What was the starting point?
Most of the company's production employees are covered by a collective agreement. Pay and benefit rules that change with each agreement period, shift work, overtime and leave entitlements create a structure that tests payroll anew every period. The company needed a permanent support team that understood both payroll and time management and could reflect these changes in the system on time.
How does payroll support work?
Payroll is the focus of the support. During collective agreement periods, new pay and benefit rules are adapted and tested; new-year and statutory parameter changes, incentive applications under new law numbers and employer cost calculations under the R&D incentive are managed by the same team.
Retroactive payroll for backdated pay changes, retroactive calculations for departing employees, intern payments, benefits such as childcare and child allowance, and the SGK (Social Security Institution) exemption for meal card payments are also in scope. The same team also contributes to the payroll and advance processes of the international companies.
What was addressed in time management?
In time management, work focused on overtime rules, night shift and flexible working arrangements, eve-of-holiday rules and the generation of annual leave quotas. Test scenarios were prepared for the redesigned time management structure, old and new results were compared through parallel runs, and post-go-live corrections were completed by the support team.
Where does it stand today?
Payroll and time management operate under the same team's responsibility. Before support packages and system upgrades, notes are reviewed and side effects are tested; authorization roles and new workplace definitions are also handled as part of this setup.
Assessment
In manufacturing companies with collective agreements, bringing payroll and time management support under one team ensures that agreement changes are reflected consistently in both time and attendance and payroll. Planning system upgrades together with payroll testing reduces the risk of surprises in the live period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which SAP HR areas does the support cover?
Mainly payroll and time management, plus support packages, system upgrades and authorization roles.
How are collective agreement changes managed?
In each agreement period, the new pay and benefit rules are adapted in the system, tested and, where needed, applied retroactively through retroactive payroll.
Are the international companies in scope?
Yes. The same support team also contributes to the payroll and advance processes of the companies in multiple countries.