SAP HCM — Interview Questions Booklet (50 Q&A)
PA & OM • Time Management • Payroll • Benefits & Comp • Talent/Recruiting (SuccessFactors) • ESS/MSS • Authorizations • Reporting • Real Scenarios
1) What is SAP HCM and how does it relate to SuccessFactors?
Answer: SAP HCM (on-prem ECC/Business Suite) covers core HR (PA/OM), Time, Payroll, and Talent modules. SuccessFactors (cloud) offers modern talent/HR core (Employee Central). Many customers run hybrid: EC for core HR + on-prem Payroll, integrated via middleware.
2) What are key HCM submodules?
Answer: Personnel Administration (PA), Organizational Management (OM), Time Management (PT), Payroll (PY), Benefits, Compensation, Personnel Development (PD), Learning (LSO), E-Recruiting (legacy), ESS/MSS, and country-specific localizations.
3) How are Personnel Areas/Subareas used?
Answer: They segment HR data by site and unit, drive defaults and controls (work schedules, pay scales, holiday calendars) and are key in authorizations and reporting.
4) What are Employee Group/Subgroup used for?
Answer: They classify employment relationships (permanent, contractor) and control payroll/time rules (eligibility, wage types, counting classes), and default infotype behaviors.
5) Which integration patterns are common with S/4HANA?
Answer: Cost center/GL from S/4 to HCM; payroll postings from HCM to FI/CO; travel/expenses to FI; SuccessFactors EC ↔ HCM via SAP Cloud Integration or Boomi with IDoc/OData interfaces.
6) What is an infotype and why is it important?
Answer: An infotype is a logical grouping of HR data (e.g., IT0002 Personal Data). It supports time-dependency (validity periods), auditing, and consistent data entry via PA20/30 or actions (PA40).
7) Explain Personnel Actions (PA40).
Answer: Actions (hire, transfer, termination) sequence infotype maintenance with reason codes. They ensure completeness and trigger workflows, authorizations, and payroll/time integration.
8) How do feature decisions work (e.g., ABKRS, NUMKR)?
Answer: Features are decision trees that return values based on fields (e.g., PA/PSA/EG/ESG). ABKRS sets payroll area; NUMKR sets personnel number range.
9) What are dynamic actions?
Answer: Config rules that auto-trigger infotypes/fields when conditions are met (e.g., creating IT0016 Contract when IT0001 subtype = certain ESG). Helps data quality and compliance.
10) How do you ensure data privacy (GDPR) in PA?
Answer: Use structural/auth object P_PERNR, infotype security, data destruction/archiving (ILM), consent logs, and minimization by role. Limit utilities (SA38/SE38) per SoD.
11) What are core OM objects and relationships?
Answer: Objects: O (Org Unit), S (Position), C (Job), P (Person), K (Cost Center), T (Task). Relationships (e.g., O-S, S-P, S-C) make the org model navigable for HR, workflow, and security.
12) How do positions differ from jobs?
Answer: Jobs are templates with attributes (EEO, pay grade), while positions are instances assigned to org units and persons. Vacant positions support recruiting and headcount planning.
13) What is evaluation path and where is it used?
Answer: Evaluation paths (e.g., O-S-P) define navigation in the hierarchy for reporting, structural authorization checks, workflows, and manager self-service context.
14) How does OM interact with PA and Payroll?
Answer: Assigning positions to employees drives default cost centers, manager relationships, workflow routing, and can influence pay scales and allowances via indirect valuation.
15) Best practices for org redesign?
Answer: Stage in a separate plan version, simulate impacts, validate structural authorizations and workflows, then transport to active; maintain clean relationships and dates.
16) Positive vs. negative time recording?
Answer: Positive: employees clock all times; negative: only exceptions recorded (absences/overtime). Impacts schema, PCRs, and evaluation flow.
17) What drives work schedules and quotas?
Answer: Public holiday calendars, factory calendars, daily work schedules, period work schedules, and counting/valuation classes. Quota generation uses PT_QTA00/ATT with rules.
18) Explain schema and PCR in Time Evaluation.
Answer: The time schema (e.g., TM00) orchestrates processing; PCRs (personnel calculation rules) evaluate attendances/absences into time types and wage types for payroll.
19) How do you integrate time with payroll?
Answer: Time eval creates time wage types (IT), which payroll reads (cluster B2/RP). Errors in time can halt payroll for that period area.
20) Common time evaluation issues and fixes?
Answer: Mismatched calendars, wrong ESG/TM status, missing substitution rules, PCR sequencing. Use PT60 logs, check TIP/ZL tables, and simulate before transport.
21) Outline the payroll process flow.
Answer: Pre-checks (master data/time), simulation, live payroll (RPCALCx0), results in cluster (RG), post-processing (RT, CRT), bank transfer (DME), posting to FI/CO, and off-cycle runs if needed.
22) What are wage types and how are they configured?
Answer: Primary (input) and secondary (calculated). Configured in V_512W_D (processing/classifications), valuation bases, cumulations, and model via indirect valuation or PCRs.
23) How do schemas and PCRs work in payroll?
Answer: Payroll schema (e.g., U000, IN00) controls sequence; PCRs compute earnings/deductions, taxes, and retro. Use PE02 for maintenance and test with PC00_Mxx_CALC_SIMU.
24) How is payroll posted to FI/CO?
Answer: Via posting run (PCP0). Map wage types to symbolic accounts and then to G/L, split by cost centers/segments; reconcile with FI and lock payroll area post-posting.
25) How do you handle retroactive payroll?
Answer: Changes trigger retro back to earliest allowed retro date; system adjusts differences in current RT and posting documents. Control with payroll control record.
26) How are benefits administered on-prem?
Answer: Use Benefits module (BN) for plans, eligibility, enrollment windows, costs, and payroll integration; open enrollment via ESS with life event handling.
27) What is indirect valuation for compensation?
Answer: Derives wage types from pay scale structures/grades/levels using modules (e.g., TARIF, SUMME) to ensure consistent comp based on rules.
28) How does Personnel Development (PD) support talent?
Answer: Maintains qualifications, appraisals, career paths, and training (LSO). Integrates with OM for successor planning and training needs analysis.
29) Where does SuccessFactors fit for talent?
Answer: SF modules (Recruiting, Onboarding, Performance & Goals, Compensation, Learning) provide modern cloud capabilities; integrate key data back to EC/HCM/payroll.
30) How do you manage variable pay/bonuses?
Answer: On-prem via custom PCRs and off-cycle; in SF Compensation/Variable Pay with eligibility rules and proration, then feed calculated payouts to payroll.
31) What master data is system of record in hybrid?
Answer: Typically Employee Central (EC) is the core HR system; payroll/tax data stays on-prem. Use point-to-point OData and SAP Cloud Integration for data replication to HCM and payroll.
32) How is position management handled across SF and HCM?
Answer: Use EC Position Management as master; replicate positions to OM or map through integration. Keep unique IDs and effective dating consistent.
33) Explain Onboarding data flow.
Answer: Candidate → SF Recruiting → Onboarding (documents, compliance) → EC hire event → replicate to HCM/Payroll; provisioning through business rules and mappings.
34) How do you handle global assignments?
Answer: In EC: concurrent employment/GA objects with host/home assignments; in HCM: IT0710/0715 and split cost/payroll; ensure tax/social insurance compliance via country versions.
35) Common integration pitfalls and mitigations?
Answer: Mismatched picklists/codes, time zone/effective dating issues, duplicate personnel numbers, and failed deltas. Use middleware monitoring, reconciliation reports, and strict governance.
36) What are ESS/MSS and typical use cases?
Answer: Employee/Manager Self-Service for leave, payslips, address changes, approvals. On-prem via SAP Portal/Web Dynpro/Fiori; in SF via Role-Based Permissions and home tiles.
37) How do HR workflows route tasks?
Answer: Based on OM relationships (manager of position), rules (BRFplus), and event linkage (e.g., PA actions). My Inbox/Fiori provides unified approvals.
38) What are structural vs. general authorizations?
Answer: General auths (P_ORGIN/CON) control infotype/fields; structural auths restrict which org parts a user can see (evaluation path, period). Combine for least privilege.
39) How do you secure sensitive infotypes?
Answer: Use subtype and field-level security, encryption where required, logging (STAD/SM20), and restrict utilities that access clusters (RP*) to admin roles only.
40) What’s the role of Payroll Control Center (PCC)?
Answer: PCC provides guided payroll processing with pre-/post-checks, KPIs, and error remediation workflows to increase quality and shorten payroll cycles.
41) What reporting tools are available?
Answer: SAP standard (Ad Hoc Query, SE16/PA* reports), HR Infosets, ABAP reports, Fiori analytics, Embedded Analytics/CDS, and SAP Analytics Cloud; SF Story/Canvas for cloud.
42) How do you approach data migration?
Answer: Use BAPIs/LSMW/HCM P&F or Migration Cockpit. Cleanse data, map infotypes/subtypes, preserve history (time-slices), and reconcile headcount/payroll balances.
43) How is master data quality enforced?
Answer: Mandatory fields, dynamic actions, validations, duplicate checks, and governance with MDG-HR or workflows; routine audits and exception dashboards.
44) How do you handle archiving and retention?
Answer: ILM policies per country, archive infotypes and payroll clusters with legal retention, secure retrieval, and GDPR right-to-be-forgotten processes.
45) Key HR KPIs to track?
Answer: Headcount/FTE, turnover, time-to-fill, absenteeism, overtime, payroll accuracy, compa-ratio, DEI metrics, training completion, and cost per hire.
46) A hire is missing in payroll results — how do you triage?
Answer: Check payroll area assignment, control record status, IT0000/0001 dates, IT0008 pay data, and time eval status; simulate payroll and inspect logs (RPCALC).
47) ESS leave requests are not reaching managers — root causes?
Answer: Broken OM relationships, workflow agent rules, missing substitution, or wrong evaluation path. Test event linkage and My Inbox routing; fix OM/BRFplus rules.
48) Retro exploded to very old periods — what to check?
Answer: Earliest retro date in control record, master data change dates, and PCR logic. Limit retro windows, adjust master data effective dates, and reprocess only impacted periods.
49) SF → HCM replication failing for a subset of users — approach?
Answer: Validate picklists/code mappings, audit payloads, check effective dating/time zones, correct personnel number mappings, and replay deltas after fix.
50) Payroll posting out of balance — how to reconcile?
Answer: Review symbolic account mapping, split posting settings, cost center changes, and cluster RT values; rerun posting (PCP0) after correcting wage type–GL mapping.