SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2186368 - User Names with Special characters are shown as Junk characters after the employee import

Symptom

User Names with Special characters are shown as Junk characters after employee Import.

Image/data in this KBA is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.

Environment

Successfactors Environment with any release versions.

Reproducing the Issue

  1. Perform an Employee import with Special Character in the User's First name, Middle Name or last name column of the employee import file.
  2. Import the file with different character encoding format. For example; The Employee import file is in UTF-8 and while importing the file you have selected ASCII.
  3. This will convert the special characters into a junk / non readable character. Example: ?????

 

Cause

Improper selection of Character encoding ( in User data file and in Employee import UI) while performing the employee import.

Resolution

For special characters, the correct steps to import should be as following:

1. Make sure the csv file'e encoding is the same with special characters, e.g. UTF-8. "Windows ANSI" doesn't support all special characters. Save as CSV UTF-8 file.

Special character import.jpg

2. On the import page, make sure the item you selected in 'Character Encoding:' drop down list is the same with csv file. E.g. if your csv file chooses UTF-8, make sure the character encoding is UTF-8.

Note: It is recommended to use UTF-8  'Character Encoding' for the import as this supports all the special characters.

Keywords

Format, Chinese, Russian, Encoding , KBA , LOD-HCM , Human Capital Management OnDemand , LOD-SF-EC , Employee Central , LOD-SF-PLT , Platform Foundational Capabilities , How To

Product

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors HCM Core all versions ; SuccessFactors HCM Suite 1502 ; SuccessFactors HCM Suite 1505 ; SuccessFactors HCM Suite 1508