Optimizing SAP SuccessFactors with digital Employee File from Centric
In its industry, Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH is one of the international technology leaders: The machine manufacturer from Lower Saxony, Germany, develops cutting-edge technology and is never satisfied with half-solutions – not even when it comes to its own IT equipment. That's why Piller optimizes its SAP systems with Centric Employee File for SAP solutions.
In 2015, the company made a major decision: The software landscape was to be completely realigned. The company wanted state-of-the-art solutions that were tightly integrated, scalable, and ready for whatever technological scenarios the future held in store. With the SAP applications S/4HANA, C/4HANA, GTS, Analytics Cloud, IDM, HCM, and SuccessFactors, the choice went to a total package of ERP,CRM, foreign trade management, real-time analysis, identity management, human capital management, and human resources, all of which remain productive to this day.
There was oneproblem, however: In contrast to the previous personnel management system, adigital employee file was lacking. Thomas Henzler, Chief Information Officer atPiller Blowers & Compressors GmbH: "In any case, we wanted to use a digital employee file that was as well integrated with SAP SuccessFactors aspossible. Ideally, users should not even notice that it is a solution that does not come from SAP itself. And thirdly, we were looking for a solution that wasas intuitive to use as possible" – product features that Centric EmployeeFile for SAP solutions perfectly combines.
Piller Blowers & Compressors was founded in 1909 and still stands fortop products and innovative spirit. The medium-sized company already ships itsproducts to almost every country around the globe. The "hidden champion" finds its customers in many sectors – for example, in thepetrochemical and chemical industries, in energy and water supply, and inindustrial furnace and plant construction. 85 percent of its products areexported. Piller Blowers & Compressors employs around 400 people at its German headquarters and subsidiaries in the USA, Singapore, and China.
Go-live in just afew weeks
Only a few weeks passed between the decision for the file solution at the beginning of 2018 and the go-live in the spring. The Centric team took care of all the provisioning, while Piller Blowers & Compressors did not have to sign any additional contracts with SAP to use the SAP Cloud Platform. The company simply defined the files tructure, permissions, and user roles. A few files were created on a test basis and functions such as deletion periods and document storage were runthrough – no further effort was required: As a standard solution, the system already provided all the functionalities that Piller Blowers & Compressors needed out of the box.
Once in use, the solution was convincing from the very first moment. Firstly because employees don't even notice that they are working outside of the SAP solution. Centric Employee File for SAP solutions uses the familiar design of SAP Fiori and offers employees in the HR department direct access to employment contracts, references, and HR master data from SAP SuccessFactors. A security concept based on SAP authorization management also ensures that only users who are actually authorized to view sensitive personnel data are allowed to do so. The tried-and-tested SAP procedures are also effective when it comes to dataprivacy and deadline management – keyword: European General Data Protection Regulation.
Centric's Digital Employee File delivers what it promises in our business. Users don't have to jump back and forth between different systems and interfaces and but always have the feeling of working in SAP SuccessFactors.
Thomas Henzler, Chief Information Officer, Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH
Six employees work with the solution and manage the employee files ofaround 400 employees. They took over the digitalization of the current fileinventory, while the scanning of legacy files whose retention period had notyet expired was handed over to an external service provider.
New system runs 30to 40 percent faster
When the files were scanned in-house, it was immediately clear: WithCentric Employee File for SAP solutions, digitalization is much faster thanwith the previous solution, which still required a dedicated scanner. ThomasHenzler estimates that the new system runs 30 to 40 percent faster, whichrepresents a considerable reduction in time. In day-to-day work, the course isalso set for greater efficiency: particularly due to the seamless integrationwith SAP SuccessFactors, because navigation to other systems or applications isno longer necessary to look at a file.
We are very satisfied with the solution and are happy to have Centric as a partner with expertise not only in the classic ECM environment, but also as a proven SAP specialist,
says Thomas Henzler.
The Data model expands with current needs
Thanks to the use of the SAP Cloud Platform, the file structures are flexibly scalable. The IT department at Piller Blowers no longer has to worryabout its own server resources and infrastructure: Everything runs on the SAP Cloud Platform and the data model grows with the actual demand. Many SAP customers are very interested in fully integrated cloud products for SAP applications. Solutions such as Centric's Digital Employee File, which are based on the SAP Cloud Platform, deliver added value to companies such as Piller Blowers & Compressors GmbH.
File management itself is easy to handle, the training effort was negligible. We showed our colleagues how everything works two or three times, then they started scanning the current employee files on their own,
says ThomasHenzler.
