SCN Contributor Reputation Program FAQ

What is the SCN Reputation Program?

Your contributions are a vital part of the SAP Community Network. To reward our members, we've introduced extensive game mechanics to the SCN Reputation Program which award points, levels, badges and leaderboard positioning. Community members earn points when they contribute content and additional points when the community provides feedback and recognizes good quality content. Points are also awarded when members complete missions, and for other types of contributions such as participating in events or being recognized by community managers and moderators. Refer to our document on how to Build Your Reputation on SCN.

How are points assigned on SCN?

Points are assigned automatically to the author for each contribution such as a document, a community blog post or a wiki contribution. Community members also have the opportunity to award extra points for content they feel is high-quality and useful, with mechanisms such as “likes” and high ratings. In discussions, the original poster may mark answers provided by the community as Helpful or Correct. Additional points may be awarded at the discretion of community managers for certain community activities and achievements.

Activities and contributions made on SCN may reward community members with a badge and points when a mission is completed. See below for more information about missions and badges.

How many points do I earn for my contributions?

Note that blog posts created in your own user profile (personal blogs) do not earn any contribution nor feedback points. However, you can move your personal blogs to relevant topic spaces where they can start earning feedback points.

(Note: SCN Management reserves the right to modify point values at any time.)

What are levels?

As you participate and contribute on SCN, you will accumulate points that count toward lifetime points. All members are awarded a level status based on lifetime points.

What is a mission?

A mission is an assignment of one or more activities that can be completed to earn points and badges. These activities include:

• Actions such as log-ins, updating your profile, viewing important content, etc.
• Content contributions, such as a blog post, a document,, a helpful or correct answer
• Feedback received or provided, for example: your blog post is Liked, you rate a good document

Completion of a mission can result in points with a badge, points only, or a badge only. Examples of missions include the “I Was Here” mission, the “I Blogged!” mission, the “Answer Hero Plus” mission, and many more.

What are the requirements to complete a mission?

Mission requirements are displayed when you “flip” or click on the gear image that shows when you hover over each mission in the Reputation tab.

The requirements for each mission differ and become more challenging as you continue to earn them. Missions can also be completed more than once (these are known as repeatable missions). In the case of repeatable missions, you continue accruing the mission points whenever you complete the mission an additional time. Your completion bar shows 100% the first time you complete the mission, then it starts over from 0% again and never reaches 100% again since you can repeat the mission indefinitely.

What is a badge?

Badges are icons that are earned as missions are completed. In your user profile Bio tab you can see badges earned as well as badges greyed out, yet to be earned. When you hover over a badge you can see the name of the mission.
Your user profile reputation tab allows you make your 3 favorite badges visible to the community in the “Me in Three” section. These are badges that show in your hover card when other members hover over your name on SCN.

What are leaderboards?

Leaderboards display the top contributors in every space based on 12-month (rolling points). This means that every day your number of points in a space is calculated and displayed in the leaderboard depending on the points you received in the past 12 months. However, the About SCN space is an exception; it displays an SCN-wide leaderboard with lifetime points and the top 20 contributors.

What is a Topic Leader, and does it differ from someone who appears in a 12-month leaderboard?

A Topic Leader is a member who is among the three leading contributors in a topic space on SCN, at the end of a 12-month contest period. The contest period starts each year on August 1and ends on July31. Topic Leaders receive additional recognition at events such as SAP TechEd conferences. More information about this program will be made available mid-2013. Someone who appears in a 12-month leaderboard is recognized for being a top contributor in this area, based on 12 month rolling points.

How do I know my current status in the SCN Reputation Program?

On every page on SCN, next to your name (when you are logged in), your lifetime points are displayed. Clicking on these points displayed opens a window that is a summary of your achievements, easily available to you when you navigate SCN.

You can find more information about your status in your user profile, the Bio tab gives you a summary of your achievements such as lifetime points and lifetime point level, and badges earned.

The Reputation tab is where the most detailed information about your reputation is displayed. Across the top of this tab you will see your achievement bar, which displays your points, level and badge information along with a recent activity feed.

In the achievement bar, you can also choose (using the Me-in-3 feature) which 3 of your earned badges should be displayed on your hover card, thus displaying the badges that you are most proud of.

On the left hand side of the Reputation tab you can also access the following pages:

• History page, which displays all points earned, as part of a mission completed, over the last 6 months
  
  
• Missions page, which displays the missions you have completed and earned badges for, a progression of the badges you are in the process of completing and who has recently completed these missions. When you hover a mission tile, a gear button appears, and clicking on it flips the tile to reveal the requirements needed to complete the mission.
  
  
• Expertise page, which displays the spaces where you have participated (participation means writing content, such as blog posts, documents, comments, and replies in discussion threads). Your lifetime points in the topic spaces in question are displayed, as well as any badge that you may have earned by completing missions specifically designed for this space. (Please note that at the time of gamification launch in April 2013 there are no space-specific missions available yet.) Also, your point history in the space is displayed on the flip side of the space tile; you can access it by hovering over the space tile and clicking on the gear button.
  
  
• Ranking page, which displays your rank across all of SCN, as well as your rank amongst your SCN connections (people you are following and people who follow you).

I have multiple user IDs on SCN, is it possible to consolidate my IDs and my points?

We currently do not have functionality to merge or consolidate SCN user IDs. Please check in regularly to find out when this functionality will be available.

Experienced User Questions

What changed with SCN? It looks different. 

SCN has enhanced the reputation system with a new gamification system. Please refer to Chip Rodgers’ blog post to learn about the new system. Link:http://scn.sap.com/community/about/blog/2013/04/28/we-re-live-with-scn-gamification-scngameon

Why did my point quantity change next to my name at the top of the page?

The points that appear in the masthead or top of the page are now displaying lifetime points instead of the12 month rolling points. These points formerly displayed the points you acquired over the past 12 months, but now display your lifetime points.

Why has my level changed?

The new gamification system has incorporated more levels to the reputation program.

All members are awarded a level status based on lifetime points.

Where did my active contributor status go?

The active contributor levels are replaced by site wide lifetime point levels. These ten new levels are now managed by the new gamification platform that was introduced in April 2013.

What happened to the top participant list?

The top participants widget has been replaced with leaderboards.

Leaderboards display the top contributors in every space based on 12-month rolling points.  This means that every day, your number of points in a space are calculated and displayed in the leaderboard depending on the points you received in the past 12 months. However, the About SCN space is an exception; it displays an SCN-wide leaderboard with lifetime points and the top 20 contributors.

Why am I not showing in a leaderboard?

Leaderboards display the members who have earned the highest amount of points in specific topic areas over the past 12 rolling months.  If you want to appear on the leaderboard, you must be one of the most active contributors with the highest amount of points earned in that particular space.

If you are very active in a space, it doesn’t mean that all your points go into the space. When you complete a mission, the system determines where the points go to by identifying where the last action that got the mission completed happened. It can be easily defined when a mission is simple: publish a blog post. In that case, the points go to the space where the blog post was published. But if a mission is more complex and involves feedback from others, or viewing content somewhere, the last action could be in a space that you would not have expected. 

Why is a space showing in my “expertise” area (Reputation Tab) when I did not contribute?

This is a result from participating in a space even if you don’t earn points by doing so.  Also, you may be earning points in spaces because you complete a mission in that space. Certain mission points go to the space where you completed the last requirement that resulted in completing the mission.

Why do I have “expertise” showing in spaces where I have zero points?

This is a result from participating in a space such as leaving a comment. You may be participating in a space but not earning points. For example, we don’t give points for writing a comment.

Why can't I complete a mission after finishing the requirement specified?

The requirements are only taken into consideration in topic spaces. Actions taken in personal blogs do not count toward mission completion.

How does the system suggest the new missions to me? What is the reasoning behind that?

The system tracks your activities in SCN and checks how likely you are to complete a new mission. It suggests a mission that you can take and complete based on your past activities.

How do I earn a badge?

Badges are earned once you have completed missions that award badges. In your user profile bio tab you can see badges earned as well as badges greyed out, yet to be earned. Go to your profile reputation tab to see details about missions and badges.

What is a badge?

Badges are icons that are earned as missions are completed. In your user profile Bio tab you can see badges earned as well as badges greyed out, yet to be earned. When you hover over a badge you can see the name of the mission. Your user profile reputation tab allows you to select your 3 favorite badges and make them visible to the community in the “Me in Three” section. These are badges that show in your hover card when other members hover over your name on SCN.

Why aren’t my points appearing immediately?

If you do not see your points appear it may be because your post is in pre-moderation.

In order to prevent abuse and spam, SCN automatically moderates new members. Content will not be published until a moderator grants approval.

Is there a limit on the number of badges that I can earn?

No. There is no limit on acquiring badges.

How do I change my hover card badges?

Go to your user profile, then reputation tab and hover over your badges displayed in the achievement bar at the top. Here you can make your 3 favorite badges visible to the community in the “Me in Three” section. These are the badges that show in the card that opens when other members hover over your name on SCN.

Why are some of my badges missing in the reputation tab achievement bar?

If you do not see all of your badges displayed, they are appearing in the “Me in Three” section of the achievement bar at the top of your page. These are the badges that show in the card that opens when other members hover over your name on SCN.

How far back does my point history go?

The past six months of your point history is displayed in your profile’s reputation tab under history.

Where did the wiki point request button go?

The wiki point request button has been discontinued. We are no longer manually assigning points for wiki contributions. Please read Moshe Naveh’s blog for more information. Link: SCN Wiki points allocation changes

I have a URL to someone’s reputation tab from SCN, but it no longer works.

Reputation link URL’s have changed with the new gamification system. Please go to the user profile reputation tab to obtain the new link.

What missions can I complete on SCN, is there a list?

The SCN site-wide missions that will launch with gamification are listed here.

Note that some missions are "progression missions", meaning you have to earn "prerequisite missions" before you can see them or earn them. Additionally, some missions have a certain Level requirement, for example you must have attained Bronze level or Gold level to be eligible to earn those missions.

Also, some missions are hidden until earned. These are "surprise" missions that you will not realize you are completing--you cannot follow the progress you have made towards earning those missions. We trust you will be happy when you find that you've earned one!