SAP Broadens HRMS Capabilities With New Modules; U.S. Payroll, Benefits Administration and Legal Compliance Tops the List of Added Functionality

Business Wire, Sept 18, 1995

PHOENIX, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 18, 1995--SAP, the world's leading provider of client/server business applications today announced the delivery of new human resource management system (HRMS) functionality within the company's R/3' Release 3.0 suite of enterprise applications.

R/3 Release 3.0 HRMS offers new modules for customers in North America, including the delivery of Payroll Accounting for the United States, Benefits Administration for the United States and Canada, and embedded expert systems to ensure corporate compliance with United States employment laws.

SAP HRMS customers around the world will benefit from extensions within R/3 Release 3.0 that support centralized management of distributed human resource systems, and offer a new level of integration with other company-wide business processes. With R/3 Release 3.0, SAP customers can leverage enterprise data to support human resource planning across entire departments and business units.

"Our customers look to SAP's HRMS to support the strategic needs of corporate executives as well as the day-to-day requirements of HR department managers," said Klaus Tschira, member of SAP's executive board responsible for the development of human resource applications. "The roll-out of U.S. payroll, extended planning capabilities and landmark decision support are important milestones in the development of our global HRMS solution."

Payroll and Benefits

The commercial availability of SAP Payroll for the United States is at the heart of new client/server Human Resources capabilities, allowing American R/3 customers to integrate traditionally-isolated payroll processes into the enterprise information system. U.S. Payroll includes an interface to tax software that handles deduction processing, calculates U.S. taxes and generates required tax forms. The system also supports the processing of compensatory time in lieu of overtime payments and standard reporting of payroll results.

R/3 3.0 also offers new Benefits Administration functions that are tailored to the needs of the U.S. and Canada, covering health insurance, death and disability insurance and deferred benefits plans. R/3 3.0 HRMS easily accommodates flexible, cafeteria-style benefits packages that are common in North America, managing eligibility rules and cost calculation formulas according to local or business requirements.

Workforce Planning

Also new to R/3 Release 3.0 is Order-related Work Force Planning, integrating production capacity planning with human resources. Corporate managers can anticipate personnel requirements based on enterprise planning and budgets, and optimize the available talent pool based on requisite skill sets. Graphical planning tables provide an overview of work centers, their corresponding work orders, and employee work loads. SAP customers can use the SAP HRMS to plan individual work schedules and shifts across entire departments and business units, with consideration for employee preferences. The R/3 Work Schedule and Shift Planning system is tightly integrated with Time Management and Payroll modules.

Legal Expert System

R/3 Release 3.0 delivers ground-breaking new functionality within its human resource application. Release 3.0 includes knowledge- based legal compliance decision support functionality that makes it easier than ever to execute critical staffing actions that meet current U.S. state and federal laws and company-specific policies and procedures. The legal compliance tools provide line managers with desktop support for hiring, promotion and termination actions. By activating the capabilities of the legal compliance system resident in R/3 HRMS, corporations can ensure consistent and fair personnel actions across the organization. (See SAP/Decisis release, 9/18)

Openness and Interoperability

R/3 Release 3.0 HRMS uses SAP's new Application Link Enabling technology (ALE), enabling customers to centralize the management of enterprise-wide personnel and benefits data among distributed SAP systems. The SAP HRMS is completely integrated with other R/3 applications, from Financial Accounting to Manufacturing, to provide a consistent enterprise solution for planning and resource allocation.

A new OLE-enabled interface with Microsoft Word allows R/3 HRMS users to create standard letters and automate all regular correspondence with job applicants.

The R/3 product line was designed from the ground up with full support for advanced workflow capabilities including role-based and rule-based processing over an event-driven, object-oriented architecture. The business workflow embedded in the R/3 product services all applications and creates the foundation required to achieve enterprise automation.

EDI extends the abilities of business workflow outside the structure of the customer organization. Using EDI communication, customers can send and receive vital business information and tie it back into the organization's internal processes. SAP uses a neutral interface format that can connect virtually any EDI subsystem to the R/3 System, allowing vendors to plug into R/3 without changing their modus operandi.