Lesson 2 of 6
Packaged scenarios and Cloud Integration
10 min
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SAP delivers packaged integrations between Employee Central and SAP S/4HANA (on premise and private cloud) or SAP ERP HCM. They run on SAP Cloud Integration in SAP Integration Suite, using SAP's prebuilt integration flows; SAP Press notes they are only available on Cloud Integration, not on third-party middleware. On the S/4HANA side, the integration is configured in the Business Integration Builder (BIB) under the IMG path Personnel Management > Integration with SuccessFactors Employee Central > Business Integration Builder.
| Scenario | Direction | Trigger and technology | Lands in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee master data and org assignments | EC → S/4HANA | Query program ECPAO_EE_ORG_REPL_QUERY in S/4HANA; middleware reads EC's Compound Employee API; inbound web service | PA infotypes; org assignments via a staging area to OM |
| Organizational objects | EC → S/4HANA | Query program RH_SFIOM_ORG_OBJ_REPL_QUERY; middleware reads EC OData API | OM infotypes (org units, positions, relationships) |
| Cost centers | S/4HANA → EC | Report ODTF_REPL_CC with IDocs (often with RBDMIDOC) or ODTF_REPL_CC_CSV for files | EC cost center foundation objects |
| Employee as business partner | Within S/4HANA | Synchronization report /SHCM/RH_SYNC_BUPA_FROM_EMPL | Business partner with Employee role (and supplier role where used) |
The packaged flows and their triggers, following SAP Press and SAP documentation.
How a replication run works
- The query program in S/4HANA reads the BIB settings and sends a query through Cloud Integration; the query is logged in query tables (for example
SFIOM_QRY_ADMholds query status per object type). - Cloud Integration calls Employee Central: the Compound Employee API for employee data, the OData API for org objects, using the configured filters and the last successful run time for deltas.
- Cloud Integration transforms the data and calls the S/4HANA inbound web service.
- S/4HANA processes the data through BIB mappings: employee data into PA infotypes, org assignments into a staging area and then OM infotypes.
- S/4HANA sends a confirmation back through Cloud Integration to EC's Data Replication Monitor, where HR sees success or errors per employee.
The Cloud Integration side
Theo's team deploys SAP's integration package for Employee Central integration with SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA from the SAP Business Accelerator Hub into Contoso's Integration Suite tenants (CMC_DEV, CMC_TEST, CMC_PROD), and configures the externalized parameters: EC API endpoint and credentials, S/4HANA endpoints through the Cloud Connector, and filters. The flows are SAP standard content; Contoso changes configuration, not the flows themselves, so SAP updates can be applied. Each tenant pairs with one EC instance and one S/4HANA system: the EC test instance with CMQ client 100, EC production with CMP.
| Private cloud / on premise (Contoso) | S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee record | PA infotypes via BIB, then business partner sync | Workforce replication to a workforce person; check SAP's setup guide |
| Configuration | BIB in the IMG | Communication arrangements and SAP-delivered settings |
| Org structure | OM infotypes via org object replication | As delivered for the cloud edition |
Full loads and deltas
Replication normally runs in delta mode: each query asks EC for changes since the last successful run. The first load, and any reload after a change to the first full transmission start date (FTSD) moved into the past, needs a full load; SAP's learning material describes running the query programs with "Initiate Full Load" for that case. Full loads touch every employee in scope and are the moment many mapping gaps first appear, so Contoso ran its first full load in CMQ two weeks before the first test cycle and cleared all errors before testers started.
What would you do?
After a refresh of CMQ from production, testers find that new hires entered in the EC test instance never arrive in CMQ. The Data Replication Monitor shows nothing. What is the most likely cause?
- Packaged EC–S/4HANA integrations run on SAP Cloud Integration with SAP's standard flows.
- S/4HANA pulls: query programs start replication; EC APIs provide the data.
- Org assignments pass through a staging area into OM infotypes.
- Monitor the query jobs themselves; silence is not success.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which program starts employee and org assignment replication in S/4HANA?
2. Which EC API supplies employee data for replication?
3. Which report replicates cost centers to EC through IDocs?
4. Where does HR see the result of each employee replication?