10.2 Custom Hire Templates, the Diagnostic Tool, and Joule in Employee Central

10.2 Custom Hire Templates, the Diagnostic Tool, and Joule in Employee Central

Quick Answer: Custom hire templates tailor the Add New Employee wizard to hiring scenarios such as interns or contingent workers, within set limits on blocks and pages. The Diagnostic Tool traces what happened in workflow and self-service transactions on HRIS elements. Joule is SAP's AI copilot, supporting navigational, transactional, and informational conversations.

Custom Hire Templates

Hire templates specify only the blocks needed for the type of employment you are hiring for. You can add, remove, and reorder blocks and include standard and custom MDF objects. Templates are effective-dated and suit scenarios such as contingent workers, interns, or full-time employees.

Required Content and Limits

Every hire template must include these pre-delivered HRIS elements:

• Name Information (must be in the first step)

• Biographical Information

• Employment ID Information (must be in the first step)

• Employment Information

• Job Information

• Personal Information (must be in the first step)

• A template can hold up to 30 combined standard EC HRIS elements and custom MDF objects, spread across two to ten pages.

• One-page templates are not allowed.

• Manage Pending Hires supports configurable new hire templates for hire and rehire, and all custom hire templates are fully supported there.

• Hire template IDs can be used in business rules.

Permissions

• Manage Business Configuration > Hire Template
• Manage Hires > Hire Configuration Templates

Creating a Template

In Manage Data > Create New > Hire Template, enter a Template ID, effective start date, status, name, and Template Type (for example Employee). Under Section Configuration, add the pages and blocks. THR81's ACE Hires template:

Note that the exercise places Personal Information on the second page, although the lesson's required-element list marks it as a first-step block. On a real project, check the current SAP hire template documentation before relying on either. Each block has a Show in Workflow option. Once a template exists, Add New Employee opens a Basic Data pop-up where the template is selected. That screen appears only when custom hire templates are enabled. If the Hire Template option is missing in Manage Data, check the Manage Business Configuration permission.

The Diagnostic Tool

The Diagnostic Tool helps troubleshoot HRIS elements (MDF objects are not supported) for workflows, manager and employee self-service, and Add New Hire transactions. It covers only transactions saved with Edit, History, or Take Action.

It is not a replacement for the Check Tool. The Check Tool proposes fixes for missing or inconsistent data and misconfiguration across the suite. The Diagnostic Tool gives a snapshot view and a rule execution view of what happened in a transaction.

Enable it by granting Admin Center Permissions > Access Diagnostic Tool and Diagnostic Tool > Select All. Restrict it to a small admin group, because results can include sensitive data.

Transaction Type: Workflow

• Captures workflow IDs, the derivation rule, escalation and delegation, participants, e-mail information, and all actions from initiation to approval.
• It captures only actions taken on the Workflow Details page in a web browser. It does not capture approvals on mobile, the quick approval card on the home page, or admin actions in Manage Workflow Requests.
• Diagnostic data is kept for 10 days, and extended by another 10 days when someone acts on the workflow.
• In the tool, choose Workflows, enter a Requested by or Requested for user and a date range, and review each approval step with its derivation rule and workflow configuration ID.

Transaction Type: Centralized Services

• Shows a Snapshot View (summary after save) and a Rule Execution View (excluded records, excluded rules, and executed rules).
• Not captured automatically. First create and activate a Diagnostics Trace in Manage Data. The trace then captures transactions saved with Edit, History, or Take Action for 15 minutes.

Joule in Employee Central

Joule is SAP's AI copilot. It offers conversational access to information and automates processes with three conversational patterns:

EC scenarios include quick answers on salary and employment information, finding who reports to whom, updating personal information, and guided promotion of direct reports. Joule uses EC Quick Action templates for transactions (Section 10.1).

Prerequisites include an SAP AI Units license and an SAP BTP enterprise global account. Customers confirm the other licensing requirements with their account executive.

Considerations:

• Joule supports only English. Set the system language to English and type in English.
• It is web only and not supported in native mobile apps.
• Use one chat session at a time. Parallel sessions with the same account can give unexpected responses.
• It returns one piece of information per request. "Show my location and cost center" returns nothing.
• Proxy access is not supported.

Compensation Insights

Compensation Insights uses generative AI to give managers a holistic view of an employee's past compensation: year-on-year base salary, one-time payments, position in range, job progression, tenure, promotions, job changes, and pay band position. It can point out anomalies or equity gaps. To enable it you need an SAP AI Units license, Enable AI-Assisted HXM Content Generator in Provisioning, Enable the Assisted Person Insights feature in AI Services Administration, and the AI Assisted permission in RBP.