Displaying HR Master Data (PA20)

The single screen infotype display with transaction PA20 includes the display of individual infotypes. This enables you to select only one employee and only display one infotype for them. For example, you want to look up the bank name of an employee.

Transaction PA20 Display HR Master Data only enables clerks to display master data. This means you cannot create, modify, or delete records. To do this, authorization administrators must allow transaction PA20, but can further restrict the display of security-relevant infotypes.

The successful display of infotypes takes place in five steps:

1. Choose the right transaction, such as PA20.
2. Search and select the right person, such as "Becker".
3. Search and select the right person, such as "Lars Becker".
4. Choose the right infotype, such as infotype Addresses
5. Choose the right processing options, such as display.

The layout of the PA20 provides you with an easy and user-friendly method to find, select objects in master data maintenance and display records.

The preceding figure shows the PA20 Display HR Master Data screen. The following steps are necessary to display a data record:

1. Start transaction PA20 Display
2. Search for the correct name in the search area (first quadrant) and the selection area (second quadrant), for example, Becker. If you choose the correct personnel number, you find the personnel number and some overview information in the third quadrant (work area above).
3. In the fourth quadrant (workspace below), you must select the time period. The period defines the observation period of the displayed master data records.
4. In the fourth quadrant, you must also select the desired infotype and, if necessary, subtype. In the scenario shown, Lars Becker is selected with the personnel number, 11199100, and the Addresses infotype is selected for the period 01/01/2024 to 12/31/9999.
5. The final step is to select the desired processing option, for example:
   • Display
   • Overview
   • Refresh Data

There are numerous options for working with all steps and areas, which are explained in the next section of this course.

The search help function in the work area enables you to select personnel numbers according to criteria such as last name, first name, birth date, and organizational assignment. To find the correct personnel number, you have the following three options in the search area:

• Collective Search Help
• Search Term
• Free search

To search for a personnel number using search help functionality, proceed as follows:

1. Choose one of the search options from the search area (for example, collective search help, search term, or free search).
2. Further define the type of search you want to use (for example, enter a first name, last name, or organizational unit).
3. Restrict the value range of the search (for example, to search by last name, enter the last name of the employee).
4. The hit list displays the personnel numbers that match the selection criteria you entered in the previous step (for example, if you searched by last name, the hit list includes all employees with that specific last name).
5. Double-click the name of the employee you wish to work with and their specific data is displayed in the work area.

The most popular search option is Search Term. You can search for the last name including placeholders for other characters with '*' and individual letters with '+'. You can also save and use search variants.

Another option you can use to search for employees is the Collective Search Help:

1. Choose Collective Search Help.

   A dialog box appears, displaying some elementary search helps with the following restricted value ranges:

   • N: Last name – First name
   • I: IC Number
   • C: Personnel ID Number
   • K: Organizational assignment
2. Enter your search in one of the fields available for an elementary search help. You can also make masked entries (such as only ++) or generic entries (such as M*).
3. Choose ENTER.

   The search result is displayed in the selection area. The display in the overview and detail areas remains unchanged.

In the selection area, you can decide which columns to display.

1. Choose the column configuration button in the selection area.
2. The Column Configuration dialog box appears.

   Select the columns that you want to display.

3. Confirm with the ENTER button.

Another option you can use to search for employees is Free search. The free search function uses the InfoSetQuery, which is explained in more detail in the unit on analytics.

1. Choose Free search.

   The HR Object Selection dialog box appears and is divided into two parts. In one part, you can determine which data fields are used to search for the employee. In principle, a selection of all data fields from all infotypes is possible, but this is usually limited by prefiltering in Customizing (InfoSet).

   In addition, all selected selection fields are assigned values. When the search is successful later, only employees who meet all conditions and selection values display.

2. To start the search, you must press ENTER.

   When the search is complete, the search result displays in the selection area.

Search Help can be accessed through the personnel number field or directly in the search area.

You can also use search help functionality directly from the personnel number field. You can select personnel numbers according to criteria such as last name, first name, birth date, and organizational assignment.

To search from the personnel number field, proceed as follows:

1. Position the cursor on the Personnel Number field and choose the arrow symbol or choose F4.
2. Select the type of search help you want to use. You have following options:
   • N: Last name – First name
   • C: Personnel ID Number
   • I: IC Number
   • K: Organizational assignment
   • Free Search
3. On the next screen, restrict the value range of the search.
4. The system displays a list of all the personnel numbers that match your selection criteria. Double-click the desired data record from the hit list and the specific data for the selected individual is presented.

You have some options for selecting an infotype in the PA20 screen:

1. Register cards (tabs)

   Choose the desired tab and mark the correct infotype. After selecting the ENTER key, the infotype text displays in the Infotype field.

2. Data field"Infotype"→Name

   Enter the correct name of the infotype in the Infotype data field and press ENTER. If you enter the name incompletely, there can be multiple hits and infotypes with the same character sequence. For example, the term "personal" not only has "personal data", but also "personal IDs" and other hits.

3. Data field"Infotype"→Infotype Number

   Enter the number of the infotype directly in the field Infotype and confirm with enter. Then, the text of the infotype displays. For example, if you enter the number "0002" or "2" in the Infotype data field and press ENTER, you find that the text "Personal data" displays.

4. Data field"Infotype"→F4 Search Help

   If you press the F4 selection help in the infotype field, you are shown a selection of all infotypes that are possible for this employee. The infotype numbers and names display. You can also search for infotype names.

Many infotypes have subtypes that further define the type of information stored for individuals. Subtypes of infotypes make it easier to manage information and enable you to assign different control features to different subtypes (for example time constraints).

An example of an infotype with various subtypes is the Family Member/Dependents infotype 0021:

Spouse:

• Spouse is subtype 1
• Spouse has a time constraint of 2

(Only one record of this subtype can exist at the same time)

Child:

• Child is subtype 2
• Child has a time constraint of 2

(Many records of this subtype can exist at the same time)

Essentially, the PA20 screen has two important processing options: 1. Display and 2. Overview:

1. Display

   The processing option Display is purely a display and cannot change the data record.

   If there are several data records, you can browse using the Previous/Next record button. This processing step does not trigger a locking mechanism, so that other personnel administrators can also access the information at the same time.

2. Overview

   The processing option Overview can view all data records in the past, today, and the future. This makes it possible to display the entire history of the data records for an infotype.

   There are a few things to keep in mind:

   1. When you click the Overview button, the maximum possible time period 01/01/1800 to 12/31/98999 is automatically selected for most infotypes in the SAP system. This automatically displays the entire history and thus all infotype data records.
   2. Some infotypes inherit the selected time period from the PA20 screen, so only parts of the history of the data records can be visible. You can subsequently change this to 01/01/1800 to 31712/9999 or set the time period to "ALL" before

Note: Which infotype automatically displays the maximum time period in the Overview view or not, can be set in Customizing.

PA20 – Display: Selection of the period and its effect on the display of data records

Scenario: A clerk has the following problem. The clerk is surprised that expected data records do not appear to exist in the system. He cannot see them, although he is familiar with the Overview and Display buttons. He asks himself: "Why can’t I see the records?"

Resolution and tip: It is advisable for every clerk to specify the preceding question, to read:

"Why can’t I see records for the selected time period?"

For example, the figure shows three data sets: data set 1 in the PAST, data set 2 TODAY, and data set 3 in the FUTURE. The clerk selects the period, Today, and finds only one of the three data records displays, the TODAY data record.

The clerk selects the period, All, that is, 01/01/1800 (low date) to 12/31/9999 (high date) in the period, and finds all three data sets display, the PAST, TODAY, and FUTURE data sets.

In general, considering the validity of objects and data sets is also important because connections between objects and their properties can also be time-dependent.