3671856 - Mandatory Event Reason for Onboarding from 2H 2025 Release - Steps to Configure and Troubleshoot errors related to event reason.

Starting from 2H 2025, an Event Reason is made mandatory for all onboarding processes initiated through SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding.

What’s Changing?

Event Reason is made mandatory as documented in SAP SuccessFactors What's New Viewer Mandatory Event Reason for Onboarding Process Initiation  and the blog post.

Timeline:

We began rolling out this enhancement in phases, starting October 14, 2025, across all data centers. As of October 28, 2025, the enhancement is made available in all Preview environments. This will be enabled by default in all Production environments after the production release on November 15, 2025.

What is the Error observed in the BPE ?

Error in Business Process: [{"elementType":null,"key":null,"statusCode":"ERROR","errorInfo":"Event Reason is mandatory for jobInfo"}]

"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 Onboarding

How does this enhancement impact your system?

• If the event reason isn't sent at the time of onboarding initiation, the process fails, resulting in a Business Process error in the To-Do side panel of the home page. 
• Error in Business Process: [{"elementType":null,"key":null,"statusCode":"ERROR","errorInfo":"Event Reason is mandatory for jobInfo"}]

How to avoid the failure of Onboarding Initiation due to event reason validation?

• Configure a business rule to set the event reason for new hires whose onboarding is initiated from SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting. 
  Reference Link: Configuring Business Rule for Event Reason

(OR)

• Send the event reason by mapping SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting custom field using the Recruit-to-Hire Data Mapping tool.
  Reference KBA: How to Map Event Reason from RCM to Onboarding

Here are some common errors which could lead to incorrect configuration leading to the error, these troubleshooting steps will allow you to resolve the issue yourself:

• When using the business rule to configure the event reason, the following pointers should be noted: 
  
  #1
  In Recruit to Hire Data Mapping, under Job Information, event-reason should not be mapped:
  
  If any mappings exist, please remove the mappings. 
  
  #2
  The business rule contains the field called "Source System of Onboarding"; however, this field is not readily available in the system. You must create a custom field related to "Source System for Onboarding" in Job Information Data Model.
  
  
  If this field is not configured, please configure it.
  
  #3
  The business rule should be saved as an "onSave" rule in Job Information Data Model with rule context set to "Yes" only for Onboarding. 
  
  
  #4
  The Business Rule should be configured as shown in the guide.
  The rule evaluation will fail due to the 2nd condition (In Else If condition) jobInformation.EventReason=Null.
  The correct condition should be jobInformation.EventReason.Value=Null.
   
  The correct way to configure the rule is shown in the highlighted section of the below image.
  
  
  
• If you are using a custom RCM Field to pass the Event Reason from RCM to Onboarding:
  
  #1
  Check the Suite Integration to validate if the data is passed from RCM to Onboarding:
  

  Prerequisite: The permission needed for the user who is accessing this page is "Employee Central HRIS OData API (read-only)"

  1. Log in to the instance
  2. Click on New Tab "+" (open new tab in the same browser).
  3. Take the application URL and paste it followed by /xi/ui/apitest/pages/getEligibleRecordsTest.xhtml (E.g, https://pmsalesdemo8.successfactors.com/xi/ui/apitest/pages/getEligibleRecordsTest.xhtml) 

  

Additional Information:

Timeline of the enhancements in 2H 2025 Release for Preview Data Centers:

• This blog is also updated with the details of the preview timelines:
  2H 2025 SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding release update: Mandatory Event Reason for Onboarding process

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