At this years OHUG conference we had the opportunity to hear from some organizations who have been through the Fusion HCM implementation process. These may still be few and far between, but their experiences are really useful for those of us currently involved in implementations.
This blog entry summarises a number of those experiences.
The HR2HR process for maintaining data synchronization between the 'system of record' and the Fusion Apps co-existence environment is now being replaced by File Based Loaders (FBL). FBL is a much more flexible solution which allows data to be mapped from any system, not just EBS or PeopleSoft. FBL deals with a wider range of fields than HR2HR did, but still has some shortcomnings - extensible flexfields, for example, are not catered for.
Some people have implemented compensation management. This seems to be a very robust product, but there are some methods you need to follow to get the best results. For example, compensation allocation worksheets can contain calculated fields - make sure that any dynamic calls are done in the right sequence to ensure the calculations are correct. Monetary fields must be defined as 'monetary' otherwise exchange conversions will not work. If values are global, write a global fast formula because default values can only be managed by one fast formula.
Many organizations who had implemented emphasized the need to be
realistic on timescales. They recommended limiting the scope and implementing in phases - walking before you run. Also, don't be afraid of pulling the plug on functionality that doesn't work well. In the long term this will save time.
The question of 'Read Only' roles came up frequently. This is a common requirement, but there is no out of the box role whichdelivers this functionality. Much debate has been had as to whether you can or can't do this and different ways to 'work round' the issue. We know you
can create read-only roles, but it's complicated.
Things to watch out for:
Seeded roles have lots of functions you probably won't want. If you create custom roles these will need to be monitored carefully when patches and upgrades are applied. Oracle may well change the underlying roles and privileges you based your custom roles on.
Transfers between legal entities in the same country can be problematic.
Be cautious about the number of RDS you have. The more you have, the bigger the maintenance overhead.
Pending worker functionality was introduced to fill the gap when there was no Fusion recruitment solution. In the future this will be filled by Taleo integration. But in the meantime, there are gaps in the pending worker functionality - e.g. salary is not carried forward into the hire.
OTBI is great when using a single folder, but there are problems if you try to create reports from multiple folders. Remember, BIP is available and is a good solution for more complex reports.
Workflow notifications can be controlled via FSM and BPM, but the content is fairly locked down - you can't change the wording. Also, many people reported workflow notifications as being 'buggy'. Recommendation is to test notifications early in the cycle.
FBL was seen as a useful loading tool. But, the business rules (validation) doesn't always work the same as the application.
Some key issues which were identified at upgrade time:
Watch out for approval rules changing!
Pages change, so make sure you check your personalizations work. Take screen shots of personalised pages before an upgrade so you have a reference back to the original.
Keep a note of patches applied. Sometimes these patches are not available after upgrades.
