assignment management in sap fieldglass

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Join this free online course to learn about the next module in SAP Fieldglass: Assignment Management. The course will enable you to explore use case scenarios, understand the transactional processes, and describe the benefits of this module for your organization.

Course information

Course summary.

This nutshell course is a high-level introduction to SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management. It’s designed to provide the introductory knowledge necessary to help you better understand assignment management, and how the functionality can be used by SAP Fieldglass customers to deliver their external workforce program goals. By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:

• Describe the key terms used within SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management and the time processing service
• Recount the assignment management and resource business process
• Outline the benefits SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management can bring to your organization and the problems it can help solve
• Understand how to create an assignment and set up a resource
• Understand the new timekeeper role and the service receipt process

Throughout this course you’ll see a number of demonstrations to help you understand the transactional process workflow in detail.

Course Characteristics

• Starting from: October 31, 2022, 09:00 UTC. ( What does this mean? )
• Duration: This course is open for 4 weeks
• Effort: 2-3 hours in total
• Course assignment: You can take the course assignment at any time whilst the course is open
• Course closure: November 29, 2022. 09:00 UTC
• Course language: English
• How is an openSAP course structured?

Course Content

Unit 1: What is Assignment Management? Unit 2: Key terms, navigation, and workflow Unit 3: Creating an assignment and a resource Unit 4: Overview of time processing Unit 5: Creating a service receipt

Target Audience

• SAP Fieldglass customers and prospects
• Current and future users of SAP Fieldglass
• Business decision makers
• Anyone who wants to learn more about how the many functionalities of SAP Fieldglass work

Course Requirements

No prior experience with SAP Fieldglass is necessary.

Further Learning

This is SAP Fieldglass For further learning, we recommend that you check out the SAP Fieldglass Services and External Workforce learning journey .

About Further Content Expert

Tunde Nagy is an instructional designer on the SAP Training and Adoption team. Her focus is on developing eLearning content for SAP Ariba and Fieldglass solutions.

Tunde is passionate about designing insightful and engaging courses for SAP customers and partners.

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Previous Versions of This Course:

Introducing SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management (Repeat) (April 20, 2022, through May 19, 2022)

Course contents

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This course was rated with 4.37 stars in average from 125 votes .

Certificate Requirements

• Gain a Record of Achievement by earning at least 50% of the maximum number of points from all graded assignments.
• Gain a Confirmation of Participation by completing at least 50% of the course material.

Find out more in the certificate guidelines .

This course is offered by

Nicole scotland-hall.

Nicole Scotland-Hall is the senior learning architect in APJ, and creates global content for customer and partners of SAP. She facilitates all SAP Fieldglass learning offerings in APJ and delivers bespoke Program Enablement workshops for customers. 

Nicole is passionate about SAP Fieldglass and the benefits it can bring to external workforce and services procurement programs. As a subject matter expert on the SAP Fieldglass application, she is able to deliver guidance and expert knowledge. Combined with extensive internal and external recruitment expertise from around the globe, Nicole is well positioned to provide insights and advice on the use of SAP Fieldglass.

She is certified as a Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP) and SOW Management Expert through Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA). Nicole is also certified by The Association for Talent Development (ATD) as a Master Trainer.

Follow Nicole on LinkedIn

McKenzie Sewell

McKenzie Sewell is a learning architect for SAP Training and Adoption. Her focus is on training and content development for the SAP Fieldglass solution. McKenzie is a certified Association for Talent Development (ATD) Master Trainer.

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How to Get Started with SAP Fieldglass

In this post, we’ll take a look at how to implement and complete an SAP Fieldglass project.

Let’s start by introducing you to the SAP Fieldglass solution. SAP Fieldglass is SAP’s market-leading vendor management system (VMS) for contingent labor, independent contractors, statement of work workers and outsourced services. Organizations, no matter their size, often struggle to source and engage external workers efficiently while competing for the best talent. The value proposition of SAP Fieldglass is simple: software that focuses on the management of external workers, from determining staffing requirements (as part of recruitment and sourcing), through active management of ongoing engagement and service orders, to billing and invoicing of the time, expenses, and services performed.

SAP Fieldglass can be used as standalone software solution, or as an integral part of sophisticated IT system landscapes through integrations with other applications and systems. When companies choose an integrated solution, this is often due to the scale and scope of external workforce management, as well as considerations about IT security, compliance, and corporate strategy. Most common are integrations with HR or other employee management systems (i.e., to provide total workforce management) or to ERP and procurement solutions for seamless procurement, requisitioning and purchasing, and invoicing. Other supporting integrations relate to master data, time recording, and peripheral systems for onboarding and asset management.

The basic functions of SAP Fieldglass are divided into four procurement processes that can be used independently of each other: For classic, temporary external labor, the Contingent module is used. The Services module supports statement of work contracts and service-related external workforce, which can include an optional bidding process. The Assignment Management module is used to support contingent workers assigned multiple tasks and engagements under umbrella supplier agreements. The Profile Worker module is used to simply track external workers without subsequent invoicing.

How is SAP Fieldglass Implemented?

Based on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) principle, SAP Fieldglass provides a relatively simple method of implementation, a flexible and stable system, and as a result, a fast time-to-value process for companies and corporations.

The most complex procedure is the initial, new implementation of a program that runs through all phases of the implementation. There are two main reasons for a new implementation: either no system is currently in use that manages external workers electronically and holistically, or one or more systems are to be replaced by SAP Fieldglass.

The effort required for a net-new implementation (called “greenfield”) is significantly lower than for a system conversion (called “brownfield”). A greenfield implementation doesn’t take into account current external workers or SOWs that have already been created. Only new requests are entered in the system. With a brownfield implementation, however, existing workers and SOWs are transferred to the new system. This data migration from legacy systems takes additional time, particularly to collect the data. With a geographical expansion of an existing program, the requirements already exist and need to be adapted locally. The design phase is therefore short but might need a particular focus on local legal requirements and often the rate setup. An initial scoping should include an estimation of time needed for the local adoption of a global blueprint.

In contrast, there are functional enhancements gained if, for example, another SAP Fieldglass module is added to a current setup. The system and process design is particularly important here because some settings can only be made across the entire system architecture and modules, and other settings can be made individually and are specific to the module. Examples of functional enhancements include the following:

• Introduction of an additional sourcing process (for any of the modules) if you haven’t used all modules thus far
• Introduction of one or more Managed Service Providers (MSPs)
• Introduction of complex rates, rate schedules, or a rate change matrix
• Integrations to other systems, for example, SAP Ariba , SAP S/4HANA , or SAP SuccessFactors

Introducing additional functions within a module in SAP Fieldglass is more of a project than an implementation. The adaptation of functions to new business requirements and the introduction of new modules is also project-based. These include, for example, changing the company structure or master data, revising the job posting templates, redesigning rate requirements, or revising the approval groups. Nevertheless, careful planning is also necessary here to avoid disrupting day-to-day business. In addition, rollouts to other business units are project-based and may include data migration and business unit-specific approval groups, job posting templates, and user requirements.

A continuous improvement process may require the restructuring or realignment of SAP Fieldglass. To ensure that this works smoothly, the execution should be thoroughly planned and aligned to the regular product updates that SAP Fieldglass releases. If you need assistance reviewing your current system setup or evolving your external workforce program, contact SAP Fieldglass or an SAP partner.

Companies that have chosen to use an MSP or work with an SAP partner will be supported during their implementation. They often perform implementation tasks in process design, supplier management, data collection and migration, and change management. As they often have experience in the local market, critical tasks such as rate designs and compliance matters are part of the advisory services.

An MSP or SAP partner has an intrinsic motivation to implement SAP Fieldglass and its support service within the agreed time frame due to their business model. This has a positive impact on the whole project. The implementation methodology of MSPs and SAP partners is generally aligned with the SAP Fieldglass methodology, and years of experience have been gained in the joint implementation of the system, displaying the true meaning of a partnership and collaboration.

Program Organization

SAP Fieldglass is a software solution for facilitating your external workforce management. The most successful programs are organized around a team that manages the administration and process within the system and organization. This team manages processes around SAP Fieldglass in day-to-day operations, answers user questions, and monitors compliance. A core task of this team is to administer SAP Fieldglass—such as onboarding new suppliers, adapting job posting templates, and making rate changes. The program managers can be a dedicated internal team of experts from the areas of purchasing, HR, IT, payroll, or legal, or can be provided by an external company, such as an MSP or SAP partner.

Companies often use specialized consulting companies or technology experts that not only support the implementation but are also involved in program management. Training, optimizing system processes, supplier management, and data migration are all handed over to consultants, as the effort often goes beyond the capacity of a PMO management team. Ongoing programs benefit from external technology consulting primarily to drive innovation. This service is also offered by certified SAP partners. They help companies implement, technically evolve, and embed SAP Fieldglass solutions into their organization.

The concept of an MSP is the outsourced program management and sourcing of contingent and services procurement. MSPs are offered by all major HR service providers as a standard service for the management and governance of SAP Fieldglass within the organization. Working with an MSP can bring many benefits, including:

• Market experience and supplier relationships
• Proven process efficiency and technology skills
• Global program scalability
• Visibility, cost savings, and compliance

A MSP programs is are financially self-sustaining, and there are no direct costs, as MSPs are usually set up as a supplier-funded model. To cover its own costs, the MSP holds back a percentage of the amount invoiced by a supplier, called the MSP fee. The corresponding calculation is built into SAP Fieldglass as an optional configuration.

In most companies, the MSP functions as an integral part of HR and procurement, and it covers all aspects arising from the use of external workers in temporary work or SOW. It also acts as the central point of contact and forms the interface between the company and supplier

To ensure that your implementation and continuous improvement process works smoothly, the execution should be well planned and aligned to with your needs as well as the regular product updates that SAP Fieldglass releases and your program needs.

If you need assistance reviewing your current system setup or evolving your external workforce program, contact SAP Fieldglass or an SAP partner.

Recommendation

Are you welcoming outside personnel onto your team? With this guide, you’ll configure external workforce management with SAP Fieldglass and see what it has to offer. Walk through SAP Fieldglass modules and master data; then get step-by-step instructions to set up contingent labor, services, custom fields, time sheets, onboarding, and more. See how to perform standard integrations, and connect SAP Fieldglass to SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, and SAP S/4HANA for a seamless spending landscape!

Jutta Villet is an operations executive at SAP Fieldglass and an expert in the implementation of vendor management systems (VMS) across industries and on a global scale.

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SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management: Centrally Deploy, Manage, and Pay External Workers Across All Facilities and Project Types

Find out how the SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management solution vastly simplifies how you administer short-duration, ad hoc work performed by external workers under your existing umbrella supplier agreements Download the Document

Introduction to Fieldglass Assignment Management

• August 6, 2021

In an earlier blog article we discussed SAP Fieldglass as a cloud-based solution which provides an efficient way to handle external workforce by any organisation. However, there are more complex business needs such as workers performing multiple activities resulting in the charging of their costs to different cost objects. Assigning workers to the right jobs, assigning the workers to more than one assignment in each time period, keeping control of their work, manually entering and correcting the time for different assignments, calculating cost based on different pre-agreed rates are all complex and time-consuming activities for organisations.

SAP has released “Assignment Management” as a solution module to address the complex situation mentioned above. It works alongside the other modules of SAP Fieldglass. In simple terms, the whole gamut of activities starting from registering a new worker, onboarding them, integrating time data from badging systems, applying the different pay-rules, allocating the work times and finally, up to generating a service entry sheet, is handled in this new solution.

Exhibit-1 (Credits: SAP SE)

Terminologies

Assignment Management uses certain terminologies relevant in this solution and it is imperative to know them to understand the solution.

Resource can be a person or an equipment. Persons with certain skills such as welding, electrical repairing and so on are engaged to do the work of the Buyer, provided by the Supplier.

Buyer is an organisation, which is looking for people with a specialised skillset, who are required to provide certain services on a temporary or ongoing basis.

Supplier is an organisation which provides such staff to the Buyer organisation.

Work Schedule Shift is a pre-configured object in Assignment Management. The buyer assigns the shift information details such as starting time, ending time, a name of the shift etc in the object.

Work Schedule is a combination of “work schedule shifts” for a cycle of 7 days. This can be flexibly defined by the buyer according to their needs. The working days and non-working days are marked in a work schedule. A Buyer can define the start date of the schedule. The time processing service uses the info provided in the work schedule to determine the standard rates or Overtime rates to be applied in the calculation of payment for the work done. The time sheets submitted by the resource is validated against the permitted work hours defined in the work schedule.

Time Journal is a journal record created for a combination of attributes e.g. Rate Category, Purchase Order number, Resource ID and Day. The overall time recorded in a time bundle is allocated for these combinations of attributes. This is done by a timekeeper.

Service Receipt is a document created by consolidating time records. This is done by the Supplier in the system. The service receipt contains a summary of total numbers of hours worked, total amount to be paid, cost allocation of these amounts and other such information.

Person Record is an internal document collated by Time Processing Service. This contains the resource related information, work schedule information and other info for accomplishing time processing service. A single time template is associated with the person record.

Time Event is an event which captures the start and stop times of a work duration. For example, a pre-lunch time event could start from 08:00 Hrs and end at 12:00 Hrs and a post lunch time event could be from 13:00 Hrs to 17:00 Hrs.

Time Record : The duration of a task or an event is considered as one time record. Typically, time events are combined to form one time record. For example, the pre-lunch time event and post-lunch time event can be combined to form one time record for a given day.

Time Bundle : Multiple time records are combined to generate a time bundle. Time bundles are used to allocate one or more rates, task categories, maintenance orders, offsite work, purchase orders and job skills to determine cost allocation.

Assignment : Assignment is an Object created by the Engagement manager of the organisation. This object holds info such as Job, Dates of Start and End, etc.

SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management (SFAM) Process:

SFAM is a configurable solution which can be centrally deployed for management of all external resources across multiple locations for any type of project. One resource can be assigned to multiple jobs and also track their submitted time sheets yet get a unified view of cost of the resource for all the jobs together. The skills relevant for each job and certifications, if any are required, can all be part of the assignment object and can be validated to ensure a resource has all the relevant certifications and skills for the job. In certain organisations, there can be specific onboarding processes, which is detailed out as part of the Job and ensured that it can be adhered to by the engagement manager. Some of these can be due to regulatory needs and organisations can be penalised for non-compliance. This solution also provides for integrating time from the “Badging Systems”, if any that the organisation may already have. With an approval workflow, the solution creates a service entry sheet for posting the payment into SAP ERP with complete cost object allocation. This is depicted in the diagram below.

There is a role named “Timekeeper” which is important in this context. In SFAM the role can be played by a user assigned specifically for this task who works with either the Buyer or Supplier Organisation. He/she has the full visibility of the work completed by different resources across all the locations. Based on the timesheet info and other such additional info available, he/she allocates the time bundle to different attributes in the system, which in turn determine the amount to be paid to the resources and the necessary cost objects assignments of the same.

Overview of Typical Process

The high-level overview of a typical process is explained below. This scenario is an integrated system with badging system and the time data flows to the “Time Processing Service”. There can be other scenarios where data could be manually entered. It is pictorially shown in exhibit 3.

Exhibit-3 (Credits: SAP SE)

There are 5 distinct steps in this process. All the heavy computational work is taken care of by the Time Processing Service, based on master data and configuration settings. The collection of time entry/exit data from Badging Systems is setup during the implementation of the solution. It is then presented for review/edit/allocation which is also handled by the Time Processing service. The steps are as below: 1. Create Assignment 2. Create Resource 3. Create Time Journal 4. Create/Submit Service Receipt 5. Approve Service Receipt and generate/post service entry sheet

Step-1: Create Assignment

The Assignment Object contains lots of information, amongst which the following are key: job, owner of the job, supplier of resources for this job, Start and end Dates of the job, the site/business unit/Location where job is to be performed, the financial Budget value approved for this job, Purchase order number/ PO Line items. They are provided at the time of creation by the Engagement Manager. For example, “Annual Maintenance”, “Electrical Repairs”, “Welding”, etc can all be jobs created as different “Assignments” in the system. Resources are assigned to the “Assignment Object” subsequently. One “Resource” can be assigned to multiple “Assignments”. A sample assignment screen is shown in exhibit-4 below.

Exhibit-4 (Credits : SAP SE)

Step-2: Create Resource

The Resource is a master data, which contains the details of the resource to be deployed. Amongst a set of information, the following are the key data. • Supplier who provides the resource • Engagement Manager, who is responsible for managing this resource • First name, Last name, e-mail, and contact details • Associated Rate Look up: these are the contractually agreed rates • Work Schedule: To validate and provide time-related calculation inputs • Work Schedule effective Date: Date from which the resource starts work • Site: Where the resource is expected to work • Job Codes: The Job codes pre-configured in the system (they are associated to rates) • Resource registration: Automatic or Manual • Activity Check List: Tasks/Certifications during onboarding and offboarding

The above key data drives further activities when the resource starts work. For example, the necessary onboarding and offboarding tasks appear in a separate tab for the resource based on the activity check list. It can be monitored and updated as and when they are complete. This helps the organisation to ensure regulatory compliances. A sample screen is shown in exhibit-5 below. At the end of the project or contract, the resource offboarding process can be completed. The resource is then technically “Closed” in a simple process in the system.

Exhibit-5 (Credits: SAP SE)

Step-3: Create Time Journal

Time Processing System will create a “time record” and “time bundles” per person based on the data flowing from the “badging system”. They are the starting point for the “timekeeper” to review the time and allocate them, may be at the end of each day, to the different attributes like Purchase Order, PO Line item, work order, job code, supplier agreements. The Time processing system has already determined and split the total time of the resource into the Standard times and Over times, based on the work schedule of the resource. Once the allocation attributes are updated, the system determines the appropriate rate to be applied, the costs determined and cost objects to be allocated and create a time journal record. A sample screen shot of the allocation is shown in exhibit-6 below.

A sample of the time journal created is shown in exhibit-7 below.

Step-4: Create/Submit Service Receipt

The timekeeper then chooses “Create Service Receipt” in his menu, shown in exhibit-8 below.

The system automatically opens up a window, wherein the timekeeper has to choose the buyer organisation and click “create”. A service receipt is automatically generated and submitted to the buyer via a worklist. This is shown in exhibit-9 below.

Exhibit-9 (Credits: SAP SE)

Step-5: Approve Service Receipt and generate Service Entry Sheet

The Engagement Manager or the Program Consultant receives a notification. He/she can open the notification item and verify entries are ok and click approve. Based on the configuration, the solution generates a service entry sheet and sends it to ERP. The approval screen is shown below.

Industries such as Oil & Gas, Utilities and Hospitality employ several external workforces to manage projects and maintenance tasks. It is quite laborious to manage these workers and additionally so is the cost allocation and other such finance related tasks. SFAM brings all these tasks to a single interface and helps to efficiently handle them such as tracking assignment-wise hours, paying using different hourly rates, allocating costs to different objects and so on.

The control it brings to the organisation with operational flexibility and simplicity in handling high volume activities is of immense benefit to the organisation. SAP Fieldglass consultants can upgrade themselves with knowledge on SFAM, which integrates well with existing skills to bring more value to customers.

Author : Ravi Srinivasan , SAP Alumni

References: • SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management – Home Page • Product walk through webinar in YouTube

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SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management launches to tackle projects and track worker access, compliance and pay

03/17/2021 By Pierre Mitchell

SAP Fieldglass today announced a new solution that enables organizations in asset-intensive industries (like Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Utilities) to manage the execution and accounting of day-to-day plant maintenance work conducted by external workers, the provider said in a demo with Spend Matters. Addressing this specific use case, SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management adds to SAP Fieldglass’ other platform offerings: Contingent Workforce, Services Procurement and Worker Profile Management.

The new solution enables organizations to track and manage the assignments of on-site contract workers starting from an issued maintenance work order and approved single or blanket PO all the way to an auto-generated supplier invoice.

“As the portion of business spend on external labor grows, companies need full transparency into their external workforce operations,” SAP Fieldglass General Manager Arun Srinivasan said in a press release . “SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management enables organizations to better control their costs with a highly configurable, integrated tool. Businesses in asset-intensive industries can be confident that highly skilled contractors have access to the right facilities to complete the critical maintenance work while ensuring billing is done accurately and labor regulations, including worker safety, are followed.”

From Spend Matters’ demo, it’s clear that the solution can deliver a range of benefits, including control for real-time visibility into activities in the course of a day. Benefits also include efficiency from automation (e.g., time tracking, invoice generation, etc.) and from integration with other SAP solutions and modules across a unified platform.

In the new solution, contract workers are typically those of service suppliers that have already been onboarded and placed under contract elsewhere in the SAP platform (independent contractors can be treated as their own supplier as well rather than working for a larger service firm). An “assignment” is a type and quantity of work that is specified by a maintenance order (or a work breakdown structure from a project), moderated by a PO (that links to contracts and budgets) and is billed hourly.

Use Case and Solution

In an onsite plant setting, any number of maintenance activities may be conducted by multiple suppliers’ different workers each day.

Some personnel may work on a range of activities and assignments that involve the application of different skills, or “crafts” — in effect, separate job roles/applicable skills associated with different rate cards. The tracking and management of many different assignments and ensuring that worker-hours are tracked and are correctly costed is complicated, error prone and potentially non-compliant (at the worker, contract and supplier levels).

The SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management solution provides organizations with capabilities to address these problems.

Management of assignments begins when approved work orders (e.g., driven by a maintenance order from an ERP or maintenance system) and associated POs trigger the generation of work assignments for specific workers that have the skills required to perform certain tasks. These workers have been selected from a contractor worker pool already established in SAP Fieldglass, and they are already linked to specific suppliers and contracts.

With Assignment Management, any number of assignments, associated with any number of suppliers and contracts, can be tracked and managed in real time over the course of a day. Daily work plans and shift structures (which can be complex, like when accounting for domain-specific work calendar rules) are generated in SAP Fieldglass.

The solution provides organizations’ site operations managers with dashboard visibility into assignments at the site and drill-down capabilities into details (of assignments, worker profiles, etc.). Managers view hours worked by a given worker (including that works on multiple assignments and assumes different skill-based roles). Managers can also request changes in assignments and track costs against PO amounts or spend pools.

The solution tracks active worker assignments and hours worked based on timekeeping systems (e.g., Kronos) that have gate passes (secure access points to different areas of the site), where workers must use their badges to swipe in and out. Rules can be set up in the site to determine billable hours based on planned start-times and actual entry and exit times. It also supports a user role for suppliers’ “timekeepers,” who monitor time worked and ensure that hours are being allocated properly to assignments and POs.

Hours worked by given workers (potentially with multiple assignments), as mentioned above, are processed through the organizations’ time tracking systems. Rates from contracted rate cards are applied based on worker skill/craft types and associated job codes. Service entry sheets (in SAP parlance) have been auto-generated, reviewed and then auto-flipped to the service invoice line items that are pre-matched and ready for payment processing in the AP system.

Key Analyst Takeaways

The SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management solution demonstrates the provider’s capability to build a new solution that addresses a specific problem, like this one in asset-intensive industries — or even any industry where there are complex projects/programs with clear work breakdown structures and specific skills for the tasks. It also indicates SAP Fieldglass’ commitment to addressing complex services procurement in addition to simple SOW and basic staff aug contingent workforce scenarios.

Some of our takeaways from seeing a demo of the new solution are:

• The module is a strong set of operational capabilities that address the plant maintenance assignments, workers, work, accounting, etc. during the course of a day, thus filling both an efficiency gap and a control gap for organizations.
• The efficiency benefits are potentially massive given the complexity/volumes in play. And spend management benefits also arise from visibility, process management, adding fail-safe features and digitization.
• The solution relies on, and adds to, the data objects and capabilities from other solutions and modules within the Fieldglass application ecosystem. For example, it adds a “time journaling” dimension to track resources (workers) as their status changes throughout the day. Accordingly, the syncing among modules and data sets is ensured.
• The solution more directly addresses the demand scenarios/use cases that drive the required services/work.

We’re looking to get more insights on how SAP Fieldglass uses its Decision Wizard solution on the front-end to help orchestrate multiple service types across the SAP Fieldglass portfolio, and how other services (like deliverable-based or milestones-based) and service-related expenses (like billable expenses from contractors) will get merged together to manage spend across the complete services spectrum.

There is also basic integration between this solution and both S/4HANA and SAP Ariba (e.g., process integration with guided buying, data integration with SAP Ariba Contract Management, and an evolving effort to move supplier engagement to the SAP Ariba Network), but this is part of a much longer and more strategic discussion that we’ll save for future Spend Matters PRO analyses.

SAP has championed the slogan of “Run Simple,” and today SAP Fieldglass is in fact reducing a pain point and continuing to help customers to run simple in this complex services scenario by offering better services modeling and automation to reduce human touches and error. And that is indeed a very good thing!

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What is SAP Fieldglass? Your Guide to Better Vendor Management

Home > Insights > What is SAP Fieldglass? Your Guide to Better Vendor Management

In modern business management, where agility, efficiency, and resource optimization are paramount, organizations increasingly turn to advanced technology solutions to streamline their operations.

Enter SAP Fieldglass — a cloud-based Vendor Management System (VMS) that has revolutionized how enterprises manage their external workforce.

This article takes a deeper dive into the world of SAP Fieldglass and offers greater insight into where our team of SAP consultants can fit in your organization. Read on to learn more!

What is Fieldglass in SAP?

Fieldglass is a vendor management system (VMS) acquired by SAP in 2014 and designed to help companies manage external workforces, vendors, and workers more efficiently, from sourcing to asset management, payment, services procurement, and more.

Key Components of the SAP Fieldglass System

SAP Fieldglass provides a centralized, cloud-based platform that empowers customers to revolutionize how workforce talent is managed across multiple channels, control the basic functions of their internal and external workforce, and gain better insight, control, and cost savings across teams.

When it comes to connecting, streamlining, and managing external workers and their tasks, calculating the associated costs for all completed tasks, and facilitating more efficient external workforce management, SAP Fieldglass offers the right tools for the job.

Here are the main components included in the SAP Fieldglass solution:

1) SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce Management

The Contingent Workforce Management solution in SAP Fieldglass manages their contingent workers’ entire lifecycle, helping users simplify workforce volatility, find the best-fit workers for each task, manage worker progress and payment, and conduct efficient employee analysis and offboarding.

With the SAP Fieldglass Contingent Workforce Management component, users are enabled to:

• Initiate: Initiate projects with contingent workers, create new requisitions for vacant positions, communicate with internal stakeholders to determine external talent details and grant approvals, configure requisitions by position or role, and automate core requisition approval and support functions.
• Manage: Manage your entire workforce from a centralized platform, automate core employee onboarding tasks, facilitate more efficient background checking tasks, track allocated worker hours and timesheets, and generate payments and invoices based on approved timesheets.
• Complete: Automatically terminate access to systems, evaluate and flag workers to prevent rehiring, conduct performance analysis and offer employee feedback, determine vendor performance, generate worker KPIs, rate vendor performance, and conduct offboarding processes to complete the employee engagement.

2) SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management

The SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management module allows customers to onboard multiple workers simultaneously, confirm their qualifications for the job, assign them to various tasks or job orders, and track hours worked more accurately across teams.

Here are a few key features of the Assignment Management module:

• Improved compliance: Standardize onboarding and offboarding processes, ensure proper certification and training for new employees, approve external workers and contractors, leverage built-in controls to meet labor regulations, and improve access and security controls.
• Better cost control: Manage budgets, monitor costs across individual or aggregated PO lines, automate contractor time management processes, eliminate manual time entry, load time cards directly into your SAP ERP system, and complete payment for projects with prenegotiated rates.
• Enhanced productivity: Place the right people on the right projects, create multiple assignments for individual workers, track employee hours by individual assignment, ensure accurate clock-in and clock-out times, and pay workers according to predefined rate cards.

3) SAP Fieldglass Services Procurement

SAP Fieldglass Services Procurement provides a comprehensive service procurement solution to help business users ensure the components of each procurement project meet company demands and support project success across the board.

With the Services Procurement solution, companies are enabled to:

• Initiate: Initiate service requests, collaborate on bid criteria and project requirements, leverage pre-populated templates to create service orders and statements of work, facilitate more efficient communication between internal stakeholders and vendors, send requests to selected vendors, and expedite approvals for authorized budgets and project terms.
• Engage: Receive and evaluate vendor responses, compare key metrics for each vendor, leverage built-in communication tools to negotiate back and forth with vendors, and finalize agreements with the selected vendor.
• Manage: Manage all global services engagements in a centralized system, automate onboarding tasks for new workers, track and approve timesheets, approve and validate services, ensure services are performed properly, generate invoices for completed work, and track payments.

Features Included in SAP Fieldglass Solutions

Here are a few key features included in the SAP Fieldglass solution:

Vendor Management

SAP Fieldglass allows companies to streamline and optimize their vendor management operations, ensuring high-quality service vendors are leveraged, total costs are minimized, and revenue is maximized across the board.

Service and Invoice Management

With automated service and invoice management capabilities in SAP Fieldglass, users can simplify the creation and management of service requests and invoices for completed tasks. The SAP Fieldglass solution automatically converts approved timesheets into invoices, including local tax deductions, GST, and other tax details for each invoice.

Time and Expense Management

SAP Fieldglass provides time and expense management functions, like time entry, expense entry and control, scheduling workflows, and more, to facilitate better employee performance, control expenses more effectively, and gain visibility into core external workforce operations.

Performance Management

With advanced administrative tools, template libraries, upload tools, predefined workflows, and more, SAP Fieldglass can streamline vendor, contractor, and external workforce operations and provide a more efficient way to manage and upload massive amounts of data and improve system performance.

How Can We Help?

Whether you need help outlining the best plan of action to implement SAP Fieldglass, an extra hand understanding how SAP Fieldglass solutions integrate with other systems like SAP Ariba, or additional support handling any other SAP modules , our SAP consulting team at Surety Systems is here to help.

And, in the past three years, our team of SAP consultants  has been engaged on more than 100 consulting projects, making us the perfect fit for all your unique SAP project needs!

Partnering with the Best

Interested in learning how SAP Fieldglass solutions can improve external workforce management and worker engagement or where our SAP consulting services can fit in your organization?

Contact us today for more information!

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News & Insights

SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management Solution Now Available

March 18, 2021 — 01:20 pm EDT

Written by Zacks Equity Research for Zacks  ->

SAP SE SAP recently announced the availability of its SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management solution. The latest offering is aimed at aiding contractors to streamline assignment and management of workers across various projects and at different pay rates, thereby, boosting return on investment and minimizing downtime.

With SAP Fieldglass Assignment Management solution, business enterprises can better manage their costs by tracking standard time and overtime daily. The offering will also help companies better comply with requirements of local labor regulations.

Further, the solution will aid enterprises to improve working time calculation by integrating with gate pass systems. This will enable businesses to reduce downtime and ensure smooth running of their maintenance crew and operations.

SAP SE Price and Consensus

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Ardent Partners Positions SAP Fieldglass as a Market Leader for Vendor Management Systems

“SAP Fieldglass has consistently set the bar for the extended workforce solutions industry through a blend of innovation, advanced analytics, and total talent management functionality.” That is Ardent Partners’ assessment of the leading role SAP Fieldglass plays in the marketplace for vendor management systems. In its 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor report, it has positioned SAP Fieldglass as a Market Leader.

This recognition is especially gratifying as we continue to invest in enhancements and new functionality that make the SAP Fieldglass portfolio the benchmark for VMS innovation. Every day, we focus on empowering organizations to:

• Automate the procurement of external workers and services
• Build a strong external workforce and talent ecosystem
• Enable visibility across their extended workforce
• Use analytics and machine learning to engage and manage top talent
• Track and report on all their external workers
• Onboard, manage, and pay multiple resources for multiple assignments

Because of our focus on innovation, we all know the best is yet to come. New enhancements include the use of generative AI to help create and translate job descriptions, as well as to help produce statement of work descriptions. Even more powerful AI enhancements are planned for later this year that will continue to enhance productivity and streamline processes across hiring and workforce management. We will also continue to improve the user experience. And for midsize organizations, we are planning to deliver out-of-the-box solutions that are simpler to deploy.

We will continue to deliver innovations that enable organizations to deploy total workforce management – referred to as “total talent management” by Ardent Partners – across the enterprise.

Recognizing the Strengths of SAP Fieldglass

“With a firm commitment to extended workforce innovation and the integration of AI-based tools into total talent management, SAP Fieldglass continues to deliver next-generation automation and powerful value within the Future of Work movement,” said Christopher J. Dwyer, SVP of Research at Ardent Partners and author of the new study. “SAP Fieldglass remains an ideal platform for both procurement and HR leaders to reimagine their contingent workforce initiatives and transform the ways non-employee talent supports work optimization.”

In its assessment of SAP Fieldglass solutions, Ardent Partners highlighted some of the portfolio’s strengths. Here are excerpts from the report:

• Spend management integration: “SAP Fieldglass is a pioneer in delivering the ‘spend management’ attributes of extended workforce management via on-demand supplier intelligence and guided, proactive spend and financial data. With its tight integration into SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Fieldglass Vendor Management System enables users with a series of real-time insights into the critical spend components of the external workforce.”
• Automation of statement of work (SOW) management: “SAP Fieldglass offers a powerful SOW management and services procurement module that was designed to optimize this extended workforce subcategory in a data-driven, value-added manner. This solution offers a unique and flexible design that enhances SOW creation, management, and reconciliation.”
• A “one-stop” experience for talent information: “SAP Build Work Zone offers real-time visibility into all workforce (both extended and traditional) attributes through a centralized entry point that brings together SAP Fieldglass, other SAP systems (particularly SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba), and third-party integrations. SAP Build Work Zone can serve as a powerful ‘one-stop shop’ experience for critical talent information.”
• AI leadership: “SAP Fieldglass is at the forefront to AI revolution with its fully-embedded generative AI capabilities, including advanced job description automation, real-time talent recommendations, and on-demand pay rate intelligence. The company has built on its already-robust predictive analytics and scenario-building capabilities with added AI-led functionality that provides real-time rate guidance.”
• Total workforce management: “SAP Fieldglass is focused on delivering comprehensive ‘ total workforce management ’ with an offering that combines external workforce and FTE management with a single, global view. Key integrations with SAP SuccessFactors build on this solution with connections into SAP Analytics Cloud reporting, human capital offerings (like learning and development), candidate experience automation, and a ‘recommendation engine’ that is embedded across the talent acquisition process.”

Ardent Partners’ assessment also praised how SAP Fieldglass solutions can simplify assignment management, calling it a “core differentiator.” For managing light industrial, blue collar, and services-heavy labor for asset-heavy industries, the SAP Fieldglass portfolio includes end-to-end capabilities like timeclocks and badging, purchase order management, equipment tracking, resource management, and dynamic bill rate management.

Recommendations from Ardent Partners

How do SAP Fieldglass solutions fit the needs of organizations looking to purchase a new VMS, or upgrade from their current one? “SAP Fieldglass deserves strong consideration from enterprises that are seeking a trusted, global, innovative, end-to-end provider that presents cutting-edge technology that converges with total talent management and artificial intelligence,” Ardent Partners concludes. The report suggests the portfolio deserves consideration for these customer scenarios:

• “Businesses that desire AI-led tools and technology to guide talent decisions, fuse intelligence into workforce management, and provide real-time staffing insights.”
• “Companies that need a VMS partner that can optimize enterprise-level services procurement spend and SOW management with innovative functionality.”
• “Organizations that seek a VMS platform that focuses on Future of Work readiness and skills-based hiring.”

Vish Baliga is chief technology officer for SAP Fieldglass.

Ardent Partners’ 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor is designed to help procurement, human resources, human capital, and talent acquisition executives navigate the complex and mature VMS solutions marketplace. This report analyzes and assesses the primary VMS solution providers in the marketplace today. You can read the full report here .

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