People Intelligence: The Future of Reporting

Aug 27, 2026
  • SAP
  • SuccessFactors

By Tahzabin Sarker - SAP SuccessFactors Consultant

While many organisations can report on headcount, turnover and employee records, far fewer can confidently answer strategic questions around skills shortages, future workforce risks or the impact of talent investments. This is where SAP People Intelligence is changing the landscape and therefore the conversation. 


For many years, Story Reports has been the primary reporting solution within SAP SuccessFactors. They represented a significant step forward from legacy reporting tools, providing interactive dashboards, improved visualisations and a more consistent reporting experience across the suite. However, as organisations have had to become increasingly data-driven, reporting requirements have also had to evolve beyond operational reporting into areas such as predictive analytics, workforce planning and cross-system insights. 

From operation reporting to workforce intelligence 

Traditional Story Reports are designed to report on data held within SuccessFactors and are well suited to answering operational questions such as current headcount, employee information and transactional reporting. However, many organisations want to answer more strategic questions: 

  • Are we losing critical talent in key regions? 

  • How is our pay equity changing over time? 

  • Are our learning investments improving workforce performance? 

  • What workforce risks might we face in the future? 

 

These types of questions require more than a snapshot of current data. They require historical trends, predictive capabilities and the ability to combine HR data with information from other business systems.  

Introducing a dedicated analytics layer 

People Intelligence introduces a dedicated analytics environment built alongside SuccessFactors rather than directly on top of the operational system. This approach separates transactional activity from analytical workloads, helping to improve performance while enabling richer reporting capabilities. 


The solution provides pre-built analytics content, allowing organisations to access workforce insights much more quickly than through traditional custom reporting approaches. Out-of-the-box dashboards cover areas such as: 

  • Workforce composition 

  • Workforce skills 

  • Workforce compensation 

  • Attrition forecasting 

  • Executive and manager insights 

Understand your workforce today. Plan for tomorrow. 
From workforce questions to actionable insights in seconds. 

What this means for SuccessFactors customers

The introduction of People Intelligence does not replace Story Reports. Instead, it complements them. A useful way to think about the two solutions is: 

  • Story Reports remain the preferred option for operational and transactional reporting directly within SuccessFactors. 

  • People Intelligence is designed for strategic analytics, historical trend analysis, predictive insights, AI-driven use cases and workforce planning.  


For customers, the conversation is therefore no longer just about reporting. It is about how workforce data can be transformed into actionable business intelligence. As organisations continue to focus on skills, talent retention, workforce planning and productivity, People Intelligence provides a platform that helps HR move beyond reporting on the business and towards helping shape its future. 

Beyond technology: turning insights into action

At delaware, we've seen many organisations invest heavily in reporting tools only to find that the real challenge lies in interpreting the data and turning insight into action. People Intelligence provides powerful analytics capabilities, but the greatest value comes from aligning workforce data with business objectives. Whether that's improving retention, supporting skills-based workforce planning, driving pay equity initiatives or enabling more effective succession planning, success requires a combination of technology, HR expertise and a clear people strategy.

Where we are seeing demand 

Some of the most common conversations we're having with clients include: 

  • Identifying future skills gaps and workforce shortages. 

  • Understanding the drivers behind employee attrition. 

  • Monitoring diversity, equity and inclusion trends. 

  • Connecting learning investments to workforce performance. 

  • Providing executives with a single source of workforce intelligence across multiple systems. 


These are not simply reporting requirements.  They are business challenges that require a modern people analytics approach. If Reporting tells you what happened, then People Intelligence helps you understand why it happened and what to do next. 

What's next:

As organisations continue to focus on skills, talent retention, workforce planning and productivity, People Intelligence offers an opportunity to transform workforce data into strategic business insight. An experienced partner should combine deep SuccessFactors implementation experience with practical HR transformation expertise, helping you  move beyond report creation towards measurable business outcomes. 


If you're currently relying on traditional reporting and want to understand how People Intelligence could support your workforce strategy, delaware can help. Our SuccessFactors and HR transformation specialists can assess your current reporting landscape, identify opportunities for improvement and help you build a roadmap towards more intelligent workforce decision-making. 


Get in touch with our team to explore what's possible with SAP People Intelligence. 

Are you interested in understanding how delaware could support you with similar initiatives?