2285503 - Some survey report data shows as date when imported into excel

When generating a survey report, some of the data in the "Answer" column shows as a date. This is incorrect as it is not possible for the users to enter a date as an answer to these questions. The question only gives users an option to rate the course out of a number range e.g 1-5.

SAP SuccessFactors Learning

This is an issue with the way Microsoft Excel automatically imports and converts data.

While this is a known behavior of excel (see this link for more info) the reason it is happening is due to the rating scale in use for the affected questions. Each rating on this scale will usually be just a number for each rating (1= '1', 2= '2' ,3= '3' and so on).

Taking the number 4 for use as an example; this would be exported from the affected scale scale as '4-4' where a more common scale in use for a survey would export for example as '4 - Agree.' While the latter example would have no problem being imported to excel; if you try to type '4-4' (without the apostrophes) into a blank cell in excel and you'll see our problem.

• There is no real resolution from the Learning application as this is behavior specific to Excel which is a 3rd party product and not managed by SAP. Changing the rating scale is not advised as it will affect mean score going forward.
• Option A, use other 3rd party applications
• Option B, Use text import wizard to view this data in excel. See attached pdf for details
• Option C, a custom report

Please note that SAP Support cannot provide assistance in utilizing 3rd party applications.

Reports;LMS;Date;CSV;Excel;Display;Incorrect;Export;Exported;Shows;Wrong;Survey , KBA , LOD-SF-LMS-REP , Reporting Data , Problem