A

Everyone knows the com

mon shortcom

ings for trying to use SAP solutions for SA

P HC

M reporting. SA

P’s approxim

ately 14,000 HC

M custom

ers all face the same challenges.

This ebook shares the secret workarounds to solve the com

mon reporting challenges, using tools like A

d Hoc Q

uery and SAP Q

uery.

Workarounds for A

d Hoc and SA

P Q

uery HC

M R

eporting-B

y Danielle Laro

cca, Senior V

ice-President o

f HC

M So

lutions, EP

I-USE Labs

SAP

HC

M R

EPO

RTIN

G6

SECR

ET SOLU

TION

S FOR

6 5 4 3 2 16 5 4 3 2 12

1.H

CM

Rep

orting: A

re Query To

ols A

ncient Histo

ry?

• How

It All Started (for M

e)

• Limited H

R &

Payroll Reporting O

ptions Were A

lways

a Challenge in SA

P

• The Sad Truth About the SA

P Query Tools for H

CM

• Bugs and Concerns for Q

uery Reporting in H

R

• Over 20 Years Later: Transaction Code SQ

01 is Still Used by

Most H

CM

Customers

•A

Better So

lution fo

r SAP

HC

M and P

ayroll R

eporting

2.Fixing D

uplicate Line R

epo

rting in SAP

HC

M

•

Repo

rting in SAP

HC

M is N

ever Easy

-D

ate Selection Im

pacts to

Multip

le Line Rep

orting

-V

ariable Field

Imp

acts to M

ultiple Line R

epo

rting

•

Three Metho

ds for Single-Line R

eporting

-Selectio

n Specifi catio

n

-C

alculated Field

s in the Query

-C

alculated Field

s in the Data So

urce (InfoSet)

3.H

ow to

Better D

esign Your H

R actio

ns to Im

prove

HC

M R

epo

rting

•D

esigning Your Em

ployee Actio

ns

4. A

Quick Fix to

Em

ployee C

lassifi cations that

Can Im

prove Yo

ur HC

M R

epo

rting

•Standard Em

ployee Classifi catio

ns

•SA

P Perso

nnel Structure

• The C

ustom

er Specifi c Status Field Is a Great W

ay

to Track Em

ployee Status

•Setting Yo

ur Ow

n Unique Em

ployee Statuses

•M

aximizing the U

se of R

eason C

odes

5.R

epo

rting Past and

Current E

mp

loyee Data o

n

a Single Line

6.SA

P H

CM

: Hand

ling Po

sitions A

fter a Terminatio

n

•M

anaging “Orphan” P

ositio

ns

0307

14172327

6 5 4 3 26 5 4 3 2 13

Back in those days, there w

as no mention of specifi c reporting utilities for SA

P H

CM

. We w

ere taught to simply code everything using A

BA

P, so that is what I did.

I remem

ber fu

mb

ling

arou

nd

the R

epo

rt Tree (wh

ich is n

ow

part o

f the Easy A

ccess Men

u in

SAP

HC

M) an

d th

ere were sh

ortcu

ts to so

meth

ing

called

Too

ls. This is w

here I fo

un

d tran

saction

cod

e SQ0

1, w

hich

we n

ow

kno

w as th

e Ad

Ho

c Qu

ery or th

e SAP

Qu

ery.

Limited H

R &

Payro

ll Repo

rting Optio

ns Were A

lways a C

hallenge in SAP

1. HC

M R

eporting: A

re Query To

ols A

ncient Histo

ry?

My SA

P H

CM

and

Payro

ll rep

ortin

g e

xpe

rien

ce

be

gan

in 1

99

5. I w

as wo

rking

for D

ou

ble

day D

irect,

wh

ich late

r be

came

a Be

rtelsm

ann

AG

and

AO

L

Tim

e W

arne

r Partn

ersh

ip in

Gard

en

City, N

ew

York. T

he

com

pan

y had

de

cide

d to

imp

lem

en

t SAP

amid

st fears th

at the

ir leg

acy payro

ll system

wo

uld

cease

fun

ction

ing

in th

e Y

2K

era. M

y bo

ss do

led

ou

t fun

ction

al HC

M assig

nm

en

ts, and

I was g

iven

rep

ortin

g. A

s part o

f the

imp

lem

en

tation

pro

ject

and

on

go

ing

sup

po

rt, I was sh

ipp

ed

off to

variou

s

locatio

ns to

atten

d A

BA

P/4 train

ing

, wh

ere

I rece

ived

AB

AP

certificate

s for B

C4

00

Intro

du

ction

to A

BA

P/4

De

velo

pm

en

t Wo

rkbe

nch

, BC

40

5 W

orkb

en

ch

Tech

niq

ue

s of List P

roce

ssing

, BC

41

0 Tran

saction

pro

cessin

g an

d B

C4

30

AB

AP/4

Dictio

nary.

Leve

ragin

g th

ese

ne

w skills, I w

en

t abo

ut cre

ating

rep

orts in

SAP

usin

g cu

stom

AB

AP

cod

e.

How

It All Started (fo

r Me)

6 5 4 3 25 4 3 2 14

Now

, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The SA

P Q

uery tools for HC

M have not changed considerably in the 22 years that I have

worked w

ith them. W

hen you consider that the shelf life of the average technology book is approximately 14-16 m

onths, the fact that

the last SAP

Query book I w

rote in 2006 is still being sold today says a lot about how little the tools have changed.

The last major change I recall w

as adding the ability for the query to handle concurrent employm

ent in version 4.6C back in 2000. W

hen

I review conference presentations that I created from

1999 through 2014, the query-related portion of the content is largely the same.

The Sad Truth Abo

ut the SAP

Query To

ols fo

r HC

M

This transaction code allowed m

e to create reports in a production client without

AB

AP. I w

as hooked! Not only w

as it faster and easier, but it was sim

ple enough

to use, so I decided to share it with our super-users. I started by searching the SA

P

application help content (which w

as still largely in Germ

an back then), but was

disappointed to fi nd very little documentation existed. Instead, I created a little

guide to help my colleagues use the solution. I have alw

ays been a fan of keeping

things simple, and I found that by breaking dow

n the utility into a sequence of

basic transaction codes and procedural steps, nearly anyone could create reports.

My new

found passion for HC

M reporting led to a speaking opportunity at the

1996 ASU

G (A

merica’s SA

P Users G

roup) Annual C

onference. That speaking

engagement led to an opportunity to conduct a training sem

inar for SAP

Professional Journal (part of the SAPinsider brand that also hosts popular events

like HR

2017). From 1999 through 2006, I w

rote several books on the Query

solutions for SAP H

CM

, and had the opportunity to speak at conferences all over

the world on the topic.

6

Now

, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The SA

P Q

uery tools for HC

M have not changed considerably in the 22 years that I have

worked w

ith them. W

hen you consider that the shelf life of the average technology book is approximately 14-16 m

onths, the fact that

The last major change I recall w

as adding the ability for the query to handle concurrent employm

ent in version 4.6C back in 2000. W

hen

I review conference presentations that I created from

1999 through 2014, the query-related portion of the content is largely the same.

6 5 4 3 26 5 4 3 2 15

As the num

ber of HC

M custom

ers using the SAP Q

uery and the Ad H

oc Query

increased, so did the number of O

SS Notes. If you are not fam

iliar with them

,

OSS N

otes represent an online SAP service and portal that provides updates on

patches in diff erent modules of SA

P and up-to-date information on SA

P Notes.

SAP N

otes are correction instructions for bugs or issues found in standard SAP

programs. The num

ber of bugs logged for these solutions is staggering.

These incidents range from incorrect results to unauthorized security and

unexplained behavior. Over the years, SA

P’s attention m

oved from on-prem

ise

transactional reporting tools like the Ad H

oc Query to m

ore analytical solutions

like SAP B

usiness Intelligence (BW

). With the advent of SA

P SuccessFactors,

there is also a movem

ent towards W

orkforce Analytics, and beginning in 2019,

SAP A

nalytics Cloud (SA

C).

Bugs and C

oncerns fo

r Query R

eporting in H

R

I even recall som

e speculatio

n that SAP

wanted

to turn o

ff access to transactio

n cod

e SQ01 in the early 2000s, as they w

ere not d

edicating any reso

urces

to co

rrecting bugs, no

r were they co

ntinuing to d

evelop

the solutio

n. I recall in 2015, Mike Ettling (then P

resident o

f SAP

SuccessFactors) b

eing asked w

hat

HC

M custo

mers sho

uld b

e using until they mo

ve to W

orkfo

rce Analytics. H

is respo

nse was essentially “keep

do

ing what yo

u are do

ing now

”.

In June 2018, I spo

ke abo

ut HC

M rep

orting at the A

nnual SAP

PH

IRE A

SUG

Co

nference in Orland

o. I started

, as I often d

o, b

y surveying the audience o

n

which so

lutions they use. The m

ajority use a co

mb

ination o

f Ad

Ho

c Query, SA

P Q

uery, Wage Typ

e Rep

orter, SE16 and

AB

AP

merged

together via M

icroso

ft

Excel or A

ccess. When I shared

access to the list o

f OSS N

otes, m

any shrugged, since it is no

t a big secret. B

ut they were no

t aware o

f a better so

lution.

Over 20 Years Later: Transaction C

ode SQ01 Is Still U

sed by Most H

CM

Custom

ers

6 5 4 3 26 5 4 3 2 16

A B

etter Solutio

n for SA

P H

CM

and Payro

ll Repo

rtingSince I have sp

oken at several co

nferences a year for the p

ast 18 years, and have so

ld tho

usands o

f bo

oks o

n the top

ic of Q

uery repo

rting, I feel just a little

bit culp

able fo

r its wid

espread

use. Ho

wever, fo

r the past few

years I have focused

my energy o

n explo

ring solutio

ns to the Q

uery pro

blem

. Until all 14,000

SAP

on-p

remise custo

mers m

igrate off

SAP

HC

M (keep

ing in mind

the scheduled

guaranteed sup

po

rt date o

f 2025), they will need

to use so

mething to

manage their d

ay-to-d

ay repo

rting. We kno

w that B

W is no

t designed

for P

ayroll, Tim

e or transactio

nal repo

rting, so users need

a solutio

n that gives them

access to their key o

peratio

nal data in real tim

e.

There is a third-p

arty solutio

n that allow

s users to rep

ort o

n SAP

HC

M P

ayroll, Tim

e, Benefi

ts, Organizatio

nal Managem

ent, Master D

ata, Travel, Talent

data, etc. It is EP

I-USE Lab

s’ Query M

anager™ and

if you w

ant to learn m

ore ab

out it, yo

u can visit the Query M

anager site.

LE

AR

N M

OR

E A

BO

UT

SA

P R

EP

OR

TIN

G

Financial Po

stings

Payro

ll Cluster

Co

nfi g. Data

No

n-SAP

Data

Personnel

Ad

ministratio

n &

Benefi ts

(includes custom

infotypes)

Time

Cluster

No

n-HC

MD

ataSA

PSuccessFacto

rsO

rgM

anagement

Previo

usly Executed

Rep

orts

Custo

m D

ataso

urces/tables

6 5 4 36 5 4 3 127

2. Fixing D

uplicate Line Repo

rtingin SA

P H

CM

There are multip

le too

ls to cho

ose fro

m, includ

ing the Ad

Ho

c Query and

the SAP

Query, b

oth accessib

le via transaction co

de SQ

01. These too

ls have

limited

functionality; ho

wever they d

o, in m

ost cases, allo

w yo

u to rep

ort o

n

basic info

type d

ata for em

plo

yees.

One frustrating result o

utput that yo

u will fi nd

with these to

ols is that

som

etimes yo

u will see rep

ort o

utput that has m

ultiple lines p

er emp

loyee

instead o

f a single line outp

ut per em

plo

yee. There are a coup

le of d

iff erent

scenarios in w

hich this may o

ccur:

The fi rst instance in which this o

ccurs is related to

date selectio

n. Virtually

every HC

M info

type reco

rd is eff ectively d

ated. In o

ther wo

rds, each has a

Start Date and

an End D

ate show

ing the eff ective date range fo

r which the

record

is valid (see p

icture belo

w). Em

plo

yees at any given time m

ight have

multip

les of the sam

e infotyp

e, each with a d

iff erent date range. A

po

pular

examp

le: An em

plo

yee may have three Info

type 0008 (B

asic Pay) reco

rds,

one fo

r each salary that they had o

ver the past three years. The histo

rical

inform

ation is useful, ho

wever it m

ay pro

duce a challenge in rep

orting if

the app

rop

riate selections are no

t mad

e.

Up

on executio

n of any virtually any rep

ort in SA

P, you w

ill see a selection

screen which p

rovid

es you w

ith the op

po

rtunity to sp

ecify the criteria for

the data yo

u want to

see in your o

utput. The m

ost co

mm

on d

ate param

eter

for rep

orting in SA

P is to

the date selectio

n perio

d ‘To

day’. Selecting ‘To

day’

ensures that the data yo

u have retrieved fro

m the d

atabase is valid

as of

tod

ay. One thing to

note here is that if yo

u have any future dated

record

s

(for things like increases o

r organizatio

nal changes) they will no

t be includ

ed

in your rep

ort o

utput, b

ecause technically they do

not exist yet. M

ost users

com

plain o

f dup

licate record

results when selecting the ‘O

ther’ or ‘Perso

n

Selection Perio

d’ d

ate param

eters, and that is b

ecause multip

le record

s

may exist fo

r that em

plo

yee du

ring

the d

ate rang

e specifi ed

. Bein

g su

re

to select ‘To

day’ w

ill often

solve m

any of th

e du

plicate reco

rds yo

u see in

repo

rting

ou

tpu

t.

Repo

rting in SAP

HC

M is N

ever Easy

Date Selection Im

pacts to Multiple Line R

eporting

6 5 4 3 128

The seco

nd

instan

ce is a bit m

ore

com

plicated

, and

that’s related

to

retrieving

du

plicate reco

rds even

tho

ug

h yo

u are selectin

g ‘To

day’ o

n

you

r selection

screen. Th

is is specifi c

to certain

info

types th

at have m

ultip

le

values in

a sing

le or tab

le-based

storag

e space. Th

at sou

nd

s pretty

techn

ical, bu

t basically w

hat it m

eans is

that th

e datab

ase pu

lls all the reco

rds

meetin

g yo

ur criteria. Th

is issue o

f

du

plicate reco

rds d

oes n

ot o

ccur

with

som

e info

types, su

ch as in

fotyp

e

0002 (Perso

nal D

ata). This is b

ecause

info

type 0002 sto

res each p

iece of

info

rmatio

n as a sin

gle id

entifi ab

le

fi eld (see sam

ple to

the rig

ht).

Variable Field Im

pacts to M

ultiple Line Reporting

116 5 4 36 5 4 3 2

The seco

nd

instan

ce is a bit m

ore

com

plicated

, and

that’s related

to

retrieving

du

plicate reco

rds even

tho

ug

h yo

u are selectin

g ‘To

day’ o

n

you

r selection

screen. Th

is is specifi c

to certain

info

types th

at have m

ultip

le

values in

a sing

le or tab

le-based

storag

e space. Th

at sou

nd

s pretty

techn

ical, bu

t basically w

hat it m

eans is

that th

e datab

ase pu

lls all the reco

rds

meetin

g yo

ur criteria. Th

is issue o

f

du

plicate reco

rds d

oes n

ot o

ccur

with

som

e info

types, su

ch as in

fotyp

e

0002 (Perso

nal D

ata). This is b

ecause

info

type 0002 sto

res each p

iece of

info

rmatio

n as a sin

gle id

entifi ab

le

Variable Field Im

pacts to

6 5 4 3 129 116 5 4 36 5 4 3 2

The fi rst name is sto

red in the P

0002-

VO

RN

A fi eld

. To see the technical

details, p

lace your curso

r into the fi eld

,

press F1, and

then click on the Technical

Inform

ation b

utton. The fi rst nam

e is the

only info

rmatio

n that can be sto

red in

that fi eld.

Let’s com

pare that to

an infotyp

e that

do

es pro

duce d

uplicate reco

rds, such

as infotyp

e 0041 (Date Sp

ecifi cations).

Date sp

ecifi cations d

oes no

t have a

single fi eld id

entifi ed fo

r only a single

piece o

f data. R

ather, the data that can

be sto

red in each fi eld

is variable (see

samp

le to the right).

6 5 4 3 16 5 4 3 1210

Info

type 0041 p

ermits sto

rage o

f custo

mer-sp

ecifi c dates. D

urin

g

con

fi gu

ration

, each cu

stom

er determ

ines th

e date typ

es that w

ork b

est

for th

em. In

the exam

ple sh

ow

n in

the p

icture ab

ove, th

e associate h

as

fi ve diff eren

t date typ

es stored

as Date typ

e 36, 40, 41,44 and

48, listed

in n

um

erical ord

er. Ho

wever, u

nlike in

fotyp

e 0002 in w

hich

the fi eld

s

store o

nly certain

ob

jects (for exam

ple, th

e fi rst nam

e fi eld o

nly sto

res

fi rst nam

es in th

e P0002-V

OR

NA

fi eld), th

e fi elds o

n th

is screen can

store variab

le data. D

ate type 30 co

uld

app

ear in th

e fi rst bo

x or th

e

last, dep

end

ing

on

ho

w m

any date typ

es are on

the screen

.

Wh

en I rep

eat the step

s men

tion

ed in

the in

fotyp

e 0002 examp

le

to see th

e techn

ical details o

f the D

ate type 30 d

ate, I get th

e value

P0041-D

AT01. If I lo

ok at th

e details o

f the seco

nd

date it w

ou

ld b

e

P0041-D

AT02, w

hich

refers to th

e secon

d d

ate bo

x on

the screen

.

The d

ate type fi eld

for th

e next o

ne w

ou

ld b

e P0041-D

AT03, etc.

Ho

wever, that value o

f DA

T01 is assigned b

ecause the date is sto

red in

the fi rst po

sition o

n that screen. If I add

ed a new

date typ

e for the

associate, such as D

ate type 23, that w

ould

then beco

me P

0041-DA

T01

because it w

ould

then be in the fi rst num

erical po

sition. If I created

a query-b

ased rep

ort co

ntaining a specifi c fi eld

such as First name

(P0002-V

OR

NA

), it wo

uld o

utput o

n a single line. Ho

wever, if I created

a

query-b

ased rep

ort to

outp

ut the date fi eld

from

Infotyp

e 41 (Date fo

r

Date typ

e), behind

the scenes the system w

ould

read thro

ugh all of the

P0041-D

AT01 to

P0041-D

AT12 fi eld

s and o

utput a line in the rep

ort fo

r

each date sto

red.