2677124 - EC Alerts: System Logic for when a saveAlert Rule is Removed or Changed

Symptom

Will an Alert still be sent out even if the parameters of the subject user/object do not meet the parameters of the saveAlert Rule?
What happens to the previously created Alerts after I change the saveAlert Rule?
Why is an alert still sent out even though the rule has been updated?
What happens to the alert if I remove the saveAlert rule from the system?

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

Environment

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite
SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

Reproducing the Issue

Create a saveAlert Rule to trigger based on a future Job Info Change for a subject user
Change the subject users job info data so that the saveAlert Rule will trigger the alertCreation
When the EC Alerts and Notifications job runs, the saveAlert rule will be validated for this users data and it will create an alert in the system to be sent out on the Alerts effective date
Change the saveAlert rule so that the change no longer would trigger an alert

Result:

When the effective date is reached, the system will still send out the previously created alert.

Cause

Currently this is expected system behavior

Scenario 1: If the Rule is Removed

The Pending Alerts in the system will still be sent

Scenario 2: If the rule has been updated

The Alerts likely already exist in the system, and they will not be updated simply by updating the rule

There is no system logic to recheck the previously created alert to see if it is still viable for the changes made to the subject user, while validated against the current state of the saveAlert Business Rule
The system will send out the previously created alert corresponding to the state the business rule was in and validated against the subject users data, at the time when the EC Alerts and Notifications job was originally run

Resolution

See below for the different scenarios for Alerts to be triggered when updating the saveAlert Rule and then running the EC Alerts and Notifications job:

Run the job EC Alerts and Notifications (as a one time job), with a specific "Run From" date

Best practices suggest that the date should be 1 month back
Note: the job may take a little time to run, so it is best to run the job during lower User Interaction volume
As of b1808 there were enhancements to the performance of this job, so this will help the job to run more efficiently

This will rescan the records to ensure that they still validate correctly to the business rule in its current state
Then, all the pending old alerts will be removed first
New Alerts will then be created based on the validation of the current rules & rule conditions

After Running the EC Alerts and Notifications Job, here is the Expected Outcome based on how the Subject Users data was manipulated:

Scenario 1: In the case where a Users Current record is Updated/Changed and saved - (not inserting a new additional record)

Duplicate alerts will not be triggered
The existing alert will be deleted and replaced based on the parameters of the saveAlert rule
When the daily job runs, the record is picked up by due to the new 'Last Modified" date for the edited record
The old alert is deleted and replaced with a new alert based on the new saveAlert Rule logic

Scenario 2: In the case where a New Additional Record is inserted for a subject user:

This will create a new alert message
This will NOT remove any previously existing alerts for any previous records for the subject user, even if the alert will be the exact same

The system will essentially create a separate alert in addition to the previously existing alert

Currently there is no way to prevent a additional alert (with possibly a different alert date) from being triggered in the system

Note: As confirmed by EC Alert Developer team, above content is correct.

Note: Post 1H 2021 Release: Delete Old Pending Alert Flag

Using this new rule setting, you can delete unwanted pending alerts for several HRIS effective-dated entities when creating a new alert.

After a new alert is created following a data change, old pending alerts become irrelevant and are not expected to be sent. You can update your alert rules by including the new setting Delete Old Pending Alert Flag. This will delete unwanted pending alerts and prevent them from being sent for future data changes. Three HRIS effective-dated entities are supported now: job information, compensation information, and pay component recurring.

Guide and Chapter:New Rule Setting for Deleting Unwanted Pending Alerts for Effective-Dated Entities

In b2105, a new feature will be released to delete old pending related alerts. For example, create an alert rule for job information model and tract any contract end date change. If meet the rule, then send alert 1 month before contract end date to one dynamic group.

Insert a new hire user A with job info record and set the contract end date on 2021-12-31. One new alert is created.
Insert a new job record for user A and change the contract end date from 2021-12-31 to 2022-12-31. Another new alert is created.

In the current logic, both alerts will be sent to the dynamic group on 2021-11-31 and 2022-11-31 to inform that the contract end date of user A is approaching. But after new feature take live, the first old alert on 2021-12-31 will be deleted.

Above case is most common case. And there are some other scenarios. I will update the KBA after technical writer finish the document.

In addition, please suggest user to change rule with ‘Insert New Record’, but not ‘Make correction’. Then we can find the exact rule content when the issue happened. And suggest them split one complex rule to several simple ones if possible.

FAQ - Additional Information

Q) Where can I get Guide?

A) Guide: Implementing and Administering Workflows in Employee Central

Chapter: How Old Pending Alerts Are Handled and Examples of Handling Old Pending Alerts in Different Scenarios

Keywords

SF, success factors, EC, ECT-52685, update, change, saveAlert, ALR, alert, rule, modify, Delete Old Pending Alert Flag , KBA , LOD-SF-EC-ALR , Alerts & Notifications (saveAlert - EC Core only) , LOD-SF-EC , Employee Central , LOD-SF-EC-WFL , Workflows - Configuration, Tools, Objects & Rules , How To

Product

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite all versions