Solution brief that outlines Strategic Workforce Planning with SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjectives Workforce Planning

1. SAP Solution Brief
SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio
SAP BusinessObjects Strategic
Workforce Planning
ALIGN YOUR WORKFORCE WITH The best-run companies
understand how strategic
BUSINESS NEEDS AND OBJECTIVES workforce decisions impact
SECURING THE RIGHT TALENT FOR their readiness to execute
FUTURE SUCCESS and drive business success.
The SAP® BusinessObjects™
Strategic Workforce Plan-
ning application helps en-
Identifying, competing for, and retaining Enabling Proactive, Strategic
key talent is a top priority for any HR Resource Planning and Execution
sure you have the right
executive. But too often, business strat- resources for each job, at
egy isn’t translated by HR into a holistic SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Work-
workforce plan for execution. Rather, force Planning helps you establish a
the right time and price, to
planning is done in a fragmented way clearly defined, integrated workforce achieve business goals.
using data dumps, spreadsheets, and planning process, which is essential to
multiple systems from multiple coun- successful strategic workforce planning.
tries. Relevant information gets pulled It delivers tools and processes to help
together manually with considerable ensure you always have the right peo-
effort and time – and the lack of consis- ple, with the right skills, in the right job,
tency and automation can create chaos at the right moment and price, and in
within the workforce sourcing process. the right quantity and location. As a re-
In the end, you may end up overpaying sult, your HR department will be able
in an effort to fill key vacancies quickly to help your organization successfully
or run the risk that key positions cannot execute on its business strategy.
be filled at all.
First, the software gives you a clear
To unify business objectives and work- understanding of your current talent,
force planning activities, many compa- future needs, and how best to align
nies are deploying strategic workforce resources with your company’s overall
planning solutions that integrate pro- business strategy. It does this by en-
cesses for assessing workforce supply abling you to model resource demand,
and demand and identifying critical simulate various resource supply sce-
resource and skill gaps. The most effec- narios, identify and analyze gaps, and
tive strategic workforce planning solu- answer “why” and “what if” questions
tions give HR executives the ability such as:
to look outward and forward, not just • What kinds of activities can we per-
inward and backward, so they can make form today to achieve our business
better decisions about future workforce goals in three to five years?
requirements. • Do we have the right mix of talent
to meet the organization’s business
Effective workforce planning can plan?
dramatically improve your company’s • Will we have enough resources with
ability to execute on corporate strategy. the right skills – and in the right loca-
It can also directly improve costs and tions – to grow into new markets?
bottom-line revenues. The SAP®
BusinessObjects™ Strategic Workforce Armed with a solid understanding of
Planning application delivers these ben- your workforce and future work de-
efits by providing visibility into your cur- mand, you can then proceed with devel-
rent and future workforce requirements oping specific action plans, monitoring
and enabling proactive management of progress toward your defined organiza-
workforce sourcing. tional and functional targets, and making

2. headcount across time by line of busi-
ness, location, existing critical jobs,
Monitor progress and key jobs that would be considered
and adjust process strategic and critical for the future of
Analyze internal and
Execute action plans external supply the business.
Develop work- Workforce As you evaluate and model new growth
force action plans Planning Strategic input opportunities, divestitures, acquisi-
and handover Process
tions, and other business conditions,
Derive strategic
workforce demand the software identifies gaps and sur-
pluses within key jobs and lines of
businesses. SAP BusinessObjects
Strategic Workforce Planning then
Analyze gaps enables you to generate action plans
designed to address the impacted jobs
Figure: Overview of the Workforce Planning Process systematically over multiple years.
Action plans can then be communicat-
adjustments to plans as required. • What areas of your organization will ed to the operational HR teams respon-
See the figure for an overview of the be impacted by an aging workforce sible for recruiting and hiring, training,
workforce planning process. and retirement schedules, as well as and succession planning. Throughout
when this will occur the execution process, you can monitor
Gain Insight • How well staffed your company is in the execution of the plans, as well as
Effective, strategic workforce planning key areas and jobs considered es- evaluate the need for updates to the
begins with gaining insight into the sential to supporting future business plan in response to changing strategic
composition and dynamics of your ex- initiatives objectives and business environments.
isting workforce across the business. • How balanced your business func-
For example, you need to understand tions are in terms of seniority and Harness the Power of In-Memory
the critical areas of your organization, management layers Technology
what key jobs and functions are sup- SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Work-
porting these areas, and how they The software also gives you the flexibil- force Planning exploits the power of
have been staffed to date. SAP ity to analyze workforce data according groundbreaking new technology from
BusinessObjects Strategic Workforce to different variables and model the SAP: SAP In-Memory Appliance (SAP
Planning delivers prepackaged dash- scenarios that are most meaningful to HANA™) software. With SAP HANA,
boards and tools that give HR manage- your business and desired outcomes. all company data resides in-memory,
ment a consolidated corporate view of enabling you to immediately access
this information, as well as views Understand Workforce Supply and and analyze massive amounts of data
across lines of business and country Demand in fractions of a second. Processing
borders. The software guides you SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Work- speeds are beyond the boundaries of
through analytical processes for force Planning lets you hypothesize the imagination and dwarf all performance
understanding: demand for people by refining complex records of the best conventional
• Internal and external supply of work- workforce models driven by criteria software.
force resources such as full-time equivalent, hiring and
• Current gaps in human resources or turnover rates, cost, and retirement
skills and where they are age. You can define target revenue and

3. You can use SAP HANA to perform insight, efficiency, and flexibility to
simulations and modeling activities that respond to changes in the business
require complex calculations on large environment with more agility and
volumes of HR data almost instanta- effectiveness and capture the full bene-
neously. This allows you to see the fits of business networks. By leverag-
real impact on employee costs due to ing innovative technologies to help
changes in hiring, overhead, and train- companies become best-run business-
ing. As a result, you can make more es, we help customers around the
informed decisions to resolve discon- globe perform at a significantly higher
nects between workforce plans and level of effectiveness and efficiency.
business strategies and keep person- In reaching for this goal, we are also Helping Companies Run Better
nel costs in check. contributing to global economic devel- Today, customers in more than 120
opment on a grand scale. countries run SAP applications – from
Find Out More distinct solutions addressing the needs
To learn more about the SAP of small businesses and midsize com-
BusinessObjects Strategic Workforce To unify business panies to suite offerings for global or-
Planning application, call your SAP objectives and workforce ganizations. Our solutions, which cover
representative or visit us online at standard business applications and
www.sap.com. planning activities, many technologies, as well as specific indus-
companies are deploying try applications, are designed to help
About SAP companies run better. They can make
strategic workforce plan- an organization’s business processes
As market leader in enterprise applica- ning solutions that integrate more efficient and agile, enable real-
tion software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps time decision making, and create
companies of all sizes and industries processes for assessing sustainable new value, no matter the
run better. From back office to board- workforce supply and operating environment. Incorporating
room, warehouse to storefront, desk- in-memory computing technology
top to mobile device – SAP empowers demand. across our data management offerings
people and organizations to work to- allows customers to instantaneously
gether more efficiently and use busi- access any data, anywhere, any place,
ness insight more effectively to stay The SAP product portfolio comprises in real time.
ahead of the competition. SAP applica- enterprise resource planning and relat-
tions and services enable more than ed applications such as supply chain
109,000 customers to operate profit- management, customer relationship
ably, adapt continuously, and grow management, product lifecycle man-
sustainably. For more information, visit agement, and supplier relationship
www.sap.com. management, along with business intel-
ligence and analytic applications. And
Optimizing Business Performance our software is available on demand,
Through Innovative Solutions on premise, and on device. Essential
Our mission is to make every customer to the SAP product portfolio is the en-
a best-run business. Our software and ablement of complete data and process
services help customers optimize their consistency for our customers, no
business processes. SAP customers matter which environment they are
can use business analytics to attain operating in.

4. QUICK FACTS www.sap.com /contactsap
Summary
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Strategic Workforce Planning application provides visibility into
your global workforce and supports the process of long-term strategic alignment between
workforce goals and long-term business goals. Now you can analyze your resource supply
and demand, identify gaps, develop resource plans, and monitor progress toward your
goals while managing workforce costs and helping to increase revenues.
Business Challenges
• High workforce costs due to excessive ad hoc hires
• Missed revenue opportunities due to lack of proper resources
• Lack of visibility for planning
• Inability to justify the need for additional hires or transfers
• Manual, cumbersome workforce planning processes that are mostly operational, not
strategic
Key Features
• Workforce insight – Analyze your workforce to understand its composition, demographics,
status, and issues
• Workforce modeling – Hypothesize future demand for resources and use SAP In-Memory
Appliance (SAP HANA™) software to simulate complex supply scenarios to meet that
demand
• Gap analysis – Identify and analyze long-term surpluses and gaps in your workforce and
visualize the impact in financial terms
• Long-term strategic resource planning – Develop and consolidate action plans across
the organization to align your workforce and share plans for execution
• Visibility into progress toward objectives – Monitor progress of workforce plans
Business Benefits
• Gain workforce transparency for a clear understanding of workforce composition and
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issues related to attrition or an aging workforce ©2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
• Lower personnel costs by anticipating demand and proactively planning for resource SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign,
onboarding and training or internal succession SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, StreamWork, and other SAP products
and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are
• Enhance bottom-line revenues by having the right people doing jobs needed to deliver trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and
projects, products, and services on time and on budget other countries.
• Streamline and consolidate workforce planning processes so you can efficiently and Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects,
Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and
effectively manage long-term global workforce demand and supply other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein
as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trade-
For More Information marks of Business Objects Software Ltd. Business Objects is an
SAP company.
Call your SAP representative, or visit us online at www.sap.com.
Sybase and Adaptive Server, iAnywhere, Sybase 365, SQL Anywhere,
and other Sybase products and services mentioned herein as well
as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Sybase, Inc. Sybase is an SAP company.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of
their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves
informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials
are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies (“SAP Group”)
for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of
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warranty.