10 most critical factors of SAP payroll: HRSP and legal changes

This is the fourth of 10 most critical factors of SAP payroll. We covered Data integrity, Integration, and Configuration and Customization in the first three and in this post we will cover Human Resources Support Packages and Country Legal Changes.

Human Resources Support Packages (HRSPs) were put in place by SAP many years ago to reduce the impact of updates towards year-end to HR and HR submodules. HRSPs are released approximately every month and contain individual SAP Notes and other legal and correction updates.

Country Legal Changes (CLCs) are similar to HRSPs, but contain a subset of the HRSP SAP Notes. SAP started creating CLCs in the last few years to provides for lesser disruption and risk to the SAP environment as a whole, HR and HR submodules, and payroll. CLCs are released periodically and contain individual SAP Notes and other legal and correction updates relevant to payroll for a specific country or countries. CLCs do require a specific synchronization HRSP so HRSPs are still required.

Synchronization HRSPs are typically released in May and November. You may apply the HRSP released in May and then the CLC for U.S. payroll released towards year-end and be able to complete year-end processing for the U.S. Many organizations now take this approach to limit testing towards year-end to U.S. payroll.

We are able to identify the minimum HRSP and CLC needed to be applied prior to year-end using the enhancement pack and HRSP currently in place and using SAP Service Marketplace.

• Access https://service.sap.com (requires login credentials)
• Follow path Products > ERP > SAP ERP Human Capital Management > HR Support Packages > Schedule

HRSPs and CLCs are a fact of life and can be very difficult for support organizations and the business to accept. However, we need to make sure all parties impacted understand HRSPs and CLCs contain required legislative compliance updates along with bug fixes. HRSPs and CLCs are not an option, but a requirement for payroll to run successfully. The following items are examples of what are included.

• Tax Reporter form layouts
• 401k or other benefit limits
• New functionality required for the next year, such as employer paid benefits
• Processes may change or underlying program logic changes

With all these changes, a thorough testing plan should be put in place that is repeatable. Repeatable allows us to slightly tweak the data from one testing project/year to the next.

Through our due diligence of what is included in the HRSPs and CLCs being applied, we need to define the impact and expectations for support and business areas outside of the HR module. The HRSPs may require Basis to apply a kernel update or our interface points may be impacted.

Developing a plan early in the year and monitoring the SAP Service Marketplace for release dates and side effects can make for a smooth process to keep payroll up-to-date by applying HRSPs and CLCs.

Please join us for our next blog post where we’ll discuss Unit and parallel testing as another critical factor in SAP payroll.

Here at Integrated Consulting Group, we specialize in the design, development, and customization of SAP Human Capital Management business software for leading edge North American companies with global reach. Have any questions about SAP? Feel free to contact us via the contact page of our site, or on Twitter or LinkedIn.