Importing a picklist at the beginning of an implementation

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to import a picklist at the beginning of an implementation

Picklist and picklist values

Aside from enabling appropriate settings in Provisioning and uploading the Data models, another essential part of the Employee Central configuration setup is creating picklists. Picklists determine the information that gets displayed typically as a dropdown menu. SAP SuccessFactors provides a Master Picklist file which can be downloaded from the SAP Software Download Center.

Note

This section only tackles picklists regarding setting up Employee Central. For the complete concept of Picklist and how to use Picklist Center, review the relevant topic in Exploring the SAP SuccessFactors Platform course.

The Employee Central master picklist MDF zip file is comprehensive and contains picklist values for many countries. The zip file includes the following:

  • HRIS Picklist values: These are used in Employee Central. 

  • Miscellaneous Picklist values: These are used in talent modules. 

  • Delta Picklist values: These are the new picklist values rolled out with the enhancement release.

When working with the Master Picklist from the Software Download Center, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Some picklists and picklist values might already exist in an Employee Central-enabled environment.
  • The zip file only includes picklist values. Consultants are recommended to create a separate import file for the picklists before importing the picklist values file. Delete from the file any picklists and picklist values that already exist in the system before uploading.
  • The file from the portal is massive and could need some revision if consultants only want to import values relevant to the implemented countries.
  • Zip import option is available for uploading Picklist and Picklist values, but only if you want to do a Full Purge. Use the CSV import option for incremental upload.

A validation check is available in Check Tool to identify invalid picklist references in person and employment elements. This feature saves time in identifying issues and taking corrective actions.

Note

For this course, the practice environment is already set up with several picklists, and you won’t need to use the Master Picklist from the SAP Software Download Center. A simplified version of the file is included in the Course File.

Exercise: Create a new picklist

Business Example

Note

This exercise is a standalone activity and is not required for completing other hands-on exercises for this course.

After expanding its operation to France, Germany, and the United States, ACE Corp needs to create Pay Scale Type Picklists for these countries. You will create this new picklist using the standard pay-scale-type picklist file provided by SAP SuccessFactors.

Please watch the video to know how to open CSV files in the proper format.

Steps

  1. Go to Import and Export Data to download the picklist and picklist-value CSV templates for import. Watch the video to get a tutorial on how to import picklists.

    1. Download the MDF Pay Scale Type Picklist from Course Files.

    2. Go to Import and Export Data using Action Search.

    3. Select Download Template from action to perform.

    4. Select Picklist as the Generic Object (leave other settings as is).

    5. Select Download.

    6. The zip file contains both the Picklist and Picklist Value templates.

  2. Prepare the picklist template by transferring the necessary data from the Master Picklists MDF Pay-Scale-Type to the picklist CSV template.

    1. Copy the ID from master to the Id and legacyPickListId columns of the template.

    2. In the parentPickList.id column, enter the ISO country list picklist (code: ISOCountryList). Codes/External codes or any field identifiers are space and case sensitive. Picklist codes can be verified from the Picklist Center.

    3. Transfer the rest of the data to the template.

    4. Save the templates as CSV UTF-8.

  3. Prepare the picklist-value template by transferring the necessary data from the Master Picklists MDF Pay-Scale-Type to the picklist-value CSV template.

    1. Copy the ID and the values.externalCode from master to the template.

    2. Transfer the rest of the data to the template.

  4. Go to Import and Export Data to upload the completed picklist and picklist-value CSV templates.

    1. Go to Import and Export Data using Action Search.

    2. Select Import Data from action to perform.

    3. Select Picklist as the Generic Object.

    4. File Encoding is UTF-8.

    5. Purge Type as incremental load (All other settings leave as is).

    6. Choose File and Validate.

    7. If no error, select Import.

    8. Do the same for Picklist Value file.

  5. If you need additional help on this exercise, please post your questions to Employee Central Learning Room.

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