Uncomplicating SuccessFactors Employee Central Deep Links

[karenperez]

INTRODUCTION

It is very common for customers to look for options to improve the user experience through deep links, which are nothing more than hyperlinks that lead directly to a specific page in the SAP SuccessFactors system, but for many customers, the creation/definition of the deep link still causes a little discomfort or dedication of time that is increasingly scarce. Because of that, we've put examples in this blog that can be used as a starting point for those who want to better explore the possibilities of deep links to Employee Central processes/portlets.

DETAILS

Before jumping to the sample deep link use cases, it is important to remember that we will cover Employee Central links and for this, there are a set of supported Base URL options to be used, which are:

• /sf/liveprofile/


• /sf/employmentinfo


• /sf/personalinfo


• /sf/employeeupdate

The deep link is defined in blocks as per below diagram:

To bring the information of a specific person you can add the following parameter to these URL options: selected_user=UserID

To bring the information of a specific position you can use the following parameter: selected_position=position external code

1. Sample Deep Links

1.1 Go to Profile

The below URL takes you to the Profile page, without pointing to any specific portlet/block.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/personalinfo

1.2 Profile Portlets/Blocks

when you need to send the users to a specific portlet/block from the profile, you can use the parameters:

• blockid=


• blockType=

In the below example we have used both. The first one we are pointing to the Address Info Portlet. The second we are directing the users to the Personal Information portlet.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/personalinfo?blockId=block7322

Image from demo

Please remember that you have to go to the 'Configurare People Profile' to check and copy the block id or type to be added to your URL, as per the screenshot below:

Image from demo

Below you can also find an example using the blockType parameter:

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/personalinfo?blockType=PERSONAL_INFO_BLOCK

Image from demo

 

1.3 Job Information

To directly access the Job Information portlet to make changes, such as Promotion, Demotion, Transfer, etc, the below URL brings you to the portlet. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selected_user=100239

Image from demo

1.4 Employment Details

To directly access the Employment Details portlet use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user and the Action Controller to already open the portlet in edit mode.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selectquestion=essMssEmploymentDetailsAction...

Image from demo

1.5 One Time Deduction

To directly access the One Time Deduction portlet use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user and the Action Controller to already open the portlet in edit mode.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selectquestion=essMssOneTimeDeductionControl...

Image from demo

1.6 One Time Payment

To directly access the One Time Payment portlet use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user and the Action Controller to already open the portlet in edit mode.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selectquestion=essMssPayCompNonRecurringActi...

Image from demo

1.7 Termination

To directly access the Termination portlet use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user and the Action Controller to already open the portlet in edit mode.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selectquestion=essMssTerminateActionControll...

Image from demo

1.8 Concurrent Employment

For you, quickly start concurrent employment, use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user and the Action Controller to already open the portlet in edit mode.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/employeeupdate?selectquestion=essMssConcurrentEmploymentAct...

Image from demo

1.9 Position Org Chart

To access the Position Org Chart for a specific position, use the below URL. In case you don't want to access a specific position, but just the full Position Org Chart, you need to remove the selected_position parameter from the URL.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/orgchart?type=position&selected_position=3000901

Image from demo

1.10 Company Structure Overview

To access the Position Org Chart for a specific position, use the below URL. Note that for this URL we have used the parameter type=

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/orgchart?type=entity&bplte

Image from demo

1.11 Time Off request

To directly access the Time Off request page use the below URL. Please note that we have used the parameter to define a specific user.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/timeoff?selected_user=100009

Image from demo

1.12 Time Off Administer Time

To directly access the Time Off Administer Time page use the below URL.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/timeoffworkbench

Image from demo

1.13 Time Off Calendars

To directly access the Time Off Calendars page use the below URL.

https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/sf/timeoffcalendars

Image from demo

 

This ends our blog, but as noticed, the parameters used are all optional, in other words, it can be used or not, depending on the use case that needs to be implemented.

CONCLUSION

This blog post shared some Employee Central deep link possibilities for you to use as a starting point when thinking about improving the user experience of your employees or admins.

Looking forward to your comments and seeing your use cases/experiences on this topic.

[celinesantos]

karenperez thanks for the tips 🙂

[patrikneubacher]

Hey Karen, thanks for the inside. Very useful! Would you know if and how it is possible to add a link e.g. time off workbench as "take action" in people profile? Meaning including select user such as ?selecteduser="current user"? Else it points always to your own workbench of course? Many thanks Patrik

[karenperez]

Dear Former Member,

I am glad that you found the blog useful.

For you to add a link in the Take Action you have to go to the 'Configure Custom Navigation' page and add the workbench link (please remember that you just need to add this part of the link: /sf/timeoffworkbench), without the selecteduser, so if the users clicking on it have permissions to access the page, they will be directed to the workbench page.

Image from demo

I hope this helps!

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Karen Perez

[noelashmore]

Hi Karen,

Can you create a deep link to quick actions on the homepage? e.g MyTeam?

I think the answer is NO:)

 

 

 

 

[karenperez]

Dear noelashmore,

The quick actions that open a new page, such as Profile, Org Chart, etc, you can create the deep link, but the ones that opens in a card, such as My Team, we still don't have a way to do it (at least not as of today). If this change, I will update this blog and you will be notified.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Karen Perez

[DavidNoe]

Thanks Karen, this is great.

[Kris1]

This is very useful. Thank you.

[karenperez]

Glad you like it, thenoeman1!

[karenperez]

Thank you, christopher.orilogbon!

[vijaych]

Hi Karen,

Nice blog. Thanks for it.

Just wanted to check, if we can create a deep link for a attachment.

For example, any document which is uploaded on the document centre.

Many Thanks

[karenperez]

Dear vijay.cablr,

Thank you for your question.

Create a deep link to each attachment under the "Manage Documents" transaction is not possible as of today.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Karen Perez

[Paulette_K]

This blog post is awesome.  I have referred to this many times over.  Thank you!  As a question, for the deep links that open the portlets in edit mode, is there a way to add the user's name in the window as validation that they are updating the correct user?

Second question - for the employee update link that opens the Change Job and Comp Info transaction, the options under the accordion are collapsed with only Job Info checked.  Is there a way to have it open the window expanded so you see that you can select both Job info and comp info?

Again, thanks!  This has been the deepest (pun intended) level of insight on managing deep links I have found over time.

[karenperez]

Dear p.kwasniak,

Thank you for your kind words and I am glad to hear that this content is valuable for you.

About your questions, here it goes:

1.for the deep links that open the portlets in edit mode, is there a way to add the user's name in the window as validation that they are updating the correct user?

The subject user in a deep link is not dynamic, meaning that if I want to open a portlet in your profile, I would need to manually adjust the deep link with your user ID in the "selected_user=UserID" option. Leaving the deep link without this "selected_user=UserID" it means that if I click in this link, it will always open my portet, so there is no way from me to optn your portlet and from my view, I don't need a validation, as I am always updating my data.

I hope I got the answer correctly and could answer it, but if this is not the same, please let me know.

2. for the employee update link that opens the Change Job and Comp Info transaction, the options under the accordion are collapsed with only Job Info checked.  Is there a way to have it open the window expanded so you see that you can select both Job info and comp info?

Unfortunately there is no way as of today, to mark both box, job and comp, so you should do it manually by expanding the option.

Maybe, as a workaround, you can set the below setting to "Yes" for some fields in Job Info that are commonly changed and this will trigger the compensation information to open:

Thank you and let me know if I can maybe help with anything else.

Best Regards,

Karen Perez

[Ralf_Hillenkoet]

Dear Karen and team,

A very useful blog. Highly appreciated. We are using Single Sign On (SSO) via IAS. In consequence the deep links are actually only working for us when the user is already logged in to SF. If not the deep link is not working and the user will just be guided to the SF landing page.

Is there any chance to add something to the URL that it will work with SSO via IAS as well?

Best regards,

Ralf

[RP_25]

Still super-actual and super comprehensible!
You saved my day Karen 🙂

[VaclavDost]

Dear Karen,

is there any way how to create link which can open the custom portlet in edit mode or it is possible only for standard portlets?

Best regards,

Vaclav