Given its useful functionality and relatively low cost, SAP Manager’s Desktop is surprisingly often neglected, perhaps because its documentation is meager and sometimes irritating. Many companies don’t want to use it because its technology and its look and feel are considered old-fashioned. That’s certainly true.

However, as long as a portal-based Manager Self-Service (MSS) is not available, the Manager’s Desktop is still a fine alternative. Like MSS, Manager’s Desktop allows managers to access employees, positions, organizational units, and cost centers for which they are responsible via a single point of entry. The fact that it doesn’t use the latest Web technology often results in lower costs and fewer problems. You may find that it could pay off to use Manager’s Desktop as an interim solution until SAP Enterprise Portal and MSS are available in your organization.

I will explain the basic concepts and structure of Manager’s Desktop and describe a straightforward implementation from scratch. The second part of this series deals with advanced configuration and special tips and tricks.

User Interface: Overview

You should be able to find the basic configuration for the Manager’s Desktop in your system because it comes standard delivered with SAP R/3 or mySAP ERP. You find the initial screen shown in Figure 1 via the SAP menu path Human Resources > Manager’s Desktop. This screen shows a selection of categories that provide methods for structuring the content of Manager’s Desktop. You can configure it according to your organization’s needs. Because you can switch among categories without using the initial screen, most users hide it using the check box Skip initial screen.

Figure 1

Initial screen for configuring Manager’s Desktop

By choosing a category, for example, Personal Data, you get to the Manager’s Desktop screen (Figure 2). The screen has two main areas. On the left are the available functions (in most cases reports). If you don’t see any functions, check your authorizations. You need the authorization object S_MWB_FCOD for test purposes, preferably with an asterisk, which means that you can execute any function code within Manager’s Desktop as long as it is included in your scenario. On the right side of Figure 2 is the available part of the organizational structure, including the employees, to which you can apply the functions from the left side.

Figure 2

Overview of Manager’s Desktop screen

Generally, the right side of Figure 2 shows the organizational units and employees the user is managing, although you can apply other rules via customizing. If you cannot see a structure, refer to the sidebar, “Prerequisites for a Manager to See His or Her Department.”

A third area above the two main areas in Figure 2 holds the buttons to switch among the categories. You choose one or more objects from the right side (such as employees or organizational units) and apply a function such as a report from the left side. You do this via drag and drop (drop the objects on to the function) or by highlighting the objects and then clicking on the function.

The bulk of the functions provided via Manager’s Desktop are for informational purposes. For example, a manager can easily create a birthday list of all his or her employees or show the time statement of an individual employee. However, more organizations are asking their managers to maintain data such as appraisals or compensation details for their own employees directly rather than sending an email to the HR department. In this case, the use of Manager’s Desktop requires some training to learn about the effects that changing the data may have. This is especially true for organizational changes, which only a very few companies allow to be performed in Manager’s Desktop.

Terminology and Structure

To tailor Manager’s Desktop to your own requirements, you need to understand its basic structure as used in customizing and know some terms. The catalog of functions (Figure 3) is built from function codes. While some of them are merely nodes meant to structure the variety of functions (such as Education and training), others are executable. These executable function codes may require one or more objects as input. For example, Attendance bookings need employees or organizational units to run a report. Other function codes may work on their own and can call a URL without any further input.

Figure 3

List of functions

The topmost function code represents the category, thus making sure that each category shows its specific function catalog. You need to keep this in mind when dealing with the customizing of function codes.

The three tab strips shown on the right side of Figure 2 are called views. These views each show a specific part of the organizational structure (or any other structure that you can maintain in SAP HR using objects and relationships). Which views are available is determined in the customizing process. Each view is specified by:

• Root objects — the organizational units the user is assigned to as a manager
• Evaluation path to decide which objects are shown starting from the root objects
• Information shown in the columns on the right side of the structure (such as ID, Code, and Valid from)

So far I have explained the basic structure of Manager’s Desktop; categories represent a set of function codes and a set of views. However, this does not yet allow you to design Manager’s Desktop according to different requirements for different target groups. For example, a team supervisor (or a secretary) should get different reports than the manager of a business unit. Generally, the former is interested more in operational data including information about individual employees (such as time sheets) while the latter needs high-level key figures (such as head count per department).

You achieve this by assigning a scenario. Each scenario can have its own set of function codes and views and thus you can tailor it to its particular target group. You have three ways to assign a user to a scenario:

• Maintain the user parameter MWB_SCEN using transaction SU01 or SU3.
• If that user parameter is not maintained, the default scenario is chosen according to the entry MANAGER’S DESKTOP — SCEN in table T77S0.
• If neither of those two choices is maintained, standard SAP systems use MWB1 as the default scenario.

I encourage you to use different scenarios but in moderation. You can make minor adjustments to function codes more easily via the authorizations assigned to each user. The authorization object S_MWB_FCODE controls which function codes are available for a user. The function codes for which a user isn’t authorized are not shown in the function catalog.

Figure 4 represents a summary of the structure of Manager’s Desktop. When starting with the customizing, you should keep this diagram in mind.

Figure 4

Basic structure of Manager’s Desktop

Build a Scenario

To build a scenario, go to customizing for Manager’s Desktop in the IMG using menu path Personnel Management > Manager’s Desktop. While I will not explain every point in the IMG, I’m going to show you how to build a basic structure for your custom Manager’s Desktop. I’ll deal with some of the settings I skip here in the second part of this series. The menu path descriptions and screenprints are from a mySAP ERP 2004 system. They are nearly identical to earlier versions starting with Release 4.6C.

To create your own scenario, use the menu path Customer adjustment > Define scenario-specific settings > Define application scenarios. Choose the entry MWB1, the SAP default scenario. Copy it to get your own scenario, say, ZWB1. The settings for the scenario are shown in Figure 5. I recommend that you check the box Reorganization not permitted unless you want to allow the line managers to change the organizational structure (with all its possibly devastating consequences for payroll and other processes).

Figure 5

Create a scenario

The most important setting in this step is choosing the evaluation path. This is the first of two evaluation paths to choose when setting up Manager’s Desktop and both of them are crucial. This path determines which organizational units (or maybe other objects) are selected as root objects for the structure presented to the user on the right side of the screen. The obvious choice would be to select the organizational units the user is assigned to as a manager. This is exactly what the evaluation path SAP_MANG, the SAP default setting, does. I recommend you use it for your first attempt. However, you then can experiment with other paths. The standard path ORGASS, for instance, would allow each employee to get the same view as if he were the manager of the department to which he is assigned.

If you assign this scenario to your user (via user parameter MWB_SCWN) and try to access Manager’s Desktop, you receive an error message due to missing categories. Building categories is the next step.

Create Custom Function Codes

You have to create function codes to get categories. Use the menu path Enhancement of function codes > Define function codes > Define Function Codes for Manager’s Desktop and select New entry. A category is a function code with the type HOME. As shown in Figure 6, you only have to define a code (beginning with Z or Y), a text description, and the type. Together with the nodes, the categories are the easiest function codes to define.

Figure 6

Create a category

As the scenario is not a key field in this table, you can use any function code in any scenario. To make the assignment, use the very last point in the Manager’s Desktop IMG: Define structure of function codes and there choose Define Function Code Hierarchies. This table defines which other function codes are assigned to each function code as children — meaning subordinate nodes in the function catalog on the left side of the Manager’s Desktop screen. Generally, only categories and nodes can have children. As a category always represents the top node of the catalog, it has no parent. Figure 7 shows how your entry to assign a category to a scenario must look.

Figure 7

Assign a category to a scenario

You are not able to access Manager’s Desktop until your category contains real functions. To achieve this, assign any executable function code as a child node to the new category, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8

Assign child node to parent node

Now you can access Manager’s Desktop and see the first results of your work. Figure 9 shows that you have created one category, Employee data, with one executable function, Ad Hoc Query. Because you have not defined views yet, the right side of the screen is blank.

Figure 9

First category without any views

The next step is to create more function codes. Do this in the same way as you did with the category. Let’s focus here on the most often used types of function codes that work within HR. You should create at least two function codes of the following types:

• NODE: This type gives your set of function codes a structure (Figure 10).

Figure 10

Create a node

• REPO: To execute a report, the function code must include the name of the report (Figure 11). In most cases it also makes sense to include the name of the variant with which the report starts (the selection screen of the report will not be shown). I recommend that you name these variants in a way that lets everyone knows they are used in Manager’s Desktop and that they therefore should not change them for other purposes. Be sure to check the box labeled Organizational structure based. Without this flag, you are not able to start any function code using the organizational structure displayed on the right side of the screen. Any function code of the type REPO should always have this flag set.

Figure 11

Create a report-based function code

• URL: This function code opens your Web browser with the defined URL in a new window (Figure 12). It is useful to include any documentation from your intranet or from the Internet that might help Manager’s Desktop users (such as the Manager’s Desktop user guide).

Figure 12

Create a URL-based function code

Other types of function codes are available. Some have a specific use (such as INBX for the workflow inbox). Others require either custom ABAP programming or a predefined content from SAP (such as FUNC for a function module). With the types described above, you can build a useful function catalog. If you experiment with the other types, I recommend that you copy some of the SAP defaults from the scenario MWB1. I will cover some of them in the second part of this article.

To make the new function codes available in your category, you need the customizing view Define structure of function codes. As shown in Figure 8, assign your newly created nodes as children to your category and then assign each of your executable function codes as children to one of your nodes. Remember to do all this within your own scenario. When you start Manager’s Desktop now, the function catalog should look similar to the one shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13

Category with custom function catalog

Now that you are familiar with the basics of function codes, I’ll give you some tips for the use of variants in your function codes:

• You shouldn’t select any personnel numbers in your variants, because that’s what Manager’s Desktop (based on the organizational structure on the right side of Figure 2) is supposed to do.
• You may select a period of time in your variant. In this case, the result of a report coincides with the time period in your variant. If you leave this open, it is filled according to the time period the user enters in Manager’s Desktop (Figure 14).

Figure 14

Selection of time period

• For reports that are often used for specific time periods, I recommend you provide function codes with variants, such as current month, last month, and free time selection. This improves usability, especially for managers who are not used to working with SAP software.

Design Your Own Views

The last step to make your custom Manager’s Desktop design work is to assign a view. A view is characterized by an evaluation path and a column layout (assigned via a column group). I’m focusing on the evaluation path and working with existing column groups only.

The most common views are:

• All subordinate employees
• Directly subordinate employees (employees directly assigned to the same organizational unit as the manager using Manager’s Desktop)
• Directly reporting employees (the directly subordinate employees and the managers of the directly subordinate organizational units)

The evaluation paths MANAGER’S DESKTOPSBESX, MANAGER’S DESKTOPSBES, and MANAGER’S DESKTOPDIREC, respectively, represent these views.

To create the first view for your custom scenario, use the IMG path Customer adjustment>Determine views of organizational structure>Determine views (Evaluation paths). I suggest that you not bother with the four last columns of this customizing view at first and simply copy them from the SAP default entries. Select the entry MWB1 – MANAGER’S DESKTOPSBESX and copy it to your own scenario ZWB1, as shown in Figure 15. You see a warning because this evaluation path is within the SAP namespace. This should be fine, because you are using your own scenario. However, to be safe, you could copy the evaluation path to get it into the customer namespace starting with Z.

Figure 15

Copy the view to your own scenario

To experiment with another example, I suggest you create a second view (as a copy of your first one) within scenario ZWB1 based on the standard evaluation path O-S-AP (including organizational units, positions and applicants). Name it All applicants. This view shows applicants along the organizational structure. This example may seem a bit misplaced within the context of the employee data I am using as an example, but it demonstrates the power of the concept. Just by choosing another evaluation path, you get a completely different functionality. In a real Manager’s Desktop implementation, you would include this view in a different category tailored to recruitment purposes.

The final step is the assignment of the defined views to your category. Follow the menu path Customer adjustment > Determine views per category>Composite Definition of Views (Evaluation Paths) and create two new entries, as shown in Figure 16. Note that the column header Function code actually means category, which is a special function code with the type HOME. Having done this your Manager’s Desktop should resemble what you see in Figure 17.

Figure 16

Assign views to your category

Figure 17

Manager’s Desktop with one category and two views completed

As you can see, the position Director, HR Initiatives is vacant, while Manager’s Desktop shows the employees for the other positions. If you choose the view All applicants, it is the other way around. The vacant position shows two applicants, with no applications for the other positions (Figure 18). You need a vacancy assignment for this position in the recruitment module to get this effect.

Figure 18

Applicants in Manager’s Desktop

The information presented in the various columns in your views may still not satisfy your requirements. Through the concept of views and column groups, you also can change the information. I will explain this advanced technique in part 2 of this series, as well as some techniques, tips, and tricks to make Manager’s Desktop more user friendly for managers and other groups of users.

Sidebar: Prerequisites for a Manager to See His or Her Department
Manager’s Desktop relies on the organizational management to know who is the manager of each unit and how the organization is structured. Moreover, it must be clear which employee is represented by the user currently logged on to the system. For a manager to see his or her department, you must maintain the following data in the personnel master data and organizational management structure:

• The user name must be maintained in infotype 0105 (subtype 0001) of the employee representing the user.

• The employee must be assigned to a position.

• This position must be marked as the manager’s position of the respective department.

• All subordinate organizational unites must be assigned to this department.

Sven Ringling

Sven Ringling is executive director at iProCon (www.iprocon.de) and iProCon Human Capital Management (www.iproconhcm.co.uk). He started working as an SAP HCM consultant in 1996 and also works in strategic HR and change management. He is one of the authors of the books Mastering HR Management with SAP and HR Personnel Planning and Development Using SAP.

You may contact the author at s.ringling@iproconhcm.co.uk.

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