Newsletter June 2008

Useful tips for your work with SAP® HCM

Today you’ll learn in our newsletter:

• how you create tree structures with ALV,
• how to add explanatory notes on shift abbreviations in shift planning,
• how to always show all existing variants of a report,
• what the SAP abbreviations ALE, ALV and ASAP mean,
• how to benefit from BadIs in Performance Management and
• how to benefit from a top MBA programme.

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose."
Lyndon B. Johnson

1 Tips in SAP® HCM

How to create tree structures with ALV
Tree structures are a popular tool for representing data in a clearly understandable way; they are often used in standard reports when objects need to be presented along evaluation paths.
However, sometimes you may want to use the tree for representing data, which are not available in the SAP object model. Or you may wish to adapt a structure before displaying it. In this case, it is possible to build a tree structure by hand; we will now show you how to do this.
Article from Projektkultur

Explanatory notes on shift abbreviations in shift planning
By notice 1109480, SAP is expanding the shift abbreviation toolbox displayed in the target plan, by adding the descriptive notes pertaining to the respective shift abbreviations. If you’d like to see what the result looks like, check here.
Article from Projektkultur

Always show all variants of a report
If you on the selection screen of a report hit the button „Get variant“ the system directly displays the variant catalog if there are no more than 10 variants created for the affected program. Are there more than 10 variants you first get a selection dialog box for finding the right variant. Many customers prefer to always see the catalog of all existing variants. So if this popup should no longer be displayed, change the value of the constant C_VARILIST from '10' to any higher number in the source code of Include LSVARTOP. This will be a modification though. But this is the way suggested by SAP in SAP Note 313558.
Article from iProCon

SAP Query - No output of multiline lists with Ad Hoc Query
Multiline lists can only be created and output with SAP Query. If, for example, you tried to generate a trip report with general trip data (first line) and document data per trip (second line) in Ad Hoc Query, an error message would appear. When you call up a multiline list created with SAP Query in Ad Hoc Query, the tool automatically deletes the information from the second line.
How to create multiline lists in SAP Query you learn in the book "HR-Reporting with SAP2".

2 Abbreviations in SAP® HCM from A - Z

Today we start with the first list of abbreviations about SAP® HCM.

ALE - Application Link Enabling is a technology that exchanges data between different SAP systems and ensures the consistency of the data. With such an interface for example organizational data like organizational units, positions, vacancies and jobs can be transferred and synchronized from HCM system to E-Recruiting system - if the two systems don’t run on the same system.

ALV - ABAP List Viewer is now used in most standard SAP reports for flexible display of the output list. ALV lists give you a great deal of flexibility when designing reports. You can configure sorting of the results, show or hide fields, and use filtering and totaling functions in order to use reports for various purposes and user groups. (for further information see chapter 3 of 'HR-Reporting with SAP®')

ASAP - Accelerated SAP ASAP is both a comprehensive tool to support an SAP implementation and it is a methodology - a roadmap that delineates the project phases of an SAP project (from Project Preparation to Go Live & Support). As a tool, ASAP has been replaced by SAP Solution Manager. (for further information see chapter 3 of 'Mastering HR Management with SAP®')

3 Publications from AdManus

Performance Management Templates
Prepopulate Fields and Perform Check Routines with BAdIs
By Sven Ringling, Executive Director, iProCon Human Capital Management, and Jens Richter, Consultant, iProCon
Performance templates in any two organizations rarely look the same because of the many ways you can design the performance management process. While SAP provides some out-of-the-box calculation rules, the ability to program a custom calculation in a Business Add-In (BAdI) is an important feature. The same benefit remains true for check routines. Quite often, you need to observe limits or avoid certain combinations of objectives that your company doesn’t allow. A BAdI can fulfill this requirement when normal configuration is insufficient. (The article can be accessed by HR-Expert subscribers via www.hrexpertonline.com)

4 What’s new in Human Resources?

How to benefit from a top MBA programme
In 2006 and 2007 the Managing Director of iProCon Sven Ringling attended a two years executive MBA programme (part time) at Cranfield School of Management in the UK. A major investment of time and money for a small firm, but the return is considered worth the investment. Here is in a nutshell how Sven perceived the programme.

5 German Language Lesson

We invite you to practice your German language skills as our German subscribers do it reverse. In this issue the subject of the lesson is 'Programming'. You find the lesson via this link.