Master SAP HR testing without risking Payroll errors and compliance

Hello, everyone. Welcome to today's webinar, master SAP HR testing without risking payroll risk and compliance. I'm Joey, and I'm taking care of the marketing here at EPI-USE Labs. Just a quick housekeeping note, your line will be muted through the session, but please feel free to submit your questions if you have any questions through the control panel, and we will address them at the end of the session. So before we start, let me quickly introduce who we are and what we do. And EPI use LETs. We deliver value through innovative products and services to our clients. Our passion is to enhance your SAP landscape, and we do this for more than thousand eight hundred clients in fifty five countries. We are also a part of a larger group called Group Elephant, and the group also owns and funds a nonprofit company called Elephant Rhino and People and in short is ERP. So today, we will discuss about how to make your SAP HR testing more secure, efficient, and reliable, whether you are running SAP HCM on premise or SAP SuccessFactors or even in a complex hybrid environment, this session will provide insights that will help you save time, risk, and also improve your testing outcome. So let me introduce our speaker today, Jessalaria Himil. He she is our SAP HCM consultant here at EPI-USE Labs. So with years of experience working on business and landscape transformation, Tesla understands the challenge that HR IT payroll team face when It comes to SAP HR testing and just to ensure that the payroll accuracy. So over to you, Jessala. Okay. Thanks for the introduction, Joy. Welcome everyone in the audience who joins us today on talking about one of the crucial aspect and also possible consequences of having a testing data across your organization, in particular to payroll and HR data. So, for the most part, complexity in doing SAP HR testing mainly involves, first on our list is dealing with hybrid environment. Organizations that uses a mix of different environment, such as SAP HCM on premise, SAP SuccessFactors, and ECP often encounters difficulty in testing systems due to integration complexity and also maintaining, data synchronization. So the variability across these systems should tightly be monitored in order to ensure a perfect testing condition. Organizations also that have multiple modules on their systems often stores large volumes of data and dealing with those numbers of data is quite or proven to be quite time consuming and also labor intensive. Also, since we are dealing with payroll and HR data, which are considered highly sensitive information, compliant to international and local laws that protects these data must be imposed. Hence, we have to make sure that testing data must be close to real data and also masked. And last on our list would be the limited integration between systems often proves to be difficult in not only maintaining an aligned data, but also spells false sense of data quality. So these complexities now breeds, consequences on the larger scale, and often these consequences are disruptive. For one, having inaccurate test data can propagate throughout HR processes and scatter its effects on subsequent payroll or HR activity. So one example of this would be payroll errors. So small errors in testing that can disrupt your payroll cycles. There are also instances of compliance breaches. So mishandled, personally identifiable information can lead to GDPR and TDPA find. Of course, causing these interruptions also impacts, operational activities causing delays. So delays in HR processes, system downtime, repeat the testing cycles are some of those example. And, eventually, the toll of having poor test data could cause massive business and financial impact. So these errors and delays result in increased cost, frustrated employees, and reputational risk. So aside from the complexity of the SAP HR testing environments and the consequences of poorly managing them, we can further drill down most of these testing challenges. Which organizations are often faced with? From, so from making sure resources are available whenever, testing is needed scheduling of downtime in order to make or to move huge volumes of data or a possible full production copy as required as well as making sure that training scenarios are close to reality as possible without giving up personally identifiable information. So these challenges are side by side existing with our daily operation activities. We cannot, simply address one challenge and then leave the rest out. Or address few of them and then hope for the best for the other issues. So these challenges must be comprehensively addressed in order to ensure we don't encounter any business impacting in consequences. So how do we solve these challenges and ensure there's a secure access of HCM production data into nonproduction systems for testing, training, and support. So, Data Sync Manager or f, HCM is a solution that empowers all levels of SAP users. It is a solution that solves these challenges all in one simple Launchpad. So DSM gives you the data you need when you need it. It is a test management, solution or tool. So those testing and support packs and upgrades are now easily achievable with the help of Data Sync Manager. So Data Sync Manager, or often we call it a VSM is SAP certified solution that allows you to select and transfer specific HCM data, data objects accurately and as needed and also allows you to mask sensitive data for confidentiality, security, and governance compliance. So with Data Sync Manager, you can either copy subsets or small chunks of data or copy entire client. And Data Sync Manager can also do slices of data based on time. So let's say you wanted to copy only past six months of data. So DSM can do that kind of splice. With Data Sync Manager for HCM, organizations can now select and transfer, specific HCM data objects with ease, accuracy, and whenever needed. So no system downtime is needed when doing partial or subset Copy. Data Sync Manager for HCM can always do data copy, ad hoc whenever required. Also, DSM or HCM makes use, or make sure That sensitive live data are masked and scrambled when copied. This is to ensure that we follow confidentiality, security, and governance compliance. So whether you need data from your critical HCM and payroll production or, let's say, configuration and upgrade testing, training, and support, and even during consistent masking of SuccessFactors data, DSM would be able to assist you with it. And that being said, yes, you heard it. Right? DSM can also do copy and masking of SuccessFactors data, not only HCM. So DSM is actually price of numerous components, such as Object Sync, Client Sync, and Data Secure. We know that test, data management does not end with just copying data. We also realize that with copying, we have to define requirements along the way. So these requirements can often lead to decisions of how big the data that you must copy. So Object Sync provides us with the option to do select div or subset or partial data copy. If you're planning to copy employees, let's say, for payroll testing or training purposes, or even need to copy HR planning data, so Object Sync is the best component for you. For larger volume of data at a client wide specific Client sync component of DSM is the best option for use. So with the use of Client Sync, the new system refreshes that often consumes time and resources can now be done easily and scheduled regularly with minimal or no reliance on the organization's IT, department. So, of course, whether you are copying partial or client wide level data, we have to make sure the compliance to data privacy is always in place. Data Secure is the component that makes it possible. So we aim for a solution that not only copies, but also provides comprehensive masking options so that organization can rest assured that sensitive data are protected. So Data Sync Manager was initially developed specifically for HCM but later became available for other SAP ERP applications, including FI, logistics, SRM, then you have customer relationship management, SCM, GTS, and also business warehouse. Also, DSM is a proud certified SAP for integration with RISE with SAP s or HANA Cloud. So we have been discussing HTM for a while, so DSM for HCM. Let's take a look at how Data Sync Manager can help govern test data management on a hybrid environment. As we know SAP customers are now moving away from the HCM and often need support on their SuccessFactors data. So in most organization or in most cases, the organizations that are running on multiple systems or hybrid environments often are bound to have challenges in keeping their system aligned or synchronized with each other. So in addition to complex integration and governance of hybrid environments, security is also a major factor when copying data for test management. Too often for clients running SAP and SuccessFactors in a hybrid scenario or any clients with SAP, SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, there are limited options out there for masking, test or making test data available across these environments. So it is not an exaggeration to say that keeping your ERP, payroll, and SuccessFactors system consistent for testing is a challenge. So with Data Sync Manager for SuccessFactors add on, you can now experience using a solution that intelligently manages your test data within the landscape to increase your efficiency. And as easy as it is to copy data with DSM for HCM, the SuccessFactors add on of Data Sync Manager can get you the data you needed when you need it, or as per required. So having a tool that helps data management for SuccessFactors is not common. So we know that SuccessFactors has its own set of validations and rules as compared to ECP or HCM. And copying or testing SuccessFactors data is also a challenge on its own. So with Data Sync Manager, we empower users to make data available. As users now understand how Sync works in a cloud environment, they could leverage the use of DSM in order to manage data within SuccessFactors' hybrid landscape to increase their operation efficiency. So DSM SuccessFactors add on also eliminates the need for continuous instance refreshes. The instances refreshes are common practice for systems in order to make sure the systems are up to date. May it be for the purpose of testing or validation or training end user practice to troubleshooting and support. So oftentimes, instance refreshes takes a lot of effort in both resources and requires downtime. So, hence, you may experience operational disruption. So the SuccessFactors add on of DSM also helps to eliminate or reduce this disruption. The add on of DSM can I mean, the add on of DSM for SuccessFactors not only copies valid data on demand for testing and training whether it is needed, but also fully anonymize the data for compliance? And, of course, the tool is SAP certified. DSM is also available in the SAP Store, approved to run on ECP and does not require a license for SAP Cloud platform. So we have been talking about confidentiality, compliance, and data security for a while. Terms like copying with masking or words like, anonymization partnered with data copy is a requirement, especially in an industry that heavily operates on sensitive information such as personally identifiable information or data and payroll, Which are Pay Data. So in DSM, the component that makes all of these masking happen would be what we call the Data Secure. This tool makes sure that not only data are copied but also masked in such a way that the masked data are still close to reality. So we don't want a tool that just do randomization. We want a tool that can randomize according to set rule or criteria in order to mimic production like scenarios. So Data Secure does this for us, and could be used in masking HCM and Success Packers. First,. Data. So both of those. Now let's take a look at an example of how GSM and DSM works and how it delivers as a test data management Hello? Hello? What I'm going to show you here would be two systems. Okay. So side by side, I have two systems in here. This is the SAP system. On the left hand side would be what we will treat as the source system, whereas on the right hand side would be what we will treat as our, target system. Similarly, These two has their own Set. Or A link Easy instance. So the right side is the target and the left side would be our source system. So what DSM can do, I'll just expand this one. The eight sixty here would be our source system. With the help of Data Sync Manager all in one Launchpad, we can do a creation of sync and then masking of those objects within that sync. So let's try and make an example out of. One employee. So most commonly, the need for testing data are always in the purpose of checking or troubleshooting employees. So let's copy An employee from our source System. Okay. Oh, by the way, what I'll show you, you decide by decide of the same person in both of our instances. So the source in the left and the target on the right. So it has the same name as you can see. And then what we'll do is that we'll copy the same employee from the source, but Put a masking on it. So in the integration tree that you see in here, there are many items that are connected to the employee or objects that are connected to the employee that we can include during the copy, but let's focus on the employee SuccessFactors for now. We have put personal number here. You can put as many as you wanted. And let's just say that we also wanted to copy the replication data of this employee. So we do a copy. There's also a clone, which is a copy and then insert. But we'll stick with copy for now, and then just hit replace complete object. Now in the selection preview, it will show us that we are trying to copy one object only that is for this particular employee. Now in the masking option, the Data Secure which drives this engine now gives us the ability or the functionality to actually choose a preexisting masking rule, or we can do a custom one. Those that you see in red are all custom policies that were made for this masking tool. Let's just use one which has already been created. So this is the policy, and here are the list of items that it will mask or scramble. Then let's hit execution options, and I'm just going to add more process on this and hit Execute. Okay. So right now, the sync is already running. What the system is currently doing right now is that it gets the data of the particular employee in both the SAP system of the source as well as the employee central instance of that particular employee. So it gets those data. And then with that help all the policy that we have chosen earlier, it's now, doing masking or scrambling of the data. So what we are going to expect is that the data which you see here on the source, which we are trying to copy into the target system. Six. Six. Should be scrambled after the copy has been done. So in most cases, this scenario can apply when you're copying production employee, which shows an issue in production and you wanted to troubleshoot it, but you don't want doing troubleshooting in production since those are live data. So you do a copy of that employee into the corresponding testing environment. But since we have the deal with compliance, we have to make sure that the, masking is, in place. So let's go inside the details of what this is doing. So aside from retrieval of the data from the source, masking it, it is also importing or inserting the masked data into the other system, which is our target system. While this one is running, you can see here the masking statistics. It gives you an idea of what tables and entities are, part of what has been masked by our, policy. Also, the update audit field in here, you will see side by side now the old value and the new value upon the policy applied on this sync. So you can see in real time the changes that happened for let's say, for example, the name of the employees, and this is also affecting not only SAP, But also SF or SuccessFactors data. Here. Okay. So this is not the okay. This one is done. Now let's refresh this employee in our target system and see we and see that we have a new name for this employee. So I'll put side by side. So this is from San Chris Jones. Now we have copied it, applied masking, and now the name is different. If we scroll down, so in the address is also different. So this one is one four two five. This one is different. You see here the business address is also different, and, also, the business Number is also different. So side by side, it does this. And if we look into the SAP system, you'll notice that this employee is now also changed on the target system. So from Sam Chris Jones, this employee is also Chrissy Anderson, consistent with what on the EC, instance. So that's, that's how you can use Data Sync Manager in order to do some copying of data in your system for whatever test management scenario that you wanted. To troubleshoot. Okay. Okay. Now now let's take a look at If you I mean, if you feel free I mean, you can you are fee you are encouraged, actually, to scan the code that you see on your screen right now. This is a tool that can help you, do data testing and masking. Consider scanning this and see, for yourself how the DSM would be able to help your organizations in doing some test data management optimizations on your system. So this is a free SAP landscape and readiness assessment report that would give insight into your system size. Prints and supported objects and the likes to help you rationalize and secure SAP landscapes. So this is a free and secure assessment. No actual data is being captured. Only statistics and are reviewed and showed on the report. So a quick recap of what we have discussed. If your business challenge right now is about test data management involving HCM data or SuccessFactors data, which is often seen in hybrid scenarios, and the challenge is on copying this data whenever you need it, whether in small, partial sizes, or volumes to different level or volume of data and you also want this data to comply on existing data security and privacy policy, then Data Sync Manager is the right tool to help you. Okay. So I hope this discussion helps our audience in deciding a solution for these common SAP HR testing and challenges. I'm opening now the floor for any new Questions? Yes. Or any Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Jessala. We have a couple of questions that came in just now. So let's just start with the first question. When do we do full copy or selective copy? What is the best way to copy? It actually depends on your organization's requirements. So there is no one way on how to deal with all of these data, whether how you will copy it or not. So it depends on what requirements you have. If you need data for a full scale level, then use client sync. If the requirement is to copy a couple hundreds or a couple thousands of employees for testing and training purposes, then Object Sync can do that for us. Yeah. It depends really on your requirements. Thank you, Jessila. So let's move on to the second question. Can Data Secure perform consistent scrambling across two different linked system or more than two systems? The answer is yes. There is no limit on the number of systems that Data Secure can scramble so long as they are linked together. So classic example of this would be the ECP system where payroll resides in the SAP system while SuccessFactors is connected to it. Yeah. I think this question probably resonate a lot with those who are in a hybrid environment. Yes. So the next question we have is, can I use DSM to test non SAP HR data and SuccessFactors data? The answer is yes again. So aside from HCM and SF or SuccessFactors, Data Sync Manager can also be installed on other systems such as CRM, BW, SCM, GTS, and then c FRM. So yeah. Okay. I think, DSN is such a wonderful product that can help everyone. So, yes, we have another interesting question here. Can I audit and track all the changes to test datas? Yeah. So DSM is equipped with data logs. In the earlier, demo that I showed you, it shows you the logs of what has been the old value and then the new value and the changes that happen on those test data, especially during data masking. So aside from the masking of or the logs that you saw earlier, there are internal logs that are being kept with DSN so that, yes, you can ensure that there is a tracking that happens on your system. Of course, the tracking here is limited to only the fed mask data. So we do not Track the original data which resided on production system because that's, sensitive. So production data are sensitive data. I see. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. So let's move on to the next question. Here we have, how does DSM cope with custom tables? Z and y tables. Yeah. So Custom z and y tables are often as important as the standard, SAP table. So with the business object workbench, this is the intellectual property development that has been, made by APUs. We can include copying and also masking of these custom tables. So, yes, we can Copy and mask red and then white tables. Okay. Thank you, Jessila. And we just let's do one last question for today. Okay. Yep. Does Object Sync replicate transactional HCM data? Okay. So this is often something that we hear a lot also from other organization. The answer is no. So DSM or Data Sync Manager is not a replication solution, but a test data management solution that involves copying data from source to target. So we saw that earlier on the demo. Although it might seem like it's identical to what a replication does. DSM is copying data from HCM to HXM. So that's from SAP from SAP to SAP and then from EC instance to EC instance. So replication does not work like that. Replication is from, usually, from SF, the slowing down to ECP or, in some cases, HCM. But in DSM, we do HCM to ECP, SS to SS, or SuccessFactors to SuccessFactors. Okay. Thank you for answering all the question, Jessila. So I think that's all for today. If you would like to learn more about Data Sync Manager for your SAP HR testing, please feel free to reach out to us. And then we will also cover any unanswered question in our follow-up emails. We have a couple more to go, but we will follow We will actually answer them in the follow-up email and also include details to the free assessment that Jessalam mentioned just now. So thank you everyone for joining us today. Take care, everyone. Okay. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Jessica. Bye.