{"id":7813,"date":"2024-05-22T01:36:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T08:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=7813"},"modified":"2024-05-21T17:01:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T00:01:04","slug":"upgrading-microsofts-core-human-resources-system-with-sap-successfactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/upgrading-microsofts-core-human-resources-system-with-sap-successfactors\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrading Microsoft\u2019s core Human Resources system with SAP SuccessFactors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MicrosoftMicrosoft\u2019s core Human Resources system was aging and needed to be replaced.<\/p>\n

Thanks to its limitations, when a company employee transferred to a new job in a different country or region, it could seem like they were starting over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen employees moved country to country within the company, behind the scenes our HR operations teams had to manually move them to a different country code,\u201d says Sruthi Annamaneni, a partner director of software engineering on the Microsoft Digital team deploying the company\u2019s new HR system.<\/p>\n

It was a matter of bringing the company\u2019s HR data together in one place.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons we\u2019re rebuilding Microsoft\u2019s Human Resources core is so we can unify the experience our employees have with us. We want it to feel like it\u2019s the same Microsoft no matter which country or region someone works in.<\/p>\n

\u2014Sruthi Annamaneni, partner director of software engineering, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt was about aggregating and having a single place to master all employee data across 109 countries,\u201d Annamaneni says. \u201cThis would enable us to have a single global policy for all of Microsoft and to have all of our country-specific local policies implemented in one place. Reducing and improving error-prone, high-touch manual processes would help us keep our core HR systems running smoothly while improving our ability to support employees across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those reasons, Microsoft Digital\u2014the organization that powers, protects, and transforms the company\u2014has been upgrading Microsoft\u2019s core Human Resources systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons we\u2019re rebuilding Microsoft\u2019s Human Resources core is so we can unify the experience our employees have with us,\u201d Annamaneni says. \u201cWe want it to feel like it\u2019s the same Microsoft no matter which country or region someone works in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft is wrapping up a multiyear effort to move its core Human Resources systems to SAP SuccessFactors. The makeover of Microsoft\u2019s Human Resources core is largely complete with a last handful of external staff and newly acquired employees being upgraded this winter.<\/p>\n

When we stood up our instance on Azure, that was a big, big milestone for us and for them. We\u2019re a frontline user of their product in our cloud.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kerry Olin, Microsoft corporate vice president of Human Resources Services<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOur legacy system was not scaling to our global requirements and aspirations for a consistent employee experience,\u201d says Kerry Olin, Microsoft\u2019s corporate vice president of Human Resources Services. \u201cWe needed a more modern, flexible, and capable core HR system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olin says the company reviewed many HR systems\u2014it even considered working with Microsoft Digital to build an in-house system. In the end, the team decided to go with SAP SuccessFactors because it would play a foundational role in Microsoft\u2019s bid to transform its vast array of secondary HR systems; like improving mobility, supporting new acquisitions, or transforming payroll. It also helped that the cloud-based SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite runs on Microsoft Azure. SAP has a longstanding partnership with Microsoft as a preferred cloud provider.<\/p>\n

Microsoft is one of first large on-premises enterprises to move its HR systems to Microsoft Azure, a migration that is paving the way for other SAP SuccessFactors customers (and SAP SuccessFactors itself) to transition to the same cloud platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we stood up our instance on Azure, that was a big, big milestone for us and for them,\u201d Olin says. \u201cWe\u2019re a frontline user of their product in our cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting Microsoft\u2019s Human Resources core to nearly-finished status hasn\u2019t been easy\u2014with HR systems in 109 countries and regions, the company\u2019s core system is massive and complex. Until this overhaul, the HR data management approach varied considerably around the world, making it feel like the company had a separate HR system in every country and location. \u201cThis project was a great example of how people, process, and technology have to transform together to successfully land a big transformation in any enterprise,\u201d Annamaneni says.<\/p>\n

While such complexity challenges force most companies of Microsoft\u2019s size to start over when they upgrade their HR systems, Microsoft rejected that tradition in favor of keeping the lights on as they went about the four-year upgrade.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t want to disrupt anyone. We didn\u2019t want to have our team or our employees have to learn an entirely new system.<\/p>\n

\u2014Rajamma Krishnamurthy, principal program manager, Human Resources Foundational Services team, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis is like completely rebuilding a train while the train is running,\u201d Annamaneni says. \u201cFirst you change the wheels, then you swap out the engine, and you keep going until everything is new and updated\u2014it’s not easy. There are a zillion things that can go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why not start fresh like everyone else?<\/p>\n

Because they wanted to minimize the impact on its 225,000 employees and external partners, and importantly, on the hundreds of HR professionals who work in the system to sustain business continuity on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to disrupt anyone,\u201d says Rajamma Krishnamurthy, a principal program manager for the Human Resources Foundational Services team in Microsoft Digital. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to have our team or our employees have to learn an entirely new system.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, Microsoft flipped the switch on in Canada, Norway, and Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany things went well, and a lot of things didn\u2019t go well,\u201d Krishnamurthy says. \u201cWe learned a lot, and we took what we learned to build a template that we used for the rest of the roll out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next came India, which was the most complex country besides the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was the path to the United States was through India,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had our governance ready\u2014we knew where things could go wrong, we knew which stakeholders we would have to help get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

India went well, which opened the door to tackle the US, which began in February 2020.<\/p>\n

\"Krishnamurthy
Rajamma Krishnamurthy and Suresh Kalimuthu are part of the team that transformed Microsoft\u2019s core Human Resources system. (Photos by Rajamma Krishnamurthy and Suresh Kalimuthu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe United States was the biggest, scariest for us,\u201d Krishnamurthy says. \u201cWe had a lot of people using the system who were not managers\u2014we had a large admin population who used it every day. They had strong needs and desires on how the system should work.\u201d<\/p>\n

They used it heavily from Day One.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made sure their voices were heard,\u201d she says. \u201cTheir work was not disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team commissioned a vendor to build a solution to bulk load employee data changes. \u00a0It is also using a Microsoft Power Application solution for access management while it works with a third party to build its own solution.<\/p>\n

As for the HR specialists and admins using the new system? When issues flared up, Krishnamurthy and team funneled them into rapid response channels in Microsoft Teams, which allowed them to help each other work through it and gave them a place to share best practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to manage a lot of upheaval through these channels,\u201d Krishnamurthy says. \u201cThey were a great change management channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there was a lot of volume. \u201cWe had close to 1,000 people using them to get answers on a daily basis,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was awesome to see our community help each other like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of our biggest goals was to provide business agility. We\u2019ve been able to do that in a way that sets us up well for the future.<\/p>\n

\u2014Suresh Kalimuthu, principal software engineering manager, Human Resources Foundational Services team, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly, the channels have turned into such a helpful resource that HR teams demanded that they live on past the system upgrade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith COVID, we need to continue that longer than we thought,\u201d Krishnamurthy says. \u201cOur exec admin professional community came together in the Teams support channel for the SAP SuccessFactors launch and continues to depend on and leverage each other for support on a wide range of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

[<\/em>Learn how Microsoft Dynamics 365 and AI automate complex business processes and transactions.<\/em><\/a> Read about migrating critical financial systems to Microsoft Azure.<\/em><\/a> Discover examining SAP transactions with Azure Anomaly Detector.<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

Deploying Microsoft\u2019s Human Resources core<\/h2>\n

The daunting challenge of deploying Microsoft\u2019s new core HR system fell to Suresh Kalimuthu, a principal software engineering manager on Microsoft Digital\u2019s HR Foundational Services team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our biggest goals was to provide business agility,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to do that in a way that sets us up well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technical challenge was tremendous\u2014not only did the company move its HR system to a new platform while also moving to the cloud, it also adopted a new agile engineering method to do all the deployment work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were taking on a lot all at once,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cIt has been an interesting, rewarding journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Krishnamurthy, Kalimuthu\u2019s colleague, says the pressure was on to get it right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have hundreds of stakeholders, finance, benefits, local HR,\u201d Krishnamurthy says. \u201cThis is not glamorous. This is the basic running of our company. It takes a lot of effort to bring people along. People needed to understand the value of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the big challenges the team had to account for when building the new system was how laws, rules, and systems in each country or region varied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built a system that allows us to make local adjustments that don\u2019t affect the larger system,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cFor example, if I want to create a new hire system for Canada, we can make those changes without disrupting anything that we deploy globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another challenge was the need to build custom solutions where SAP SuccessFactors\u2019 out of the box product stopped short.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur HR systems are very complex and matrixed, much more so than most enterprises,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cIn several cases, we needed to fill in gaps with our own solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In those cases, doing so was straightforward. \u201cSAP SuccessFactors has an ability to allow custom integrations and extend their capability,\u201d he says. \u201cWe saved big time by leveraging our own technology when we needed it\u2014this gave us a lot of flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

We solved some of these challenges ourselves, but we did so in partnership with SAP SuccessFactors. They are addressing our concerns\u2014there has been a good give and take, and SAP SuccessFactors and their other customers have benefitted.<\/p>\n

\u2014Suresh Kalimuthu, principal software engineering manager, Human Resources Foundational Services team, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For example, Microsoft HR wanted to be able to deliver data on hires, promotions, and so on in near real time. \u201cWe wanted to make sure the data was readily available within 30 minutes, but it was only available 24 hours later out of the box,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cWe built that capability ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Microsoft products the team used include Azure Functions, Azure Keywords, Azure APIs, Azure Storage, Azure Service Bus, Azure Hub, Azure Active Directory, and Azure Encryption.<\/p>\n

A big shift was moving all HR data onto one, connected platform. \u201cWe realized the value of having one data platform that stretches across all of Microsoft,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cIt takes our data from one end point to another.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team beefed up other areas as well, including on SOX compliancy, privacy, and security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe solved some of these challenges ourselves, but we did so in partnership with SAP SuccessFactors,\u201d Kalimuthu says. \u201cThey are addressing our concerns\u2014there has been a good give and take, and SAP SuccessFactors and their other customers have benefitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the team is winding down its upgrade of the core HR system, it is now turning to a future where updates and changes become much easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we won’t light up all of its new capabilities today or tomorrow, there is functionality in the system which significantly expands and enhances what we can do next,\u201d Olin says. \u201cWe have some terrific examples of business value realization from the new core system already\u2014there’s more opportunity ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Key<\/p>\n

Here are some principles you can use to guide you as you consider upgrading your HR core systems:<\/p>\n