2576546 - Using the Manage Language Feature to Change Labels in SuccessFactors

• Is that possible to change a specific label in SuccessFactors?
• How to customize labels in SuccessFactors?
• How to set custom names in some specific system labels?
• Is there any feature to manage the labels in the system?
• How to change a label in a specific locale that is not available in Text Replacement functionality?
• Impacts on disabling the Language Packs feature

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 HCM Suite

Use the Manage Languages tool from within the Admin Center to overwrite UI label values in any supported language (KBA 2269945).

This feature can be very useful in the following situations:

• You want to change default values of UI text (e.g., system text) to better reflect your particular business practices and culture.
• There is an issue with system text (e.g., grammar, syntax, or key terms). Manage Languages allows a quick workaround while waiting for the system text to be updated in a subsequent patch or release.
• The Manage Languages page allows you to activate and deactivate locales, create locales with custom label values and download both custom and default label values.

Note:

• If you identify that there is a default system label incorrectly translated, please engage Product Support for further support.
• After release b2311, Manage language page is redesigned. See further Redesigned Experience of Managing Languages | SAP Help Portal.
• As of 1H 2024 release, there is a new feature called Automatic Audit for Custom Translation.
• This feature will auto-check periodically the existing custom translation file and indicate if it has incorrect keys
• For more information about this enhancement, please check the help guide Validation and Automatic Audit

Prerequisites

1. Enable “Language Packs” option should be enabled for the instance in Provisioning.
1. If you do not have access to Provisioning, you may reach out to your implementation partners/consultants, or please contact the Support team for assistance.
2. Still in provisioning, make sure the option "Enable Manage Languages tool" is enabled.
3. “Text Replacement” permission should be granted to the user's Permission Group in RBP settings;
1. Go through Admin Center > Manage Permission Role > Administrator Permissions > Manage System Properties > Text Replacement.

Limitations

1. Value replacement limit: You can overwrite up to 10,000 values per locale using Manage Languages. The default replacement limit is set to 25 values, which you can manually increase up to 10,000 using the Upgrade option at the bottom of the page. - Refer to Increasing the Limits on Number of Keys and File Size | SAP Help Portal to know more about it.
2. Custom language pack CSV file size limit: The CSV file size limit is 10 MB. If you try uploading a file which is more than 10MB, the system will time out, and the file will not be uploaded.
3. Text substitution syntax: You need the text substitution syntax to replace a word throughout the system. Otherwise, each string that includes the string will need to be replaced through Manage Languages.
4. Some fields (for example, fields in the 'Take Action' drop-down on the Employee Profile) prioritise the translation set in 'Manage Business Configuration', and the translation will not be overwritten by a custom label import. In these cases, please check the field's translations in 'Manage Business Configuration', and see if the old/incorrect translation is there. If it is, change it, and save the change to see if the translation changes as needed.

Impacts on disabling the Language Packs feature

Disabling the feature on provisioning will cause the following impacts:

1. The Language tab inside "Configuration" will dissapear
2. Standard language will be the main language in your instance (English)
3. Any configuration that use translations will not work, since the feature is disabled, all translations will not be displayed.
4. Manage languages will not work without Language Packs feaure disabled.

Steps

1. Go to Admin Center > Tools > Search for Manage Languages.
   From here, you will see the list of all language packs enabled for your instance.

2. Under the Action column, click Create corresponding to the language pack you've chosen. If you have already added a custom locale, skip to step 4:

3. It is required to enter a new name for the custom language pack, and click OK. The custom language pack gets linked to the original language pack.

4. You need to download the CSV file of the original language pack that has all the default application UI labels, some of which you will customize. To download, click on the three dots for actions, and select Download default labels.

5. Open the downloaded CSV file in any text editor (e.g., Notepad or Notepad++). It should be similar to the screenshot provided below.
   
   NOTE: Please choose between including the quotation marks (" ") in all the labels as in the image below, or not including in any of the lines. 
   Also, please ensure that the txt file is set to 'UTF-8'. Other encoding configs such as 'UTC-8 BOM' will lead to validation errors.
   
   
6. This file, which is the original CSV file, contains the entire list of key values (key) and their corresponding UI labels. The following example is en_US (English US):

From 1H 2023 release, there will be two columns in the CSV file that you get by downloading default labels of a language pack.

6. From the entire list, you will need to select only those tokens which you wish to replace the text/label with. To know which tokens should be selected, you need to switch your Language to English Debug. If you do not have this language pack listed on your instance > Change Language, contact Support for enablement:

7. Go to the page where you would like to change the label. In this sample, we will be changing the label for Home Page from the Module Picker. Get the values inside the colon (sample in the screenshot is COMMON_HOME_TAB):

         Note: only languages that do not have a custom set will show the Create option. If it has already a custom, the options will be to Download Default labels, Disable custom translations or Delete Custom translations. By clicking on the             custom translation, you'll be able to download current file or upload a new one.

    8. Create a new csv file and enter custom labels you want to change.

    9. Back to Admin Center > Tools > Search for Manage Languages.