Introducing the Administration Course

Introducing the main functions of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Core

Assigning Permissions

Managing Foundation Data

Managing HR Data Structure

Managing Employee Records

Managing Transactions

Managing Optional Configurations

Exploring EC Reporting (Appendix)

Planning Next Steps

Importing Employee Data

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to import Employee Data in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central.

Employee import overview

Employees are added in multiple ways (for example: Add New Employee (New Hire) wizard, Manage Pending Hires, FTP, connectors, etc.). However, in this lesson, you will learn how to add employees using import. You can navigate to Import Employee Data tool by using Action Search.

Import Employee Data Tool

Business Keys

In SAP SuccessFactors, each record is identified by a unique identifier combination known as business keys.

Business Keys are typically a combination of the ID for the Person (Person ID / person_id_external) or Employment object (User ID / user_id ) potentially combined with a type of record for the entity. Finally, if the entity is effective-dated, the business key will include the start date and possibly a sequence number.

For example, the address block is part of the person object and is effective-dated. Additionally, you can have several types of addresses (home, mailing). Therefore, the unique combination of person_id_external, effective_start_date, and address_type make up the unique business keys in the Addresses template. However, the biographical information block is non-effective dated and does not have multiple entries per user, so the business key is person_id_external.

Always include the business key fields and values in your import file.

Employee Central Entity Import Permission

Using Role-Based Permissions, you can define who can perform an import at the entity level. To use this permission:

In Role-Based Permissions, enable Employee Central Import Settings→Import Employee Data.
Then grant the import permission for the selected entity in Employee Central Import Entities.

Addition of employees via import

New Employee Import Process

Changes to existing employee records can be imported as needed without regard to import sequence. For additional details about each import file, go to Employee Central Mass Changes guide in the SAP Help Portal.

Import tips

Here are some tips to prevent the import from failing. Before importing the CSV import file:

Ensure all the required fields are entered in the file. Also, confirm that the value in each column is correct/valid.
To download a new import template from Import Employee Data, confirm that the columns in your import file correspond to the import template's columns.
Verify that the field you have enabled for an HRIS-element is valid. See the Data Object Tables handbook on the SAP Help Portal to know more about field configuration.
Check that the fields are configured correctly. For example, if the field is a picklist or an object-related field, ensure that the related picklist/object is configured to the HRIS-field.
Check if the failed row has an End Date. If the End Date in the CSV file you’re importing does not correspond to the End Date value present in the system, importing the CSV file will lead to an error. While the system calculates the end dates based on the hierarchy of event start dates, you can remove this value and try importing the file again.
Make sure all the effective-dated employee records are in a single CSV file. This is applicable only when importing multiple batches in parallel.

Partial imports

Partial import is a type of incremental load where you only update certain fields in the import file. Use &&NO_OVERWRITE&& in the fields you want to remain unchanged except business key fields.

When the import process is initiated for entities that support partial import, the fields with &&NO_OVERWRITE&& will retain the values saved in the database while the empty fields are replaced by null values.

Unsupported Entities for Partial Imports

The following entities do not support partial imports:

Work Permit Info
Job relationships
Dynamic Role
Workflow

Delete Employee Data via Import

Employee data can be deleted in Incremental Load by choosing an operation type between DELETE and DELIMIT. The operation type depends on the entity you are importing.

Use DELETE for the following entities:

Compensation Information
Email Information
Emergency Contact Information
Job History
National ID Information
Non-recurring Pay Component
Personal Information
Phone Information
Social Accounts Information
Work Permit Info

Use DELIMIT for these entities:

Addresses
Global Information
Job Relationships
Person Relationships
Recurring Pay Component

Note

For MDF records, the Delete operation is used to delete parent object records. Delimit is for deleting a specific record of a child object from a parent and Clear is used for deleting all the records of a child object from the parent. You can refer to the Metadata Framework Implementation Guide for more information.

Basic Employee Data Export

In Admin Center, you can export a basic user file. This file contains standard fields in the system.

To perform a basic employee data export, navigate to Employee Export.

To export more detailed employee information, such as Personal Information or Job History, a table report must be run. Please see the Appendix of this document for more information on how to work with Table Reports.

Screenshot of Admin Center page to export users with options to specify export details

Summary

Here are the key takeaways from this lesson:

Import Employee Data adds new employees, updates records, and terminates users in Employee Central.
Always download the latest CSV template; it includes required fields and matches system configuration.
Choose entity and purge type: Full Purge overwrites matching records; Incremental Load appends/inserts/corrects changes.
Set File Locale correctly; it impacts date, number, and picklist formats in the import file.
Validate Import File before importing; use Monitor Jobs for large files or validation/import errors.

Next lesson