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General Information & Announcements

SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors Implementation Playbook

A step-by-step guide for anyone working on implementing SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors using the productized integration. Plan and execute the implementation in alignment with the phased release schedule, delivering incremental value at every stage.

Go-Live in Smaller Iterations

The integration follows SAP's fixed release cadence. Rather than waiting for all features, the recommended approach is to go live in phases - each aligned to what is already available - and incrementally adopt new capabilities as each release lands.

Monthly Release Cadence

The productized SmartRecruiters for SAP integration ships on a fixed monthly cadence. Release timing cannot be adjusted for individual features. Plan implementations iteratively: scope each go-live to what is already available, then adopt each monthly release as an incremental upgrade.

Adoption framing: Treat each release as an upgrade, not a re-implementation. Work done in Phase 1 is never discarded - later phases build on top of it. Going live earlier means capturing value faster.

The End-to-End Integration Journey

From purchasing the SmartRecruiters for SuccessFactors SKU to the first hire flowing into Employee Central, this is the full journey to navigate and execute.

Data Flow Overview

Select a step to see what data flows at that point:

1. Admin Setup - Map Foundation Objects

Trigger

One-time admin configuration in SuccessFactors Admin Center, performed during initial implementation setup, before any recruiting activity begins.

Data at This Step

Job fields

Examples depending on configuration:

Department
Location
Legal Entity
Job Title
Cost Center
Job Grade
Any Foundation / Generic Object or picklist configured in the tenant

Org fields

Examples depending on configuration:

Organisation Unit
Business Unit
Division
Any org-level Foundation Object

Application fields (June 15)

Examples depending on configuration:

Any SuccessFactors object type
Enables mapping application data to EC/ONB at hire

Why this matters

Master Data Sync is the foundational layer that makes the rest of the integration meaningful. Without it, SmartRecruiters Job and Org fields are either generic free-text or separately configured single-select items with no sync with SuccessFactors. With it, they become structured SuccessFactors-typed fields that sync hourly, support field mapping from Position, and can be transferred at hire. The more fields configured here, the richer every downstream flow becomes.

Enables data sync

2. SuccessFactors - Position Management

Trigger

Recruiter clicks "Create SmartRecruiters Job" on an approved Position in SuccessFactors.

Data at This Step

Position ID - always included

Position Title - always included

Hiring Manager (June 15) - always included

Additional Position fields (June 15) - via configurable field mapping

Examples depending on configuration:

Legal Entity / Org Unit
Department
Cost Center
Job Grade
Custom position attributes

Note

After June 15, admins can configure which Position fields pre-populate Job fields using the Position-to-Job Mapping page in Admin Center. Job fields must already exist in SmartRecruiters (created via Master Data Sync) with a matching data type for mapping to work.

Hire decision

SmartRecruiters - Candidate Hired

Trigger

Candidate status reaches "Hired" in SmartRecruiters — the hire event fires automatically, no manual step needed.

Data at This Step

First Name, Last Name — always included

Hire Date - always included

Email Address - always included

Hiring Manager ID - always included

Event Reason - sent as HireNew for all hires (June 15: customizable and mappable)

Legal Entity - always included

Additional mapped fields (June 15) - any SR data matching EC/ONB object types

Examples depending on configuration:

Job classification / grade
Department
Cost Center
Candidate nationality
Custom application fields of SF object types

Note

Every job must carry a Position ID or Hiring Manager ID. If neither is present, the hire transfer returns an error.

Auto transfer

SAP - Onboarding Dashboard

Trigger

If SAP Onboarding 2.0 is active in the environment, the hire event routes to the Onboarding Dashboard instead of EC MPH.

Data at This Step

All hire fields from SmartRecruiters - Transferred automatically

New Onboardee record - Created automatically

Application data (June 15) - any SR data matching EC/ONB object types

Internal hire flag (TBA) - flags candidates from Employee Portal

Flexible data mapping to Onboarding

Any data from a candidate profile, job information, or application fields can be mapped to a target field in SAP Onboarding, as long as the two fields share the same data type.

For example, both must be text, or both must be the same picklist type (e.g. both are Event Reason, or both are Payment Type).

For application fields specifically, additional types are also supported: number, boolean, and user.

Note

If Onboarding 2.0 is not active, the hire routes directly to EC Manage Pending Hires instead. Confirm which modules are licensed and active before go-live.

Onboarding complete

Employee Central - Pending Hire / Employee

Trigger

Hire event lands in EC Manage Pending Hires. EC admin validates and completes any remaining mandatory fields before confirming.

Data at This Step

All transferred hire fields - Received from SmartRecruiters

Remaining mandatory fields - Completed manually by EC admin today

Filter MPH by SmartRecruiters origin - Available to identify SR-originated hires

Application data (June 15) - any SR data matching EC/ONB object types

Internal hire flag (TBA) - flags candidates from Employee Portal

Flexible data mapping to Employee Central

Any data from candidate profile, job information, or application fields can be mapped to a target field in Employee Central — as long as the two fields share the same data type.

For example, both must be text, or both must be the same picklist type (e.g. both are Event Reason, or both are Payment Type).

For application fields specifically, additional types are also supported: number, boolean, and user.

The Journey

1. The SmartRecruiters for SuccessFactors SKU is purchased

The SmartRecruiters for SuccessFactors SKU is purchased through SAP CRM. This triggers the provisioning workflow.

Type: Manual (Provisioning Team)

2. Provision and Pair Environments

SmartRecruiters Ops creates the SmartRecruiters tenant for the corresponding EC environments and completes Web SSO configuration. Connectivity details are exchanged between BizX, IAS, and SmartRecruiters.

Important: Instances are paired 1-to-1. It is not possible to connect multiple SmartRecruiters instances to a single SuccessFactors instance, or vice versa. The number of instances created matches the licensed purchase: production to production, test to test, and dev to dev.

The internal provisioning process is currently manual and is planned for future automation supporting SAP SPC.

Type: Manual step today
Availability: Available now

3. Configure Single Sign-On and User Sync

SSO via SAP IAS lets users log into SmartRecruiters with their SuccessFactors credentials. Hourly user sync creates SmartRecruiters accounts for all SuccessFactors employees with the Employee role. A dedicated SmartRecruiters system user receives Super Admin rights and can adjust user permissions manually in SmartRecruiters.

Important: It is not possible to create individual users directly in SmartRecruiters. Users must first be added to SuccessFactors. User Sync will then create the corresponding SmartRecruiters account during the next hourly sync.

During implementation, admins can adjust SuccessFactors Role-Based Permissions to control user access levels in SuccessFactors, which then governs what those users can do across the integrated environment.

Type: Auto, hourly sync
Availability: Available now

4. Map Foundation Objects (Master Data Sync)

Master Data Sync allows admins to create SmartRecruiters job and org fields that are mapped to SuccessFactors data types. Using the Admin Center page, admins can browse the SuccessFactors data sources configured in the tenant, including Foundation Objects, Generic Objects, and picklists, and create corresponding fields in SmartRecruiters with the same data type.

There is no specific restriction on which SuccessFactors field types can be brought into SmartRecruiters. Field names mirror the corresponding SuccessFactors field names, parent-child relationships are retained automatically, and sync runs every hour after setup.

Admin Center page: Master Data Sync
Behavior: Syncs hourly after setup

5. Configure SmartRecruiters User Permissions

All SuccessFactors users now have SmartRecruiters accounts with the Employee role. SmartRecruiters admins configure and adjust permissions inside SmartRecruiters. Roles and permissions are managed independently in each system and are not synced.

6. Unified User Experience

SmartRecruiters appears in the SuccessFactors home page shell bar (module picker). Users can access SuccessFactors portfolio links from within SmartRecruiters. The SAP brand logo navigates back to the SuccessFactors home, creating one cohesive ecosystem.

Availability: Available now

7. Activate Position-Led Recruiting

Recruiters can open an approved Position in SuccessFactors and click Create SmartRecruiters Job. A draft job is created in SmartRecruiters linked to that Position, and the user is redirected to complete the requisition.

Availability: Available now for basic flow, June 15 for full field mapping

8. Onboarding (if SAP Onboarding is enabled)

If SAP Onboarding 2.0 is active in the environment, the hired candidate automatically becomes a New Onboardee in the SuccessFactors Onboarding Dashboard. Company data is retrieved from the linked Position or Hiring Manager record.

Availability: April release now, richer field mapping June 15

9. Hire a Candidate and Transfer to Employee Central

When a candidate reaches Hired status in SmartRecruiters, the hire event automatically sends data to EC Manage Pending Hires. If SAP Onboarding is active, the hire routes to the Onboarding Dashboard instead. EC admins validate and complete any remaining mandatory fields.

Availability: April release now, richer field mapping June 15

What Is Available and When

Internal hire support, agentic (AI) capabilities, integration status tracking, and several Position-to-Job lifecycle features that were originally planned for June 15 have been pushed to Q3 2026 or Future Roadmap. Do not scope these capabilities into go-live plans before those releases land.

What To Do and When

This section follows the implementation journey steps and tells you, for each step, what can be configured today, what becomes possible after June 15, and what is coming in Q3 and beyond. Use this to plan iteratively — there is no need to wait for all features before going live.

The Core Principle: Implement Now, Upgrade Later

Each capability configured today remains in place and is never discarded when new releases arrive. Later releases add capabilities on top of what is already live. Going live earlier means value is captured sooner, and each release feels like an upgrade — not a re-implementation.

Steps 1 & 2 - Provision and Pair Environments

Provisioning is performed by internal provisioning teams and is a prerequisite for everything else. This is the first action to trigger at the start of any implementation.

Do Now
Coordinate with the SAP/SmartRecruiters provisioning teams to create SmartRecruiters tenants paired with the SuccessFactors instances. Instances are paired 1-to-1; confirm the number and type (Dev/Test/Prod) matches the licensed purchase before requesting provisioning.

Future
The manual provisioning process is planned for full automation in the future, supporting SAP SPC. This will reduce setup time and eliminate manual coordination steps.

Step 3 - Configure SSO and User Sync

SSO and user sync are configured once during provisioning and then run automatically. The key implementation decision here is ensuring the right governance model is established and understood from day one.

Critical governance rule — establish this clearly from day one: It is not possible to create individual users in SmartRecruiters directly. Every user must first exist in SuccessFactors. The hourly user sync will then automatically create the corresponding SmartRecruiters account. This is non-negotiable: enforcing it from the start prevents orphaned accounts and governance issues later.

Do Now
Confirm SSO via SAP IAS is working. Run the initial user sync and validate that all SuccessFactors users with "Employee" role appear in SmartRecruiters. Ensure the SmartRecruiters Super Admin system user has been created with the correct rights.

Future
During implementation, work with SuccessFactors admins to adjust SuccessFactors Role-Based Permissions (RBP) to control which users have access to what within SuccessFactors. This governs the user access layer in the integrated environment.

Step 4 - Master Data Sync (Job and Org Fields)

This is one of the most important configuration steps. Getting it right now is what unlocks richer automation in later releases. The time invested here directly determines how much value the implementation delivers from the June 15 release onward.

What Master Data Sync does: Using the Admin Center, admins can browse SuccessFactors data types configured in the tenant — Foundation Objects, Generic Objects, and picklists — and choose to create corresponding fields in SmartRecruiters. There is no restriction on which field types can be created. The resulting SmartRecruiters fields mirror SuccessFactors names and retain parent-child relationships. Once configured, values sync hourly.

Do Now
Inventory the SuccessFactors fields/objects that need counterparts in SmartRecruiters (e.g. Department, Location, Job Title, Cost Center, Legal Entity). Configure mappings in the Master Data Sync page in SuccessFactors Admin Center. Verify the sync results in SmartRecruiters Admin after the first hourly run.

Future
The June 15 release adds the ability to create multiple SmartRecruiters fields from a single SuccessFactors data type, with the ability to assign custom names to each. This is useful when you need several SmartRecruiters fields backed by the same SuccessFactors picklist but serving different purposes.

Step 5 - Configure SmartRecruiters User Permissions

After user sync, all SuccessFactors users land in SmartRecruiters with the default "Employee" role. SmartRecruiters admins then configure the correct permission levels within SmartRecruiters independently - permissions are not synced between systems.

Do Now
Configure SmartRecruiters user permissions for each role type: recruiters, hiring managers, admins, and read-only users. This is done in SmartRecruiters admin settings - it is independent of SuccessFactors Role-Based Permissions.

Ongoing
The SmartRecruiters Super Admin can adjust user permissions in SmartRecruiters at any time. As the organisation grows or roles change, updates are made in SmartRecruiters (for SmartRecruiters permissions) and in SuccessFactors (for SuccessFactors access and user sync).

Future
Bulk update of user permissions in SmartRecruiters is on the roadmap for Q3 2026. This capability has been intentionally blocked in early releases as a guardrail, since users are externally managed via SuccessFactors, and bulk editing was restricted to prevent accidental modification of personal data. When bulk support is released, it will only allow updating permissions and access groups in SmartRecruiters; user personal data (name, email, etc.) will remain locked and manageable only through SuccessFactors.

Step 6 - Unified User Experience

The unified shell is configured during provisioning. The implementation team's role here is to ensure users are briefed on the navigation model before go-live.

Do Now
Confirm SmartRecruiters appears in the SuccessFactors home page module picker. Confirm SuccessFactors portfolio links are accessible from within SmartRecruiters. Validate that clicking the SAP/brand logo returns the user to the SuccessFactors home. Include this in user training.

Future
The Integration Hub provides a dedicated home for integrations within the platform - a centralised place for admins to access and manage integration configuration. Integration Hub v2 (Q3+) will add enhanced UX and expanded capabilities.

Step 7 - Position-led Recruiting

Create SmartRecruiters Jobs from Position Management that are linked to approved Positions, with pre-population of data from position to job. This is the clearest example of the iterative approach in action — the integration can go live on this flow today, then incrementally unlock richer automation as each release lands, with no need to redo earlier work.

How this capability grows across releases

Today, a Job can be created from a Position with ID and Title linkage, but job data must be completed manually. With June 15, configurable field mappings will allow position data to pre-populate job fields — significantly reducing manual input. Later releases add further lifecycle automation.

Do Now

Enable job creation from Position:

Users can open a Position in SuccessFactors and select "Create SmartRecruiters Job" from the context menu. A Draft job is created in SmartRecruiters pre-filled with Position ID and Title. The user is redirected to the Edit Job flow to complete remaining fields manually.

Set up the Master Data Sync field foundation:

This is the critical pre-work for June 15. For every Position field to be pre-populated into Job fields later, ensure the corresponding SmartRecruiters Job field already exists, created via Master Data Sync with the matching data type (same picklist, same object type).

Future

Configure the Position-to-Job field mappings:

After the June 15 release, open the new Position-to-Job Mapping page in SuccessFactors Admin Center. For each SuccessFactors Position field, select the corresponding SmartRecruiters Job field with the matching data type. These mappings define what gets pre-populated when a job is created from a position.

Test in sandbox, then enable in production:

After configuring mappings in the test environment, run end-to-end: create a Position → verify the SmartRecruiters Draft Job has correct pre-filled values → hire a candidate → verify the EC/Onboarding entry. This sandbox test is recommended but not mandatory. After validation, replicate the configuration in production and announce the change to recruiters and hiring managers.

Steps 8 & 9 - Onboarding and Hire-to-employee

The hire handoff is available now and transfers core candidate data to EC automatically. Later releases expand how much data is pre-filled and add status visibility and internal hire handling.

Routing logic: EC vs. Onboarding: If SAP Onboarding 2.0 is active: hire goes to the Onboarding Dashboard. If not active: hire goes to EC Manage Pending Hires. Confirm which modules are licensed and active before go-live. Jobs must always carry either a Position ID or a Hiring Manager ID — if neither is present, the hire transfer returns an error.

Do Now

Enable and test hire transfer: Hire a test candidate in SmartRecruiters and verify the entry appears in EC Manage Pending Hires (or Onboarding Dashboard). Confirm core fields are correctly populated: First Name, Last Name, Hire Date, Email, Application ID, Position ID, Hiring Manager ID, Legal Entity.

If you plan to transfer candidate, job, or application data to SuccessFactors EC/Onboarding using custom fields, do not create those application fields in SmartRecruiters yet. Study and identify which fields you need and which SF data types they should match, but wait until the June 15 release, which adds support for creating application fields based on SuccessFactors data types. Creating them beforehand will not allow proper mapping.

Train EC admins & build the operations runbook: EC admins will receive the hire entry in MPH and need to complete the remaining mandatory fields before confirming the pending hire. Document the process for this step, note which fields still require manual completion, as this becomes the upgrade target for June 15.

Future

Create SmartRecruiters application fields of matching SuccessFactors data types: When the June 15 release is available, use the Admin Center to create SmartRecruiters application fields that correspond to the SuccessFactors object types intended to receive data (e.g. EC employee fields). These fields must be created with the correct SuccessFactors data type before any mapping can be configured. Plan the list of fields with the HR Ops team in advance.

Configure data mapping to EC/ONB: Using the new mapping page in the SmartRecruiters Integration Hub, map SmartRecruiters data to EC/ONB target fields. This is not limited to application fields - any SmartRecruiters data can be mapped: candidate profile data, job data, and application data can all be mapped to EC/ONB objects as long as the source and target fields share the same data type or object type. Use this to maximise the data pre-filled in EC Manage Pending Hires and reduce admin manual completion effort.

Integration status tracking & retry (Q3): SmartRecruiters users will be able to see the transfer status for each hire directly in the application (empty → integration failed + error → hiring pending + SuccessFactors Employee ID → hiring complete) and retry failures. Define now who will own the monitoring integration status in SmartRecruiters — include this in the operations runbook.

Internal hire support (Q3): SmartRecruiters will automatically flag candidates who applied via the Employee Portal or internal career sites as internal hires. The flag is sent to EC/Onboarding to ensure the correct handling (no duplicate employee record creation, appropriate onboarding path). Identify environments with frequent internal hiring and plan their readiness for this feature.