SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

3713892 - Employee Central - Biographical Information

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This is a collection of useful articles and frequently asked questions related to Biographical Information Fields and the Configuration.

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 Employee Central - Biographical Information

Resolution

Documentation

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Person ID/ User ID fields:

Question

Answer

What are the different IDs in Employee Central?

Can the duplicate error message “This Person ID External XXXX already exists. Please enter a new unique value.” be customized?

  • This error message is hard coded in SuccessFactors and cannot be customized.  

During hire, can we populate Person ID External into a custom field using a Business Rule? 
  • Currently this is not possible because:
    • During the hire process, the Person ID External is not yet saved to the database, so Business Rules retrieve a null value.
    • Additionally, using Context User in the rule also returns null, because the user record is created only after the hire is completed.  

Can we hide the Person ID External field from the Biographical Information Portlet? 

  • Yes. A Business Rule can be configured to set the visibility of the Person ID External field to “None”.

  • Create an onView business rule using Biographical Information Model as its base object and scenario "Trigger onView Rules for HRIS Elements" that sets the visibility of the person-id-external field to "none", assign this rule to personInfo HRIS Element with Event type "onView".

Can we update the Person ID External field? 
  • The Person ID External field can be updated either via UI or via Import. 
    • Via UI: Navigate to Manage Business Configuration (BCUI) → 'personInfo' HRIS element → set field visibility of field 'person-Id-external' to Edit. 
    • Via Import: Updates are allowed if the Allow Import attribute for the field is set to Yes. (BCUI  → 'personInfo' HRIS element → click 'details' of the field 'person-Id-external' and set 'allow import' to Yes.

Can we include Person-id-external (Person ID) field in the import templates of Job History, Compensation Information and Pay Component Recurring (PCR)?

  • Use of person-id-external in the import templates of Job History, Compensation Information and Pay Component Recurring is not supported. However, person-id-external continues to be supported for import of the following elements:

    • Employment Details
    • Biographical Information
    • Dependents
    • Global Assignments
    • Pension Payouts
    • Personal Information
    • Global Information
    • Termination Details
    • Phone Information
    • Email Information
    • National Id Information
    • Address Information
    • Emergency Contact Information
  • Please refer the KBA 2925330 - Person-id-external field not available in import template - SAP for Me 

Biographical Information fields

    Question

    Answer

    How to hide Date of Birth/Region of Birth/Country of Birth Using Business Rule?
    • To restrict access to Date of Birth/Region of Birth/Country of Birth field in the portlet, please refer the KBA 2732325 - How to Hide Date Of Birth/Region Of Birth/Country Of Birth Using Business Rule - SAP for Me 
    • Currently it is not possible to hide the fields through RBP. This is expected behavior because the date of birth in Employee Data refers to the Employee Profile, while in Employee Central it is part of the Biographical Information portlet, and access to that portlet provides visibility to all its fields, including date of birth.

    Can the Date of Birth be entered as today’s date or a future date? 
    • From 1H 2025 release, a validation is added which prevents saving the Date of Birth field with today’s or future dates. This validation also applies during the hire process and will block hire submission if violated.
    • Reference What's new viewer: ECT-241843 - Date of Birth Validation for Employees

    Can the Date of Birth field be masked only for certain countries?  
    • Currently this is not supported because Biographical Information is not country specific, unlike objects such as Job Information. 

    Can we view historical changes for the Date of Birth field in Biographical Information? 
    • Biographical Information is not an effective dated entity, so historical changes are not stored.
    • To review changes, use Audit Reports, specifically: Table Reports → Person and Employment Audit Report domain. 

    What could be the reason a field is not visible in the Biographical information UI even when permissions are granted?  
    • A common reason is that the field is not enabled for the Employee Person Type.
    • Even if permissions are granted, the field will not appear unless it is enabled for that person type. 
    • In Manage Business Configuration (BCUI) → expand personInfo and check if the field is enabled in person types like 'personInfo_employee', 'personInfo_contingent worker' etc.

    Can the 'Date of Birth' and 'Country of Birth  be used in Personal Information portlet?
    • Currently it is not possible to use these fields in Personal Information.
    • Country of Birth and Date of Birth is only supported under Biographical Information Portlet (i.e personInfo HRIS element) 

    Can the Biographical Fields be enabled specifically for "Add new Employee" and "Add contingent worker"?
    • Yes, it is possible to add the person types for Employee and Contingent worker, and the visibility will be based on the person types configured.
    • In Manage Business Configuration (BCUI) → expand personInfo and enable in person types like 'personInfo_employee', 'personInfo_contingent worker' etc.

    Can the permission be provided for Biographical Information fields Individually?

    Can we create country specific configuration for Biographical Information?

    What is the logic to display Localized Biographical Information fields on block or card in Latest People Profile (PPX)

    See Also

    • 2493579 - Person/User IDs Used Within Employee Central - Employee Profile
    • 2495643 - SuccessFactors User IDs - Clarifying the Different IDs
    • 2732325 - How to Hide Date Of Birth/Region Of Birth/Country Of Birth Using Business Rule
    • 2585107 - Unable to Find Biographical Information Fields in RBP
    • 3359692 - Availability of Country specific fields for Biographical Information
    • 2599316 - Region of Birth Field becomes a picklist for some Countries in Biographical Information - SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central
    • 2925330 - Person-id-external field not available in import template
    • 2287959 - Person ID External already exists

    Keywords

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    Product

    SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central 2511