2262369 - Troubleshooting Period-End Processing (PEP) Failures

Possible causes of failed Period End Processing (PEP) calendar.

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

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central - Time Off

1. Go to Admin Center > Manage Time Off Calendars

2. Run the Period-End Processing (PEP) calendar

3. Status appears as "Failed" or "Completed with Errors" in Manage Time Off Calendar

4. Or Navigate to Scheduled Job Manager

5. Status appears as "Failed" or "Completed with Errors" 

Possible Causes for Period-End Processing (PEP) Failures:

1. Pending leave requests
2. Missing Follow-Up Account 
3. Terminated Users Included 
4. Mandatory Fields Not Filled in the leave request (Employee Time Object)
5. Incorrect Posting Date
6. Missing or Invalid Job History
7. The follow-up account has already been closed / following year's PEP has already been completed (happens if PEP is done for a year in the past)
8. The PEP rule is not using the "Generate External Code for Time Off()" rule function for the External Code section in the create statement.
9. Incorrect Rule Scenario Used: If you use a basic rule scenario instead of the Period-End Processing rule scenario, some users might fail during the PEP run.
   Example error:"Parent cannot be null when creating NewAccount.timeAccountDetails. Please check rule definition."
10. Multiple Open Time Accounts of the Same Time Account Type

Important Note on Simulation vs Actual Run

• If the PEP simulation is successful and generates a report with processed data, but the actual calendar run returns an empty CSV file, verify the Bookable Period End Date (also referred to as Booking Possible Until Date) on the relevant time accounts.

• During the actual run, the system only processes time accounts where the bookable period has already ended.

• In contrast, the simulation is not restricted by this condition, which may result in differing outcomes between the simulation and the actual execution.

See KBA 2149882 - Time Off Period End Processing: Received an empty csv file after simulation

1. Pending Leave Requests

• Error: You can't close the account because it contains employee times with status Pending (Approver: [<approver name>]).

  • Cause: The user has a pending leave request associated with the time account. System blocks PEP until the request is approved.

  • Fix: Approve/reject the pending request, then re-run the PEP calendar.

2. No Follow-Up Account

• Error: "Parent cannot be null for creating new child!"

• Cause: The PEP rule attempts to create a new time account detail but the follow-up account does not exist.

• Example: "We are running a PEP for the 2025 account and planning to carry forward the remaining balance to 2026. During the PEP run, the system will attempt to carry forward the balance and throw an error if the user does not have a 2026 account. Therefore, always ensure that the follow-up account is created before executing the PEP calendar." 

• Fix: Ensure a follow-up time account is created before running the PEP. → Admin Center > Manage Time Off Calendars > Account Creation

 3. Terminated Users Included

• Error: "Parent cannot be null when creating NewAccount.timeAccountDetails. Please check rule definition"
• Issue: System tries to carry forward balances even for terminated users who don’t have a follow-up account, causing PEP failure.
• Fix: Modify the rule logic: IF (No follow-up account) THEN (Close current account without carryover) ELSE (Close and carry forward)

Here is an example:Logic: "The system will close the current account by setting the balance to zero if the user does not have a follow-up account." 

 4. Users do not have mandatory fields filled in the employee time object.

For example, some users may be missing a required field—such as the attachment field—in the employee time object. Although this field is mandatory, if it’s not filled, the PEP run will fail without generating any error logs, while the simulation will still succeed.

In some cases, fields may have been set to mandatory after existing leave requests were already created, leaving those requests with blank mandatory fields.

Solution: Navigate to Manage Data > Employee Time, search for the affected leave requests, and update the mandatory fields. Alternatively, you can use Employee Time Import to update the data, then re-run the PEP calendar.

5. Wrong posting date

ERROR: DETAIL_WRONG_BOOKING_DATE

Verify the posting date configuration within the Create New Account > Time Account Details section of the PEP rule. For more details, refer to KBA  2420537

6. User does not have a proper job history record

Some users included in the PEP run may be missing job history records. For more information, please refer to KBA  2584231

7. Follow-up account is already closed

This issue can occur when running PEP for a past year after the PEP for subsequent years has already been completed.

For example, if you run PEP in 2025 for 2022 accounts, but PEP for 2023 to 2024 has already been processed, the 2025 accounts may not close. This happens because the system requires an open follow-up account to complete the process.

The condition “If New account exists = No, then close account” does not apply here, as the system also considers closed accounts.

If you only want to close these old accounts without processing remaining balances, you can update them via import/export by setting Is Closed = Yes and re-importing the data.

8. PEP rule is not using the "Generate External Code for Time Off()" rule function

If the PEP rule assigned to the time account type uses a static value like "Time Account.External Code" for creating Time Account details, it can cause a unique constraint error.

To avoid this, ensure the rule uses the "Generate External Code for Time Off()" function to dynamically generate unique external codes during the creation process.

FAQ 

Q1: If 100 employees are eligible for a PEP run and 20 employees encounter errors, will this affect the PEP posting for the other 80 employees?
A1: The PEP will successfully process all employees without errors, and only fail for those with errors. However, there is a known bug (related to point 6 in the possible causes) where PEP might fail for all users in certain scenarios. This is being addressed by engineering.

Q2: How can I run PEP for employees who have errors?
A2: Fix the data issues based on the error logs, create a new PEP calendar, simulate it, review the results, and then run the calendar once the simulation looks good.

Q3: If I run PEP a second time, will it create duplicate postings?
A3: No, running PEP again will not create duplicate postings. The system skips accounts already processed in the first run. Always simulate first, and download the report to review the balances before running the actual calendar.

Q4: Can I run PEP at any time?
A4: No, PEP cannot be run for ongoing accounts. The “Bookable Until” date for the time account type must be in the past. For example, if a time account runs from 01/01/2025 to 31/03/2026, you cannot run PEP for it before 31/03/2026.

Q5: Can I simulate PEP at any time?
A5: Yes, you can simulate PEP at any time without restrictions.

2775679 - Scheduled Period End Processing And Accrual Calendars Are Not Run Automatically

2149882 - Time Off Period End Processing: Received an empty csv file after simulation

2584231 - Period End processing simulation failed

2420537 - Period End Processing Error - DETAIL_WRONG_BOOKING_DATE

2413421 PEP run failed without any logs but simulation was successful

2262434 TIME OFF PEP: ERROR_RUNTIME - Parent cannot be null for creating new child!. Please check rule definition.

3005823 MDF Workflow is not Getting Triggered but Transaction is set to Pending Status.

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