Must Know New Features for EC in 2H 2022

AndrewK · ‎10-28-2022

With every release, there are important features and changes to the user experience that both Employee Central administrators and employees will need to be aware of. For the 2H 2022 release, we have consolidated a list of features that are “Must Know” items for Employee Central Core, Time Off, and Global Benefits. All of the features listed below will also include links to related information that will provide additional details regarding that specific feature.

Please also review other release related information at SAP SuccessFactors Release Information as well as specific features coming in the 2H 2022 Release in the What’s New Viewer.

A compiled list of guide changes for Employee Central in 2H 2022 is also available for review.

Centralized Services
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Universal Support for Centralized Services Entities	ECT-197772	Universal

We have introduced universal support for some of the Centralized Services entities. These entities are no longer governed by the configuration option:

Universal Entities	Description
Global Assignment Imports	Centralized services now universally support Global Assignments data imports in Incremental Load mode and in Full Purge mode.
Global Information Editing UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the Editing UI for Global Information.
Personal Information Editing UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the Editing UI for Personal Information.
Job Relationship History UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the History UI of Job Relationships.
Job Information History UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the History UI of Job Information.
Address Editing UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the Editing UI for Address.
National ID Editing UI Save	Centralized services now universally support saving changes on the Editing UI for National ID.

With this enhancement, you have access to the supported Centralized Services entities by default.

We would like to highlight the following key points regarding Universal features in this release:

Job Information History UI Save:
- Updating the Hire Date is no longer possible in the Job History UI, however we have enhanced the Hire Date Correction tool to allow for more flexibility (see Hire Date Correction section further down in this blog for more details)
- The data validation check for the Job History's oldest record should always be a Hire Event record, otherwise no further changes can be made to an employee's Job History.

Job Information Imports: This feature was made Universal in 1H 2022, however now we've added an enhancement in this release to allow custom entry date values.

Job Information History UI & Job Information Imports: From this release, we do not support the creation of Leave of Absence (LOA) and Return to Work record Events. Customers will need to use Employee Central Time Off for LOA instead. Please review KBAs 3228287 & 3205591 for more details.

Related Information:

Blog: Employee Central Centralized Services in Second Half 2022 (2H 2022) Release – Innovation Alert

Handbook: Implementing Employee Central Core – Centralized Services in Employee Central

Handbook: Managing Mass Changes in Employee Central – Centralized Services for Employee Data Imports

What’s New Viewer Link

Centralized Services
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type	Related Information
Centralized Services Support Integrations with Employee Central Compensation	ECT-194595	Admin Opt-out (Preview) Update: Admin Opt-in (Production)	What’s New Viewer Link
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on History UI of Compensation Information and Recurring Pay Components	ECT-166844	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Data Validation for Compensation Information and Recurring Pay Components (MSS and History UI) Forward Propagation in Employee Central Compensation Information
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on the UI of Non-Recurring Pay Component Information	ECT-193885	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link
Centralized Services Support Non-Recurring Pay Component Imports	ECT-205797	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Centralized Services for Employee Data Imports Non-Recurring Pay Component Imports Non-Recurring Pay Components
Centralized Services Support Manager Self-Service Changes to Compensation Information	ECT-194534	Admin Opt-out (Preview) Update: Delayed for Production	What’s New Viewer Link Rule Handling with Manager Self-Service Last Updated by Source Details in History UIs
Centralized Services Support Manager Self-Service Changes to Job Information and Job Relationships	ECT-192712	Admin Opt-out (Preview) Update: Delayed for Production	What’s New Viewer Link Data Validation for Job Information (MSS and History UI) Entry Dates, Event-Based Dates, and Time-In Calculation for Job Information
Centralized Services Support Manager Self-Service Changes to Termination Information	ECT-184659	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Triggering Workflows with Business Rules
Centralized Services Support Termination Details Imports	ECT-163307	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Termination Details Imports Follow-Up Processes After Termination Details Import
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on Editing UI of Employment Details	ECT-184660	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Cross-Entity Rules with Centralized Services
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on Editing UI of Employment Details for a Higher Duty or Temporary Assignment	ECT-196503	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link
Centralized Services Support for Internal Hire in the Manage Pending Hires Tool	ECT-194359	Admin Opt-out (Preview) Update: Delayed for Production	What’s New Viewer Link Using Manage Pending Hires Tool
Centralized Services Support Emergency Contacts	ECT-147143	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Emergency Contact Information Imports
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on Editing UI of Contact Information	ECT-192329	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link Using the Check Tool to Solve Issues
Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on Editing UI of Global Assignments	ECT-195717	Admin Opt-out	What’s New Viewer Link

Centralized services in Employee Central improves consistency in system behavior across UIs, imports, and APIs, as well as data validations from enhanced error message handling, which leads to better product quality and user experience.

With employee data imports, Centralized services work together to enable different HRIS entities to support functions like business rules, forward data propagation, identical record suppression, and more. With the Save action of selected History UIs, Centralized services enhances features like employee data deletion, forward propagation, and identical record suppression.

In addition, we want to call attention to the following key points for Admin Opt-out features in the list above:

Centralized Services Support Emergency Contacts: Business key validations to include Name and Relationship fields as required and unique, as well as error message improvements. Please review the following blog for further details: Emergency Contact Business Key Validation in Second Half 2022 - Get your Data Ready Now

Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on Editing UI of Contact Information: For social accounts information, Business key validations will include Domain fields as required and unique, as well as error message improvements. Please review the following blog for further details: Social Accounts Business Key Validation in Second Half 2022 - Get your Data Ready Now

Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on History UI of Compensation Information and Recurring Pay Components: Improved validations, and business rule handling, please review the following blog for further details: Compensation Rule Behavior Change when Changing Recurring Pay Components

Centralized Services Support Non-Recurring Pay Component Imports: The following improvements and validations were added:
- In Full Purge mode, the sequence number is generated automatically when it is enabled and doesn't exist in the import record.
- If an import file contains identical records with the sequence number enabled and the attribute 'Allow-import = no', both records are imported with sequence numbers that are automatically generated.
- A Non-Recurring Pay Component record is imported only if a user's Job Information record exists.

Centralized Services Support Saving Changes on the UI of Non-Recurring Pay Component Information: Improved validations and consistency in behavior
- - Award Spot Bonus (MSS) - The Add Spot Bonus button has been removed and you can create only one record now, so you can only trigger one workflow to add a spot bonus or one-time payment.

Centralized Services Support Termination Details Imports: Improved data validations, improved Workflow trigger & approval, improvements to Business Rules.

Centralized Services Support Manager Self-Service Changes to Compensation Information, Job Information, and Job Relationships: The following improvements were made:
- Workflow support for custom user-based MDF objects created by onSave Business Rules for Job Information
- Last Updated by Source saved in the system, but only visible in the History UI
- Changes to Entry Date Calculation
- Workflow Derivation using Business Rules

Update - Please Note: This feature will be delayed in the Production Release, however customer's can still test this as an Admin Opt-out feature in Preview instances. Please refer to KBA 3280009 - Centralized Services Important Changes - 2H 2022 Production Release

Please review the Admin Opt-out features listed in the table above as well as additional information featured in the Employee Central Centralized Services in Second Half 2022 (2H 2022) Release – Innovation Alert blog.

Related Information:

Blog: Employee Central Centralized Services in Second Half 2022 (2H 2022) Release – Innovation Alert

Handbook: Implementing Employee Central Core – Centralized Services in Employee Central

Handbook: Managing Mass Changes in Employee Central – Centralized Services for Employee Data Imports

KBA 3259852: Error on Saving Emergency Contact – 2H 2022

KBA 3261936: Error on Save of Social Account Information – 2H 2022

KBA 3280009: Centralized Services Important Changes - 2H 2022 Production Release

Hire Date Correction
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type	Related Information
Hire Date Correction No Longer Allowed in Job Information History UI	ECT-204070	Universal	What’s New Viewer Link
Enhancements to the Hire Date Correction Tool	ECT-184843	Universal	What’s New Viewer Link

The system no longer allows you to change the hire date of a user in the Job Information History UI. You can however still change a rehire date for a user rehired with their old employment record. Hire date changes can be done using the Hire Date Correction tool, which has been enhanced this release.

Previously, it was necessary to change past and present hire dates in the Job Information History UI. You must now use the Hire Date Correction tool to update the hire date of a user in the following scenarios:

Changing past and present dated hire dates to the future, to today, or into the past

For Onboarding new hires (once they have passed the Pending Hire stage in the Manage Pending Hires tool)

For users with concurrent employment

Target population permissions can be applied to restrict the creation of hire date corrections for users within this target population

Related Information:

Handbook: Implementing and Managing the Employment Lifecycle – Changing an Employee’s Hire Date in Employee Ce...

KBA 2636395: Hire Date Correction: Change Hire Date Retroactively across all Hire Date relevant portlets

Schedule Job Manager
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type	Related Information
Manage Jobs in Scheduled Job Manager	PLS-334	Universal	What’s New Viewer Link
More job types are now available on the Job Monitor tab in the Scheduled Job Manager tool	PLS-31045	Universal	What’s New Viewer Link
Deprecation of Monitor Jobs tool	ECT-199922	Universal	What’s New Viewer Link

You can now manage scheduled jobs on the Job Scheduler tab in the Scheduled Job Manager tool, for supported job types. You can use the Job Scheduler tab (previously called Scheduled Job Requests) to complete the following actions:

Create a scheduled job request (to define which job type you want to run, on what schedule, and who receives email notifications about it).

Submit a scheduled job request (so that the job runs at the next scheduled time).

Run a job immediately (without waiting for the next scheduled time).

Edit an existing scheduled job request (such as changing the recurrence or owner).

Cancel a scheduled job request (so that the job is still set up but doesn't run anymore).

Delete a scheduled job request (to remove it completely from the system).

For each supported job type, the available actions vary. For example, for some job types you can only schedule a job request, but you can't run the job immediately. For others, you can run it immediately, but only after it's first been set up in Provisioning. Check the Actions menu for a specific job request to see which actions are available.

Also, more job types are now available on the Job Monitor tab within the Scheduled Job Manager tool. You can use the Job Monitor tab (previously called Scheduled Jobs) to monitor the progress and check the results of scheduled job requests, for supported job types. We’ve added the following Employee Central job types to the Job Monitor:

Create or Update Benefit Enrollments for Employee Master Data Changes

Evaluate Offer for Affordable Care Act Reporting

MDF Mass Change Run

Position Management Daily Hierarchy Adaptation

Migrate General Display Name

Please Note: More job types will be added over time. To see a full list of supported job types, go to Scheduled Job Manager > Job Monitor and open the Job Type menu. Job types that are not available in Schedule Job Manager can still be monitored in Provisioning or in legacy tools like Monitor Jobs.

The Monitor Jobs tool will reach end of maintenance on December 09, 2022 and will be deleted on May 19, 2023. Also, the Scheduled Jobs Purge job of BIZXDAILYRULESBATCH, which is a dependent processor on Monitor Jobs will be part of this deprecation.

Related Information:

Handbook: Managing Scheduled Jobs – Managing Scheduled Jobs in Admin Center

General Display Name
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
General Display Name	ECT-176085	Admin Opt-in

You can now configure employee names that can be displayed consistently across SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite. A new admin option, Enable Adoption of General Display Name, is added to control it. You can see this option under Admin Center > Company System and Logo Settings. The new capability provides both consistency and flexibility to managing display names. With the new capability, employees' chosen names are displayed in all interactions where a legal name isn’t required, while administrators and HRBPs can also access a person’s legal name whenever needed.

For customers who have enabled Employee Central, before adopting the General Display Name, configure a name format you prefer using either Legal Entity or People Profile. General Display Name can be configured per legal entity, which means, as an administrator, you can configure name formats that meet the business needs and keep with the best practices of each legal entity.

For customers who haven't enabled Employee Central, after you enable the Enable adoption of General Display Name option, you can import General Display Name using Employee Import.

Related Information:

Handbook: Managing User Information – Enabling the Adoption of General Display Name

Handbook: Managing User Information – Important Notes About General Display Name Adoption

KBA 3261324: General Display Name Troubleshooting

What’s New Viewer Link

Admin Alerts
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Enhancements to Alerts for HR Data Issues	ECT-126319	Universal

We have updated the Job Information Issues Alert to check for further potential issues with associations, field criteria, picklist entries, and mandatory field changes.

Fewer data inconsistencies help solve potential issues before they can become bigger issues. The system now checks for the following:

Mandatory fields aren’t empty

Picklist fields must have a valid picklist value (meaning that the system checks that the picklist value is active and/or exists)

Cascading picklist fields must have a valid combination of parent and child picklist values

Foundation Object/Generic Object fields must have a valid value (meaning that the object is active and/or exists)

Associated Foundation Object/Generic Object fields whose values are actually associated

Please Note: The job frequency for HR Data Issues - Job Information Issues alert types can't be changed. The default is now "none", which means that administrators have to actively select Rerun to see the latest alerts. To ensure that you have the latest alert texts, we recommend that you run the HRDataIssuesIssueTypeIsUpToDateCheck check tool check.

These changes help improve the data quality and consistency as well as to reduce the administration costs.

Related Information:

Handbook: Implementing and Managing the Employment Lifecycle – Working with Alerts for Job Information Issues

What’s New Viewer Link

Check Tool
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Major Changes to the Check Tool	TLS-23495	Universal
Check Tool for Duplicate Dependent Records	ECT-194864	Universal
Check Tool: Implement Quick Fix to Delete Unused Relationships	ECT-198087	Universal
Check Tool: Implement Quick Fix to Correct Start Dates and End Dates for Pay Components and Pay Component Groups	ECT-198086	Universal
Check Tool for Event Reason derivation and Workflow derivation rule scenario	ECT-198032	Universal
Check Tool for Empty Domain Social Accounts Information Records	ECT-198263	Universal

The user interface (UI) for the check tool has undergone a major change. In addition, we added migration checks. The checks are now grouped on tabs according to the check type they belong to. Each check type follows a specific purpose:

System Health: Checks that run periodically in the system and that require no input parameters.

Validation: Checks that need one or more input parameters to run, for example, a specific template, user, or time frame.

Migration: Checks that migrate features.

The following are some of the EC related Check Tool checks that have been added or enhanced in this release:

Check Tool for Duplicate Dependent Records: A dependent should not have overlapping records of relationship information, personal information, global information, or home address. The check, DependentNoOverlappingTimeSlice, searches for records with overlapping time slices and lists relevant information that helps you find them in the system.

Check Tool - Implement Quick Fix to Delete Unused Relationships: This check, ObjectRelationsFOCheck, identifies the foundation object associations where the source foundation record is missing in the foundation table. This check was available in previous releases, however it has now been enhanced to check for Pay Component Groups and Pay Components FOs as well.

Check Tool - Implement Quick Fix to Correct Start Dates and End Dates for Pay Components and Pay Component Groups: This check, InvalidEffectiveEndDate, searches for effective start date records that are after the effective end dated records. This check was available in previous releases, however this has been enhanced to also fix Pay Component Groups and Pay Components start and end dates issues.

Check Tool for Event Reason derivation and Workflow derivation rule scenario: There have been two checks added in this feature to check if Event Reason derivation rules or Workflow trigger rules were created under the Basic rule scenario:
- EventReasonDerivationNoBasicRules - Rules for event-reason derivation should be migrated from Basic to the suggested application-specific rule scenario. Application-specific rule scenarios provide more guardrails as to how to configure the rule correctly, and can thus help reduce potential errors.
- WorkflowsNoBasicRules - Rules for workflows should be migrated from Basic to the suggested application-specific rule scenario. Application-specific rule scenarios provide more guardrails as to how to configure the rule correctly, and can thus help reduce potential errors.

Check Tool for Empty Domain Social Accounts Information Records: Social Accounts must have valid business keys. This check, SocialAccountsNoEmptyBusinessKeys, searches for social accounts with empty business keys and lists the relevant information that helps you find them in the system

Please Note: There's an initial run of new checks at the beginning of a new release. We recommend that you open the check tool after the upgrade weekend to check for any new errors or warnings.

Related Information:

Handbook: Using the Check Tool to Solve Issues

Blog: The One & Only: Stable Transport and Import of Business Rules with 2H 2022 Release

Blog: Resumption of the Move: Make the MASS Move: Changing the Rule Scenario of Business Rules via the Che...

What's New Viewer Link

Manage Business Configuration
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
HRIS Actions from the Business Configuration UI is Deleted	ECT-186891	Universal

Most of the HRIS Actions from Business Configuration UI (BCUI) that are currently not used in configuration of the People Profile will be deleted on December 09, 2022.

Please Note: The HRIS Actions hireAction, reHireAction, and terminateAction are not deleted from the HRIS Actions section as these actions are still used by our customers. You can continue to configure these HRIS Actions from BCUI.

Related Information:

What’s New Viewer Link

Work Permit
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Issue Date Now Included in Business Key for Work Permit	ECT-188275	Admin Opt-out

The issue date of a work permit is now used with other existing fields to generate a business key that uniquely identifies the work permit.

Previously, a work permit business key consisted of four fields: Country, Document Type, Document Number, and User ID. Including the issue date field in the business key allows users to keep multiple work permits that have the same Country, Document Type, Document Number, and User ID values but different issue dates. For example, after users renew their work permits and have new issue dates, the renewed documents will coexist with expired ones in the system. Validation based on the new combination of fields is supported for editing on UI, imports, and OData or CompoundEmployee API calls. Meanwhile, you can continue to use the two checks, WPWithDuplicateBusinessKeys and WPWithEmptyBusinessKeys, in Check Tool to find invalid work permit records.

Please Note: To avoid disruption to your business, we recommend that you adopt this feature as soon as possible. You won’t be able to opt out of it after our universal push. For more details on the feature and our plans for universal push, refer to the community blog linked below.

Related Information:

Blog: Work Permit Validation Universally Applied First Half 2023 to include New Key Field – Innovation Ale...

Handbook: Implementing Employee Central Core – Additional Information for Work Permits

What’s New Viewer Link

Effective Date Behavior Change in UI
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Empty Effective Date Field by Default in Personal Information, Addresses, and Dependents Blocks	WEF-26728	Universal

On the Editing UI of People Profile blocks for effective-dated person entities Personal Information, Addresses, and Dependents, the date input field for the effective date is now empty by default and users are required to enter a date before updating the information. Previously, the default effective date on the Editing UI was set to the current date.

This enhancement was made to help ensure that users manually enter the exact effective date, which is usually not the current date. For example, when users add a child as a dependent for an employee, the effective date is usually the date of the birth of the child.

Related Information:

Handbook: Implementing Employee Central Core – Entities in Employee Central

What’s New Viewer Link

Global Benefits
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Replacement of Benefits Auto Enrollment Job with New Tracker-based Jobs	KM-14239	Universal

The Benefits Auto Enrollment Job analyzes all employee records with each run, even those records where there are no changes based on the eligibility rule. This approach slows down jobs, affecting the performance with respect to time. Occasionally, the job can also fail due to memory consumption issues if the volume of data to be processed is very high. To improve performance, two new jobs have been introduced to replace the Benefits Auto Enrollment Job.

The Benefits Auto Enrollment Job is replaced by Create or Update Benefit Enrollments for Benefit Master Data Changes and Create or Update Benefit Enrollments for Employee Master Data Changes jobs.

Please Note: We recommend that you use the new tracker-based jobs instead of the Benefits Auto Enrollment Job from 1H 2022. After May 19, 2023, Benefits Auto Enrollment Job will be deleted, and you will not be able to use the job for any automatic enrollment changes. So, by May 19, 2023, you must set up the Create or Update Benefit Enrollments for Benefit Master Data Changes and Create or Update Benefit Enrollments for Employee Master Data Changes jobs.

Related Information:

Blog: Reimagining Automatic Enrollment Jobs in Global Benefits

Handbook: Implementing Global Benefits – Creating Automatic Enrollment Job for Benefit Master Data Changes

What’s New Viewer Link

Global Benefits
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Automatic Updates to Insurance Enrollment due to Dependent Eligibility Changes	BEN-9926	Admin Opt-in

We now support automatic updates to the enrollment status of the dependents enrolled for insurance benefit when there is a change in their eligibility.

For example, let us assume a child dependent is eligible for the insurance benefit only until the age of 21. After the dependent attains the age of 21, the dependent should be marked as not eligible. With this enhancement, the dependent is automatically marked as not eligible for the insurance without any manual updates to the enrollment. The new SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) story SF_BEN_ Dependents Ineligible (Aged out) for Insurance Benefits_v1.0 provides details about enrolled dependents who are becoming ineligible for insurance benefit.

The feature was developed to support the customer's requirements for identifying and marking non-eligible dependents in an enrollment automatically without the need for manual deletion of enrolled dependents.

Related Information:

Handbook: Implementing Global Benefits – Automating Updates to Insurance Enrollment due to Dependent Eligibili...

Handbook: Implementing Global Benefits – Using Rule Scenario to Define Dependent Eligibility Rule for Insuranc...

What’s New Viewer Link

Time Off
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Download the Calendar File in an Employee Self-Service Scenario for Time Off	TIM-13429	Admin Opt-in

Employees can now download the calendar file on submission of a leave request. As part of the employee self-service scenario, you can submit a leave request using the following screens:

Request Time Off card from Quick Actions on the latest home page.

Time Off

New Time Sheet UI

After submitting your leave request, you can now download the calendar file in ICS format. Open this calendar file in your respective calendar application and save it to block your calendar. After you save the calendar file, if your time-off isn’t approved, you’ve to manually delete this event from your calendar. If you modify your leave request, delete the earlier saved calendar, and replace it with the latest calendar that you've downloaded.

Related Information:

Handbook: Using Time Management in SAP SuccessFactors – Requesting Time Off

What’s New Viewer Link

Business Rule Scenarios
Feature Name	Reference Number	Configuration Type
Manual Mass Change of Basic Rules to Application-Specific Scenarios	TLS-25119	Universal

You can now change Basic rules to application-specific rule scenarios for several rules at once. This is now possible for rules that can be converted to application-specific scenarios of the following modules:

Time Off: Rules

All rules that use the object Time Account Type are assigned to an application-specific rule scenario. (TimeAccountTypeNoBasicRules)

All rules that use the object Time Type are assigned to an application-specific rule scenario. (TimeTypeNoBasicRule)

Please Note: As in the previous release, a warning is raised whenever you try assigning a new basic rule scenario to Accrual rule, Hire Rule, Interim Update Rule, Period-End-Processing Rule, and Take Rules. The current warning message will be converted into an error in a future release.

Employee Central Core: Rules