SPOCK – the Building Block of OM

We will cover the following topics:

• The basic concepts of OM (Organization Management).

• Creating an organizational structure.
• Integrating OM with Personnel Administration.

The concepts of Organization Management

The building blocks of OM are SPOCK. They are described as follows:

S: This stands for Position (for example, HR Manager, Marketing Director, and so on)

P: This stands for Person

O: This stands for Organizational unit (also known as Org unit; it represents the department in a
company)

C: This stands for Job (for example, manager, director, and so on)

K: This stands for Cost Center

An organizational structure is a functional structure. It simply represents the departmental

hierarchy in a company. It identifies each Job, Position, its functions, and where it reports to within the
organization. The following table is an example of an organizational structure:
Basic relationships between organizational objects

The relationships in organizational management are mostly similar to a parent-child

structure in two ways. A Position can belong to an organizational unit, and inversely, can be
incorporated by an organizational unit. A indicates the bottom-up approach, while B indicates
the top-down approach:

It is important to note that Cost Center is always one sided unlike other object types that can
have both A and B. It can be mapped either to an Org unit or to a Position, depending on the
business requirement.

Creating an organizational structure with different interfaces

Organization and Staffing

The Organization and Staffing method of building organizational structure is delivered by
SAP in a scenario where the company does not have an HR module, but the organizational
structure is needed for the purpose of other modules, for example, workflow requirements.
Using this method, the organization objects can be moved using the drag-and-drop approach.
Also, we can add some extra attributes to the organizational objects.
To work in this module, you have to navigate to SAP Easy Access | Organizational
Management | Organizational Plan | Organization and Staffing | PPOCE - Create.
The following screenshot demonstrates the navigation path:
When you use the PPOCE - Create T-code, it prompts you to enter the start date and end date,
as seen in the following screenshot. It is recommended that you have the start date as
backdated as possible, say 01/01/1900, for instance.
The relationship between an Org unit and Position

The relationship between Position and Job

We will use the PPOME T-code again, to use this interface via the SAP Easy Access
screen. Click on Edit and select Create Job. When the Create Job window opens, enter the
required fields, as shown in the following screenshot. You can create the required jobs and click
on Enter. The jobs are saved, and we can assign them to positions by selecting the jobs that
you have created for the positions.
Simple Maintenance

The Simple Maintenance method, an older method of maintaining an organizational structure, is

used to build an organizational structure and assign Cost Center in an easy way on one screen itself. This
method is recommended to build an organizational structure manually, in a scenario where the company
has few employees. In this method, you can view the organizational structure without having to navigate
much too different screens.

This method can be accessed via SAP Easy Access by navigating to SAP Menu | Human
Resources | Organizational Management | Expert Mode | Simple Maintenance | PPOC_OLD –
Create.
We can map the Cost Center to the Org units or Positions by navigating to Goto | Account Assignment
and then clicking on the Master cost center… tab, as shown in the following two screenshots:
Creating a Cost Center
The Cost Center is an external object; it is created by a Finance (FI) consultant and serves as an
integration point between HCM-FI modules. The Cost Center is essentially used for expense classification
to know the breakup of costs according to General Ledger (G/L).

Though Cost Center belongs to the FI module, it is useful to know the navigation path. To access
the Cost Center, navigate to SAP Easy Access | SAP Menu |Accounting | Controlling | Cost center
accounting | Master Data | Cost Center | Individual Processing | KS01 - Create), as shown in the
following screenshot:

The following screenshot shows the Create Cost Center window that allows you to enter the Cost Center
name and the validity period:
The Expert Mode
The next interface that we will learn to use is PP01 - General. Using it, we can create any of the
object types such as O, S, C, and K. Using this method, we can maintain any type of attribute to
any of the organizational objects. If any organizational structure needs to be built using
uploaded programs, especially for large companies, the uploaded programs can use the expert
method of building an organizational structure.
The Expert Mode can be accessed by navigating to SAP Easy Access | SAP Menu|
Organizational Management | Expert Mode | PP01 - General, as shown in the following
screenshot:

Creating an organizational unit object in the Expert Mode

The object type and its relationships are created using the Expert Mode interface. This
interface is convenient to work with if we are familiar with the object types and the relationships
between them. It is normally used by functional consultants. The following screenshot shows a
demonstration of the process of object creation:
Configuring the table
For the table configuration steps, the Data Browser screen needs to be used. Then, enter the
table name (for example, hrp1000), as seen in the following screenshot:

The relationship between objects is always two-sided such as A/B, where A is the bottom-up
approach and B is the top-down approach. The relationship with Cost Center is always one side; it is
represented by A011. The relationship between object types is maintained in the HRP1001 table. This
can be seen in the following screenshot:

The permitted relationships are stored in the T777E table. The OOVK T-code gives us the
completed view of the Relationship between Objects. We can check using the SM30 or SM31 T-code, as
seen in the following screenshot:
 Using the SM30 or SM31 T-code, the Allowed Relationships window appears as shown in the
following screenshot:

Integrating Organization Management with Personnel Administration

The dataflow between the Organizational Management and Personnel Administration sub
modules is controlled via a system table.

Integration switches
A system table can be accessed via multiple ways, directly via SPRO, T-code, or via table
maintenance. We will explore all the methods in detail.
 First, we will access a system table by navigating to SPRO | Personnel Management|
Organizational Management | Integration | Integration with Personnel Administration | Set up Integration
with Personnel Administration. The navigation path is shown in the following screenshot:

We can access the system table via the OOPS T-code as well, as shown in the following
screenshot:
Example

A person is to be transferred from the position "Controlling administrator" to the position "Manager
of controlling". As soon as this transfer has taken place in Organizational Management, the corresponding
changes are made in the "Organizational assignment" infotype (0001) in Personnel Administration.

A person can also be transferred between positions in Personnel Administration using the
personnel action "Organizational Change". The relevant changes will then be made in Organizational
Management.

Data Transfer Tools

There are standard data transfer reports provided by SAP; these reports facilitate the transfer of
objects between the OM and PA sub modules. They help the PA and OM sub modules to be in sync after
they are executed. The reports can be accessed via the SE38 or SA38 T-code, which opens the ABAP
Editor window wherein you can enter the Program T-code as shown in the following screenshot:
RHINTE Reports
The RHINTE00, RHINTE10, RHINTE20, and RHINTE30 tools facilitate data transfer from OM to
PA and vice versa. Let’s explore RHINTE00 with a scenario. Say, we have uploaded Master in the
Personnel Administration side, and we see the Org data in the 0001 infotype. However, we don't find the
Position and Person mapping in the OM side. In this case, we will make use of RHINTE00, which opens
the following window after it is executed.
The purpose of the OM tool
The RHINTECHECK tool is a very useful tool to use to check inconsistencies in integration. The
missing object type and its relationship, if any, are highlighted, and it allows the consultant to check the
configuration settings.
 All the reports have the standard documentation maintained to explain the report purpose. We
can see them by clicking on the Documentation checkbox and then on the Display button.