HR to ERP
SAP SuccessFactors to SAP S/4HANA integration: SAP's standard replication, and when custom work is needed
With an integration between SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP S/4HANA, employees and their organisational assignment from Employee Central become workforce persons and business partners in S/4HANA, and cost centres from S/4HANA go back to Employee Central. SAP provides its own standard replication for this; KoppelHet comes in when there is a second HR source next to Employee Central, when custom fields must be included or when errors must reach the right person.
What the integration does
Organisations with Employee Central and SAP S/4HANA for finance and procurement want every employee in S/4HANA for expenses and approvals. If employees are still in another HR system after an acquisition, the standard replication does not help, because it only knows Employee Central.
- HR records a new employee in Employee Central, with company, position and cost centre.
- SAP's standard replication puts the employee in S/4HANA as workforce person and business partner.
- Finance creates cost centres in S/4HANA; they go back to Employee Central, so HR only picks existing cost centres.
- KoppelHet reads the replication status and reports failed employees to HR, with the reason.
- Where needed KoppelHet adds to it, for example with custom fields or with employees from a second HR system.
Back: Cost centres from S/4HANA · Replication status
What to watch for with SAP SuccessFactors and SAP S/4HANA
- When an organisation moves from a CSV upload to the standard replication, S/4HANA creates duplicate employees if the external ID used earlier does not equal the Person ID in Employee Central. KoppelHet compares both lists before the switch and delivers an overview of differences.
- Besides the ID, name, company code, business partner role, country and employment dates must also be identical in both routes. If one differs, S/4HANA does not recognise the person and creates a new one.
- Once the standard replication from Employee Central is active, nobody can upload employees through the Manage Workforce app any more. Employees from a second HR system therefore need their own route, which we agree per environment with SAP.
- Cost centres originate in S/4HANA and go from there to Employee Central. A cost centre HR creates in Employee Central itself does not exist in S/4HANA and makes the replication of that employee fail.
- S/4HANA returns the replication status to Employee Central. KoppelHet reads that status and sends HR an alert per failed employee, so nobody needs to watch the monitor.
- After replication the business partner in S/4HANA carries roles and identifiers that belong to the employee. If finance removes them while cleaning up business partners, the link with Employee Central breaks. KoppelHet checks for this periodically.
How we build and run it
- The integration runs on the KoppelHet platform, hosted in a data centre in the EU.
- Every sync and every error is visible in the functional log; on an error your administrator is notified.
- A change that cannot go through is not half-applied but queued for another attempt.
- KoppelHet is ISO 27001 certified. Data travels encrypted and stays on the platform no longer than needed.
- After go-live we manage the integration and adjust it when your process changes.
- The integration fits next to your existing integration layer. Only the fields in the design are transferred; the platform keeps no register of its own.
Implementation and price
This is not an app you switch on. We build the integration for your organisation on our platform, with building blocks we reuse on every project. So it is custom work that does not start from scratch.
A consultant prepares the intake and analyses both systems. We then record the mapping and exceptions field by field, test in the test or acceptance environment and go live at a moment you choose. Costs are a one-off amount for the setup and a monthly amount for platform, monitoring and support.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just SAP's standard replication?
Often it is enough: all employees are in Employee Central and the standard fields will do. Choose custom work when there is a second HR source, when finance needs custom fields or when errors must reach HR.
Do we need SAP Cloud Integration?
For the packaged integrations, yes; SAP only offers them there. In S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition it can also run through JB1 or Master Data Integration. What KoppelHet builds alongside runs on the KoppelHet platform.
Is pay data sent to S/4HANA?
Not through this integration. For purchasing, expense claims and approvals, work agreement, company code and cost centre are enough. The payroll journal is a separate integration.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Standard: in S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition scope item JB1 or SAP Master Data Integration; elsewhere packaged integrations on SAP Cloud Integration with mapping in the Business Integration Builder. Local maintenance in Manage Workforce (F6097) is only possible when SAP_COM_0001, SAP_COM_0301 and SAP_COM_0575 are not active.
- On a switch PersonExternalID and Person ID/User ID must be identical, as must name, company code, BusinessPartnerRole, country and dates; UserAlias/UserName in upper case. Do not change or remove the roles BUP003, BUP010, BBP005 and BUP011 or the identification types HCM001, HCM032 and HCM033 on the business partner. Replication requires the BR_ADMINISTRATOR_HRINFO role.
- KoppelHet reads Employee Central through the OData API (v2) with OAuth 2.0 (SAML bearer assertion), with filters on last-modified date.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in SAP SuccessFactors | Field in SAP S/4HANA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Person ID / User ID (PerPerson, User) | PersonExternalID | Must equal previously loaded employees |
EmpEmployment | Dienstverband (work agreement) | |
EmpJob: company | Bedrijfscode | |
EmpJob: costCenter (FOCostCenter) | Kostenplaats | |
EmpJob: position en department | Organisatorische toewijzing | |
Kostenplaats in S/4HANA | FOCostCenter | Back to Employee Central |
Replicatiestatus in S/4HANA | Data Replication Monitor in Employee Central |
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