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The Experts Weigh In: The Best Ways to Implement SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software
Today, accelerating change impacts businesses and their workforces from all directions. Labour shortages, lower barriers to switching jobs and increased regulatory pressures for global employers make managing time and attendance processes complex and time-consuming for many organisations.
Having a highly configurable workforce management solution like SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software can help your organisation maximise your investment in labour, engage your workforce and improve operational efficiency—which in turn helps adapt to rapid change. Implementing this solution and realising the benefits is a journey for any organisation, and who better to help guide you than the experts!
The Expert’s Guide to Implementing SAP Time & Attendance by WorkForce Software offers valuable tips for success at every stage of the implementation journey from experts at three leading systems integrators: Accenture, Deloitte and EPI-USE. These certified SAP partners have extensive experience helping organisations like yours achieve the best results from their SAP solution investment, including reduced costs, increased productivity, increased employee engagement and improved compliance.
Optimise Workforce Planning with SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software
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• Cloud deployment
• Rotation-based rostering
• Time recording for projects, work orders
or across departments
• Comprehensive time off and absence recording
See a rapid return on investment by reducing payroll processing errors and overtime costs and planning more accurate workforce utilisation with SAP Time and Attendance Management by
WorkForce Software.
Meet the Experts
Joel Werndorfer is the North America Lead of Accenture’s WorkForce Software Practice, which operates under the SAP HXM group. With over 15 years of experience, Joel’s primary focus has been implementing time and attendance/workforce management systems, which has given him a deep understanding of how these systems can be implemented for maximum efficiency.
WorkForce Software
North America Lead,
Accenture
Joel Werndorfer
James Scott is the head of Deloitte’s Global WorkForce Software Centre of Excellence. He has more than two decades of experience in the workforce management field, thoroughly understands various workforce management software products, and
has a track record of success in implementing and optimising them.
Director of Consulting,
Deloitte
James Scott
Dewald serves as an Associate Partner with EPI-USE America, leading the WFM business for the last six years. A highly experienced ERP professional, he has two decades of experience in various roles, and has managed implementation projects for SAP on Premise, WorkForce Software and SuccessFactors Cloud.
Associate Partner,
EPI-USE America, Inc.
Dewald La Grange
SAP Time & Attendance by WorkForce Software Implementation Checklist
— Dewald La Grange, Associate Partner, EPI-USE America, Inc.
ROI is your North Star. Ask yourself, does the requirement detract from the ROI? Does it reduce automation?
• Establish a “core global approach” across all business units, stakeholders and locations to maintain consistency, minimise
project risks and align on policies, integrations, processes, access rights and workflows. Standardisation offers the
additional benefit of enabling global workforce analysis across multiple locations, regions, etc.
• Clearly define the desired end-state for your organisation, what is and isn’t in scope for the project and consider the
optimal approaches to achieve it. This unified vision will help everyone stay on track toward the finish line.
• Use ROI as your guiding principle to avoid adopting unnecessary features and requirements that might complicate the
implementation process, reduce automation and increase project risk.
• Focus on processes and rules that simplify ongoing maintenance while supporting the solution’s continued adaptability,
reliability, cost effectiveness and benefits over time for SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software to be most
successful.
These steps are essential to establishing best practices during your implementation, enabling you to achieve a high ROI, reduce product risk and prepare for a successful go-live.
Best Practices
— James Scott, Director of Consulting, Deloitte
Workforce management is going to touch every part of your organisation every day. Communication, planning and stakeholder alignment is critical. Change management can’t be underestimated, and [you should] plan for regular check-ins throughout the implementation.
• Invest time and energy upfront into laying the groundwork before the process begins. Being proactive here will pay off in
improved results, process improvement, pay accuracy and efficiency throughout the implementation journey.
• Communicate clearly and transparently with each team member to ensure they’re aware of and on board with the
preparation, communication and planning required. Stakeholder alignment across operations, human resources, finance and
IT, including business units and geographies, will help to avoid delays in decision-making and phase completion.
• Set realistic expectations and timelines up front to stay on track with implementation progress. A seasoned systems integrator
(SI) can guide you based on their experience and help estimate time requirements.
• Define clear criteria for success and identify key decision-makers who will approve implementation progress and oversee the
change management processes before moving on to the next phase.
• Understand your organisation’s current systems and data storage methods. Engage subject matter experts (SMEs) involved in
other data-providing or -consuming organisational streams in requirements gathering throughout the implementation process.
For the most successful implementations, you’ll need to plan ahead, communicate effectively with stakeholders and have a clear understanding of expectations from the start.
Project Planning and Governance
— Joel Werndorfer, WorkForce Software North America Lead, Accenture
Don't be fooled by the simple nature of a workforce management system. It's much more than a bridge between HR and payroll, and its reach is far greater than you'd expect. Every employee feels the impact of this tool, making it a valuable asset to your organisation with long-term returns. It pays to take the time to get it right.
• Dedicate focus separate from core HR and payroll for a specialised process like an SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce
Software implementation with distinct leaders, business representatives and data stakeholders who understand the practical
application of business rules.
• Bring in team members with a background in your existing solutions, core HR and payroll systems, and SAP Time and
Attendance by WorkForce Software to eliminate silos, ensure smooth data flows and facilitate a painless transition.
• Establish roles and responsibilities with a clearly defined RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) model that guides
how you communicate expectations, delegate responsibilities and maintain focus and accountability.
• Look for individuals experienced in HR, payroll, and time and attendance who understand the use of labour, operational
practices and areas for improvement and have strong project management, decision-making and problem-solving skillsets.
• Include employees from across all business functions—especially those who are responsible for the data going into the
solution and those who are responsible for and/or use the data coming out—to help your new system meet your organisation’s
unique needs.
The implementation process can be challenging. By focusing on staffing key roles with the right people, you can ensure a smooth transition and reap the benefits of the new system.
Staffing and Key Roles
— James Scott, Director of Consulting, Deloitte
Gather requirements at the field level—from the people who use the systems every day—not just from the executives who are focused on the outcomes. The field personnel will be focused on how the work will get done to achieve those outcomes.
• Involve your third-party vendors and integrations in the requirements-gathering process to help account for relevant systems
your organisation currently uses, establish where their data is stored and rethink data usage to drive improved business
outcomes for maximum return on your investment.
• Ensure that your field-level employees and managers have a voice in defining the solution’s scope to understand how work
gets done and what daily users need to improve downstream adoption and ease change management.
• Determine what a successful implementation looks like to your organisation, and align your team with the desired outcome
and the right method to test for it, whether it’s process automation, labour optimisation, improved workflows, increased
flexibility or more rapid response to change, etc.
• Support your requirement definitions with data. Gathering input and output calculations allows you to create a common
thread that flows from requirements to implementation to testing and adoption.
Effective requirements gathering leads to a smoother implementation process and higher user adoption. Engage with experts across operations to consider the needs of everyday users, define success criteria and use data to ensure the system is tailored to your organisation’s needs and goals.
Requirements Gathering
— Dewald La Grange, Associate Partner, EPI-USE America, Inc.
Engage labour representatives early to avoid downstream delays. Give them the confidence that unionised pay policies and audit trails will be maintained, so they have the knowledge they need to advocate for the project.
• Communicate clearly, early and often to ensure everyone understands the project’s objectives and impact on their roles
and responsibilities. Create and maintain a collaborative environment to ensure buy-in and a shared sense of system value.
You’ll minimise downstream delays, strengthen their confidence in the solution and ease the transition to the new solution.
• Work collaboratively and plan regular check-ins throughout implementation to give stakeholders the necessary tools to be
involved and informed project advocates and create a platform to voice their questions and concerns.
• Tailor your messages and project updates to each stakeholder group, from executives to deskless shift workers, to be
relevant to each group’s responsibilities and objectives.
• Stay strategic, consistent and creative to support effective communication. Poor communication is a primary factor in why
many implementations fail. Effective communication and collaboration require thoughtful engagement with a knowledgeable
project team.
Effective communication with the right message for the right people at the right time is key to successful implementation of SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software.
Stakeholder Strategies
— James Scott, Director of Consulting, Deloitte
Document what the solution will and won’t do—both are essential for change management and trust in the solution. Set realistic expectations to avoid a lack of functionality being mistaken as solution errors.
• Establish a clear change management process that anticipates and tracks all changes, outlines a change request process,
identifies acceptable updates and timelines and clearly defines roles and responsibilities to manage inevitable roadblocks. Your
SI can help you explore change management options, such as building it into the staffing model or requiring change orders.
• Distinguish training from change management for effective user adoption of the solution. Training is about how to use the
product, while change management involves policies, workflows and labour distributions and how changes to these affect the
work they are currently doing.
• Define clear expectations for what the solution can and cannot do to avoid having a given lack of functionality be mistaken
for an error; if you effectively navigate change management with clear expectations, end users will effectively adopt and trust
the solution.
In any software implementation project, change and risk management are critical components that require attention and planning, and the SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software implementation process is no exception.
Change and Risk Management
— Dewald La Grange, Associate Partner, EPI-USE America, Inc.
Test for typical volume and typical scenarios. Expect the 5% of extreme use cases, but focus your efforts on the everyday and majority of cases where the highest ROI is achieved.
• Provide all testers training to use the solution on both a business and product level to ensure testers know its impact on
business processes and rules and can distinguish between actual errors and lack of user knowledge.
• Enlist frontline managers for user-acceptance testing, ideally those involved in project scoping, as they have the best
understanding of how the changes impact their team and processes, how the solution will work in day-to-day operations and
how to identify issues early on.
• Test how the changes made to the system will impact payroll with a testing and pay comparison strategy to ensure that all
relevant rules are applied with the desired impact and won’t disrupt other processes.
• Reset your data before testing every time to ensure that testing results are accurate—dirty or outdated data can skew results
and lead to inaccurate testing outcomes.
• Base your testing plan and dataset on real-world scenarios typical in your organisation. Don’t overcomplicate your UAT by
trying to break the solution with use cases you will never see.
Effectively testing the implementation of SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software plays a crucial role in identifying and preventing any potential issues before they become problems.
Testing
— Joel Werndorfer, WorkForce Software North America Lead, Accenture
Plan for support post-rollout. Train people on the admin level, create your internal support processes and select champions/owners. Build your team to support the product you have invested in.
• Plan for effective user support post-rollout by instituting clear internal support processes, dedicated process owners and a
properly staffed and trained support team to meet user demands.
• Perform regular required maintenance and updates for your SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software solution to
ensure optimal performance. Consider application management services (AMS) if you need additional staff to maintain the
solution and conduct 30-/60-/90-day reviews to address any rising problems.
• Ensure employees have a communication channel to share their feedback, communicate issues and request support. Early
feedback can mitigate problems before they become widespread and pave the way for future improvements. Proactive
methods for gathering feedback, such as short email surveys, can offer insights on user adoption, common issues and
future improvements.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software. Now, you need to protect your investment by taking steps toward a smooth rollout.
Rollout and Post Go-Live
Learn More
Maximize your ROI and lead your implementation with ease. Download the SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software Implementation Checklist
Get Started With the Experts' Guide
Your SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software implementation journey will require organised planning, clear communication and meticulous execution to maximise success. You will need to align with all stakeholders and your carefully selected team members to establish realistic timelines and standards, define criteria for approval of each project phase, understand current systems, and gather requirements.
Throughout this journey, focusing on ROI, employee engagement and adoption, customisation, comprehensive training, post-rollout support and regular maintenance are also important to a well-thought-out change management process that protects your organisation’s investment.
Whether you’re just starting out or in the middle of testing, The Experts’ Guide to Implementing SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software is your go-to reference to successfully implement your SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software solution and enjoy improved workforce management, greater employee engagement, increased efficiency and reduced costs.
Download the Guide
Deloitte is on a mission to inspire and help organisations thrive. Together, WorkForce Software and Deloitte help organisations transform their operations and employee experience with SAP Time & Attendance Management by WorkForce Software.
Since 2013, EPI-USE and WorkForce Software have partnered together on more than 50 successful projects. Together, our experience in solving workforce management challenges spans over three decades.
Leverage SAP’s and WorkForce Software’s deepexpertise to optimise the performance of your global teams.
Expert Partners,
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Must-Have Tips Straight From the Experts
This SAP Time & Attendance by WorkForce Software Checklist is your quick-glance resource for promoting efficiency, engagement and productivity during implementation and for maximising your ROI.
Brought to you in collaboration with:
SAP’s Global Workforce Management Solution Provider
WorkForce Software has been an SAP global partner offering solution extensions since 2015. Together, we have more than 300 customers who are leveraging WorkForce Software solution extensions for SAP HR and payroll software, whether in the cloud or on premise. As a result of these efforts, we have co-developed integrations between SAP and the WorkForce Suite used by 2.1 million users globally and have a deep understanding of how the two solutions co-exist within large global organisations.
Enterprise-grade and future-ready, these SAP solution extensions from WorkForce Software will adapt to your needs—no matter how unique your pay rules, labour regulations, compliance specifications and rostering requirements—while facilitating meaningful, in-the-moment interactions between managers and their employees, when and where they are working in the world.
Accenture and WorkForce Software have worked together for more than 15 years. Accenture has grown to become the largest global WorkForce Software practice and the top end-to-end system integrator of SAP/SFSF solutions.
The Implementation Journey
Accenture and WorkForce Software have worked together for more than 15 years. Accenture has grown to become the largest global WorkForce Software practice and the top end-to-end system integrator of SAP/SFSF solutions.
Deloitte is on a mission to inspire and help organizations thrive. Together, WorkForce Software and Deloitte help organizations transform their operations and employee experience with SAP Time & Attendance Management by WorkForce Software.
Read the Report
Results reveal that leaders who embrace HXM recognise the value of advanced time and attendance solutions.
The SAPinsider HCM and SAP S/4HANA Report
Get Your Checklist
The best strategies, tips and insights from the experts at three leading system integrators to maximise your ROI and lead your implementation with ease in one checklist.
SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software Implementation Checklist
Resources
Read the Report
Results reveal that leaders who embrace HXM recognise the value of advanced time and attendance solutions.
The SAPinsider HCM and SAP S/4HANA Report
Get Your Checklist
The best strategies, tips and insights from the experts at three leading system integrators to maximise your ROI and lead your implementation with ease in one checklist.
SAP Time and Attendance by WorkForce Software Implementation Checklist
Resources
