3092643 - Upserting Timezone information in User entity returns invalid property value – SAP SuccessFactors OData API

You updated the timezone information for employees by performing an upsert on the User API entity.

The response payload returns an error:  "Invalid property value. Property name:timeZone. Property value:Europe/Kyiv. with the index 0"

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SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite

• SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite OData API V2

Upsert Request Payload

• Update user's timezone information to "Europe/Kyiv".

It will return response as follows:

The request could not be processed due to the timeZone value provided in the payload is not supported.

Use time zones that are recognized and supported by SAP SuccessFactors.

You can find list of available timezones in the system through Data Inspector tool. To enable the tool, please follow the steps below:

1. Login to the system > Navigate to Manage Permission Roles
2. Select a Permission Role > Click Permission button > Manage System Properties > tick Data Inspector checkbox > save
3. You may need to logout from your system and login for the feature to become active post enablement.
4. In Admin Center, navigate to the Data Inspector tool.

5. From the Entity dropdown, select Timezone and hit the ‘Show Data’ button.

6. You will find list of system-defined Time Zones.

For instance, if a user is located in United States in cities like New York, Washington D.C., or Boston, the timezone would be US/Eastern.

Here is a result of a successful upsert using a supported Timezone ID:

Additional information:

You can only import unsupported timezone values like "Europe/Kyiv" via Admin Center -> Employee Import. This cannot be done via API, as the API enforces validation of timezone values. 

After you import "Europe/Kyiv" via Employee Import, it will also show up in the Employee Profile UI (But we don't guarantee it will reflect the right time, like GMT+8).

If this is important to you, we recommend that you submit an enhancement request to add to the standard list of supported Time Zone values in SuccessFactors, by following the steps listed in KBA 2090228 - How to submit enhancement ideas for SAP SuccessFactors Products.

Timezone Logic:

• SAP SuccessFactors is using timezones defined in the Java Platform.
• The Java Platform uses the IANA timezones: http://www.iana.org/time-zones
• Hence SAP SuccessFactors is using the standard universal timezones defined by IANA.
• The values to be imported are case-sensitive and must align with the guide below.
   If the case-sensitivity is not adhered to, the default timezone will be applied to users.

See the following links for a detailed overview on the Supported and Deprecated timezone values.

Supported Timezones

Deprecated Timezones (no longer supported)

Error "Invalid property value. Property name:timeZone. Property value:XXXXX/XXXXX. with the index 0" SuccessFactors, OData API, Upsert Failed, responseCode 500, Supported Timezones, Deprecated Timezones, TIMEZONE, Available Timezones in SuccessFactors, Data Inspector , KBA , LOD-SF-INT-ODATA , OData API Framework , Problem