3568653 - Application error when accessing a record from a custom MDF object in Employee Profile or Manage Data

An application error occurs when trying to access a record from a custom MDF object portlet in Employee Profile or Manage Data: 

• From Employee Profile page - errorId=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, fingerprint=3122042e8f6d6aab3b8d0b7880f9220815968d00, timestamp=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, errorMessage=An application error occurred. Please try again later, or notify support (with the error information of errorId=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, timestamp=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and the version information from the current screen) if the issue keeps occurring.
• From Manage Data page - An application error occurred. Please try again later, or notify support (with the error information of errorId=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, timestamp=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and the version information from the current screen) if the issue keeps occurring.

“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

1st scenario: 

1. Go to the Employee Profile
2. Navigate to the desired Portlet
3. The portlet keeps loading and the error is displayed: 
   

2nd scenario: 

1. Go to Manage Data
2. Select the Custom object and the desired existing record
3. An error is displayed: 
   

Both scenarios are related to incorrect configuration for the custom MDF object. However, the error message is not very helpful for end users. 

Possible causes:

Cause #1: The field is configured with the CLOB data type while the UI Field Renderer is set, which is not supported since the UI Field Renderer should only be used for Picklists or Generic Objects, not for CLOB fields.

Cause #2: In this case, the association name provided is the same as the object name.

Scenario #1

There could be an incorrect configuration on the custom object related to a custom field with Data Type CLOB. To validate this, follow these steps:

1. Go to Configure Object Definitions
2. Select the affected object and verify if there is a custom field where the Data Type is CLOB
3. If such field exists, click on Details of the custom field and verify if there is a value in the UI Field Renderer field as the example below: 
   

The Data Type CLOB is used for text inputs fields when you need to store text more than 4000 characters long while the "UI Field Renderer" field is used to define a specific UI behavior when selecting a value from a dropdown on Manage Data and should be used for Picklists or Generic Objects only, not for CLOB Data Type.

If you want to have a field on your custom object where the Data Type is CLOB, then the "UI Field Renderer" field highlighted on the above screenshot must be left blank.

Note: Product Support Team, please refer to internal memo for logs. 

Scenario #2

Please ensure that the association name is not the same as the object name.

How to validate:

1. Navigate to the Parent Custom MDF Object (e.g., cust_ABCD).
2. Check if there are any associated Custom MDF Objects (e.g., association name is cust_1234).
3. In Configure Object Definitions, search for the that exact name (e.g., cust_1234).
4. Verify that the same name also exists as a Custom MDF Object.

• Adding Fields
• 2438887 - How to create a custom field for a MDF Object in SuccessFactors? - SAP for Me

Custom object, Custom field, CLOB, UI Field Renderer, displayPickListWithoutExternalCode, 3122042e8f6d6aab3b8d0b7880f9220815968d00, Not able to load the related EO for Object Type = clob and internal id, "An application error occurred. Please try again later, or notify support (with the error information of errorId=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, timestamp=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and the version information from the current screen) if the issue keeps occurring.", An application error occurred, An application error occurs when trying to access a record from a custom MDF object portlet in Employee Profile or Manage Data, Associate name, custom MDF object, INC21464507 , KBA , LOD-SF-MDF-OBJ , Object Definition & Field Related Issues , Problem