Understanding enterprise structure in SAP HCM

Enterprise Structure is the legal and financial framework of a company in SAP. From an HR perspective, enterprise structure groups employees based on geographical, legal and administrative aspects. It aids in smooth HR and Payroll processes.

1. Client

   
   

Client within enterprise structure is at the highest level of hierarchy. Although the term client is indicative of a customer, it is more of a technical feature in SAP. Client is an independent unit of data. Data within one client cannot be shared with another client.

Each Client can be a representation of a company or a specific SAP Landscape environment of the company being configured. A typical SAP Landscape has Development, Quality Assurance and Production environments.

• Development is where all the configurations and customisations in SAP take place

• Quality Assurance receives the configurations and customisations done in development and engages in rigorous testing. If bugs are found, the data is taken back into development for re-working on them.

• Production receives the custom data from quality assurance, when tests end up bug free. This is where the customisations are integrated with the live system, where the actual data of the business lies.

To maintain clear data boundaries, each environment is configured as different clients. Client 100, 200 and 300 can represent the development, quality assurance and production environment of the same company. The data is moved from one environment to another using a separate system called Transport Management System (TMS)

2. Company Code

   
   

Company Code is the representation of a legally and financially independent entities within the company. Data can be shared from one company code to another. For Example Adani Power and Adani Port can be configured as company codes under Adani Group (Company).

Figure representing an Enterprise Structure

3. Personnel Area

   
   

Company code is further divided into sub units based on the location, branches or administrative units according to the company requirement. These sub units are known as personnel areas within HCM.

4. Personnel Sub Area

   
   

Personnel Area is further divided into Personnel sub area based on pay scales, work schedules etc. In the above example Personnel Area Adani Port Kerala is further divided into Kochi Port, Trivandrum Port and Admin Office. Employees in the Admin Office may have a standard 9-to-5 work schedule and a monthly salary pay out, whereas the port employees may have different shifts in the schedule and a weekly or daily wages. Personnel Sub Areas help in defining HR rules.

Typically, the unique key for Company, Company Code, Personnel Area and Sub Area are represented by four-character alphanumerical identifiers. Whereas Client is represented by a three-digit numeric key.

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