Tag: consulting

  • HR Connections – Mike Timm on Year-End Payroll

    Ken Murphy, SAPinsider: Hi this is Ken Murphy with SAPinsider, and welcome to another installment of HR Connections, an SAPinsider HR Connections – Mike Timm on Year-End Payroll series focusing on the current developments and trends in the HR space. Today, I’m pleased to welcome back Mike Timm, founder and Managing Partner of Integrated Consulting Group and an SAP certified consultant. Mike thanks for joining us today.

    Mike Timm, Integrated Consulting: Thanks for having me. The timing is really good since we’re getting close to year-end, there’s a few things to talk about related to that especially toward the Payroll piece of it. I’m looking forward to this.

    Ken: As you mentioned we’re getting toward the end of the year and that would be a great place to start is year-end Payroll in SAP. I’m hoping you can address the changes and concerns and what you’re advising companies to be on the lookout for as they prepare for year-end.

    Mike: There are three main areas I think people will find of interest. The first one is just regular HR support packs, and also the country legal changes (CLCs). My advice typically when I work with different companies, or like last year I did a seminar through SAPinsider where we talked a lot about payroll, and SAP generally toward the end of May, beginning of June will release an HR support pack that’s synchronization so it gets you all caught up. And then with that in place – you do that in the summer when it’s not very busy hopefully – and then in the fall, around October sometimes early November depending on the amount of legislation being passed that impacts payroll there’s usually a CLC and we want to put that in place to get all of the final last-minute type of year-end items in place. One of the things that happened this year was if you’re on the latest version of SAP HR, so if you’re on 6.08 SAP changed that a little they actually have the synchronization support pack that came out instead of a CLC so I know I was contacted by one colleague who was at the seminar we did last year and that was an issue for them because they were expecting a CLC and it ended up being a support pack. So there’s more testing and more thought that has to go into the process of putting it in, more impact to other areas. So that’s something to keep in mind.

    The second area is the Affordable Care Act, there are several notes that have been put out, and I think a lot of companies I’ve been talking to are trying to figure out how to get all of this in place, some have talked to third parties to ask about outsourcing bits and pieces of it, and even there the roadblocks I’ve been hearing is that everybody is kind of scrambling. Luckily, I think that SAP’s approach is really pretty good, they’re rolling out the functionality as fast as they can in a way that it will actually work so we’re not just dumping stuff out there. And there’s quite a few SAP notes related to that that I think will be very helpful for people to look into:

    The first one is the overall Affordable Care Act note which is 2167502. That’s a good place to start, it will give you an idea of what SAP’s roadmap is and what they’re planning and then it will also reference any new notes that come up over the next few months to enhance the functionality they’re putting out.

    On Sept. 10 there was a CLC released, and that one has a decent amount of functionality and there are also four additional notes that are going to be needed to provide updates to even that functionality. Three of those have been released, those are 2211233, 2211234, 2211235 – those are the first three, with the last of those released on Oct. 12. There is another one going to be released on Nov. 16 that everybody should keep an eye out for which will put some additional functionality in place and kind of tie up some of the loose ends, and I think SAP is actually going to have a demonstration of that if you want to take a look and demo it. That note is 2211236. According to what SAP has said so far that should be the end of the notes that they’re going to release unless there’s some type of issues, so you should have all the core functionality available to put in place at that point.

    And then the third area I think people will find interesting is the changing functionality that SAP is putting around the BSI module. We have three notes there that are of interest. The first one is SAP note 1836745, and that one interests me quite a bit because it’s new functionality that will allow us to prioritize additional withholdings that we put in infotype 210 with other deductions. In the past we weren’t able to do that. You put additional withholdings in and that was tax prioritization, and now we have to go in and say we want tax a higher priority or lower priority than other deductions, so that’s nice new functionality. Another one is SAP Note 2193769 and that one allows us to add a message telling us when we run payroll that BSI and SAP are out of synch and so we have the synchronization tool now for SAP and BSI to make sure all the updates are applied appropriately in their right systems, and this note will give us a message telling us we’re out of synch so that way we know something wasn’t applied right. It works great for when you do testing and things like that all the way through but then in production if you run a payroll simulation you can see if that message is out there or not because you know synchronization was supposed to take place over the weekend, and now you can feel comfortable that it actually happened. Or at least you’re not out of synch. And then the third note that everybody needs to pay attention to and this is more of a required one is SAP Note 2219445. The reason everyone needs to pay attention to this one is in March, 2016, SAP and BSI are going to drop support for their current RFC call, so that’s the communication method between your SAP and BSI systems, so you’re going to have to go to a new RFC method and so these things always take a little bit of time and we want to make sure our technical team understands what they need to do and get all that in place and get it well tested so we don’t have any hiccups when we come to March and April next year.

    Otherwise the year-end items seem so far where I’ve done the updates and things, seem like they’re going smoothly for most companies. The ACA and these BSI changes are probably the items that people are looking at the closest to see how it impacts them.

    Ken:  In addition are there any surprises you’re encountering that people should be aware of?

    Mike: So far I haven’t. We’ve applied the different support packs at some locations; at other locations do their CLC’s, I haven’t worked on a project or I’m not working with a client that is currently on 6.08 so I haven’t had to deal with that difference in methodology or difference in what needs to be applied. But based on the other systems, the updates have gone smoothly  we haven’t impacted existing functionality, everything seems to be working OK nothing has jumped out telling me that there’s some kind of code type issue where I’ve seen the same type of issue multiple places. So it’s actually gone very smoothly and I hope everybody else is kind of seeing that so they can focus on the Affordable Care Act notes because I know that is going to take a lot more time and effort than hopefully just the regular updates do.

    Ken: Mike, last time we spoke you focused a lot on the SAP Payroll Control Center because there had been some new functionality in the HR Renewal 2.0 feature pack 3 release – I’m curious since then how has this been received by customers you’re working with and maybe address the adoption curve since we last spoke?

    Mike: Actually the Payroll Control Center is gaining more and more interest. The more places, companies, and individuals I talk to the more I hear about how interested they are in the Payroll Control Center because of what SAP is marketing it as but also if they’ve seen a demo which has bene available at a few different events and also online by SAP, there’s a lot you can do with it, there’s a lot that SAP is delivering it’s not a shell if we go back to when it was originally announced it looked more like kind of a shell where we’re going to have to write a lot of our own custom ABAP code and reports behind the scenes. But SAP is actually delivering a lot of items that currently is in a checklist that I work with companies and we want to make sure all these different things are in order.

    One of the other areas a lot of folks are interested in is as we run the payroll process and we run into issues, if we have 20-25 employees that error out in payroll those can be divvied out by a payroll manager or an admin person and can be divvied out – so if five of them are garnishment related they’ll send it over to the person who handles garnishment. Or if we just need to spread the workload we can give it out to different people and then we can see a status update on where that fix is, or what needs to happen to get that person to run through successfully. And I think that was an area I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on myself looking at in the past and it wasn’t an area I had many questions on, but as I started looking into it and started talking to others about that functionality what really kind of struck was that we’d love to know where the issues are and where they’re going to be before we run payroll. And then get those pushed out to the right people.

    From an adoption standpoint, there hasn’t been a lot of implementation that I’ve seen so far. That being said there are a lot of people saying next year because you have to be at a certain level of SAP to get to it and most of them will be getting there in 2016. And so I think once they have that in place they’ll start looking at the Payroll Control Center in a lot more depth or at least starting to play around with it in their test environments to see what they think. There are some technical aspects that have to go with it, with declusterization and some of those items. I wish it had been around 5-10 years ago I think it would have been really nice to have.

    Ken: Shifting gears a little Mike, I know I don’t have to tell you that SAP is all-in on the cloud. I’m curious how that relates for customers who have an on-premise payroll system and the integration points with SuccessFactors and moving to the cloud. What are you advising customers as far as how to handle that as it relates to the SAP roadmap?

    Mike: It’s a very interesting area and exactly how to approach it, every company is slightly different. Some are more comfortable moving things to the cloud and others I’m working with have no interest to go to the cloud or because they have government contracts and some of those things they’re still trying to figure out how that will work out for them to move to the cloud and what they have to be careful about. From the standpoint of where SAP is, they’ve drawn out the roadmap and by 2025 they want to have customers on the cloud and they will have some availability so you can keep running some functionality of SAP on-premise after that point, it’s not something their marketing is really using as a sales pitch because they want everybody to move over. I do think that the cloud has some benefits from the standpoint that you get updates and those types of things on a quarterly basis instead of a lot of times companies will update once a year with support packs and then a CLC like I was talking about earlier with year-end, so you don’t get all the new functionality coming through as often. We do have ways though with SAP and I think they’ve done a good job with this where you don’t have to pull out your existing on-premise installation. You can still continue to use that and then start to basically dip your toe, start getting an understanding of how SuccessFactors works. There’s a company here in town where I live, a utility district that has done a very good of this where they had on-premise and spent all the money putting it in and the way they work with their information is they want to keep it on-premise for the foreseeable future but they saw some of the benefits of SuccessFactors modules where they could pick and choose – compensation and talent management they picked up to go through SuccessFactors and then that all backs in and now that they’ve done that they’re kind of comfortable with how it works and what it requires and they’re looking at other modules. But I think from a payroll standpoint since that’s where I keep my eye closer –  I think that will be one of the last things if not the last thing that they move off down the road. I think they’ll move all the other functionality (first). So over the next few years pick up Employee Central and we’ll keep the on-premise payroll system and then we’ll eventually go over with that as well. But I think that SAP has done a very good job of allowing a hybrid method so that we can pick and choose to a fair degree of what we want to put in place and what we don’t, and then using the on-premise back-end system. I also know there’s a lot of functionality that depending on the company if they use time evaluation and time management to a great deal on-premise most of that doesn’t exist yet with SuccessFactors and I know they’re working on some of that to a degree but a lot of it SAP goes to a third-party and builds some of that in and people don’t want to do that quite yet. So there’s a lot of things to look at when you look at SuccessFactors, the front end is very neat compared to the aging SAP GUI but from a functionality standpoint you really have to pick and choose what area is going to benefit your company. And I think going slow is the way to do it. There’s still plenty of time before 2025 and we can slowly move bits and pieces over until we’re comfortable making that total jump.

    One of the other areas I’ve been hearing a little bit more about lately is SAP S/4HANA because there is not an upgrade path for the HR area to that and so folks see finance, production and everyone else wanting to move to S/4HANA – what does that mean for HR? And depending on how your SAP landscape is now if you’re one of the lucky ones where your HR system, payroll system resides on its own set of boxes and you’re currently using ALE you’re set you don’t have to change anything. Finance and everybody else can upgrade, you just have to point the ALE and the IDOCS to a different partner so it’s actually pretty simple. If you’re on the same system you’re going to have to go through the process of breaking it apart basically so everybody else can go up to S/4HANA and then you would retain that ECC 6.0 version of SAP that you’re running to continue doing HR and Payroll. It’s not terribly difficult but there are some technical things and SAP will be pretty good especially if you talk to them early on about helping you through that process because they want to start getting customers moved to S/4HANA as soon as possible so they can get some testimonials and things.

    Ken: Mike I appreciate your joining us today to share your insights.

    Mike: Thank you I appreciate it very much and I hope the SAP notes I threw out earlier will come in handy to some folks at least as a starting point to start looking at some things if they haven’t heard about the new functionality or changing functionality yet.

    Ken: Again this is Ken Murphy with SAPinsider, this is HR Connections and we’ve been chatting with Mike Timm, founder and managing partner of Integrated Consulting Group. Mike thanks again.

    Mike: Appreciate it.04

  • Streamline Year-End Payroll and Processes: Q&A with SAP Payroll Expert Mike Timm

    SAP HCM and payroll expert Mike Timm took readers’ questions on year-end payroll in SAP, as well as questions on BSI 10, and streamlining payroll in your SAP systems.

    Review all the discussion in this one-hour online chat with Mike Timm of Integrated Consulting Group, a featured speaker at SAPinsider’s annual HR event

    View the chat replay for all of Mike’s tips and discussion on SAP Payroll and preparing for year-end, and read the edited transcript Streamline Year-End Payroll and Processes: Q&A with SAP Payroll Expert Mike Timm.

    Molly Folan, SAPinsider Conference Producer: Welcome to our Q&A on SAP Payroll! Thank you all for joining.  I’m pleased to introduce Mike Timm, who will be taking your questions today. Mike Timm of Integrated Consulting Group is a speaker at our multi-city seminar Optimizing Payroll in SAP, which is heading to Chicago and Vegas in the coming weeks.

    Today, Mike is taking your questions for the hour on some changes to SAP Payroll – including BSI 10 upgrades – as well as preparing for year-end and ways to simplify payroll processes.

    Mike Timm: Hi, Molly. I’m happy to be here and have been looking forward to this Q&A. I’m sure most of us are deeply involved with year-end and BSI 10 and have questions.

    Molly Folan: Thank you!

    Mike, as you can see, some of your participants have already posted some of their questions, so we’ll let you get to those now!

     

    Comment From Guest

    We are having lots of issues installing BSI 10, if we do not get this installed by the Nov 30th deadline, what are the consequences that issues that we be facing?

    Mike Timm: Luckily, the November 30, 2014 deadline proved to be flexible. BSI and SAP will continue to provide updates to BSI 9 through March 31, 2015. You can see the update at service.sap.com/hrusa under the ‘Year End 2014’ tree node.

    Molly Folan: When was the extension announced?

    Mike Timm: Within the last few weeks is when I saw it on the SAP portal. I try to check the portal on at least a weekly basis to see what new announcements have been made.

     

    Comment From Rolanda

    Now that there is an extension to updates to BSI 9.0, what is your recommendation as to when to upgrade to BSI 10.0? To reduce some risk, should companies wait until after the year-end process is over and upgrade in late January?

    Mike Timm: I think it depends on where you are and your timeline. Many companies have BSI 10 in place or are a week or two away from having it in production. If things are working, I wouldn’t stop the upgrade.

    If the upgrade is having significant issues or hasn’t been started, then definitely wait until W2’s are out the door.

     

    Comment From Deb

    Hi, in upgrading BSI Tax Factory it appears that we must now enter estimated quarterly taxes into a table through SPRO; I heard that it is only required for NY. If we are in Florida, must we do it for any tax types? All tax types? What are the consequences if we don’t do it at all, or if we do not update it as the quarterly estimates would change?

    Mike Timm: I’m not an expert on local taxes across all the states, but know that New York imposes an employer tax called ‘Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax’ based on quarterly gross wages. It is a tiered tax, so estimating the quarterly determines the tax rate BSI will use. If you are interested in NY tax, it is SAP tax type 19 Payroll Expense Tax.

    This NY MCTMT is the only tax I have seen that would utilize the estimated quarterly gross wages. The companies I have worked with to install BSI 10 are not in NY and we have not maintained the IMG node. One is live and the other will go live shortly with no consequences. With that said, those companies will monitor whether or not they need to start maintaining as updates come through, but are comfortable eliminating the maintenance at this point.

     

    Comment From Deborah

    Hello, one question regarding the New York estimated gross wages: Will we be required to update the table after each quarter?

    Mike Timm: I believe the intention is to update each quarter, however, if your estimates are consistent quarter to quarter you can probably get away with using date delimitation further in the future. I’d probably use a calendar year and make sure it doesn’t get lost before the next calendar year.

    Comment From Bijay

    Just one follow up 🙂 — all states, or I will have to add 100s of OHIO locas?

    Mike Timm: You should be safe with just NY at this time, but review of updates from SAP and BSI will need to be thorough enough to identify additional tax authorities that may need the functionality.

    Comment From Pankaj

    Where in BSI 10 can we look at the tax rates to be used for example rates to be used for NY Metro Tax?

    Mike Timm: The rates BSI provides are all ‘hidden’ behind the scenes. As users we can override the rates BSI sends us in updates, but within the BSI GUI we don’t have a method to look directly.

    You can use the testing tools to work around this to a degree, but this method has caveats such as limits being hit, etc. and requires several iterations of the test with differing input values.

     

    Comment From Bijay

    We are just upgrading to BSI 10.d. Can you say one thing that we need to do for the Courtesy Withholding concept?

    Mike Timm: Under Tax Areas Courtesy Withholding V_T5UX9_COUWH needs to be maintained to get IT0207 and IT0208 working nicely together. BSI by default has the courtesy withholding turned off, which was not the case prior to BSI 10.0. This has caused a fair amount of problems for many companies because it is such a big change.

     

    Comment From Guest

    We have some questions about HRSPs or CLCs – when do we need them and what are other options?

    Mike Timm: Ideally, the year-end HRSP or CLC is being put in place during November.

    Comment From Trish

    Is there documentation available that would detail the information contained in the year-end HRSPs?

    Mike Timm: Yes, through the SAP support portal you can get a list of all the individual notes that are included in HRSPs and CLCs. You can also get a list of issues that have been found after implementing the HRSP and CLC with the corresponding correction note.

    Comment From Debbie B

    You may want to remind your attendees that additional CLCs may be released in late November, December and even early January, so they should continue checking service.sap.com/hrusa for updates.

    Molly Folan: That’s great advice, we will be sure to share that info – thank you!

     

    Comment From Guest

    I have also had some issues with the TF10 upgrade, specifically regarding reciprocity. For instance, our employees who live in MD and work in DC used to pay MD taxes, but after the upgrade no state tax is assessed. Any suggestions there?

    Mike Timm: Yes, reciprocity has been an issue. You need to look closely at the Courtesy Withholding node in the IMG. I recently had to implement some Nexus configuration as well that wasn’t needed prior to BSI 10.

     

    Comment From Debbie McCarty

    We have upgraded to BSI 10, but are having trouble with applying updates. Has anyone had any experience with using the Sync Tool?

    Mike Timm: The sync tool will be very helpful by removing the dual maintenance we’ve had to do prior to BSI 10. It’s crucial that the correct level of BSI updates and SAP updates are in place. I know making sure the new process is followed to get the cross-client and client-specific transport created has been troublesome.

    SAP provides a user guide on the service portal that details it all out.

     

    Comment From Rolanda

    We are also upgrading to BSI 10.0. Is there a template of what should be tested? Not sure if we know what all to test.

    Mike Timm: I’m not familiar with any templates, but recommend a very thorough testing.

    Depending on your system environment, you can have BSI 9 and 10 running at the same time and access them directly to run the batch tests for comparison.

    If you have used the BSI batch testing tool in the past, you can use the same file in 10.0. Just change the check date and see how the taxes calculate.

    Comment From Matt

    We ran a full payroll in our test environment that was a copy of production before and after the upgrade to TF10 and compared the results to identify any differences. Quite a lot changed, so I would recommend doing something similar.

    Comment From Guest

    To Matt: in your testing did you find any significant issues?

    Comment From Matt

    When we did our parallel test of before and after BSI 10 upgrade, we found a lot of issues with reciprocal agreements, as well as issues with NYC taxes (both withholding and the metro tax type 19).

     

    Comment From Guest

    In 2016 will SAP be providing a solution for the new IRS tax forms 1094 and 1095 to satisfy ACA reporting requirements?

    Comment From Guest

    Will SAP support the Obamacare reporting to individuals via Tax Reporter?

    Mike Timm: I haven’t seen any documentation pointing either way at this point. It’s something we’ll have to continue watching for on the SAP service portal.

    Comment From Debbie B

    This was part of the ASUG end of year presentation: Affordable Care Act — SAP Benefit

    — SAP Note 2060131 announces the legal change delivery for Information Reporting for Employer Sponsored Coverage and Minimum Essential Coverage

    — SAP FAQ Note 1910650 publishes a list of questions and answers related to Section 1511 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

    — SAP Note 2015562 enables you to comply with the changes in the Model COBRA Continuation Coverage Election Notice and General Notice

    — SAP Note 1869937 delivers the updated Model COBRA Continuation Coverage Election Notice

    Molly Folan: This is great, thanks for sharing with everyone!

     

    Comment From Pankaj

    Good afternoon, Mike. What is the significance of BSI introducing Estimated Quarterly Gross Wage Parameter as part of BSI 10 upgrade? Is this config mandatory? I ask since the absence of this config does not seem to have an effect.

    Mike Timm: The configuration only appears to be mandatory for New York at this point to handle the tax type 19. However, it is something we will all need to monitor as updates occur in the future.

     

    Comment From Carol

    Are there consequences for not creating and activating feature 10EET?

    Mike Timm: To be honest, I have followed the BSI 10 upgrade guide and have always activated the feature. I would expect underlying code will be wanting it activated, but can’t say for sure.

    Comment From Lou Ann

    We didn’t activate it at first in testing, and got one error message per employee in the Job Log, so have now activated it to eliminate all the error messages.

     

    Comment From Guest

    Is there a transaction code for the BSI Batch Test Tool?

    Mike Timm: You access the batch test tool through the BSI GUI. Prior to 10, it was a GUI installed on Windows machine, but with 10 it is now web based. There are some differences, but the testing tools are very similar in functionality and use.

     

    Molly Folan: Hi all! We are nearing the end of the forum, so if you have any more questions, please submit them in the next minute or so, to ensure there is sufficient time for Mike to get to them. Thanks!

     

    Comment From Trish

    Can you explain the new wage type/TWD that was added with BSI 10.0 and what it is used for?

    Mike Timm: /TWD is the new wage type to provide tracking of Nonresident Days Worked. Note 1937142 goes into a good amount of detail with regards to how it is utilized.

     

    Comment From Pankaj

    When you mention nexus configuration, are you referring to configuration(Override) both in SAP as well as BSI?

    Mike Timm: Nexus configuration is done in SAP. I can’t remember the exact IMG node, but it is under the tax node of the Payroll tree. I’ve used this in the past to override reciprocity, but have had to use it more with BSI 10.

     

    Comment From Trish

    Do we have to retroactively reprocess payrolls to populate the /TWD wage type for all of 2014?

    Mike Timm: No, utilize the wage type going forward in 2015.

     

    Comment From Guest

    What’s the difference between the BSI Batch Testing Tool and the Synchronized Payroll Data?

    Mike Timm: The batch testing tool allows you to take raw data from the SAP payroll log (BSI Interface), put it in a text document, and then upload to BSI. You can tweak the text document by changing values and reupload and run again.

    It’s a nice way to take a test base representative of your employees, change check date or other values and see how the tax calculations come out directly in BSI. I find it easier than getting all the data setup correctly in SAP.

     

    Comment From Guest

    Hi Mike, Can you please advise on critical tasks for closing out the year? When do these tasks need to be completed (timing of employee updates etc.)?

    Mike Timm: Ideally, activities such as HRSP and CLC application have are done in November or the first week of December.

    Claims clearing activities have been ongoing and completed by mid-December. There are always a few last-minute that pop up.

    HR needs to be extra diligent getting any master data change in, especially, if they have any impact on payroll such as base pay changes or bonuses.

    Ideally, we’ve been working on year-end activities since early October to keep things more relaxed through the last quarter.

     

    Comment From Guest

    Hi, please elaborate on the logic SAP provides regarding overpayments, so-called “claims.”

    Mike Timm: One of the nice features of SAP in the overpayments handling. It can be difficult at first, but once understood and the process is outlined, it works well.

    The SAP service portal has documents specific to retro activity and the claims process that dive in more detail than I could go here. However, don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss in more detail.

     

    Comment From Debbie B

    Have any of your clients rolled out the online W2s with the recent improvements provided by SAP? If yes, how did it turn out?

    Mike Timm: We are in the process of testing. Had a few bumps, but initial tests are good.

     

    Comment From TK

    Can you explain how Base Wages are used for tax calculation? Used to be Base Wages are /114. SAP introduced some changes regarding handling of pre-tax deductions and supplemental payments, but I don’t see how the change in Base Wages affects tax calc. What am I missing?

    Mike Timm: I don’t think you are missing anything and haven’t seen an impact to the tax calculations either.

     

    Comment From Guest

    While trying to use new SAP Synchornize Payroll Data Tool with transaction HRPAYUS_SYNC_TAX_DT. We are expecting this tool to make changes to only new changes to Tax Authorities. Instead it is trying to update all the entries in tables T5UTD (Tax Types). Are you aware of any problem regarding that?

    Mike Timm: I haven’t run across this issue at this point, but you may want to look at notes 1975742,  1984911,  1992315,  1992697, and  2009438.

     

    Molly Folan: This brings us to the end of today’s forum, and what a successful one it was! Such excellent questions and answers! Thank you to all who posted questions and followed the discussion.

    And a special thanks to Mike for sharing your expertise with us today! We truly appreciate it.

    Mike Timm: Thank you and everyone for attending and asking good, tough questions. If you think of more questions or would like to discuss any in more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mtimm@integratedcg.com or @MikeTimmSAP.

     

    Molly Folan: Thank you, Mike Timm, again for taking these questions. Great information and advice today in just 60 minutes!  Looking forward to seeing you soon!

  • HR Connections – Mike Timm on Year-End Payroll and FI/CO Integration

    Mike Timm, founder and managing partner of Integrated Consulting Group, joins SAPinsider for an HR Connections HR Connections – Mike Timm on Year-End Payroll and FI/CO Integration. Topics of this conversation include:

    • The Tax Factory BSI 10.0 upgrade and end-of-support for 9.0
    • Streamlining of payroll processes by creating a process model
    • Custom area menu use
    • Considerations for integrating SAP Payroll with FICO

    For more EOY payroll tips, follow Mike’s Q&A with readers here.


    Below is an edited transcript of the conversation:

    Ken Murphy,SAPinsider: Hi, this is Ken Murphy with SAPinsider, and welcome to another installment of HR Connections, which is an SAPinsider podcast series which focuses on current developments and trends in the HR space. Today, I’m pleased to be joined by Mike Timm, the founder and managing partner of Integrated Consulting Group, and an SAP Certified consultant. Mike, thanks for joining us today.

    Mike Timm, Integrated Consulting Group: Ken, thank you, I appreciate it.

    Ken: So as we head into October, we’re catching up with you at a pretty busy time, you’re one of the featured speakers at the upcoming SAPinsider Optimize Payroll in SAP seminar, which is kicking off October 6 in Philadelphia, and you’ll also be taking part in a live Q&A with SAPinsider on November 5, with questions from readers about end-of-year payroll. So, a lot of things on the horizon.

    Mike: Yeah, that’s right. I’m really looking forward to all of it; I think the seminars that are coming up, starting in Philadelphia and then Chicago and Las Vegas this fall will be very helpful, lots of information from the speakers that are going to be giving out very helpful stuff. The Q&A I’m looking forward to, because I know by November 5 we should all be looking at the year-end support pack and some other items that we need to put in place for our tax reporting going into January, 2015.

    Ken: So, let’s start with the payroll seminars, you’re going to be leading and moderating several sessions, one of which is focusing on the process and technical questions concerning integrating SAP Payroll with financial accounting and controlling. Can you address some of the key process alignment considerations, when integrating SAP Payroll with FICO?

    Mike: Payroll and FICO, there’s some very tight integration there. If you’re new to SAP, or if you’ve been working with it and you’re going to be implementing payroll, you’ll find that there’s a lot of dependencies there that finance has to set up or costing has to set up to make sure that those are available and open for payroll to use and to process properly and without errors. I find that a lot of times this integration is very new to folks, the discussions that need to be had and the deep understanding on both sides of what’s going on, what wage types are in SAP, which they actually mean, what they’re used for, and how that’s going to flow over to finance can sometimes be a little bit difficult to grasp. We do always want to make sure that both groups are involved, that there’s a good line of communication between the two, and that we can make sure that our end products, so on payroll, we send that data over to finance, we want to make sure finance knows what the data is and what it’s, what it should be used for.

    We also have some other areas like accounts payable, which a lot of times is underutilized or not utilized by companies that I think would be very beneficial, it’s very powerful, very flexible, and the configuration isn’t all that difficult, and with the third-party remittance, that would allow us to take deductions, to United Way or something similar, and pass that over to accounts payable, and then get it paid out very easily. Things like garnishments and deductions for benefits and those types of things are also included in accounts payable, and allows for a lot of auditing and a very streamlined process when we put it in place.

    And then the other, the third area I guess that doesn’t get utilized probably as much as it should is month-end accrual, with SAP, there are several settings that you can put in SAP that would allow you to automatically create a month-end accrual, and it can be based on estimates or actual, and a lot of times that’s not fully understood, and a scenario that I think would be very helpful to most companies.

    Ken: Circle back to the accounts payable and third-party remittance, why is that under-utilized, and maybe you could just touch on one or two of the key benefits for organizations that do decide to use that functionality?

    Mike: Yeah, the third-party remittance I think isn’t always fully understood, what exactly is happening there and how that can be used to help streamline or automate the process to go over to accounts payable. I think one of the other things too, especially if you’re, if a company is coming from a non-SAP payroll and the accounts payable systems, that integration was never in place, and so payroll always had their paper forms or their electronic extracts that they would go through, they would audit those, and then they would send that over to accounts payable using either paper forms or interfaces, and I think that once the integration is understood and seeing how it can work, and it can be a very simple thing to put in place overall, compared to a lot of areas in the payroll area, module area. And that understanding of how that works, and hey, now when we push the button we’re going to create a posting document and that posting document would get sent over to third-party rents or accounts payable, there are steps in there where you can stop the process and audit it at that point in time so, before payroll sends anything over to accounts payable, they can still look at it and audit it, accounts payable can look at it and then say ok, we’re good, we can release it. Or you can automate that so it just goes right on over to accounts payable and works really well.

    Ken: Of course, you’ll also be focusing on end-of-year payroll in your live Q&A with us, which again is on November 5, since we’re now already—hard to believe—turning the calendar into October here, but I’m just wondering what changes or concerns are you advising companies to pay attention to as they head into year-end?

    Mike: Well the, there’s a couple things that are good to look out for, and hopefully most companies if they haven’t started are starting very soon to look at their year-end process, what they need to put in place, what types of activities need to occur, such as clearing of claims, those types of items, that need to happen and have a schedule for the remainder of the year and then also into January when they need to start generating their tax forms.

    One of the big changes that is coming through is that BSI 9 will no longer be supported after November 30 of this year. So all the companies need to move over to BSI 10, and that process, I’ve worked with a couple companies through it now, has not been without its bumps, and so it’s one of those things where you don’t want to wait until the last minute, you have a lot of different areas involved with your Basis team, maybe technical team, depending on how—landscaping team, depending on how you have all this set up. And so you want to get an early start on that to allow everyone to go through the GUI, or the front-end that BSI uses to interact with updating things like unemployment, insurance rates, or any overrides that you’re doing, and BSI has changed and it’s no longer a Windows install, it’s Web-based, which is a lot nicer, especially if you’re not using a Windows machine but you still have to get used to it and understand how it changes, their functionality has changed slightly, I know on some of the testing tools it’s not quite as, or it took me a few times to get it quite right, it’s not the way it’s been since BSI 5 or 6, when I started, all the way to BSI 9. So that’s the big thing I think, is with BSI, needing to change over to version 10.

    The other area for year-end 2014 is going to be, make sure that you’ve gone out to the SAP Support Portal, looked at the newsletter, are following through the year-end reference materials, there’s a lot of information out there and guidelines on hey, here are some of the activities you should be doing, make sure you get the schedule, there’s also the support package and the legal change pack schedule sitting out there, and so, depending on how companies want to update their systems, they might want to do a support pack up through June or July of this year, and then just do legal change packs based on countries, that way there’s less impact to the rest of HR. And so that schedule is sitting out there and should be followed.

    And then SAP also will, has a section for important notes, so as things come up, as support packs or the country legal change packs need tweaking themselves, SAP will be releasing SAP Notes, and those Notes will be put out there under this important section and so they’re very visible, you can easily see what’s needed, what’s going on, what the schedule is, if there’s any type of legislation that comes in towards year-end that might impact us, SAP is putting that out there and giving estimates on when things might be available, or when things should be available from them, so we can schedule our activities to make sure we get those put in in a timely manner, but at the same time we’ve gone through the testing process, we’ve, our Basis team understands that these things are coming through, other areas that might be impacted as well.

    Ken: And Mike, you also focus separately on streamlining payroll processes in your payroll sessions, can you share a tip or two with us today that you’ll be sharing at the seminar?

    Mike:  There’s actually a couple to streamline, the payroll process, as anyone that’s been running it—can be, it’s a very manual process, and there’s several steps, and in those steps you have break points where you want to go do things so you might run payroll and then we want to audit payroll, once we’re done, make a few adjustments to some employees, we re-run payroll and we go in and we post to accounting and we run third-party remittance and interfaces in these types of things and to do all that, you know, everybody, or typically everybody will have their business process script and be able to follow that through. One way to help automate that is to use process models, so for our regular payroll, we can actually tell, like kick off payroll, we can go in and start that process model, we have a lot of employees, might be something we do late in the evening and then it runs overnight, and then we can have it stop. And so the process model stops, that allows us to go in and do our audits, once everyone’s happy with the audits and the adjustments that are made, we can start the process model back up, and so it will actually take care of all the steps along the line.

    And one of the other things with the process that’s nice is we can run things in simulation mode or production mode, so we can run a simulation payroll after, or I’m sorry, a simulation posting to accounting, or a simulation third-party remittance, after our payroll is done so we can go in and audit that, and then we can say ok, this looks good, now let’s go ahead and do the production run. And so that helps automate, there are still some places in there where you can step through and put break points and help your process.

    The second area that I think is very useful, especially if we don’t want to use process models, is using a custom area menu, and custom area menus are something that’s done through configuration, you can use custom area menus to call programs, so the same programs that you use, so there’s no customization from a program standpoint. And it would, you can outline exactly here, step-by-step, here’s where we go, you can give it different descriptions so you can say step one, step two, step three, in there and that makes it very, very simple for an end user to go through and they no longer have to go through the SAP menus.

    One of the other nice things with their menus is if you create a custom transaction code, so for payroll, we don’t use the standard transaction code, we use a custom one, we can tell it to call a specific variant. And so the area menu, we’d go in the area menu, we’d see the line we want or the transaction we want, we hit on that, and then it would open up like rp-calc, which is in the payroll program, and it would have a specific variant that we want to use. And then the user doesn’t even have to go in and select variants or incorrectly select one, and you can set this up to be done you know, across and even outside of payroll, but I found it very useful, especially if you had situations where you have high turnover in your payroll department, or you just need the consistency, the employees or the users that you have, you don’t want to have to go through and think about which transaction is which, which variant it is, and so those can be very helpful.

    Ken: Well, we’ll look forward to what I’m sure will be an educational seminar coming up next week; again, the SAPinsider Optimize Payroll in SAP seminar will be on October 6 in Philadelphia. We’ve been speaking with Mike Timm, the founder and managing partner of Integrate Consulting Group and an SAP Certified consultant. And for our listeners, make sure to get your questions in for Mike with questions about year-end payroll for our live Q&A with SAPinsider, which is going to be on November 5. Mike, thank you for your time today.

    Mike: Ken, thank you, I really appreciate the opportunity.

  • What Is Change Management?

    What Is Change Management

    In conversations about our services here on our blog, and even in broader conversations about SAP HCM consulting, a term you’re very likely to see come up is “change management.” But if you’re unfamiliar with SAP HCM and HCM solutions, there’s a chance that you may not know exactly what change management is, or why it matters.

    So what is change management, and why should businesses be so concerned with it?

    Put simply, change management is an approach to implementing changes in an organization in a structured, thought-out way. Any time a business needs large-scale change within the organization–such as implementing SAP HCM solutions like we do here at ICG–a structured approach makes success much more likely, and almost always ends up with better results than you’d see without proper change management.

    Proper change management focuses on both the big picture and the smaller details at the same time. Here at ICG, for example, our implementation process covers everything from a business blueprint which fully structures the application of SAP HCM, all the way down to the training of individual employees in all aspects of the software and of support. By focusing on the big picture while not losing sight of important small details, we help to ensure that businesses can navigate the change as smoothly as possible.

    In all situations where change management is a factor, the end goal is increased efficiency, smoother processes, and overall better preparation for today’s changing business environment. From the implementation of SAP HCM software, to an overall change in strategy to reflect a changing industry, change management isn’t limited to any one specific change–only the processes that surround it. So long as there’s a structure in place, the concept of change management is one that can be applied across a wide variety of changes and consulting needs.

    Making sure you have the proper processes in place for whatever change you’re seeking to implement is what change management is all about. If you’d like to learn more about ICG and how we can help your business with change management and the implementation of SAP HCM software, let us know on Twitter @Integrated_CG, via email at info@integratedcg.com, or by phone at (866) 415-0071. We’re always here to answer your questions and would be more than happy to help.

    —

    photo credit: danxoneil via photopin cc

  • ICG Implementation Solutions, Part IV: Go-Live and Support

    This post is part IV of IV in a series about ICG’s implementation solutions. You can find parts I, II, and III of the series here, here, and here, respectively.

    ICG Implementation Solutions, Part III Go-Live and SupportThe previous three phases we’ve discussed over the last few weeks, project management, business blueprinting, and realization, lead us to the final go-live and support phase with a level of comfort and thorough understanding of how SAP is set up to run. By this point in the process, the staff has been trained, and support is ready to go to improve operations.

    Go-live and support is broken down into four parts, which we’ll detail below:

    Final cut over and execution:

    In this stage, preparations are finalized and SAP production is updated for the processes that were put in place during the realization phase. Data conversions are performed and processes are tested in production. Communications are sent out, and at this point, our new system is in place and ready.

    Validate live business processes:

    Once SAP production is up and running, our professionals will continue to work with your IT staff and business users to review that all the processes are working as intended. We’ll also make sure that all issues and problems are resolved for transition to the production support team. In addition, the change management employed throughout the project, with proper change management procedures established, will continue to help staff become accustomed to the new system. 

    Ongoing production support:

    During the project management phase, we determine how the company is going to continue support—internal, outsourced, or hybrid. Help desk scripts created during the realization stage can help facilitate quick responses. Our professionals will continue to work with your support team to make sure they are comfortable, and have the knowledge to quickly respond and resolve inquiries from your staff.

    Post go-live end-user training:

    Best practices in training will continue to be an important component of a successful system installation, and of ongoing use. New employees, or employees that move to a new area, will need to understand the processes they will be responsible for and how those fit into the overall system end-to-end. This foundation within the company’s workforce is important for any employee changes so that this on-going knowledge transfer is not lost.

    Throughout this entire process, organizations continue to morph, and processes may need to be adjusted as time goes on, requiring new configuration. The project management phase will have identified the continuing education needs so that all parties involved with the change will understand the implications and make proper adjustments to training.

    The go-live date also doesn’t mean the end of preparing documentation. Instead, it is an ongoing process that includes frequent updates throughout the lifecycle of the system in place. From project management to go-live and support, ICG’s implementation solutions are here to help your business navigate the change.

    Want to learn more about ICG’s SAP HCM solutions, and how we can help your business meet its goals in this changing business environment? Get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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    photo credit: Martin Gillet via photopin cc

  • ICG Implementation Solutions, Part III: Realization

    This post is part III of IV in a series about ICG’s implementation solutions. Over the coming weeks, we’ll cover each aspect of our implementation solutions, from project management to go-live and support. Be sure to check back later for more posts in the series. You can find parts I and II of the series here and here, respectively.

    ICG Implementation Solutions, Part III- RealizationAfter the critical steps of project management and business blueprinting, the next stage of ICG’s implementation process is realization–the final stage before go-live and support.

    Like project management and business blueprinting, realization can be broken down into a few main parts:

    • System configuration
    • Report specification and build
    • Interface specification and build
    • Conversion specification and build
    • Unit testing
    • End user training preparation and delivery

    Realization takes the time and effort put into the business blueprinting stage and enacts the desired outcomes and expected benefits.

    During the project management phase, we identified the resources, and who would complete the configuration efforts by thinking through all of the ways our project affects the organization. With all the processes and requirements fully documented and understood, our professionals work with your staff to configure SAP and deliver projects with better control.

    Knowledge transfer continues through this phase so that the eventual support staff thoroughly understands the implementation and configuration through documentation and/or hands-on training.

    As the configuration is put in place, unit tests are completed, and any adjustments necessary to the configuration are identified and resolved. Adjustments go through the change request process identified during the project management phase, and business blueprint documents will be updated to capture the changes.

    Unit tests, as part of the development process for proper operation, are determined and performed, and will eventually be the foundation for end-user training development and help desk support scripts. Custom code for reports, interfaces, and conversions is written and thoroughly tested in a dedicated testing environment.

    After realization, the process is nearly complete and we can move through to the go-live and support stage. It takes a lot of planning and preparation, but our process here at ICG is meant to evaluate every aspect of our project to enable success after go-live.

    Want to learn more about ICG? Get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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    Photo credit: Ralph Orlowski/Bloomberg

  • ICG Implementation Solutions, Part II: Business Blueprinting

    This post is part II of IV in a series about ICG’s implementation solutions. Over the coming weeks, we’ll cover each aspect of our implementation solutions, from project management to go-live and support. Be sure to check back later for more posts in the series. You can find part I of the series here.

    ICG Implementation Solutions, Part II Business Blueprinting

    On Monday, we covered part I of our series about ICG’s implementation solutions, and discussed the approach we take during the project management stage of implementation.

    The next step of implementation is business blueprinting, which we’ll discuss today.

    Business blueprinting can be broken down into three main elements:

    • HCM business process and SAP HCM functionality alignment
    • Process redesign to incorporate SAP HCM best practice
    • Design of client specific solutions

    Business blueprinting is a vital piece of the roadmap for subsequent stages of implementation.

    This comprehensive approach is necessary to design a solution that accurately reflects the business’ need. Current HCM business processes and functionalities are identified and detailed out in step-by-step instructions and flowcharts, all with success factors incorporated.

    These documents provide the current state, and will be compared with SAP best practices and functionality to determine where they are similar, where potential gaps exist, and where change management will be more heavily involved.

    Change management will be an integral component where processes need to be redesigned to allow the staff to be efficient once they move from the current system to SAP, or from current SAP to enhanced SAP. SAP HCM best practices will also be incorporated to provide a more efficient and effective implementation, and ongoing support as part of the solution landscape.

    This time is also used to get staff trained and fully educated about the SAP functionality and processes, so that they can make informed decisions to reduce the risk of needing something different during the next phase: realization.

    When SAP HCM will not meet current business requirements with standard functionality or process redesign, we look at how to mitigate the gap by configuring and testing enhancements. SAP provides several avenues for enhancements, and we use those enhancements sparingly to reduce implementation and ongoing support costs. Our professionals have seen many situations, and can offer recommendations on how they have seen other companies meet their business requirements.

    By the end of business blueprinting, you will be able to compare current processes to future SAP processes, and see exactly where the organization needs to head strategically, with the optimum technical configuration. The business blueprint is reviewed and signed off by the business staff, and the design is set from the start.

    Like project management, business blueprinting is an essential step in making sure that the project is properly planned out, and that the business we’re partnered with is properly aligned for success. Knowing how current processes compare to future SAP processes allows you to make better predictions about how things will run after implementation, and helps make the process run as smoothly as possible.

    Want to learn more about ICG? Get in touch with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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    photo credit: Telstar Logistics via photopin cc

  • ICG Implementation Solutions, Part I: Project Management

    ICG Implementation Solutions, Part I Project ManagementThis post is part I of IV in a series about ICG’s implementation solutions. Over the coming weeks, we’ll cover each aspect of our implementation solutions, from project management to go-live and support. Be sure to check back later for more posts in the series. 

    As you may have gathered from our past few posts here on the blog, we here at ICG believe that understanding our consulting process is essential to understanding the types of problems we can help your business overcome, and even just the services we offer.

    To help our readers along with that process, today, we’re going to kick off a series about ICG’s implementation solutions. By working with your staff in close partnership at every level, we can help you creatively solve business issues across a wide variety of industries and verticals.

    The first step in the implementation process is project management.

    To start, project management encapsulates a number of things:

    • Planning and management
    • Project documentation and change management
    • Detailed implementation planning to task level
    • Resource planning
    • Risk management and troubleshooting
    • Data conversion, interface and reporting strategies
    • Help desk support planning

    Recognizing that project management is a crucial component of any successful project, each step in our project management process is designed to help set you up for success and to communicate the rationale behind the project’s definition, plan, and execution. The success of any project comes not only from the ability to identify various critical paths, but also from the ability to understand and excel on the many facets of the project, from budget, to timeline, and tasks to complete.

    The end game is where we start to fully understand what the company needs and wants beforehand to assess potential impacts on the overall project. We then know where we want to be and where we are, and can develop best how we get there by providing working scenarios of the critical paths.

    Change management is ingrained into our philosophy (and accordingly into our project management phase of implementation) because we know the partner company is making a significant investment and needs to have immediate ROI.

    The approach to transitioning a team/organization is key to that need, especially where a project is introduced, changed, and/or approved in the process of implementation. We deal with a systematic approach and application of knowledge to either deal with, change, or adopt strategic procedures to help the partner in such a business environment process to achieve desired outcomes.

    But there’s more to success in our partnerships than just our approach to transitioning a team—identifying existing conditions that can be leveraged to make the project more effective, or hurdles that may cause struggle as we go through this phase, allows us to utilize that knowledge and work with the conditions as the project progresses.

    What’s more, identifying potential risks and implementing contingencies at the beginning allows us greater flexibility to continue without missing stride during the project. As CEO and Managing Partner here at ICG, Mike Timm’s key role is to guide the use of these concepts and contingencies so that they help, rather than hinder the project team’s progress.

    As the project management progresses, proper organizational structures, documentation requirements, and repositories are nailed down, reducing questions. The burden on resources is to make well-informed decisions and put those in place with as little administrative overhead as possible. By utilizing highly experienced and professional resources, we allow for a flatter project management structure, and a tighter focus on project tasks. The goal here is for clear authority and responsibility, improved communications, and proper integration at the highest level.

    Finally, project management also includes detailing out a systematic timeline so that resources can be scheduled and we have the right person, with the right skillset, at the right time; we don’t have resources milling about or learning on the job. A strong program of measures and metrics is essential for ensuring that objectives are met, and proper project oversight and control help ensure that the outcome of the project will be successful.

    From the very beginning, every aspect of the project needs to be identified. Since we start with the end game, we know from the outset how data will be converted from existing systems, what interfaces with third parties need to be created or modified, what gap there may or may not be between the old and new systems, and how those gaps are addressed.

    Knowing early on how the program is going to go, and how the partner company wants to set up their ongoing support team, ultimately helps with success in executing and producing deliverables necessary.

    The best way to ensure success while helping a business navigate the changing world is by proper planning, and here at ICG, our project management process starts with well-thought-out planning. By sitting down with our partner company and working out every detail of the project well ahead of implementation, we help ensure a smooth transition, and ultimately the success of our clients in solving whatever problems they’re trying to deal with.

    Want to learn more about ICG? Get in touch with us in the comments or on Twitter.

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    photo credit: Martin Gillet via photopin cc

  • An Interview with Mike Timm, Managing Partner at ICG

    An intervew with Mike Timm Managing Partner at ICGEarlier this week, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Mike Timm, Managing Partner here at ICG. He has some great insights on the world of SAP HCM, on ICG, and on normal life in the workplace here in our office.

    You can read the full interview below:

    First off, tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your background in consulting, what’s your interest in SAP HCM, and how did you end up in your position here at ICG? 

    I’ve been working as a consultant since 1996. Most of the emphasis has been in the HCM space. Prior to consulting, I worked for companies where I had the opportunity to work personally and focus on HR, Benefits, and Payroll departments. I enjoyed collaborating with those departments and experienced the challenges faced to balance the relationship of employees and employer, as well as linkages to compliance systems.

    Labor costs for many companies are the highest expense so HCM has a big influence on the bottom line. I like to work with companies and focus my approach on employee engagement, streamlined processes, and user-friendly and useful tools providing significant ROI. SAP HCM is valuable tool as a solution to meet the clients’ needs.

    I founded ICG in April 2000 because I wanted to provide highly qualified consultants to companies wanting to use SAP HCM as a useful tool in their overall strategic outlook. Our engagements are truly partnerships. We get to know the partner business thoroughly and work closely with the partner’s staff to ensure they fully understand what the SAP HCM solution will do for them.

    What does a normal day of work look like for you? Is your schedule dynamic, or do you have a set routine that you tend to follow every day? 

    I’m not sure normal days really exist! Each day brings its own set of challenges and rewards, and those can vary based on the partner company and type of engagement. The companies I work with have diverse needs so early mornings and late evenings do occur. I am accessible 24/7. 

    In our post on Tuesday, we offered a little bit of insight into our unique approach to SAP HCM here at ICG. Our focus isn’t just on implementation–it’s on support and management after the fact. Can you give our readers a little more information on this approach, and how it helps bring success to our clients?

    Our approach is not to just put SAP HCM in place and walk away. We want our partner company to fully understand what the software can do as we go through the application process and change management integration necessary when implementing new software or enhancing existing systems. 

    Change management can go a long way with helping a company transition, but business requirements do change as a company evolves. Our support and management service cover these ongoing needs. This ranges from discussing potential thoughts and ideas, to a fully outsourced approach model.  

    We keep it very flexible to meet the partner company needs as their requirements change. Developing an overall strategy, communications with end-users, and implementing a manageable change process, is of the utmost importance. As with our Implementation services, we want the partner company to fully understand what they have and where they are going.

    What’s the biggest challenge you regularly face as an SAP Consultant? Obviously, today’s business world is constantly changing. Do you find that that constant change makes developing solutions difficult, or is it just part of the process? 

    We must be constantly updating our knowledge base and identify our best resources. Available functionality continues to evolve and with recent acquisitions of companies such as SuccessFactors, the expansion has been fast and broad in scope. Continuing to develop expertise requires attending webinars and conferences, scheduling formal education, self-education, and networking with peers.

    This continued focus on being well-versed in existing and new functionality allows me to provide partner companies with the information in a concise and up-to-date manner. I don’t see this as an option, but something that must be ingrained in how we, as consultants, provide our services.

    What does the normal process look like when a client is onboarded with ICG, if there is one? Do all clients go from implementation directly to support solutions, or is that decided solely on a case-by-case basis? Moreover, what kind of support and/or solutions can a client expect if they choose ICG for their consulting needs?  

    We make onboarding as simple as possible for the partner company. To become an effective colleague, we gather considerable amounts of data. We work closely with the partner company to determine how much time their individuals have, how much information we request directly from the partner company, and how much we seek out directly by reviewing their existing documents and SAP system. The approach is to learn quickly so we perform at a high-level, without overwhelming the partner company staff. 

    The types of solutions we provide are based on initial discussions with the partner company about their needs and wants. Implementation to support solutions is not a foregone conclusion, but those initial needs and wants along with the strategy we develop produces a roadmap that is easily understandable.

    Regardless of the type of solution we are engaged with, we believe the following to be our hallmarks:

    • Respect, integrity, trust, professionalism, and communication
    • Dedication to client satisfaction and success
    • Unique knowledge and specialization of our consultants
    • Singular focus in the SAP Human Capital Management suite of products 

    Finally, what’s your favorite part about SAP Consulting? Throughout your career, there’s no doubt that you’ve done a lot of diverse work across a variety of industries and business needs–so what keeps you coming back? 

    Meeting new people and working with new companies is very intriguing and fun to me. I enjoy seeing how companies and people perform their processes and it has taught me that the underlying needs and base processes are very similar across companies. Leveraging and sharing that knowledge with new or existing clients to help define their requirements or streamline their processes is very fulfilling. 

    A very common question I get is “How do others do this?”. Providing options and opinions to that question and seeing the impact is always very rewarding.

    If you’d like to learn more about Mike Timm or ICG and how we can help you work towards a successful future, let us know on Twitter @Integrated_CG, via email at info@integratedcg.com, or by phone at (866) 415-0071.

  • What Is ICG?

    Over the last few years on our blog here at ICG, we’ve covered a lot. From alleviating cost burdens in SAP payroll, to recapping HR conferences, to announcing important events, we’ve used our blog to help keep our readers and customers up on what’s going on in HR, HCM, and with SAP.

    Until now, though, we’ve been fairly sporadic with posting. This year, we’re making an effort to post to our blog more regularly, keeping our readers up on topics like those we mentioned above—but with a little more frequency. We’ll be posting twice a week and consistently making an effort to make our blog a great source of information for our readers and customers.

    To kick things off, we thought we’d start with an introduction to ICG for our new readers.

    ICG, or Integrated Consulting Group, is a consulting firm specializing in the implementation and support of SAP Human Capital Management (HCM). We help our clients and partners meet their SAP application needs, and since our founding in 2000 have had performance success across a broad array of industries—from professional services to manufacturing—and a wide array of business needs.

    We can break our services down into implementation solutions and support solutions, but can highlight some of our main focus points for client service and support:

    • SAP Human Capital Management
    • Change Management
    • Technology and Operational Solutions
    • Strategy (and Execution)
    • Innovation and Customization
    • Product Management and Planning
    • Product Support

    From resource planning and risk management, to end user training, to implementation and support of best practices and technology, ICG is here to help you with SAP HCM and to help your business run as efficiently and successfully as possible.

    Here at ICG, we’re experts in change management. We differ from other consulting groups in the way we manage our partnerships with companies. While many companies help implement SAP HCM, very few do what we do in terms of management and support after the fact. We believe that management and support after implementation are just as important as the implementation of SAP HCM itself, and make it a point to help companies through the entire process to realize smooth and ongoing operations—which certainly isn’t something you’ll find commonly amongst other consulting firms.

    When working with ICG, you won’t just get assistance with the implementation and support of SAP HCM—you’ll get an entire team with years of experience helping organizations of every size (and across many industries), along with the hands-on expertise of Mike Timm, Managing Partner of ICG and experienced SAP Certified Consultant. All of the services we offer here at ICG are here to help businesses reach their future goals, and we’re committed to developing innovative, value-generating solutions for all of our clients.

    If you’d like to learn more about ICG and how we can help you work towards a successful future, let us know on Twitter @Integrated_CG, via email at info@integratedcg.com, or by phone at (866) 415-0071. We’re always here to answer your questions and would be more than happy to help.