APRIL 2014 K-I-T-E-S

Know-Innovate-Think-Explore-Share~~Soar high with all that and more!

A bi-monthly journal from BSS-CoE
From the desk of CoE...

Dear Associates,

This edition marks the completion of 3 years of existence of KITES including its predecessor – the e-Newsletter. This no

doubt is a proud moment for all of us in that we have built and sustained it for so long. However, off-late we are

stretching a lot. The flow of articles has greatly dwindled and there is a huge effort in trying to source them.

I would like to re-iterate the twin purposes of this Journal. First, this seeks to help associates gain knowledge on niche

topics, become more aware of new & diverse areas, get to know work being done by others, and be kindled to think. On

the other hand, we recognize that “expertise” is not only about “knowing” stuff in depth. It is also about being able to

articulate. The second and equally important purpose of this Journal is therefore to provide an opportunity to associates

to articulate their knowledge.

The proof of quality of the Journal is in its readership and in turn the proof of readership is in the feedback received from

the readers. We had endeavored to capture such feedback thru a section called “Voices”. However, we discovered that

there had to be extensive effort to get this feedback. I call upon readers to kindly send in some comments that can

contribute to understanding the level of readership as well as in improving the content.

I urge each of you to kindly imbibe these perspectives of this magazine as laid out above and contribute to the

same…. After all the magazine is spaced out so well – once in two months and you don’t even have to contribute every

time – so honestly, if each of you contributes an article once a year, we will be struggling to find space to print!!! And as a

courtesy to the authors of the articles you read – a simple feedback would be very much in order! Hoping to see a big

turn-around soon!

Happy reading,

Sriram Sampath

KITES APRIL 2014 2

IN THIS ISSUE…

Blog Space

Q u i c k B y t e s....

Page 5
Page 4

Big Data Foreign Currency

Accounting & Reporting -
Part 2

Jeyanthi Mathivathanan Sameer Drolia

Page 6 Page 9

Shed the Dead Weight - Successfactors Workforce

Part 4 Analytics

Harisankar Mohana Kumar

Anantha Padmanaban N
Page 15
Page 12

Recruiting Execution

Dr. Chandrasekhar
Chimmapudi
Page 18

Editorial Team:
Mohammad Abdullah Shamim, Sameer S M, Suresh Vasudeva, Bhargav C,
Raghu Ram Reddy Devagiri, Venkatesh Kanniah, Priya Thomas
……………………....
Design Team:
Naveen Kumar K, Annie Jose, Ramya C Subramanian

KITES APRIL 2014 3

Quick B y t e s....

Accenture and SAP to Launch New Business
Solutions Group to Accelerate Time to Value for
Client- and Industry-Specific Cloud-Based Solutions
Accenture and SAP AG announced the creation of a new
business group focused on rapidly accelerating the time it
takes to jointly develop and deliver new industry-specific
solutions based on cloud and other digital technologies. The
Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group brings
together the companies’ respective co-innovation, joint
solution development and go-to-market teams in an effort to
focus on significantly increasing time to value for clients
globally. Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group
helps facilitate a combination of Accenture’s intellectual
property and industry expertise with innovative solutions
that are powered by the SAP HANA Cloud Platform to more
rapidly enable customers to harness the benefits of digital
technologies including cloud, analytics and enterprise
mobility. The goal is to significantly expedite the joint-
solution development process to help allow the two
companies to quickly bring breakthrough solutions to
market across a range of industry sectors, with an initial
focus on retail and consumer goods, automotive, energy
and utilities.
Intelligent Business Operations Bundle powered by SAP
HANA Helps Organizations Contextualize Big Data
Insights into Processes
SAP AG announced a new intelligent business operations
bundle that helps organizations infuse Big Data insights in
real time into their processes to work smarter and improve
responsiveness to threats and opportunities Today’s
organizations accumulate massive volumes of structured
and unstructured data from business applications, machines,
social media and more. However, enterprises are challenged
to exploit the value of this information within the context of
end-to-end processes such as procure to pay, order to cash,
idea to offering and plan to inventory, among others. Many
organizations struggle to have one single view of their
processes and make use of Big Data in a way that empowers
line-of-business users to improve their operations. The
intelligent business operations bundle from SAP addresses
these challenges, allowing organizations to streamline their
operations and embed Big Data insights into their processes
in real time. Line-of-business users will be empowered to
gain full visibility into end-to-end operations to improve
decision-making and to take corrective actions when or even
before issues occur.

SAP PowerDesigner Software Integrates with Broad
Range of SAP Technology
SAP AG announced new innovations for SAP
PowerDesigner software, the industry-leading information
modeling and enterprise architecture tool. Recognized as a
Leader in the 2013 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise
Architecture Tools, SAP PowerDesigner now integrates
into an organization’s operational process intelligence.
Through a new intelligent business operations offering,
users can create a blueprint for processes systems, and
technologies needed to execute their business.
SAP Offers SMEs Greater Choice and Financial
Flexibility With “Buy Now, Pay Later” Offering and
New Solutions
SAP AG announced a “buy now, pay later” offering that
provides small and midsize enterprise (SME) customers
zero-percent financing for up to 24 months for the purchase
of any SAP product on the reseller price list. With more
SMEs prioritizing technology investments to help transform
their businesses, SAP has made it easier for businesses to
get the technology they need to compete with larger
companies in their industry. The “buy now, pay later” plan
helps lower the total cost of ownership of SAP solutions and
provides rapid access to software licenses.

SAP Launches New Program to Support Student Entrepreneurs

SAP AG announced a new global program that aims to provide comprehensive support for students who want to start
businesses that develop real-time solutions and Big Data applications. Participants in the entrepreneurship program will
receive support in developing new applications on the SAP HANA platform. The students will be able to use SAP software
free of charge to develop applications and will be assisted by SAP experts. A comprehensive training program will provide
the necessary technical background on SAP HANA as well as SAP Mobile Platform. Students will also be trained in design
thinking methodology to help them along the process from an idea through to the finished product.

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 4


Customer Acquisition = SAM + Pre-Sales + Associates
Ramesh Ramaswamy
RBEI/BSS-PS
Ramesh.Ramaswamy@in.bosch.com
As we make strides to grab a bigger pie of the global business (non-
Bosch), I am increasingly becoming aware of how exciting this
journey is, and it goes without saying, how challenging!
Typically, our customer base can be described in the form of (a)
‘Net-new customers’ - those who do not have SAP and (b)
‘Installed base’ - those who have SAP ERP but to whom additional
modules like CRM, BI, SRM, GRC etc. can be sold. The sales and
business development cycle starts from making a connect to
discovering what offerings we can pitch to them and finally how to
present an attractive and a winning proposal. These simple
sounding stages are not that simple in real life! Every stage has its
potential failure points- connect in the customer organization
might be to a person who can’t take decisions; discovering the
problem areas might not happen due to internal dynamics of the
customer organisaton, proposals that we submit may not appeal to
the customer in terms of price or value proposition and so on.
While improvements in these areas are no doubt required and are
being worked on, we are also discovering that the contribution of
associates is equally valuable and important.
Among many scenarios, I would always put my money on projects
where our delivery has been really good and exceeds customer
expectations. This leaves a positive image in the customers’ mind.
It might sound cliché but any emphasis is still worth the effort to
understand this point! Our well executed implementations have
brought in projects subsequently in the same organization- Komet
rollouts, DICV support, FUSO & ITL. The good work done also acts
as reference when the key customer personnel join other
organizations and refer our services there!
Another significant advantage that our associates have when they
are deployed into global customer projects is understanding their
need of future projects. For e.g. a customer implementing SAP ECC
would in due course go in for BI, WM, CRM etc. It is crucial for us
to map to these future needs of the customer early on. To do this
effectively, it is imperative for the associates to maintain contact
and relationship to the customers. The trust that a customer has
on project team members is always higher than those of us from
Presales or Sales!
We have responded to many Request For Proposals (RFPs), also
called as ‘bids’! These require that we present our combined
strength in the field of management, technical solutioning and
commercial advantage. We have scaled up the ladder on the
technical understanding and solutioning in these bids. Our ability
to present end-to-end solutions and references and case studies of
previous projects always makes our proposal have a better chance
Index Page
Blog Space
of winning a bid than we giving module-based project
deliverables.
Beyond the above mentioned ‘direct’ methods of customer
connects and positive impact, there are many other important
contributions that go a long way in building our brand. One of
them is clearly the ability to understand the depth and impact of
the business processes for which we might be rolling out a
template or working on enhancements. If we are able to
understand the actual business problem of the customer
organization and grasp how well a template process or a certain
enhancement can solve it, then we would develop a holistic
viewpoint to consult future customers. E.g. a customer who is in
the business of manufacturing tubes, said that he has a problem of
planning his production according to the existing forecast and
incoming demand from dealers because his machines have limited
capacity. Once he manufactures the product in limited volumes
due to the constrained capacity, how are they supposed to allocate
the same to competing customer demand? While we see this in
terms of what can be solved in terms of PP, APO & SD modules,
the ability to show a comprehensive working solution model is
how we can win the customer’s confidence.
Today, our understanding seems to be more of knowing the
functional specification of a change request or a process at a
module level. Although this is important for project realization, it is
not comprehensive enough to consult on future projects.
The next step is to knowing if all the typical customers in that
industry, e.g automotive or industrial machinery, or in a function
(HCM or financials) have such issues. Those of us in customer
facing projects can do this well by having a dialogue with
customers in this regard beyond the context of the project. It
would be beneficial to loop back feedback on logistics issues,
production scenarios, vendor sourcing, sales forecasting, demand
management, Govt regulations etc. back to the Presales or CoE
teams for use in future projects. We can help further enhance this
knowledge with secondary data research sources like Gartner, IDC
and SAP.
As our senior associates mature in the area of industry knowledge
and comprehensive understanding of customer issues, they have
participated successfully in intense presales activities and
convinced customers of how Bosch can add value to their
organization. The customers too look for how Bosch, being a
behemoth in the auto component world can add value to them…
the awe and respect has to be reciprocated in good measure by us
if we have to see ourselves ‘truly’ as practitioners!
KITES APRIL 2014 5
 BIG DATA

Jeyanthi Mathivathanan
RBEI/BSH1
Jeyanthi.Mathivathanan@in.bosch.com

Big Data Technology is a new technology which is designed to efficiently extract required values from very large
volumes of data by enabling high-velocity capture, discovery and/or analysis.

B ig Data is characterized by “Four V’s”

Velocity, Variety and Veracity.
- Volume,
To summarize the trend in big data volume:
 Data storage growth
44x increase from 2009 - 2020
From 0.8 ZettaBytes to 35zb
Volume (Size of the Data)  Exponentially increasing Data Volume
E.g. Email archives may accumulate several PetaBytes of
The word "Big" in Big Data indicates massive volumes of
mails like suggestions or complaints, legal records,
data, the relative term should be understood by the user.
contact, and contract, records of project and proposal
Organizations and Industries had GigaBytes or TeraBytes
etc… Email archives usually contain records of current
of data earlier as opposed to ExaBytes or PetaBytes now.
and pending business which has to be sorted and mined
Smaller applications may still need complex information
to find out what it contains.
processing and analysis that characterize Big Data
applications.

KITES APRIL 2014 6


Velocity (Speed)
The speed of data moving through an organization’s
systems varies depending on the setup for data movement
which could be batch integration, loading of data at
predetermined intervals or real-time streaming of data.
The key to evaluate the velocity of data movement is to
understand the business/organizational processes and
requirements of end users. For example, Emergency
response in the organization or a securities trading firm is
impacted by difference in seconds (or milliseconds).
Similarly, real-time face recognition is a requirement for
airport screening of travelers to recognize criminals as
they enter airports.
Variety (Combination of data sources and data formats)
Variety is a critical attribute of Big Data. The data comes
from variety of data sources (typically both internal and
BIG DATA
external to an organization) and in a variety of formats
(structured, semi structured, and unstructured).
For Example: Weather/Climate modeling that gives 100
years of weather data with new physical models of ocean,
water behavior and CO level changes.
Variety in Big Data means
 Various formats, types, and structures
 Text, numerical, images, audio, video, sequences,
time series, social media data, multi-dimensional
arrays, etc…
 Static data vs. streaming data
To extract information, all these types of data need to be
linked together
KITES APRIL 2014 7
 BIG DATA

Veracity
Some of the technologies handle data at rest, while others
Veracity refers to the biases, uncertainty, abnormality or
focus on data in motion. Some of them are memory based
impreciseness in the data. In comparison to volume and
while others are disk based which utilize complex event
velocity, veracity is a bigger problem for organizations
processing.
dealing with big data. Veracity arises due to the variety of
data sources and formats and there is a need to put in
SAP products that address Organizational requirements
place processes to ensure clean data and prevent “Dirty
dealing with Big Data are
data” from being accumulated in an organization. By
 SAP HANA
definition, unstructured data contains a significant amount
 SAP Sybase IQ
of uncertain and imprecise data. For example, social
media data is inherently uncertain.  SAP Sybase Event Stream Processor
 SAP Enterprise Information Management
 SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence
Big Data Technology
 SAP Analytic Applications
Technology that is capable of handling this data that is
voluminous, diverse and fast changing is referred as Big
Conclusion
Data Technology. Big Data Technology enables an
organization to realize value out of its Big Data. Organizations in today’s world are bound to deal with BIG
DATA. To effectively use the data and convert to
There are many players in this field of Big Data information for decision making, these big data
Technology who are offering a bouquet of products to technologies are becoming more and more relevant.
derive value out of Big data.
Big Data Technology exist to improve decision making and
The major players in this area are: to provide faster solution to problems at all levels of the
 Informatica organization. These Technologies deal with large pools of
 Hyperion Essbase data that can be combined together and analyzed to make
 Cognos better decisions. They help in generating information that
enhances the productivity of an organization thereby
 SAP
reducing waste and increasing overall quality of products
and services.
SAP - Big Data Technology
SAP provides a range of technologies that addresses the
needs of organizations to handle Big Data. The SAP
technologies span the spectrum of Big Data viz.
 very large data sets (100TB+)
 small but fast-growing data sets
 real-time streaming data sets and
 multi-structured data sets.
Please send your feedback to Bss-.CoE@in.bosch.com

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 8

 Foreign Currency Accounting and
Reporting - Part 2

Sameer Drolia
RBEI/BSR3
Sameer.Drolia@in.bosch.com

Foreign currency transactions are transactions denominated in a currency other than the entity’s functional
currency. As a result, identifying a foreign currency transaction first requires the entity’s functional currency to
be determined

Overview measure revenues and expenses. Subsequently, at each

balance sheet/period end date, balances related to these

F oreign currency transactions arise when a reporting

entity:
transactions should be adjusted to reflect the current
exchange rate, which is the rate at which the related
receivable or payable could be settled on the balance
 Buys or sells goods or services on credit for prices
sheet/period end date.
denominated in a foreign currency
 Borrows or lends money denominated in a foreign SAP is a great enabler for
currency
 Posting transactions in foreign currencies
 Is a party to an unperformed forward exchange
 Revaluating all Foreign currency transactions at the
contract
reporting period end
 Acquires or disposes assets denominated in a foreign
 Flexible to revaluate and post Foreign currency
currency
transactions, for Local GAAP, IFRS, Group reporting
 Incurs or settles liabilities denominated in a foreign
 Automatic posting of realized foreign currency gain/loss
currency
(based on customization)
 Financial Reporting in multiple currencies
For example, a US company with USD functional currency
that has a Euro-denominated loan is a foreign currency
In Bosch parlance, any given Bosch entity will have its own
transaction.
local/operating currency, which is typically the currency of
At the date a foreign currency transaction is recognized,
that country in which the given Bosch entity is operating
each asset, liability, revenue, expense, gain or loss arising
(e.g. TTRE company code in Russia will have local
from the transaction should be measured initially in the
currency RUB). Besides, Bosch being a German company
functional currency of the recording entity by use of the
(with group reporting currency EUR), it will consolidate its
exchange rate in effect as on the transaction date. An
worldwide operations at group level in reporting currency
appropriate average exchange rate may be used to

KITES APRIL 2014 9


EUR. For this purpose, financial results of all Bosch entities
world-wide (e.g. TTRE) will need to be translated from RUB
to EUR.
SAP supports and automates this complex functionality of
For a given combination of source & target currency (for e.g.
EUR to USD), different Exchange rates can be maintained
for respective exchange rate types (depending on statutory/
management requirements). For better understanding,
Exchange rates for M/EURX rate types are automatically
updated in all connected Bosch systems from central
system PMD (daily) from Reuters/European Central Bank,
whereas Exchange rates for ZWPL is maintained yearly (as
per management decision) and is also distributed from
PMD to all connected systems.
All exchange rates as maintained above, are valid from a
specific date (refer to Valid from date above) and remain
valid until a new rate is distributed/maintained with a
revised valid from date.
Foreign Currency Accounting and
Reporting
maintaining transactions in multiple currencies, translating
from one currency to another, and recording the resulting
gain/loss. This can be done for any pre-defined set of from-
to currencies. (i.e. from RUB to EUR or vice versa).
let’s consider the below example (Exc rate type ZWPL is for
Bosch management/internal reporting, whereas Exc rate
type M is for external/statutory reporting)
In terms of actual posting, “Realized” or “Unrealized” gain/
loss has a basic difference as below
 Realized Gain/loss: For completed transactions (like
payment received for a customer invoice), is
automatically posted at the time of posting the
customer payment. SAP facilitates automatic
calculation and thereby posting to pre-customized
accounts
 Unrealized Gain/loss: For e.g. bank loan in foreign
currency, needs to be revaluated at the end of period,
and resulting gain/loss is posted initially which can be
subsequently reversed in the next period (posted to pre
KITES APRIL 2014 10
 Foreign Currency Accounting and
Reporting

-customized accounts). Reason for this is to account for In Bosch world, the valuation of foreign currency postings is
the mark to market gain/loss due to currency rates done for LOCAL GAAP, IFRS & Common Accounts. The
fluctuations resulting gain/loss due to valuation, is posted to respective
LOCAL GAAP, IFRS & Common Accounts, thereby
SAP also facilitates reporting in both local/operating maintaining the sanctity of valuation results in respective
currency of the company code, as well as reporting/ GAAPs.
consolidation currency (for the group).
Source: SAP AG, Wikipedia
Summary
As any given business entity has to comply with the country
specific requirements for foreign currency accounting & its
valuation, the parent company of such business entity also
needs to comply with the requirements. The valuation
requirements of foreign currency may be different for the
local legal entity, group entity, or for statutory requirement
viz a viz internal reporting requirements for the business
group. Please send your feedback to Bss-.CoE@in.bosch.com

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 11

 Getting Lean - Shed the Dead Weight
Part 4 - Methodical Procedure for VSDiA

Anantha Padmanaban
RBEI/BSR3
Anantha.Padmanaban@in.bosch.com

The Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a visualization tool oriented to the Toyota Version of Lean Manufacturing
(Toyota Production System). It helps to understand and streamline work processes using the tools and
techniques of Lean Manufacturing. The goal of VSM is to identify, demonstrate and decrease waste in the
process. Waste being any activity that does not add value to the final product, VSM is often used to demonstrate
and decrease the amount of “waste” in a manufacturing system. It can thus serve as a starting point to help
management, engineers, production associates, schedulers, suppliers and customers recognize waste and
identify its causes. As a result Value Stream Mapping is primarily a communication tool, but is also used as a
strategic planning tool, and a change management tool.

W e understood the need to get leaner and

importance to eliminate waste from the previous edition’s
write up on “Introduction” – “Getting Lean – shed the
dead weight”.
In the last part, after understanding about the swim lane
model let us understand the Lean Ten characteristics in
detail.
In the next part we will see about the different phases of
VSDiA and its implementation.
The overview of the different phases in a typical VSDiA is
as follows:

KITES APRIL 2014 12


Let us look at each of the phases.
Preparation
The objectives of this phase are:
 The lean policy is internalized as a way of thinking
 A VSDiA project is defined and is ready to start
The broad work steps are Orientation, Project agreement
and Organize project work.
i) Orientation
 Involved roles at this stage: Initiator, Project Leader,
moderator, key player
 Exchange ideas about the problem
 Present methods and procedure
 Check whether the method is suitable to the specific
case
ii) Project agreement
 Binding project agreement
 Roughly define the process boundaries and the
variations to be examined
 Define the project organisation (project manager, team
managers, dates, capacities etc)
 All involved roles
 Specific targets
 Initial schedule with kick-off and further milestones
iii) Organize Project Work
 Plan milestones
 Invite participants
 Make infrastructure arrangements
Value Stream Analysis
The objectives of this phase are:
a. The standard process sequence is understood,
depicted in swimlanes, described and quantified
b. Potential improvements and metrics are identified
c. Immediate action is introduced
d. Awareness of “The Power of Lean” is developed
The broad level of activities as follows:
i) Define the Subject under Review
 Define the start and end
 Stakeholders
 A typical process
 Frequency distribution of variants
Methodical Procedure for VSDiA
 Quantity
ii) Describe the Current State
 Identify input variables
 Record process steps
 Assign “traffic light signals”
 Estimate individual times
 Depict as a value stream
 Chart and list weak points and follow-up inquiries
 Chart and list recursions and rework
iii)
Prepare Results
 Complete data
 Analyse the times in the entire process
 Systematically set up, evaluate and prioritize fields of
action
 Define immediate action
Value Stream Design
The objectives of this phase are:
a. The future state is described, with incremental
timeline; long-term vision, special medium-term future
process, immediate measures.
b. A coordinated implementation plan is created
c. Measurement and visualization of status and process
performance is defined
The broad level of activities like Training LEAN ideal,
Vision of the operating unit and Planning the future value
stream.
i)Training LEAN ideal
 Develop enthusiasm for “LEAN” as an ideal
 Learn from the literature, presentations, discussions.
 Put the “flow” of a lean system into practice using
simulation
 Elaborate on the characteristics that appear attractive
for the current project
ii) Vision of the operating unit
 Addresses customer expectations, contributions from
suppliers and the effectiveness of own performance
 Eliminate barriers, even if they appear insurmountable
 Provide specific descriptions
iii) Planning the Future Value Stream
 Depict the future value stream in swimlanes
 Measure, visualize and agree on target values for
KITES APRIL 2014 13
 Methodical Procedure for VSDiA

process performance
 Define prerequisites and work packages for iii) Put Standards into Practice
implementation  Adhere strictly to standards
 Create/update implementation plan (tasks,  Handle special cases
responsibilities, delivery dates, milestones)  Management confirms the process
 Eliminate barriers, even if they appear insurmountable  Handle deviations; problem solving
 Provide specific descriptions  Continue to develop along the line of the defined
vision
Implementation
We did learn of the three elements of the VSDiA, which
The objectives of this phase are:
are:
a. Defined measures are implemented
 Swimlane Model of the process (Explained in detail in
b. The medium-term future process (procedure, metrics)
previous write-up)
is put into practice
 Lean Ten, ten characteristics of lean processes
The broad level of activities like Define Standards,  Phase structure of the proceeding in the 4 phases.
Implement Measures and Put Standard into practice
It would be interesting for all of us to know that the VSDiA
i) Define Standards principles are being applied within RBEI for the betterment
 Convert the findings from the future value stream into of support processes in RBEI/BSI.
work instructions
Why should Value Stream mapping be used?
 Test and optimize
 Visually entire process flow can be seen
 Provide details of work packages in concrete terms
 Form blueprint for lean implementation
 Update implementation plan
 Low cost indepth analysis and inexpensive
ii)
Implement Measures
With this we come to the end of the series on Value
 Walk through tasks
Stream Mapping. Hope it was beneficial. Have a nice
 Review regularly
month ahead.
 Use agreed on metrics to check the reaching of
targets
 Provide open information to the business division
 Provide training for the new standards/working
methods
Please send your feedback to Bss-.CoE@in.bosch.com

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 14

 Successfactors
Workforce Analytics (SF WFA)
‘‘Keep an eye on your company with measurable results’’.
Connecting People strategy to company’s Business strategy always need analysis of data in detail
I n ‘ABC’ company the company’s top management was
happy about the performance of the managers who were
holding key positions and contributing to the success of
the company.
The newly joined HR manager, who has experience in
statistical analysis, collected the statistical data and
analyzed it for a better understanding of the organization.
The analysis highlighted a unique characteristic of the
‘ABC’ company; all the key project managers were nearing
the age of 55 and would retire in another 10 years. These
managers joined the company almost the same time and
had held key positions for many years; the promotion
pipelines for these positions were limited. Promising
candidates who joined the organization at lower
managerial level decided to leave the company when it
was clear that the upward opportunities are limited.
When the HR manager presented the results of the
analysis and his conclusions to senior management, they
were shocked. No one had considered the issue of ageing
of project managers. The pipeline of trained managers
capable of filling these positions would not have been
sufficient to meet the demand created by these mass
retirements. The time to train new managers are lengthy.
Harisankar Mohana Kumar
RBEI/BSH3
Harisankar.MohanaKumar@in.bosch.com
The analysis of this simple data helped the management
to take appropriate measures well in advance. Such
scenarios highlight the necessity of having a proper
analytical tool which gives a good insight to the
organizational data.
The interest in evidence-based management has
influenced many organizations to invest in Workforce
Analytics. SAP also invested in Business Intelligence tools
to be part of the change. The latest buzz in the business
world is Cloud Solution.
As cloud computing evolved, it offered distributed
computing over a network which offered the ability of
running the same application on many connected
computers at the same time.
To become the front-runner in the cloud world, SAP
invested in Successfactors and the Workforce Analytics
tool became part of the SAP world.
Why WFA?
Workforce Analytics (WFA) enables a business to take
immediate and responsible actions by:
 Optimizing the big investment on people
 Identifying key performance indicators and metrics
 Synthesizing raw data into powerful insights
KITES APRIL 2014 15

Transformation of Successfactors WFA
Successfactors acquired Inform (formerly known as
Infohrm), which brought into successfactors HCM solution:
 Data performance measurement tools;
 Benchmarking capabilities and the content that goes
with the metrics;
 A global footprint since Infohrm operates in North
America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
In 2012 SAP acquired successfactors and thereby Inform,
the best cloud workforce analytics tool, became part of the
SAP world.
Workforce Analytics
The two main components of SF WFA are:
 KPI Dashboards
 Analytical Reports
Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPI are
quantifiable measurements that help decision makers
Analytical Reports
Analytical reporting typically requires looking at trends
over time and consolidation of data from multiple data
sources. It mainly focuses on the key metrics or measures
which enables trend analysis.
The key metrics are:
1. Retention rate
Successfactors Workforce Analytics
define and measure progress towards organizational goals.
KPIs vary drastically from one industry to the next.
Examples may include proportion of women in a
department, age wise representation, male-female
proportion etc. For this reason, KPIs are defined by
business users and may be unique to each business.
Key Performance Indicators in Successfactors Analytics:
 Analytical or strategic data is virtually converted into
easily understandable charts, tables and visual
indicators.
 Dashboard: KPI dashboards in workforce analytics
provide a visual interface that displays enterprise
KPI’s to end-users on a single view. Dashboards
provide effective distribution of important business
data to the right people in the organization. Dashboard
provides the drill to detail functionality with which a
drilldown is possible to the underlying list report.
Sample Screenshot - Based on sample data in test
environment:
2. Staffing rate
3. Generation rate
4. Average workforce tenure
5. Unscheduled absence rate
6. Net recruitment ratio
7. Career path ratio
8. Recruitment source ratio-permanent
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 Successfactors Workforce Analytics

9. Total separation rate disaggregation of metrics into specific lists of employees.

10. Employee Initiated separation rate
 Downloads
Metric Pack Concept The download facility in the Analytical tool allows the
report to be downloaded in CSV, Excel and PowerPoint
Successfactors Metric Pack Concept is based on the
format.
Human Capital Metrics reporting which is relevant to the
organization. Metric packs focus on a logical group of data
 Online Report Designer
items that support the generation of a related set of
Generate organization specific operational or analytical
measures and reporting breakdowns. Each metric pack is
reports with pivot tables and charts with rich graphic
based on a highly structured framework that:
styling, and the ability to drill to employee level.
 Defines a standard set of metrics which includes
commonly selected KPI’s
Export option of reports and dashboards in PDF, Word, or
 Defines a standard set of core business dimensions/
Excel.
hierarchies to support further analysis/breakdown of
measure values(e.g. Filters in a report)
 Report Distributor
 Enables to generate organizational specific analytical
Report distributor allows the user to distribute a report in
reports/KPI’s based on the metrics
different ways like:
 Send via email.
Standard Metric Packs in Successfactors:
 Publish to the FTP server of the organization
 Core workforce and mobility
 Schedule for offline download
 Learning Analytics
 Goal Management
 External Data Sources
 Career and Development Planning
Analyze not just HR and Talent data, but connect to and
 Compensation Planning
correlate data from across HR, business and operations
 Performance Management
system (ERP, CRM, survey data, etc.), to gain a unified
 Succession Management view of the impact of HR programs on business
performance
Key Features in WFA
 Drill-to-Detail Data Flow in Analytics
Analytics tool always support trend analysis and strategic  LMS- Learning Management system
analysis of data from the high-level perspective. Drill to  BizX- Business Execution suite
detail functionality is an additional feature of Analytics tool
 SAP- on premise SAP systems
which supports operational concept. DTD allows
 Legacy- Non-SAP

Please send your feedback to Bss-.CoE@in.bosch.com

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 17

 Recruiting Execution

Dr. Chandrasekhar Chimmapudi

RBEI/BSH3
ChandraSekhar.Chimmapudi@in.bosch.com

‘The Recruiting Marketing Platform (RMP) is a hosted technology solution from successfactors that compliments
and enhances or replaces the traditional career sites. The platform delivers the necessary core infrastructure to
automate how companies attract potential talent directly to their career site from multiple recruiting channels,
capture and convert visitors to candidates once they’ve arrived, interact with candidates where they gather, and
measures all important metrics throughout the talent supply chain.

T he platform includes state of the art measurement

capabilities in the form of the award winning Recruiting
DashboardTM-sf. The reports and analytics in the dashboard
serve as the primary recruiter view into all important talent
supply chain metrics as well as talent community details in
an easy and intuitive format.
Many of the organizations using multiple systems to
manage sourcing have difficulties managing candidates’
data. With all new RMK these complexities are minimized
to a greater extent. Apart from standard recruiting functions,
there are many new generation features; few of them are
briefed below.
Rx Social Apply
As part of the updated Rx candidate experience, clients
want to be able to have a full social apply experience from
RMK to RCM (Recruitment Management – Traditional
solution). This only requires the candidate to authorize with
LinkedIn or Facebook one time; then pre-populate as many
fields as possible in RCM. Goal is to create a seamless
experience from RMK to RCM and pre-populate as many
fields as possible with the least amount of clicks and field
entry.
Rx Employee Referral
Employees have the ability to login with Facebook and
LinkedIn and view their contacts in the Employee Referral
screens. They can share jobs directly to social contacts
without logging in to social network for the second time.
Many other sub features such as reward and earn are
already built in this application.
Offer Release and Approvals
Once a recruiter, hiring manager, or other authorized user
decides to hire a candidate to fill a job requisition, the offer
process consists of assembling details of the offer that will
be extended to the candidate, routing these details for
approval, generating an offer letter using tokens from the
requisition, application and offer details form and extending
an offer letter to a candidate.
Integration with CRM
Very importantly, SF RMK/CRM real time integration allows
Recruiting Marketing Talent Community to communicate
candidate information with your CRM or sourcing
applications. Automatically updates predetermined data for
consistency and data integrity.

KITES APRIL 2014 18

 Recruiting Execution

RMK sends data to CRM when

 A new member is added to the Talent Community Integration to other components
 An existing member applies to a job  Employee Master Data
 On-boarding
Data is sent automatically to the CRM  External Third Party Integrations
 No visual identifier is available in RMK showing the  JAM
member data was sent  Mobility

Intelligent candidate’s sentiments With all new “Recruiting Execution” solution recently
released from Successfactors will simplify the complexities
Interestingly, in order to achieve business objectives
in attracting the right talent, which is one of the top
regarding user experience, tracking and analytics, the RMK
priorities of every organization.
(Resource Marketing) platform has been designed to use
cookies throughout the system’s architecture to optimize
value and desired results. The candidates’ preferences and
patterns are intelligently identified. This feature is exactly
similar to the advanced marketing processes that are in use
by many social websites such as Facebook and also used
by retails giants.

More interestingly, the whole process adheres to local

government’s statutory laws related to data privacy of
individuals.

Fig : Typical workflows in SF & CRM Integration

Please send your feedback to Bss-.CoE@in.bosch.com

Index Page KITES APRIL 2014 19