The role of line managers is changing. Administrative responsibilities are being decentralized and central service functions are being carried out within departments. This effects accounting and logistics as well as human resources. Managers are carrying out certain human resources tasks in their areas of responsibility themselves.

Manager’s Desktop provides you with all the information you need to carry out decentralized tasks:

Information needed to complete decentralized tasks is displayed clearly and is updated at the touch of a button. Integrated evaluations support decision making and simplify the control of human resources processes.

Line managers can, for example, call up organizational structures for specific areas displaying directly and indirectly subordinate employees, and in the same way, access information on the salary structure of their entire area of responsibility. Manager‘s Desktop can display both personal data on individual employees and overviews of the budget, so that the manager can compare planned and actual personnel costs. Manager’s Desktop also allows managers to see the current situation of employees‘ holiday and make decisions about leave requests based on reliable information.

The integration of Manager’s Desktop with SAP Human Resources information system and Ad Hoc Query (HR) ensures transparency. It allows managers to evaluate employee data as well as access reports created by individual customers. If managers need cross-application information, Manager’s Desktop connects them with Financial Accounting and Controlling In this way, managers can access budget information and request cost center evaluations.

You make settings for functional and formal modifications or enhancements in Manager’s Desktop in the relevant Implementation Guide (IMG) sections, you access these via Personnel Management ® Manager’s Desktop. Customizing enables you to insert your own background picture or company logo as well as enter your own reports in the function list of theme categories.

Manager’s Desktop, as an HR component, brings together cross-application functions, which allow the line manager immediate access to relevant Human Resources information and information from Financial Accounting and Controlling.

An organizational plan of your company including the organizational structure and the staff assignments, that is, the assignment of employees (persons) or users to positions, in the Organizational Management component is a prerequisite for the comprehensive use of Manager’s Desktop.

The person (or user) who has logged on to the system must also be the holder of a chief position. The system uses the indicator as chief position (relationship A/B 012 between the position and the organizational unit) to determine the organizational units managed directly and indirectly by the position holder (see below).

To display corresponding cost centers, you must assign a cost center to the chief position or organizational unit.

Manager’s Desktop must be integrated with personnel administration. If it is not, error messages will appear when transfers are made or jobs/positions are changed, which effect one or more employees.

Manager’s Desktop must be integrated with Accounting or the enterprise organization, so that budget evaluation is possible and cost center information is available. Activate the enterprise organization in Customizing for Organizational Management (Personnel Management ® Organizational Management ® Integration ® Activate Enterprise Organization).

As well as dealing with processes that are triggered within departments, integrated workflow support plays a considerable role. Workflow ensures that employees in the personnel department are involved seamlessly in these processes. If, for example, an employee is transferred, the manager triggers this personnel action by entering all relevant information. The member of the personnel department responsible then receives a message in his or her Workflow inbox. He or she then takes over the process and once the personnel action has been successfully carried out, reports back in the same way.

Manager’s Desktop not only links the line manager with the personnel department, but also involves employees in general processes. Integration with SAP Employee Self-Service means that employees‘ leave requests and travel expenses can be passed on for approval via Manager’s Desktop. Workflows pass approved requests and expenses to the personnel department as well as to the employee concerned. Manager’s Desktop also allows the manager to edit and maintain personal data, calculate travel expenses and process benefits data without switching to another tool.

The spectrum of processes that the manager can carry out from his or her desk is diverse. He or she can plan and change positions, carry out reorganization, trigger transfers as well as suggest salaries. Line managers use Manager’s Desktop to trigger all human resources tasks which are then carried out centrally by the personnel department.

The functionality that Manager’s Desktop provides is always growing. From Release 4.6A, line managers have had access to the appraisals of the employees in their areas of responsibility. They can display qualifications and their levels of proficiency as well as the employees who fulfill these qualifications.

When a manager (or user) registers in Manager’s Desktop it determines which organizational units he is responsible for. The organizational units selected in this way and the corresponding positions and holders are presented to the user in a tree structure and can be maintained using the list of functions on the left of the screen. The manager’s area of responsibility that is displayed represents only a part of the enterprise’s organizational plan, unless the manager is in charge of the whole enterprise.

The manager can hide the highest node of his or her organizational area of responsibility, that is, the name of the user who holds the chief position, in all theme categories with a corresponding tree. These settings are made in Customizing.

The user (manager) can use tab pages to choose between various views of his or her organizational area of responsibility, in doing so, the line manager can either see only those employees that report directly to him or her or, all organizational units assigned to him or her and the positions and holders that belong to them or all the organizational units that are assigned to his or her cost center.

Functions that can be carried out in Manager’s Desktop (reports, transactions, access to URLs and the workflow inbox, etc) are divided according the following theme categories:

• Employees
• Organization
• Costs & Budget
• Workflow Inbox
• Special Interests

These categories can be organized according to customer requirements and be enhanced using the function codes available in customizing.

The user can also customize the initial screen of Manager’s Desktop, that is, he or she can insert a company logo or his or her own background.

In Customizing as well as via the menu, you can specify that the initial screen is to be skipped and that a particular theme category is accessed directly. If you do this, when you initially log on to Manager’s Desktop, the theme category that you have specified in Customizing as being first (Employee in the Standard system) and the tab page you have specified as being first (Directly subordinate employees) are displayed.

New techniques, such as ‘Drag & Drop’ simplify, for example, the execution of functions which relate to those objects which belong to a line manager’s area and which are presented in a tree structure. These objects are organizational units, positions and position holders (employees, persons or users). The line manager is able to carry out evaluations of all of these objects. The line manager can also use the drag & drop function to carry out reorganizational actions within his or her area, he or she can, for example, place organizational units and positions under other organizational units.

Manager’s Desktop is a cross-application tool. Its strength is the functions it offers in Human Resources. It is not intended that all functionalities of a particular component in Manager’s Desktop be combined. Only those applications that are useful to the manager need to be added.