With release 2026.11.1, SAP SuccessFactors joins the standard integrations of Nova IAM. Nova connects SuccessFactors in two roles: as an HR source that drives joiners, movers and leavers, and as a target system in which Nova manages memberships in permission groups. SuccessFactors remains the leading HR system.
SuccessFactors as an HR source
- For joiners, movers, leavers and rehires, Nova takes over employees from SuccessFactors and starts the matching processes. A new department or a new manager also counts as a move.
- Nova synchronizes in full or only the changes since the last run. Nova always reads inactive employees as well, so that no departure goes unnoticed.
- Nova turns divisions and departments into organizational units with a head and takes over the managers, for example for approvals.
- From Employee Central, Nova reads employment data with its effective dates. Changes that have already been decided and planned departures appear in Nova as future changes, and the organization spans from legal entity to department.
- If a run reports an unusual number of leavers, Nova pulls the safety brake and holds it. An admin reviews the preview and confirms with or without the leavers, or cancels the run.
SAP HCM and SuccessFactors can be connected side by side, for example during a migration. Each identity belongs to exactly one source.
SuccessFactors as a target system
- Permission groups become entitlements in Nova. Static groups can be requested and assigned through business roles; Nova shows dynamic groups and system groups read-only.
- Every group shows which roles it receives in SuccessFactors through role-based permissions (RBP). Nova rates groups with admin rights, such as permission management, employee import or API administration, as critical.
- The account import matches existing SuccessFactors users to identities by personnel number or email address and takes over their memberships. It never creates new identities.
- Nova writes memberships in static groups via SCIM and compares target and actual state with SuccessFactors. Every change is recorded in the change journal.
- If an identity’s email address changes, Nova can write it back to SuccessFactors, with a preview. Nova writes no other HR data.
Nova does not create, lock or delete people in SuccessFactors, and it does not set passwords. You continue to maintain the groups themselves in SuccessFactors.
Sign-in with a certificate
Nova signs in via OAuth 2.0 with an X.509 certificate. On request, Nova generates the key pair and certificate itself. The private key stays encrypted in Nova, and you only register the certificate in SuccessFactors. The connection test shows how many employees are visible and whether Employee Central, SCIM and RBP are reachable.
Nova does not use basic authentication. SAP will switch it off by default for the SuccessFactors APIs during 2027 and, according to its announcement, remove it completely on 12 November 2027 (SAP Help Portal, as of June 2026).
Also in this release
- Reconciliation for all connectors: SCIM memberships no longer appear twice, and “replace” now actually removes surplus memberships.
- SAP HCM: reading raw data links via the personnel number again, and a rehire under a new personnel number works.
All changes are listed in the changelog. In a demo we show setup and processes on the system.