2822386 - Custom Field Validations in SuccessFactors Compensation

This article provides detail information regarding Custom Field Validations in SuccessFactors Compensation.

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SAP SuccessFactors Compensation

What are Custom Validations?

• This allows customers to define up to three formula driven validations on a template.
• These will consist of hard, soft stops as well as corresponding messages for planners.

Why is this important?

• Currently there are several of validations within Compensation/Variable Pay which exists today (Budget, guidelines, force-comments, etc)
• There can be the need for customers to create custom validations for specific requirements to help improve quality of planning

Prerequisites

None

When setting up these validations take note of the following:

• Violations must be assigned to custom/reportable/ready-only columns
• There is a maximum of five validations per template
• All operations and equations supported in column designer can be used in custom validations
  More information can be found in KBA 2084135 - Compensation & Variable Pay - Managing Data, Custom Calculations / Formulas and Functions
• Do not create hard violations with dead-ends. This can cause issues saving worksheets
  For example, having a validation within bonus/stock which depends on a column in salary. When trying to save in bonus/stock you can't as there is a data issue in salary, so this will prompt an error while saving
  To correct this please ensure the data in all tabs/columns is correctly defined
• This functionality is ONLY currently supported in Compensation templates
• We recommend avoiding using custom violations which go across two tabs. For example, Salary , Bonus and Equity

Validations types

There are two types of validations available:

• Warning: A warning which will display a message when hovering over the shaded validation column
• Error: This will display a message when saving and does not allow the worksheet to be processed until the condition (validation) has been corrected

Example: Error Validation (hard)

The following is an example validation while using lump sum:

1. Go to design worksheet within your Compensation template
2. Add a custom column
3. Define the column type as being read only and reportable
   
   
   

4. Define a custom formula. In the following example we have an output of 'Valid' or 'Not Valid' based on another custom column (enum) and lumpSum value (equal to or less than 15000)
   
   

5. In the bottom half of the column setup you will see three options:

6. In this example we want to use 'Error'. Once you select either 'Warning' or 'Error' you will get a new section to define the validation. The following is what we have in this example:

7. Here we are using the same formula as defined in the first formula section; however, as this is a validation, we are changing the value to be either 'true' or 'false'. Define a message for planners:

8. Launch a worksheet and notice one employee has 'Valid' and another has 'Not Valid' highlighted in red:

9. This shows in red as the validation is being hit: if(lumpSum<=15000,'true', if(lumpSumEligible='Yes','true','false')). Changing the lumpSumEligible to 'Yes' will update this validation and remove the red highlight:

10. If attempting to save the worksheet while the validation is being triggered, the defined validation message will appear:

Example: Warning Validation (soft)

The following is an example warning validation while using lump sum. The setup will be the same as the above example but using warning.

• Update the validation section to 'Warning' rather than 'Error'

• On a launched worksheet there will be no pop-up messages as there is while using the 'Error (hard)' validation
• The validation column will still highlight in red when triggered, but users will need to hover over the column to see the validation message

• This is classed as a soft validation. You will therefore be able to save the worksheet unlike a hard stop

Additional information

Can this be used in Total Compensation?
Currently no. However, this is being reviewed for upcoming releases.

Is this available in Variable Pay?
Currently no.

Can the custom validation field be hidden?

Yes.

Can custom validations be used when using approvals (HBA)?

Yes and the custom Validation triggers twice.
The display of shading to indicate the validation has occurred shows immediately (warning or error) and the popup message which is only for error validation occurs on saving.
It does not trigger on "send" like force-comments which prevents from use in Executive review or HBA. That said, please make sure to test to ensure desired and expected behaviour.

For the validation formula, can you use anything else other than true/false?
No.

Can using validation formulas cause issues with worksheets/executive review opening?
If the formulas are correctly setup then no, there should be no impact on worksheets being accessed.
However, should a validation be incorrectly defined or missing an "out" you may see an error "An error occurred, please reload the page and try again" when opening worksheets.

For example, this error will occur on launched worksheets when using if(Merit>lumpsum,false) as this is incorrectly formatted. Updating this to be something like if(Merit>lumpsum,'false','true') will correct the issue in newly launched worksheets.

KB article 2084135 - Compensation & Variable Pay - Managing Data, Custom Calculations / Formulas and Functions

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SAP SuccessFactors Compensation all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors HCM Core all versions