Question

• You are the manager of a payroll system. Your company is going to replace the legacy payroll system with a more robust, Web-based version. Suggest two approaches that would minimize downtime and interruption to the payroll process. Provide specific examples to support your response.
• Propose a process for evaluating the success of the new system and a procedure for implementing software fixes and enhancements. Provide specific examples to support your response.

Answer 1

According to the question,

a)There will be many things to give consideration including access modes, required security, application versions and system testing.Firstly handle employee locking issues that prevent payroll and other processes from running. In small organizations, where the payroll group is familiar with most employees, the payroll group has been given access to SAP transactions AL08 . These transactions normally allow payroll department to check the exact users or employees are locking records.If the payroll deptt is unable to locate the records, they will terminate the session using the transactions as mentioned. In big organizations, it is best practice to automate the transactions. The solution on a custom portal application that looks into the account the employee's payroll area and mapped it against a payroll calendar. A custom table should be configured with dates and times that indicates when the payroll processing will be performed in the organization. The portal application would be placed in front of every transaction that could potentially lock the record for prolonged period of time and , if it is determined that payroll was about to run or was running , it would generate a message to the user indicating that the system was not currently available due to payroll processing. This approach would enable the payroll admin to control the payroll periods to execute payroll calendar. Another positive impact from automating this"blackout period" is that it allows payroll admin to set a threshold period around the time of payroll processing that prevents users from updating personal data that could negatively impact payroll results.

Online Access to remuneration statements and controlling when they appear .It is very important to keep some grace period between the payroll run and the pay stub should appear to the employees. A delay in when employees can see their pay stub will enable the payroll department to ensure that they have accounted for any corrections. Exposing the SAP Portal and self service functionality over the internet will enable employees to gain access from remote locations: Many corporate normally provide some kind of kiosk access for employees who do not have access to a computer in the work space: Many corporate portals are designed to be accessible while the employee is in the work space or through the use of a VPN using the company used computers. This approach will limit employers that want to access their personal information and enterprise applications from home or remote locations because some donot have laptops and using any company accessed machines. Providing self service access from the internet gives employees and managers the necessary tools, transactions and content- even when they are not at work in office. With the advanced security in the latest SAP Netweaver Platform, it is feasible to deliver portions or all of the functional processes contained within portals to users over internet. SAP portals have become more viable and well adopted tool for employees and managers if it is available over the internet, because it dramatically increases the ability to deliver information and transactions to all employees, regardless of their physical location.

Enforce a Security and Data Privacy stance prior to Rolling out Self service Functionality: Many high profile companies had security breaches that have generated system down time, loss of confidential information, and eventual loss of revenue in projects. Self service applications is mandatory to design the high end security for managers and employees to gain access to key HR information that is highly sensitive and can easily be used to cause damage to the employee or the enterprise. It is advice to review again and again the security policy and compliance before we even release self service applications for the first time. They should govern length and complexity of passwords, when passwords and timelines for change, sharing of passwords. Data privacy is also the chief concern to many users. Data origin and viewing of data across borders are of principal concern, as many companies with offices in foreign country need to confirm with the regulatory laws and local laws. We should also involve the legal and compliance department if we have a Global Implementation.
Automate the Hiring Process to Include Creating a user and Assign the appropriate security roles: The security and maintenance associated for granting access to this new hire can be expedited by implementing an automated process. Once the employee is hired into the organization. After the hiring action is complete, a background process is started that creates the userID. After the userID is created, it is then linked to the employee's IT0105, Subtype 0001, SY-NAME) and based on the position that the employee is hired to, additional roles are assigned to the user. User Creation, user assignment and authorization activities are all completed with these steps. Once the process is complete the information is synchronized with the LDAP server which the portals uses for authenticating and authorizing. If these steps are automated it has been observed that it is extremely cost savings and a reliable process which provides timely access in a timely manner.

b)A process for evaluating the success of a new system is how it measures up against the old system and company expectations. Like does the new system preforms the same jobs as the last and new ones that the company has found themselves in need of. Is the new system more efficient than the older system? Is the system reliable? Is the new system safeguard against errors, fraud, and intrusions? A good way is to measure the system outputs against the older system and ask employees who use both systems in a survey which system is better.