7 best practices for using SuccessFactors Talent Management

1. Use the right tools to manage the employee journey

SuccessFactors Talent Management has a suite of applications to help manage the entire employee journey. HR can use the Recruiting tool to match external and internal talent to job openings. The tool can also provide employees with opportunities to find jobs internally.

HR and managers can use the Onboarding tool to help new employees prepare for their first day, which can help lower new job anxieties, acclimate them to the company culture and, in turn, help improve retention.

HR and managers can use the Succession & Development tool to create career paths and employee development plans. Coupled with the Learning tool, these development objectives can help employees get the skills they need for career growth within the organization. As part of monitoring that progress, the Performance & Goals tool measures performance and identifies new areas of personal development.

Coupled with the Learning tool, development objectives can help employees get the skills they need for career growth within the organization.

2. Manage processes with homepage tiles

IT administrators can set up both standard and custom tiles, which provide employees with notifications, reminders, information, links and other resources to assist with talent processes.

The To-Do tiles give visual reminders and statuses on talent processes. For example, the Review Performance tile gives an overview of performance management forms for a manager's team.

The My Team tile feature offers a view of team summary information. Managers can use tile functionality to view and manage a team and provide spot bonuses.

3. Use People Profile to track workforce attributes

People Profile lists an employee and the constellation of information that helps managers and HR manage talent, such as skills, interest and experience. It also lists information such as where that person fits within the interactive organizational chart using self-services, although basic details are populated automatically and managers can also use self-services to update information on their team. Managers can use People Profile to review potential successors, identify skills and competencies, and measure performance against potential.

4. Set clear and attainable organization goals

Managers can use the Performance & Goals application to assign annual goals to employees. Assigning goals to employees gives them a focus to grow personally and also helps support the organization in reaching its goals.

5. Go mobile

The SuccessFactors mobile app gives real-time, on-the-go access to talent processes. Whether it's onboarding new employees, managing employee learning and training, or managing a continuous performance management process, the mobile app offers a way to perform these activities on the go. Admins can set up urgent notifications, and users can take actions through the app.

6. Capitalize on analytics

With the new People Analytics tool, creating and viewing various charts, key performance indicators and analytics is even easier. Administrators can create custom reports and templates, and managers and HR can use in-page analytics that exist across the suite of modules.

7. Check out overlooked cross-module features

The SAP SuccessFactors platform contains features that HR leaders and others might overlook when IT implements the system one module at a time. Presentations, Talent Search and Job Profile Builder are among some of the features that are not tied to any particular module but can add value across many of the talent modules.

Admins can use presentations to create interactive talent presentations that display data from the system in real time. Job Profile Builder provides a framework to build job profiles and the elements that are used across company profiles, such as job requirements, experience, responsibilities and competencies. Skills Profile provides a means to assign skills to employees and rate them on those skills.