SAP SuccessFactors Reviews

The Admin Tools functionality in Employee Central is great. For a technical/functional associate within our IT team, we can accomplish many (but not all) of the requests from our business partners.

The role-based permissions functionality is beyond great (in my opinion) and is honestly more robust and flexible than any other security setup/process that we have with other business software that we use (and have the ability to maintain security roles with).

Prior to implementing SuccessFactors, we had nowhere to go for a single snapshot of our entire company. Today, we have our entire North America, Europe and Hong Kong businesses in the system and therefore easily accessible.

SuccessFactors allows us to have an online performance/review process that is consistent across the organization.

SuccessFactors has a workflow/approval process in place to ensure that updates are made/approved by the official ‘manager’ and 2nd level ‘manager’ for that associate. Prior, everything was done on paper and faxed to payroll for entry into the legacy JDE system.

All department/store leads now have the ability to see employee information for those reporting through them (initial level and cascaded down).

All department/store leads now have the ability to make change requests for anyone in their reporting tree without having to fill out a form and faxing to payroll.

The entire company now has a tool to view basic information (including associate photos) on their fellow associates.

I think the integration methods can be more user-friendly.

SuccessFactors modules must become more integrated than they are today (i.e., EC with Performance, Goals, Onboarding, Compensation, etc.).

SuccessFactors modules must become more integrated with other SAP products (i.e., SAP ERP, Concur, Fieldglass, etc.).

Would be nice to have more standard integrations created for SuccessFactors. Currently, we are aware of standard integrations with WorkForce Software Time & Attendance and BenefitFocus. Others would be good to have (i.e., ADP).

The new hire process should have direct deposit entry as part of the initial step; we had to custom build this to ensure that every associate had at least one direct deposit record upon hire (we are 100% direct deposit company).

We went live with EC, Performance, Goals and Compensation in May 2014; a little over 2 ½ years ago.

We have not really had any stability issues. During performance review time (i.e., August/September) there seemed to be data center issues where associates were all having system timeout issues, data was being lost from Performance Reviews documents, etc. This has been resolved, but was an issue at one time.

I am not aware of any scalability issues.

Technical support has been an issue since day one. We have made our concerns quite apparent. We pay extra for Premium Support (SAP Preferred Care) and honestly cannot see what we are really getting at times. We have an assigned CSM, but this is our 3rd one (although we like our CSM now). When a priority issue is sent to ‘Engineering’, it becomes a black hole of sorts. The priority of our case is no longer relevant as the CSM (and team) cannot do anything once it gets sent to the Engineering Team. This is a problem, since for us, SuccessFactors support is SuccessFactors support, regardless of what department/level the case sits in.

More direct interaction with the case specialist would be very helpful. When we occasionally have the ability to speak with the person actually working on the case (i.e., not CSM or initial support team), we find it extremely helpful (but unfortunately, doesn’t always happen).

We had no specific HR system. Employee data was housed in the payroll system and not available to anyone outside of HR Payroll. Performance reviews and comp were all manual with Excel and other Microsoft tools. The organizational chart was basically Excel and not always accurate.

Setup was straightforward, but that was only because our implementation team (IBM) did all of that for us and walked us through everything. Eventually, we realized how intuitive the process actually is.

The only other product we were going to use was SAP HCM On-Premise for HR and payroll with a connection to SuccessFactors for the Talent Management suite (i.e., Performance & Goals, etc.). That project never got started and once we saw Employee Central as a SaaS offering, we determined to keep the existing payroll process (it has since been upgraded to ADP) and go forward with the Employee Central/SuccessFactors integration (especially since SAP purchased SuccessFactors and should’ve had SuccessFactors/Employee Central fully integrated, which it wasn’t).

I would make sure they do their homework on an implementation partner, as that can make all the difference in the world.

I would make sure that all potential business changes are reviewed ahead of time so that the implementation partner can incorporate accordingly. For example, organization hierarchy changes, performance/goals modifications, job code changes (if necessary), etc.

Inquire about what all of your integration and reporting options are within SuccessFactors.

Inquire about how much you, as a customer, can do (i.e., Admin Tools) once implementation is completed.

The flexibility to scale the classroom sessions and its ability to make real-time availability of all the sessions are valuable features of this product.

It has helped us in saving costs because the guys can see the availability of the classes as to what time it is scheduled or what time it is cancelled; thus there is availability of real-time information.

It has offered all the flexibility and customization that we were looking for in a product.

However, a couple of improvements can be carried out to offer more customization of the solution that is limited in the market. We do have a subscription from SuccessFactors that we review from time to time so if something comes up we'll certainly forward the feedback to them.

It's a stable product. We have not faced any real challenges so far.

We have not really scaled this product with the implementation that we have done. The customer base that we were looking for didn't really need to scale.

We have used technical support for probably one or two instances but for nothing major as such. They were quite efficient.

There was a phase in which the customer had to identify which product suits them the best. There were three to four products that were evaluated after which we finalized SuccessFactors as the final product.

There were a few consultants from SuccessFactors who came in and did the installation. They were helpful in setting up the product and doing the initial customization, after which we took over.

We looked at one or two other solutions. However, based on the customer's environment and applications, SuccessFactors was the most applicable solution.

The important factors while selecting a vendor are its flexibility to integrate with the application that is with the customer and the adapters that are available so that we don't need to do a lot of customization. These are the main aspects.

SuccessFactors is a great product. It offers a lot of flexibility, customization, integration and disintegration points as well. These are the most preferred requirements in an optimized solution so you should take a look.

We primarily provide this solution to our clients. It's an HTM solution and talent management is included within it.

Generally, it is quite an integrated product.  

In terms of user experience, it is quite good. 

There are quite a few features, such as AI, machine learning, et cetera, which are embedded right in the solution. The solution can interact with the cloud and you can do app development and tasks like that with it. 

It's pretty good for reporting. It's done pretty easily. 

I really like the integrity of the solution.

There are a few features that are missing. There are specific features on the HTM, such as telecom safety, that just isn't there. It's not a very detailed solution in that sense. However, it is maybe not expected to have those kinds of features on the surface level of the product.

We haven't used the solution for too long. We've only really used it for about a year or so now.

The solution is very stable. We haven't faced any issues in regards to bugs, glitches or crashes. We find it reliable.

We haven't heard anything about problems related to the scalability of the solution. It is quite scalable, in fact. Being on the cloud, the solution is definitely scalable. I believe Success Factors are implemented in many multi-national companies with large numbers of users. It's know to be a scalable solution.

Since it is on the cloud, the technical support required is pretty minimum for us. The technical support is provided by SAP and SAP Solutions it is generally okay. 

They don't need any technical people from their partners or the implementation company, due to the fact that it is provided by the product, which is the vendor who supplies the product.

Companies may need them near the beginning of the implementation, for setup purposes to discuss items with the client. However, once it's established, the need for technical support of any kind drops off.

The initial setup is quite straight forward. It's not complex due to the fact that it deploys to the cloud.

For us, it was what they expected, and it was very straight forward. 

We have our own team that manages the solution in house. For Success Factors, generally, if we use the standard solution, and there are not too many customizations, then it requires maybe a maximum of five people to maintain everything. Generally, maybe more in the beginning, it may be a few more people. However, as the system stabilizes, it's probably five maximum. Five to ten people, maximum, are needed.  That's quite a large acknowledgement, I would say, if I'm honest.

We are using a cloud service that has been assisting us. In our case, we just asked for the system and they deployed it for us.

I don't want to comment on the license cost, to be honest. It could be about $1,000 approximately per customer. However, it's very flexible in terms of the licensing costs depending on the volume and depending on the deal of installation. 

If people don't really accept the discount, they've always got other businesses that will discount, so pricing is very fluid and flexible for companies.

We are a platinum partner with the company.

The solution is a very good product. It's very stable. It has lots of great features and lots of support available from SAP. The product vendor has a great system connected to a lot of SAP systems overall. It's open to connectivity with other systems. 

I would recommend Success Factors any day.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. There are a few features missing overall. If they had a few more, I'd rate them higher.

Everything in the product is most valuable to us. The flexibility of working with so many types of forms in one platform and also the ability to define different eligible populations for any process are extremely helpful features.

It is a single platform that the HR team, managers, senior business leaders and employees use to participate in the company's annual processes and that was a great achievement. This also had cost reduction aspects.

There should be a single mechanism to manage forms, i.e., to create a template/forms, change/route etc. There is also need for role-based permissions and the ability to add filters in the compensation form.

I have used this solution's components as listed below:

• Performance: 5 years
• Goals: 5 years
• CDP: 1 year
• Compensation: 1 year

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

There is still need for improvement in the technical support; it is not ideal.

Previously, we had used Oracle on-premises for compensation purposes. The reasons why we moved to another solution were its high cost and also since it was a highly customized solution.

You should go for the three-year contract.

You need to spend time learning this product at the SAP SF Support Portal. You should also talk to customers who have implemented it before and learn the best practice approach that has been adopted by them.

It is a personnel administration tool. As a normal associate, I use it for performance dialogues and training management. I also use it for reporting on the LMS module. We are using the SaaS version of this solution.

It has a global database, and it is globally accessible. By using this solution, we have moved away from paper, which is a big step for us.

Its overall integration and user experience can be improved. SuccessFactors is a system that is built out of three different systems. The elements part was bought from Plateau, and the original performance dialogue was built by SuccessFactors itself. After that, SAP bought it, and it hasn't improved in the last few years. 

SuccessFactors is a perfect tool if you use it the way it is meant to be, but if you start building custom sessions and try to use it differently, then it is a total mess. It is not agile. It is like an old Mastodon truck or whatever. 

We don't have the Employee Central and Competence Management modules. Our company made the choice to not implement the Employee Central module. We also didn't implement the Competence Management module. We use the learning module to do some competence management, but I am not that fond of it. It would have been best to have the whole suite. SAP should never sell this without selling the whole suite because it just doesn't work. 

The biggest gain for me would be having the possibility of doing strategic personnel planning and managing internal mobility. If it could be used for social purposes, such as creating communities and connecting with media channels, that would be perfect. It should also have the possibilities for local admin and agile product development.

I have been using this solution for four years.

It is stable enough. It has around 98% stability. There are accessibility issues, but they could be because of any reason, such as our network.

If you count associates, we are a 450,000 associate company. About one-third of them are not active users. We have roughly 300,000 users in all kinds of roles, such as managers, FMs, and associates.

Our company doesn't want to spend any more money on SuccessFactors. We are not really extending the solution. It would be wise if we could use it better. We don't do any strategic personnel planning.

I can't really evaluate SAP's technical support because there is so much bureaucracy in our support model. Support is not necessarily done in our country, and there is a really bureaucratic ticketing system behind it. We have national application specialists in every country. They are the guys who think about the right and proper text for the support tickets and how can a group in India or Stuttgart solve the problem. 

From another perspective, because I am also in a group of global specialists, I know that SuccessFactors or SAP does not necessarily react quickly to the issues of their customers, which is logical because they need to scale as well.

We did use some local systems, but they are not comparable to this product. The biggest pro of SuccessFactors has to be the global database, and it is globally accessible with the integration with the management. I would always prefer a global solution instead of a local solution, but a local solution is like a Pappa and Mamma store on the corner. It is always more flexible, and it is logical.

We didn't have a good data set, so the personal master data was a mess. It was a lot of work, especially on the data side. After one or two years, we kind of fixed it. 

It took about nine months to roll it out. We rolled it out in parts because we are a company that is active in 38 countries, with 450,000 associates. On our site, we had around 5,000 associates at that time. Currently, we have 4,000 associates because we are shrinking. 

In terms of the implementation strategy, we are tech equipped company. It was designed without any negotiation or input from the end-user. It was a technology push if you want to see it like that.

We have our own SAP Competence center for its implementation. Its maintenance is handled by SAP. 

Our release notes are every three months, but from a central department, we only implement them once a year. So, everything is collected somewhere in June or July. There is a big update instead of different small updates. The global application specialists are responsible for updates.

I won't recommend this solution. I would say, "Don't do it." Cornerstone or Workday is way better.

I would rate SAP SuccessFactors a five out of ten. 

The administration parts and PA modules are on-prem but the talent management recruitment part is on the cloud. We have 22 different companies and we selected this solution so every employee can have a main point of connection. 

The interface is really useful and it's very easy to combine different information. For example, we can easily get reports that we need. It's very easy to create reports. 

Some of the screens aren't that user-friendly, older employees especially have a hard time with it. They have some problems with it. 

Challenge management parts should be improved. Also, the recruitment part module should be improved to help managers to select the right person without an HR. 

It is stable. 

We don't have problems with scalability. 

We haven't needed to use support yet. 

Before using this solution we used Excel.

The initial setup was straightforward. It's very easy on the cloud. 

We used a consultant for the deployment. 

Be sure about your processes. If you know how to plan your processes and needs, it's very easy to deploy it. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

We use this solution for all required actions around people-related activities, such as on-boarding new staff and transferring internal position changes.

This solution provides up with an easy way to on/off-board staff, as well as actioning internal transfers.

We find the customization of the database to be very useful for our organization.

We would like to see improvement in the initial launch of the product, as it is currently quite slow.

We would like to see the addition of a dashboard feature, to enable faster access to regularly performed tasks.

We worked with this solution for two years.

We have found this to be a stable product; we haven't experienced any issues with performance.

This is a very scalable solution.

The customer support for this solution is good. When we submit a request to them, they provide a timeline for the work to be completed and always come back to us.

Positive

The implementation of this solution was carried out in-house.

This is a more costly solution than comparable products, and training is not available in the open-market, so this has to be purchased separately from the vendor.

We would advise organizations to look into the full costs of this product, including the cost of training their employees to use its features . They should also ensure that they can meet the bandwidth requirements of the solution before implementation.

We would rate this solution a nine out of ten.