of Statuses and Substatuses

The Objective Setting and Appraisals function is delivered with nine statuses and one substatus, each of which can represent a phase of the performance planning and feedback process. The process is controlled by the status flow, which can be defined for each appraisal template separately. You can configure the system so that in each staus or substatus, certain actions can be carried out by authorized users on parts of the document while other parts are in display mode or hidden. You can:

• Enable employees to change the objective setting column of a document in the phase when objectives are defined (status In Planning)
• Hide irrelevant parts of the document during a certain phase, such as the part and final appraisal column during the objective setting phase (status In Planning)
• Lock the objective setting column when the final appraisal is entered (status In Process)

During each status, up to three buttons are available. They can be used to reach a subsequent phase (status) in the process. The statuses and the typical actions during each phase are described in Tables 1 and 2. A typical status flow and the available buttons are shown in Figure 1. When you create a template, the statuses In Preparation and Completed are mandatory. You can select other available statuses when the process requires it.

Figure 1

A typical status flow and standard buttons leading through the performance feedback process

Besides the statuses, SAP delivers 14 predefined workflow events (Table 3). These workflow events are notifications to participants in the performance feedback process requesting an action, such as the approval of objectives. In order to workflow your performance feedback process, you combine the workflow events with the status flow so that status changes of the document trigger a workflow event.

How to Tailor Your Performance Feedback Process

In order to workflow-enable your performance feedback process, follow these five steps:

Step 1. Activate the required workflow events once during system setup.

Step 2. Create required substatuses.

Step 3. Create new buttons.

Step 4. Define previous status and subsequent status.

Step 5. Tailor the status and workflow.

We’ll use as an example an employee-initiated performance feedback process. It includes a workflow requesting the manager to approve the objectives after the employee has entered them in the system. After the employee has created the document and entered the objectives, he or she clicks on the button Send to Manager for Approval and the system sets the document into the substatus For Approval by Manager. The manager receives a notification and approves or rejects the objectives. If the objectives are approved, the employee receives an approval notification and the system sets the document into the status In Review. If the manager rejects the objectives, the employee receives a notification that the objectives are rejected and the system resets the document in the status In Planning so that the employee can rework the objectives. The rest of the example process consists of an objective review during the In Review status and part and final appraisals without further workflow support.

Step 1: Activate Workflow Events

You activate the required workflow events either by using standard workflow tools or via the administrator function of Objective Setting and Appraisals (PHAP_ADMIN_PA). Choose Utilities>Event Linkage (Workflow). In the column Type linkage active, place a check mark next to the events you want to activate and click on the activate icon. (See Figure 2.) Now the workflow events are ready to use.

Figure 2

Activate required workflow events

Step 2: Create Required Substatuses

Once your company has agreed on the process required for the performance feedback cycle, you can first evaluate if the statuses delivered in the standard are sufficient for your requirements. Keep in mind that you can also rename the statuses to fit them into your process. If a certain step is missing for your required process, you can close this gap by adding a new substatus to the status flow.

In our example, the gap is the phase when the employee has finished planning the objectives and an approval by the manager is required, before the review phase begins. You can close the gap by adding the new substatus For Approval by Manager to the status In Planning.

To add a substatus, open the appraisal catalog and choose Goto>Basic Settings or start transaction OOHAP_BASIC directly. (See Figure 3.) In the dialog structure on the left side of the screen, choose Substatus and make a new entry. The new entry consists of the status that the substatus belongs to, an identifier from the customer name space, and a text for the new substatus. In this example, the new substatus is For Approval by Manager.

Figure 3

Add a new substatus — in this example, For Approval by Manager

Step 3. Create New Buttons

In addition to the substatus, you have to define new buttons needed to reach the new substatus from previous statuses and to reach subsequent statuses from the new substatus. Employees need the buttons to send the document to the manager for approval and managers need them to approve or reject the objectives of the employees.

In our example, we are creating three new buttons (Figure 4):

• Send to Manager for Approval to reach the new substatus For Approval by Manager after entering the objectives in the document
• Approve Objectives to approve the employee’s objectives and reach the next status In Review
• Reject Objectives to reject the employee’s objectives and reset the document into the status In Planning

Figure 4

Define new buttons — in this example, the three new buttons Send to Manager for Approval, Approve Objectives, and Reject Objectives

Step 4. Define Previous and Subsequent Status

For the new buttons, you also need to define which of the main statuses are allowed as Previous Status and Subsequent Status (Figure 5). For this example, the previous and subsequent statuses are defined as shown in Table 4.

Figure 5

Define possible previous status for button — in this example, the previous status In Planning is assigned to the button Send to Manager for Approval

Step 5. Tailor the Status Flow and Workflow for an Appraisal Template

Once you have finished the definitions of the required substatuses and buttons, you can start to tailor the status and workflow for an appraisal template in the appraisal template catalog. In the catalog, you first need to activate the new substatus on category group and category level. To do that, select the relevant category group or category and change to the tab Status flow. On the subtab Status, select the new substatus For Approval by Manager so that it is available for new templates that you create under the category group/category (Figure 6). Also check the subtabs Person Authorized and Event to make sure that the required persons and events are made available for the templates in this category.

Figure 6

Activate substatus for category — in this example, the new substatus For Approval by Manager is activated for all templates in the category Performance Feedback 2004

Once you have activated the substatus, create a template that meets your requirements regarding description, layout, column access, use of value lists, roles, and processing. For procedures to configure an appraisal template, refer to system help and the SAP Library under Human Resources>Personnel Management>Personnel Development>mySAP HR Objective Setting and Appraisals. In this example, we are using the template Objectives 2004, which was created based on the example template Example: Objective Setting. To build the status and workflow for the template, change to the tab Status Flow. On the subtab Status, activate the status For Approval by Manager. On the subtab Event, you can now start to tie workflow events to status changes.

The following is an example status and workflow setup for two steps in the process:

• The employee sends the objectives to the manager for approval
• The manager approves the objectives and by doing so starts the review phase

Table 5 gives you a complete overview of the status and workflow for the example template.

To enable the employee to send the manager a request to approve the objectives, you select the status In Planning. On the right side of the screen shown in Figure 7 on the next page, enter the name of the button that the employee needs to use, in this case Send to Manager for Approval. As the Target Status, you choose the status In Planning and the substatus For Approval by Manager. As the required Workflow Event you choose Approver - Approval Request. The additional settings allow you to select authorized persons who are allowed to use a button and the state of the application after the button is used.

Figure 7

Setup of status and workflow — in this example, the status and workflow is set up for the template Objectives 2004. Clicking on Send to Manager for Approval triggers a status change from In Planning to In Planning/substatus For Approval by Manager. The status change triggers the Workflow Event Approver - Approval Request.

To enable the manager to approve the objectives, you now select the substatus For Approval by Manager on the screen shown in Figure 8. On the right side of the screen, enter the name of the button that the manager uses to approve the objectives, in this case Approve Objectives. As the Target Status, you choose the status In Review and no substatus. As the required Workflow Event you choose Appraisee - Information Appraisal Document Approved.

Figure 8

Setup of status and workflow — in this example, the status and workflow is set up so that clicking on Approve Objectives triggers a status change from In Planning/substatus For Approval by Manager to In Review. The status change triggers the Workflow Event Appraisee - Information Appraisal Document Approved.

As additional settings, you can define that only the appraiser is an authorized person, and the document is saved and displayed in display mode after using the button. You can now set the remaining status flow with the same process. When you have finished the configuration, release the template and use it for your performance feedback process. The buttons and functions are available for the user via the button Send to Manager for Approval for the employee (Figure 9).

Figure 9

View of the appraisal document after the employee Mats O'Neil has set his objectives and wants to send an approval request to his manager. The newly defined button Send to Manager for Approval is available.

Martina Schuh

Martina Schuh joined SAP in 1999. She has been dedicated to the subject of HCM Analytics from the outset. Since 2001 she has been product manager for HCM Analytics and Talent Management, including Employee Performance Management and Succession Planning.

You may contact the author at martina.schuh@sap.com.

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