ONB Custom Task Workflow and Notification Management

[chetanchavan101]

Overview / Business challenges:

The client required multiple custom tasks to be executed like a workflow by different stakeholders as part of the Onboarding process. A simple example is the “Medical Checkup process”: one stakeholder had to initiate the medical check, another had to review the onboardee’s submission, and finally, the medical team had to verify the outcome.

In standard SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding, custom tasks behave as standalone entities. They are not inherently designed to pass from one stakeholder to another. We ran into two main issues while working on this:

• Interlinked Task Sequencing – The system doesn’t really allow you to chain custom tasks together. Each one works as a standalone item, so there was no simple way to say “only start Task 2 once Task 1 is done.” This broke the idea of a phased workflow and made the process feel disjointed.

• Targeted Notifications – The standard “Custom Task Completion Trigger” sends notifications to every configured recipient each time a task is completed. This quickly became an issue because it meant previously completed tasks were included in the notification again. We needed the email to go only to the next stakeholder in line. Earlier stakeholders shouldn’t get another copy, and each person should only be notified when it’s actually their turn to act.
  

1. Problem Statement: Interlinked Task Sequencing:

Business Need:

Some activities (like approvals, background checks, or verifications) weren’t meant to stop with one person. They had to move step by step across multiple stakeholders. Each phase was handled by a different owner, but from a business standpoint it was still one activity, not a bunch of unrelated tasks.

Limitation in Standard System:

1. In SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding, custom tasks operate independently and are not linked to each other.
2. They cannot be inherently connected or “aware” of each other’s progress.
3. There is no native mechanism to reflect that “Task A is completed, now Task B should be assigned.”

Proposed Solution:

1. We created a dropdown field called Status on the custom task.
2. The options — Initiated, Completed, Approved, and Rejected — were used to show what stage the task was in at any point.
3. To represent the task in multiple phases, we created separate custom tasks for each stakeholder. All tasks were linked to the same custom MDF base object (with External Code = User), ensuring data continuity across tasks and giving the appearance of an workflow.
4. This made it appear as if the task was “passing” from one stakeholder to the next, rather than being multiple disconnected tasks.

Configuration:

Creation of Object:

Create the base object for the custom Task as per requirement:

Creation of tasks:

After creating Custom MDF Object definitions, a Custom Task Definition should be created.

As an admin Go to Manage Onboarding and Offboarding Tasks -> Task Setting (Tab) -> Click on New Task under Manage Custom Tasks Section to open "Add a New Custom Task".

Module: Onboarding (as our Task is associated to Onboarding Process)
Custom Task Name: PreEmployment Medical Test
Custom MDF Object: Medical Fitness (cust_MedicalFitness)

        

Click on “Open Template Editor” and make changes as needed:
 

Similarly create another custom task with the same base object:

Custom Task Name: PreEmployment Medical Test (Onboardee)
Custom MDF Object: Medical Fitness (cust_MedicalFitness)

 
And another for the medical team:

Custom Task Name: PreEmployment Medical Test- Medical Team
Custom MDF Object: Medical Fitness (cust_MedicalFitness)

            

NOTE: Basically, we used the same MDF Object, but created different tasks, each for a different stakeholder.

Then add the custom tasks to the desired Onboarding Program:

Assign the responsible group against each task as per the requirement.

 

3. Problem Statement: Targeted Notifications

Business Need:

The client wanted phase-specific notifications. So, once someone finished a task, the next stakeholder should get a notification, that they need to action on the task. Otherwise, people were seeing notifications about tasks they had already done, which was confusing.

Limitation in Standard System:

The standard “(ONB) Custom Task Completion Trigger” doesn’t look at task order or completion status of the task at all. Every time a new task gets completed, it just fires emails for all the old tasks again. That was messy — everyone was getting duplicates, and it was hard to figure out what step was actually pending.

Consider the following Medical Test activity which is split into three custom tasks:

• Medical Test – Initiation (Onboarding Team)
• Medical Test – Form Submission (Onboardee)
• Medical Test – Verification (Medical Team)

This is what happens with standard behavior:

• When the Onboarding Team finishes "Initiation", the Onboardee gets the email, which works fine.
• When the Onboardee completes "Form Submission", the system fires emails for both "Initiation" and "Form Submission", instead of just notifying the Medical Team.
• When the Medical Team completes "Verification", the system sends emails for all three tasks again.

The result is a lot of duplicate notifications, and it’s hard for anyone to tell which step is actually pending.

Proposed Solution:

To overcome this limitation:

1. We added a Status dropdown field to the custom task. This shows what phase the task is in — Initiated, Completed by Onboardee, or Completed by Medical Team.
2. Then we put in business rules so that when someone finishes a task, only the next person in line gets an email. Nobody else gets notified again, and there are no duplicate messages.
3. Distinct email templates were created for each step, ensuring that each stakeholder receives a clear, context-specific notification at the right time.

With this setup:

• Once Initiation is completed, only the Onboardee gets the email.
• After the Onboardee completes their part, the email goes only to the Medical Team.
• After the Medical Team verifies, the process is over and nothing else gets sent.

This keeps the notifications simple and in order. Everyone only sees what they need to do, no duplicate notifications, no confusion.

Configuration:

Status Field with dropdown value:

Added a custom “Status” dropdown field on the custom task to track the phases — Initiated, Completed by Onboardee, Completed by Medical Team.

Example:

NOTE: Custom Tasks do not support picklists. So we had to make a separate MDF object and enter the values manually in Manage Data.

Email Templates:

We’re using the standard email trigger “(ONB) Custom Task Completion Trigger” for sending notifications. But distinct email templates were created for each step, ensuring that each stakeholder receives a clear, context-specific notification at the right time.

For example:

Business Rules to filter Email Template:

And business rules were set up to check the exact phase at completion and trigger only the next phase’s email.

Scenario: Filter Email Template

Assigned:

Assigned:

NOTE: Similar to how the "(ONB) Custom Task Completion Trigger" resends notifications for all previously completed tasks when a new one is finished, the "(ONB) Custom Task Assignment Trigger" behaves in a cumulative way and can generate initiation emails for every stakeholder in workflow sequence.

We made the assignment trigger fire only for the first stakeholder. That way, the assignment email goes out just at the start. After that, all the next emails are handled by the completion trigger. Each stakeholder sees their own phase email only once, no duplicates or extra messages.