SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2250190 - SCR Form: XML Software Change Request for Goal Plans

Symptom

This article describes what type of changes can be completed by Cloud Product Support via Software Change Request and which changes should be completed by Implementation Partners and Customers for Goal Management Templates.

Important Note to Customers:

  • Software change requests should not be initiated via the Chat Channel. 
  • If a supported XML change request is required, please follow the process outlined below under the section "To submit a software change request" to create a support ticket and fill out the required information.
  • There is an existing Improvement Request to offer these configurations in a future release as self-service in the Admin Center, as opposed to XML manipulation: Goal Management XML & Configuration in Admin center. Please vote on it to let Product Management know the functionality is important to your organization.

Environment

SAP SuccessFactors Goal Management

Resolution

What can be done via self-service tools in Admin Center

Template configuration available in Admin Center > Goal Management > Manage Templates. For a detailed list of the template changes that can be performed via Admin Center, please refer to the KB 2608493 - Configuration changes that can be done via Admin Center for Goal Plan templates.

To change Data, People, Settings, & Reports, please see Implementing and Managing Goal Management.

Additional assistance can also be found via the Community Performance & Goals HXM Q&A.

What is considered an Implementation Request

Custom changes that cannot be completed via SuccessFactors Admin Tools can be delivered by SAP Implementation Partners and Professional Services.

  • Creation of new templates
  • Evaluating current programs for design optimization
  • Creation of new system fields and associated permissions
  • Creation of new system filter fields to be used throughout the program
  • 3 tier custom language changes
  • Creation of new workflows and the associated user permissions within forms and programs not supported via admin tools
  • Anything you would like assistance with to implement, such as:
    • Defining Goal Plan Fields: Includes all standard fields, custom fields, URL fields, Comment Fields, and all their various possible options.
    • Creating Fields, Plan permissions & their logic changes (Edit, read, delete, lock, cascade, etc.) which require high level of effort.
    • Defining Goal Plan States- Lock/Unlock - Personal Goals
    • Implementing Achievement Metric Lookup Tables
    • Custom Calculations - Calculations, Functions and Operators
    • Changing program to add/remove Sub-tables: Targets, Tasks, Milestones, Comments
    • Define Goal Plan and Form Layout
    • Changing the numbering format and logic - obj-plan-numbering
    • Change logic to allow a value to be entered greater than x% in the percentage complete field
    • Changing the more-details logic in plans
    • Changing Objective Weight Rules and Objective Count Rules
    • Defining Min/Max for a Goal Plan:
      • Setting logic for max-weight or min-weight
      • Min/Max per Category
      • Min/Max per Objective
      • Objective Count Rules for plan.
    • Defining Category and Default-Category that cannot be performed via admin tools.
    • Setting up SMART goal wizard
    • Enable Goal cascading and all the logic for who can and cannot cascade

    How to engage an Implementation Partner

    1. Visit our SAP Partner Finder
    2. Click the "Search Now" button on "Find a Partner" tile > click the button "Search the SAP Partner Finder".
    3. You can filter the search by solution, industry and location.
    4. From the list, click on the Partner name you want to work with to see contact details for the partner.
    5. Partners can provide quotes and estimates based on your needs.

    Please note that each partner may determine the types of services they offer for customers. Pricing can vary between partners. There are a number of partners that are happy to perform the types of changes listed here.

    XML Upload via Provisioning

    If you made changes in a template XML and now needs to upload it in the system in order to update it, please engage your Implementation Partner or Professional Services to fulfill this task or, alternatively to the XML upload, request instead each supported change individually as per the Software Change Request (SCR) process described below. For more information on this topic please refer to KB 3236270 - Requests to upload XML Templates via Provisioning.

    Supported XML Changes that can be delivered via Product Support

    Supported changes are typically characterized as "existing program maintenance" that are:

    • A necessary change to keep the existing program working as-is
    • Small year-over-year change not possible via Admin Tools
    • Adding functionality driven by SAP’s quarterly releases not possible via admin tools, and required by SAP.

    Before Proceeding:

    • This service is available only to Enterprise customers and their designated primary administrators.
    • It is not available to Professional Edition customers.
    • It is not available to Partners.
    • The change process does not cover changes you can make via Admin Tools.
    • Is limited to 1 or 2 changes for 1 template per request.
    • When you have multiple changes and multiple templates, you will need to use partners.
    • Cloud Product Support can take up to 4 weeks to process change requests. Please submit your changes at least 4 weeks in advance.
    Itemized List Details for Supported Change
    Make fields reportable - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Goal Plan Field Attributes (Properties) We can make a minor change in the template for existing fields that are working correctly, but not set as reportable, by adding the attribute reportable="fieldX" in the XML. We can also remove the reportable flag. Note: existing data will not populate reports until the Goal Sync is run, or from the PM template when the Open & Save is run.

    Field Label Changes - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Subelements and Attributes of Fields

    		 Only for existing fields that are working correctly. We can make basic field label changes. A more appropriate way to manage the labels may be via message keys: KBA 2087186

    Modify existing Goals fields permission - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Field Permissions and Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Field Permissions

    Support can assist adjusting a maximum of 1-2 fields, with minor changes regarding existing Goal field permissions with read/write and also add/delete basic roles (E, EM, EH etc.) associated with it.
    Update min/max Objectives for the Goal Plan, min/max Objectives per Category, min/max Weight for the Goal Plan, min/max Weight per Category, or min/max Weight per Objective - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Configuring Objective Weight Rules and Objective Count Rules

    We can modify the numbers of goals & weightage as per request:

    max-goals="X", min-goals="X", max-weight-per-obj="XX", min-weight-per-obj="XX"
    Add or remove Personal Goal Button - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Removing the Add Personal Goal Option

    We can add or remove this button on plans:
    <switches> <switch for = "turnoff-add-personal-goal-button" value = "on" /> </switches>
    Add or remove Library Goal Button - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Mapping of Goal Library Content to Goal Plans Library Goal Button Automatically shows if a library is configured in the goal plan. If the library exists and just needs to be added to the existing goal plan, or if the library name has changed, we can update it in the template XML.
    <obj-library name="SuccessFactors Library">
    Remove Char Limitation tag(maxlength)

    After reverting to Legacy GM,these tags won't be removed from the GM template.We can remove these tags after customer SCR request.

      <field-definition id="name" type="textarea" required="true" detail="false" viewdefault="off" showlabel="false"  maxlength="500">

    Remove deleted Goals field reference from <form-layout> - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Defining Goal Plan Field Layout in a Performance Management Form

    		 If any Goal field has been deleted via Admin Center, we can remove its reference from <form-layout>.
    Adding & Modifying the Default Value of the Goal Fields - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Table Fields

    We can add <default-value> and also update the values defined for the Goal fields:

      <default-value>2</default-value>

      <default-value>01/01/2022</default-value>

    Enable/Disable Group Goals - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Enabling Group Goals

    Update Group Goals Fields Permission - Implementing and Managing Goal Management - Configuring Fields as Editable for Group Goals and Team Goals

    Turn on/off the "allow-group-goal" attribute:
    <obj-plan-template … allow-group-goal="true">

    • The cascade-update attribute in the field definition of the goal plan xml controls the editability of the field during the group goal assignment. The default value is "push-down".
    • cascade-update="push-down" - Group goals will be editable to the Group Goal Owners and read-only to Group Goal Members. 
    • cascade-update="regular" -  Assigned group goals will be editable by Group Goal Members.
    Any of the basic "switches" for a template changing from on/off or true/false Most of the changes for goal plans fall into this category, where we can make a basic edit to the plan flags. All are supported by Product Support if they are not yet available in admin tools:
    • obj-plan-templatespellchk="true"
    • new-obj-share-status-public="true"
    • instructions-viewdefault="on"
    • alerts-viewdefault="on"
    • cascade-parent-viewdefault="off"
    • cascade-child-viewdefault="off"
    • pager-max-objs-per-page="10"
    • pager-max-page-links="9"
    • pager-max-children-per-parent="0"
    • display-alignment-format="goals"
    • more-details-child-format="goal-plan"
    • share-confirm="false"
    • unshare-confirm="false"
    • allow-group-goal="true"
    • goal-tree-link="false"

    How to request a change from Cloud Product Support?

    If the change you want to apply is listed in the table above, you can submit a case in the Support Portal requesting it. Please use the below template(Just copy and paste this into your case):

    1. Data Center (URL of your login screen):
    2. Company Instance ID (where to apply changes):
    3. Name of the Template Changes Will be Applied to:
    4. Other Comments: 

    Testing of Software Changes

    Once the change is completed, we require that you thoroughly test to ensure that the content has been coded to specifications and all functionality behaves accordingly and to expectations including all the way to printing and reporting, if applicable.

    See Also

    • SAP Partner Finder
    • KB article 2149831 - SAP Professional Services / SAP Certified Partner / SAP Account Management Team [SuccessFactors Cloud]
    • KB article 2706322 - What is Support – What is Consulting: Cloud Solutions
    • KB Article 3236270 - Requests to upload XML Templates via Provisioning
    • KB Article 2250186 - SCR Form: XML Software Change Requests for Performance Management and 360 Multi-Rater Templates

          Keywords

          SF, SCR, success factors, PMGM, GM, configuration, update, XML changes, software, upload, import, partner, customer, provisioning, template, changes, requirement, amend, test, goal, career, development, supported, manage templates, category, permission, field, logic , KBA , LOD-SF-GM-SCR , Software Changes, Services, Provisioning etc. , How To

          Product

          SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals all versions