Purpose

The range of tasks of many line managers is changing. Administrative tasks are being decentralized, and central service functions are carried out in individual departments. This is the case in Accounting and Logistics as well as in Personnel Management: managers themselves are taking over certain personnel tasks for their area of responsibility.

The SAP software tool Manager’s Desktop is specially set up to support such tasks that have been transferred to individual departments.

In the Personnel Administration task area, Manager’s Desktop provides all the information managers need to independently carry out decentralized tasks: transparency and up-to-date information at the touch of a button. Integrated reports support decision-making and make it easier to control and check personnel processes in the department.

For example, line managers can call up area-specific organizational structures online, with directly and indirectly subordinate employees, and at the same time get information about the salary structures in their entire area of responsibility. Manager’s Desktop takes line managers directly to the personnel data of individual employees, or displays budget overviews that allow them to compare planned and actual personnel costs. Manager’s Desktop is just as effective when displaying the current leave situation, and therefore provides a reliable basis for making decisions about employees’ leave requests.

Even more transparency is available due to the integration of Manager’s Desktop with the InfoSet Query in HR. There, managers can evaluate all employee-related data and see customer-specific reports. When line managers need comprehensive information, Manager’s Desktop can also connect them with Financial Accounting and Controlling . In this way, they can call up budget data or request cost center reports.

Implementation Considerations

You make settings for functional and formal modifications or enhancements in Manager’s Desktop in the relevant Implementation Guide (IMG) sections. You can 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 tree of theme categories. See also Scenario-Specific Settings

Integration

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

Organizational Plan as a Prerequisite

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 chief position indicator (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. See also Organizational Plan .

Integration with Personnel Administration

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 that affect one or more employees.

Integration with Accounting

If you want budget evaluation to be possible, and cost center information to be available, Manager’s Desktop must be integrated with Accounting.

Workflow Support

Integrated workflow support plays an important role in those operations that are processed locally. It makes sure that employees in the personnel department are seamlessly integrated in these processes. For example, if an employee is to be transferred, the line manager starts the action by entering the basic data. A little later, the action appears in the workflow inbox of the responsible HR administrator, who takes over further processing and then reports back to the manager in the same way when the action has been successfully completed.

Integration with Employee Self-Service

Manager’s Desktop not only connects line managers and personnel, but also involves employees in general processes. For example, if SAP Employee Self-Service is integrated, employees can transfer leave requests or travel expenses directly to Manager’s Desktop for checking and decisions. Approved requests and expenses are then sent via workflows to the personnel department as well as to the employee concerned. Of course, the line manager can also process and maintain his own person-related data, enter travel expenses or process benefits data within Manager’s Desktop without changing tools.

Features

The range of processes that line managers can initiate from their desk using Manager’s Desktop is extremely varied. They can plan and modify positions, carry out reorganizations and initiate transfers, plan personnel resources, or adjust wages and salaries. For personnel tasks, line managers usually use Manager’s Desktop to initiate a process, which is then executed centrally by the personnel department.

The range of functions in Manager’s Desktop is constantly increasing. From release 4.6a, line managers also have direct access to appraisals of employees within their area of responsibility. In addition, they can view qualifications and the skills involved, and for each qualification they can display the employees who have these skills.

Presenting an Area in a Tree Structure

When a manager (or user) registers in Manager’s Desktop, the system determines which organizational units he/she is responsible for. The organizational units selected in this way, and the corresponding positions and holders, are displayed in a tree structure, and can be maintained using the function tree in the left screen area. 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.

You can hide the uppermost node of the organizational area of responsibility, in other words the name of the user who holds a chief position, in all theme categories with such a structure. Make this setting in customizing.

The user (manager) can use tab pages to choose between different views of his or her organizational area of responsibility: he or she can therefore choose, for example, whether the system should display only the directly subordinate, or all subordinate organizational units with the corresponding positions and holders, and whether the respective master cost center should also be displayed.

For each theme category you can define in customizing which tab pages and therefore which views of a manager’s area of responsibility are available to him or her. Based on these settings, the manager can decide individually which of the available tab pages he/she would like to display on his desktop. See also Displaying and Hiding Tab Pages .

Adaptable Functions and Theme Catalog

The executable functions in Manager’s Desktop (reports, transactions, access to URLs and the workflow inbox, and so on) are subdivided according to content into the following theme categories:

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

The manager can deactivate categories and functions that he or she does not need from the initial screen as well as other screens in the application. He or she can switch between preset categories and functions and specific settings and functions at any time. See also Selecting Theme Categories and Functions .

Additional individual requests or special information requirements can also be included: if you frequently need to access particular Intranet or Internet pages, you can call them up easily using corresponding links.

The function tree on the left side of the screen provides the manager with an overview of the executable functions in each theme category. A button in the menu makes switching between categories quicker. The drag & drop function may also be used. This simplifies the execution of functions for objects in the organizational area of responsibility.

Adaptable Initial Screen

Managers can customize the initial screen of Manager’s Desktop , that is, they can insert a company logo or their own background.

In customizing or using a menu path, you can specify that the system should skip the initial screen and go straight to a particular theme category. The first time a manager enters Manager’s Desktop, the system displays the first theme category that was defined in customizing (in the standard, Employees ) and the first defined tab page ( Directly S ubordinate Employees ).

After that, when Manager’s Desktop is started, the system displays the last-displayed theme category, and within that, the last-displayed tab page. See also Skip Initial Screen .

Drag & Drop

New techniques such as Drag & Drop simplify, for example, the execution of functions that relate to those objects belonging to a line manager’s area and that are displayed 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.

You can, however, specify in customizing that the line manager is not allowed to use drag & drop to make changes in his or her organizational area of responsibility. See also Drag & Drop Function .

Functions in Manager’s Desktop, as well as the standard theme categories, are documented in the following chapters.

Constraints

Manager’s Desktop is a cross-application tool. Its strength lies in the functions it offers in Human Resources. It is not intended that all functions of a particular component be combined in Manager’s Desktop. But it should include applications that are useful with regard to managers’ requirements.