Why EC-ECP Integration Breaks Down

Three Integration Challenges Every Australian HR Leader Should Recognise

Most Australian HR and payroll leaders who run SAP SuccessFactors will tell you the same thing: getting Employee Central (EC) and Employee Central Payroll (ECP) to “talk” cleanly is less about clever middleware and more about how deeply you respect time and leave data. The integration challenges are technical, yes, but they’re also about regulation, operating model, and (now) how AI-powered experiences sit on top of that stack.

Speaking as an implementation and managed-services partner, what we see on the ground is that the toughest issues cluster around three areas: building a single view of time and leave, orchestrating experiences across systems and channels (including AI assistants), and moving away from legacy configurations without losing control of compliance.

1. The first challenge: one version of time and leave truth

For Australian organisations, time and leave configuration is where theory collides with law.

SAP has steadily expanded Time Management and Time Tracking capabilities to handle local requirements. For example, SuccessFactors Time Off now supports managing accruals and deductions directly in weeks, specifically to comply with Australian legal rules for leave calculation. Balances, payouts, adjustments and terminations can all be handled in weeks, while employees continue to request in days or hours[1].

On the payroll side, that same “weeks” unit can now be replicated into the relevant SAP Payroll infotypes and tables. This is critical for things like long service leave, where Australian law expects entitlements to be calculated in weeks, not hours. Earlier, only days and hours could be pushed into Payroll; now, time accounts in weeks are fully supported, with specific mention of Australia Long Service Leave[2].

From an integration standpoint, this sounds straightforward. In practice, this is where we see three recurring failure modes:

• Different “truths” for the same entitlement. EC Time is configured in one unit, Payroll interprets in another, and reporting tools show a third view. To fix this, SAP added a Time Account Snapshot table that can be reported via Story Reports to get balances “as of” a date. But you only get that accuracy if you’ve set up snapshot calendars and secured objects correctly[3].
• Timing gaps between changes and payroll runs. Snapshots must be generated on a schedule. If HR processes job changes, leave adjustments, or holiday calendar updates outside that rhythm, you can end up reconciling by spreadsheet on cut-off day. SAP has introduced automatic recalculation for holiday calendar changes to reduce manual work, but it still relies on thoughtful configuration in Time Management Configuration[4].
• Data mapped correctly, governed poorly. SAP now lets you replicate permanent time accounts to Payroll, not just ad hoc or recurring ones, which is a big win for compliance and long-term schemes. The flip side: every additional replicated account is another potential reconciliation point between HR and Finance if ownership and data stewardship are fuzzy[5].

Layer AI on top of this, and the stakes go up. Joule and other SAP Business AI use cases for Time Management – such as asking “How many days of annual leave do I have left?” or “What’s my sick leave balance?” depend entirely on the underlying configuration and replication being accurate and timely[6].

When the conversational assistant gives one answer and the payslip another, the problem is not “AI in HR”; it’s fragmented truth.

2. The second challenge: orchestrating experiences across EC, Payroll, S/4HANA, mobile and AI

Australian employees don’t care where time is stored. They just want to submit a half-day sick leave from their phone, see the right balance, and trust that payroll will pick it up correctly. The systems behind that simple experience are anything but simple.

SAP has been pushing towards Consolidated Time Recording, especially for customers who also run SAP S/4HANA. Employees can now record both attendances and absences from the S/4HANA “My Timesheet” UI, while approvals and real-time replication push those records back into SuccessFactors. Absences created in S/4HANA – including those pending approval – are synced to EC Time so that a single profile remains the anchor[7].

At the same time, there are significant mobile enhancements:

• Clock-time users can request half-day absences (first or second half) without entering manual start and end times, both via Joule and in Mobile Time Off[8].
• Mobile Time Sheet supports copy-and-paste of time entries, flexible approval periods (2 weeks, 4 weeks, half-month), and recording in days where Time Tracking is enabled.[9]
• Geofencing for Clock In / Clock Out means employees can only record time within an approved perimeter, with geofence details showing up in the Time Sheet and admin tools for traceability.[10]

From our vantage point, the organisations that handle this well treat “time and pay” as a journey, not a project. They design a canonical employee experience first, then decide which surfaces should support it, then line up EC, ECP, S/4HANA and AI entry points behind that design. The technology stack is integrated, but the experience is orchestrated.

3. The third challenge: leaving legacy configurations behind without losing control

The last knot is less glamorous but absolutely central to Australian HR and payroll leaders: how to move off older set-ups while retaining auditability and compliance.

SAP has been very clear in its deprecation roadmap. The Accrual Recalculation Posting Method “Classic” is being phased out in favour of “No Recalculation Postings”, with a staged timeline: end of development, end of maintenance, and eventual deletion. The new approach reduces data volume, automatically cleans up duplicate accruals, and considers date changes when methods change – something Classic did not do. All Time Account Types are being migrated accordingly, and a validation check already blocks saving new types with Classic[11].

Similarly, for the US market, SAP is retiring an older time-type-based configuration for Short-Term Disability in favour of absence pay schemes and policies. While this is a US example, the principle matters for Australian customers too: SAP is converging on schemes and policies as the primary way to express complex paid leave, which aligns far better with Australian enterprise agreements and awards than one-time-type-per-policy patterns[12].

At the same time, SAP is expanding audit capabilities for Time Tracking:

• Employees can now generate a Time Sheet Change Audit Document themselves, not only admins, to see who changed what and when. This directly supports regulatory expectations such as SOX and US labour requirements, and by extension strengthens evidence for Australian internal and external audits[13].
• Time statements, which summarise recorded times, absences and valuation results, are accessible directly from S/4HANA My Timesheet, closing the loop between where employees record and where they review[14].

These shifts matter because AI-in-HR does not live in a vacuum. When executives ask, “What will successful AI adoption look like in our HR function?” the honest answer has to include clean, explainable, and well-governed time and pay data. If you are still relying on legacy accrual engines that produce opaque corrections, it is very hard to claim AI-driven HR is delivering trustworthy ROI.

From our work with clients, three practical moves help de-risk this transition:

• Treat deprecation milestones as business deadlines, not technical ones.
• Embed audit thinking into AI use cases.
• Anchor integration in product thinking.

Design, Own and Improve – Continuously

For Australian organisations, the promise of AI in HR will stand or fall on something very old-school: whether Employee Central, Employee Central Payroll and the time stack behave as one system of record. The move to weeks-based leave, richer replication into Payroll, consolidated time recording with S/4HANA, Joule use cases for time off and modern audit features are all powerful building blocks – but they only translate into business value when integration is designed, owned and continuously improved.

At YASH Technologies, we work with HR and IT leaders across Australia to reframe EC–ECP integration as a foundation for AI-ready HR: cleaning up time and leave models, rationalising entry points, and building an operating model that can absorb SAP’s rapid release cadence without destabilising payroll. If you’re weighing your next step – from deprecations to Joule use cases – we’re happy to unpack what we’re seeing in the field and co-design a roadmap that fits your reality.

[1] Support Absences in Weeks – SAP SuccessFactors Time Management 2H 2025 SAP Help Portal
[2] Replication of Employee Central Time Unit Weeks to SAP Payroll SAP Help Portal
[3] Time Account Snapshot Reportable with Story Reports SAP Help Portal
[4] Automatic Recalculation after Holiday Calendar Changes SAP Help Portal
[5] Replication of Permanent Time Accounts SAP Help Portal
[6]  Joule – View Leave Balance Enhancement SAP Help Portal
[7] Enhanced Absence Recording in Consolidated Time Recording SAP Help Portal
[8] Joule – Create Time Off Half-Day, Half-Day Absences for Clock-Time Users in Mobile Time Off SAP Help Portal+1
[9] Mobile Time Sheet Enhancements 1H/2H 2025 SAP Help Portal
[10] Geofencing for Clock Time SAP Help Portal
[11] Deprecation of Accrual Posting Method Classic SAP Help Portal
[12] Deprecation of Time Type Configuration for Short-Term Disability USA SAP Help Portal
[13] Time Sheet Change Audit Document – Employee Self-Service SAP Help Portal
[14] Enhancements to Consolidated Time Recording SAP Help Portal
• EC-ECP Integration
• SAP
• SAP SuccessFactors