Custom Tasks in Onboarding and Offboarding

[anantapalli]

What are Custom Tasks?

Until b2305, Onboarding and Offboarding programs support Out-of-box provided activities (tasks) for manager or list of participants to take action on.

Out-of-box provided tasks include:

• Write Welcome Message


• Recommend people


• Assign a buddy


• Suggest Recommended links


• Initiate KT plan

With these Out-of-box provided activities customers are limited to providing/capturing data with limited set of predefined fields that are tightly coupled with the task. They cannot extend the data objects to capture data based on business needs.

Ex: In Welcome Message task a participant of the task will be able to provide message only, they don't have have any way to attach the picture of the team members if they want.

Apart from these customers need ability to create tasks on their need basis with tracking and notification ability in case of Onboarding, Offboarding and Crossboarding.

Examples of custom tasks during Onboarding Process.

1) Access Management

1. Ability for the manager / participant to provide the new hire access to specific systems


2. Integration (Direct / Indirect link) to corresponding systems to provide access


3. Ability to determine when such tasks get triggered (1st day for some new hires or 30th day for others)

2) Agreements and acknowledgements during joining

1. Providing consent to non-disclosure agreements during joining


2. NDA links can be attached to custom tasks which can be referenced by new hires

Examples of Custom tasks during Offboarding Process.

1) Exit Feedback Questionnaire 

1. Admin is able to configure a set of exit survey qs as part of the offboarding process


2. The questionnaire is based on the offboardee's location/division/legal entity


3. Ability to capture both qualitative (text) and quantitative (ratings) feedback


4. Flexibility to trigger the exit survey at the right time
   
   
   
   • 2 days before the termination date
   
   
   • Right after the employee review step triggered (based on PVM)
   
   
   
   


5. The survey appears as a to-do on the HP and is also accessible from the dashboard. Due dates and status must be visible


6. The offboardee is able read a set of instructions and complete the survey


7. The details captured as part of the survey must be accessible to the manager / HR even post the termination date


8. Analytics / Reporting on the information collected from offboardees to generate insights on attrition

2) Insurance and Benefits

1. As part of the offboarding process, the offboardee is required to mention if they would like to continue with the health / life insurance and other benefits post termination (e.g. COBRA). This would come at a higher premium and hence requires consent from the offboardee


2. A document with the details must be generated and the offboardee is required to sign it


3. A follow up workflow to enter the document and insurance details (sum assured, premium, nominees) in the benefits software

3) Post termination address

1. Capture the offboardee's new address post termination. The address will be used to send W2 and other documents related to payroll


2. Acknowledgement from the offboardee to store data

Configuration

Prerequisite: Before going to this step, make sure you have below permissions

• User →   Onboarding or Offboarding Object Permissions →  Custom Task


• User →   Onboarding or Offboarding Object Permissions → Custom Task Definition


• Administrator →   Metadata Framework → Configure Object Definitions

Let's take an example "Exit Feedback Questionnaire"  which should be completed by an Employee before leaving the company in the form as shown below, and go through the configuration steps involved to create this task.

Employee Feedback Form

Step 1: Create Custom Task Definition

Creating custom task definition involves following steps.

1) Creation of Custom MDF object definition

From capturing the data, first we need to come up with detailed design of what fields should be in the form and the type of each field in the form. Once we decide the set of fields needed create a custom mdf object definition associated to it.

For Exit Feedback Questionnaire we need following fields

• Completion Date: This is a Date field


• How effectively did you feel your skills were put to use here: This is a drop down which contains (1-2) Not Effective, (3-4) Somewhat Effective, (5) Verify Effective as values to select.


• What actions can the company take to build a better workplace: This is a drop down which contains (1-2) Not Effective, (3-4) Somewhat Effective, (5) Verify Effective as values to select.


• Overall, how much did you like working for this company: This is a drop down which contains (1-2) Not Effective, (3-4) Somewhat Effective, (5) Verify Effective as values to select.


• How did your position here stimulate your professional growth: This is a drop down which contains (1-2) Not Effective, (3-4) Somewhat Effective, (5) Verify Effective as values to select.


• Provide any additional feedback: A free text box to provide input about any additional feedback needed.

1.a) Prepare Dropdown values - Create Object Definition

Before Creating the Custom MDF object definition for Exit Feedback Questionnaire, as we have few dropdown fields to capture data. We need to create MDF object and data for any of such drop down fields first. Let's create this say "cust_questionnairepicklist" object definition and data for it.

Go to Configure Object Definition and Create New Object Definition as in below screenshot.

For these objects definitions for dropdowns we really don't need to change anything from what was available by default. Just provide Code and Label as needed and Effective Dating as "None".

1.b) Prepare Dropdown values - Provide object permissions

Now that cust_questionnairepicklist object definition is created, provide permissions to it.

Go to Manage Permission Roles and provide View and Edit permissions as needed for all the permission roles needed.

Note: As this form is associated to Offboarding scenario I have provided permissions for this object to ONB Hiring manager, ONB Admin and Employee with Self permission roles.

1.c Prepare dropdown values - Create data for cust_questionnairepicklist

Go to Manage Data and Create New "cust_questionnairepicklist" as shown below.

I have created values for

• (1-2) Not Effective


• (3-4) Somewhat Effective


• (5) Verify Effective

 

Similar to cust_questionnairepicklist, create object definition and data for all the dropdowns for your use case.

Now that drop downs are created lets create the object definition for "Exit Feedback Questionnaire" as shown in below screenshot.

 

For this object definition

Provide valid Code and Label.

Effective Dating: None

Subject User Field: externalCode

Secured: Yes

Permission Category: Onboarding or Offboarding Object Permissions (can be anything)

In externalCode field, select Data Type as User and Visibility as Not Visible.

Delete externalName field.

Create all the other fields as shown in below table.

Note: Only String, Number, Boolean, Decimal, Date, DateTime, Time, Generic Object, User type fields are supported so far.

Name	Maximum Length	Data Type	Valid Values Source	Required	Visibility	Label	Comments
externalCode	100	User		Yes	Not Visible	externalCode	Make sure external code is of type User
cust_completiondate	10	Date		Yes	Editable	Date Of Completion
cust_question1	38	Generic Object	cust_questionnairepicklist	Yes	Editable	Overall, how much did you like working for this company?	Since all these fields are dropdowns, setting them as Data Type Generic Object and Value Values Source as "cust_questionnairepiclist"
cust_question2	38	Generic Object	cust_questionnairepicklist	Yes	Editable	How effectively did you feel your skills were put to use here?
cust_question3	38	Generic Object	cust_questionnairepicklist	Yes	Editable	How did your position here stimulate your professional growth?
cust_question4	38	Generic Object	cust_questionnairepicklist	Yes	Editable	What actions can the company take to build a better workplace?
cust_question5	250	String		No	Editable	Provide any additional feedback	Since its a free text area type of question. Setting length to 250

 

2) Providing permissions to the Custom MDF object

As we have created "Exiting Questionnaire" Custom MDF Object Definition, next step is to provide permissions for this object to respective permission roles based on use case and business need.

In the Security "Exiting Questionnaire" Custom MDF Object Definition I have selected Permission Category as "Onboarding and Offboarding Object Permissions".

Since this questionnaire is associated to Offboarding Process I have provided this object permission to

All Employee with Self permission role, so that offboardees can fill the information.

Onboarding Super Admin and Hiring Managers roles so that the data filled by offboardee can be seen by them.

 

3) Creation of Custom Task

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".

Select Module as Offboarding (as our Task is associated to Offboarding Process)

Custom Task Name: Exiting Questionnaire

Description: Questionnaire to be filled by Offboardee in Exit Process

Custom MDF Object: Select Exiting Questionnaire from the dropdown.

 

Next click on Open Template Editor to update field properties to be displayed in the form.

Initially it shows only default visible/editable fields we have added in Exiting Questionnaire Custom MDF object definition as shown here.

But we want to add a little banner with "Employee Feedback" image and some additional text. To do that click on the right most settings gear icon -> Add Element -> Select Rich Text type in the drop down. In the content section Past the image and add the additional text in the next line. Center Align all of this content so that everything is Center aligned. After all the content is provided, click on Add button to Add this Rich Text element to the form. Initially this new element may be added to the bottom of the form by default, to move it to the top simply click the three blue dots next to the element -> Move within Layout -> Position 1. By doing this we will be able to achieve the form as shown below.

Finally click on the Save button in this popup and Click Done on Edit Your Custom Task Popup also to save the custom task definition. You should get "Custom Task saved." Success Dialog.

 

Step 2: Assigning the Custom Task to Onboarding or Offboarding Programs

In Step 1 we have created the Custom Task Definition for Exiting Questionnaire. Next is to assign this to Onboarding or Offboarding Programs needed.

Since Exiting Questionnaire belongs to Offboarding program, we need add it to an existing Offboarding Program that we need. If there are no Offboarding Programs available create a new programs.

For that in Manage Onboarding and Offboarding Tasks page. Go To  Offboarding Programs and click pencil icon next to the program to edit the program.

In my instance I have only one Offboarding Program, I will edit that program and Add a Custom Task to it.

In the Add a Custom Task Popup

Select Task -> Type the name of the Custom Task definition created in Step 1 "Please give us your feedback". Description will be pre populated.

Under Task Attributes

Select Required Task "Yes". Select Yes will allow us to provide Due Date and Assigned To.

Give a positive number in Due Date.

Since this task is supposed to be filled by Offboardee, Select Offboardee from drop down so that the task will be assigned to Employee who is going through Offboarding Process.

After all the fields are filled Click Done on this popup and click Submit on main page.

Refer below screenshot for my example.

 

By doing these two steps Custom Task Configuration is complete.

 

Submitting the Custom Task During Onboarding and Offboarding Process

To take action on Custom tasks, they will be created along with New Hire Activities and Offboarding Activities.

In the Default Onboarding Process New Hire Activities (including Onboarding Custom Tasks) are created after "New Hire Data Review" step is completed by Onboardee. If there is any PVM defined New Hire Activities will be triggered based on where they are positioned.

In Offboarding Process, Offboarding Tasks (including Offboarding Custom Tasks) will be created after "Review Your Offboarding Information" step is completed by the employee.

Complete Task From Card:

In our example "Exiting Questionnaire" will be available to Employee as "My Offboarding Tasks" Card under For you Today Section on home page.

Clicking on this card will open the page to open the Exititng Questionnaire form. Fill all the details and Submit.

 

Complete Task From Dashboard Details Page:

Manager or Responsible participant can view/complete Custom Task from Onboarding Or Offboarding Dashboard Details page.

For Exiting Questionnaire, go to Offboarding Dashboard and Go to Offboardee details page in Question.

Click on Nudge to Nudge Offboardee reminding to complete task.

Click View Details -> Edit Task button to complete Exiting Questionnaire on behalf of Offboardee (if needed)

After completion of the task, you will get a success message and the status of the task will be marked Completed in Dashboard Details Page.

Viewing Submitting Custom Tasks

The data submitted in custom tasks can be viewed under user profile page, by configuring the custom MDF object as a Live Profile MDF Information block in Configure People Profile page. Follow this document for the same.

Following the document Exiting Questionnaire can data can be viewed under Employees profile page as shown below.

 

Additional Examples

So far we have discussed on how to configure and submit an Offboarding Custom Task. We will go about how to configure Onboarding Custom Task and a custom Task for Participant either in Onboarding or Offboarding Process.

Onboarding Custom Task for Onboardee

We will take "Tell us about your health benefit needs" as example for Onboarding Custom Task.

The form should like like this.

It has following fields:

• Are you planning to enroll in the benefits program provided by us? - Boolean field type


• What is your start date? - Date field type.


• What type of plan will you be enrolling in? - Drop down to show following plan types.


• 


• # of dependents on Plan - String field type.

Prepare cust_healthplantype dropdown object definition

 

Note: Since this task is associated to Onboardee, the healthplantypes drop down values also should be visible for Onboardee to submit the form. To achieve this we need to create a rule as shown below screenshot and should be set as Initialize Rule for cust_healthplantype object.

Go to Configure Business Rules -> + to create new -> select Rules for MDF Based Objects.

Provide Rule Name, ID, Start Date, Base Object as cust_healthplantypes and Purpose as Initialize.

Create Data for healthplantypes values

 

Health Benefits Enrollment Object Definition

Fields List

Name	Maximum Length	Data Type	Valid Values Source	Required	Visibility	Label	Comments
externalCode	100	User		Yes	Not Visible	externalCode	Make sure external code is of type User
cust_Planning	5	Boolean		Yes	Editable	Are you planning to enroll in the benefits program provided by us?
cust_date	10	Date		Yes	Editable	What is your start date?
cust_typeofplan	38	Generic Object	cust_healthplantype	Yes	Editable	What type of plan will you be enrolling in?
cust_numberofdependents	38	Number		No	Editable	# of dependents on plan

Object Definition

Creation of Custom Task

Go to Manage Onboarding and Offboarding Tasks -> Task Settings -> New Task

Open Template Editor

Open Template Editor and edit it as shown below

Provide Permissions

Since this task is associated to Onboarding Process, I have provided these permissions for ONB Hiring Manager Role.

And since the task is suppose to be completed by Onboardee, OnboardingExternalUser permission role also has been provided cust_healtplantypes and Health Enrollment Objects.

Assign to Onboarding Program

Add the Health Enrollment Benefits Custom Task to existing or new Onboarding Program.

Note: As the task should be completed by Onboardee, make sure to select Onboardee in Assigned to field.

Onboardee Completes Custom Task

Onboardee gets to complete the custom task from "Your Onboarding Tasks" cards created under For You Today section.

Hiring Manager Completes From Dashboard

Hiring Manager Or Responsible Participant Nudge Or Complete the task from Dashboard

 

Custom Task for Manager or Responsible Participants

Onboarding or Offboarding Custom Tasks can be assigned to Hiring Manager or Participants. To do so all the configuration remains the same but while adding custom task to Onboarding or Offboarding programs page, just select Assigned To to any of the Responsible Groups thats are needed as shown below.

 

Manager or Responsible Participants Completes the tasks

For Managers or Responsible Participants cards for Onboarding Custom Tasks are created under "Onboarding" tab in "Manager Activities" Cards.

 

For Managers or Responsible Participants cards for Offboarding Custom Tasks are created under "Offboarding" tab in "Manager Activities" Cards.

 

 

[Rehab_Magdy]

Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing blog, well done.

[jrodriguezvi]

Hello.

Amazing article! Congratulation.

I have a question relation with offboarding process, I have a customer where they don´t use managers role until now. I am investigating and I am can not lauch the offboarding process to an employee without manager.

Can you help me? Do you now if it is a mandatory requirement?

Thanks very much and kind regards

Jesús Rodríguez

[karuppiah]

Hi Jesús Rodríguez,

Yes it is mandatory to have a valid manager for the offboardee.

Thanks.

[jrodriguezvi]

Hello, thanks very much for your answer, It's a shame that these types of requirements are mandatory but ok.

And I would like to ask you another question, I am seeinig that when you terminate an employee the offboarding program launched, and after, I read that if you remove the terminated record you need manually to cancel the offboarding program, but if you change the terminate date? Because I see that if you change the terminate date, you do not see this change in the offboarding dashboard. I am investigating that if how admin go to "process" object you can change manually the targetDate that corresponding with the termination date in the dashboard, buy do you know if exist some way to change automatically the termination date in the dashboard when you change the termination date in the employee job information?

Thanks very much in advance and kind regards

Jesús Rodríguez

[karuppiah]

Hi Jesús Rodríguez,

For now after the initial Termination any future changes are not propagated back to onboarding from EC. This is a gap for now hopefully this will be addressed in the future release.

Thanks,

Karuppiah S.

[samueldenys]

Thank you for sharing! The new possibilities offered with these custom tasks seems to be promising!
I followed your example but the onboardee can not select any value from the picklist despite all permissions being given. Any idea why?
Thank you in advance!

[EstebanCalvo]

Hi Ayyappa Anantapalli, thank you very much for the article, it is a great advance all the new possibilities that this new version offers us.

I have a question that I can't solve. I would like to bring values to be shown in the custom task, like Hire Date or Location. It is something important for our customer to have these and other data visible when they fill the form. Is it possible somehow?

I would also be interested to know if there is any documentation about the Template Editor.

Thanks in advance.

Esteban Calvo

[YawenLi]

Hi Ayyappa,

Thanks for sharing this! I am looking into creating an offboarding checklist, similar to the onboarding checklist that's out of the box.

Do you think that's possible? Do you recommend creating a MDF object for each offboarding checklist item and assign it to the checklist object?

Would like to hear you think. Thanks.

Regards,

Yawen

[RamaMohanReddy]

Hello @anantapalli

,

Thank you very much for detailed explanation with screenshots, It helps alot for all beginners and very much required step in ONB2.0

Thanks

Rma Mohan

[Lamnguyen5]

Thank you so much for detailed explanation. It's very helpful.

Best regards,

Lam Nguyen

[cjchew]

Thanks for the blog is useful.
However, the custom tasks is create via MDF object. Whether it's support multiple MDF assocation like parent-child MDF? Whether is possible the custom tasks can be in like multiple data entry?

Thanks
CJ

[CameliaL]

Hello,

 

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. Could you please let us know how long did it take to make the exit survey custom task from scratch ?

 

Thanks,

Camélia

[CameliaL]

Hello,

 

Thank you very much for making this blog. Could you please let us know how long did it take to make the exist survey custom task?

Thanks,

Camélia

[mohammadshoaib]

Hi,

When you create a custom task in offboarding
... how do you connect the custom task in "offboarding" to the custom task created in "Manage custom tasks"?

 

Thank you.

[Mansour_Ahmed]

Thank you for sharing this blog, anantapalli

since we couldn't create translatable field.

could you advise me how can I translate the string field values to another language if it's possible?

thank you in advance!

 

Mansour

[RFernandes]

Hi Samuel,

 

Did you find a solution for this? I'm currently facing the same issue.

 

Thanks!

[RahulBPT]

Hello,

Is the workflow supported for the custom tasks? I linked the workflow but it's not getting triggered.

Thanks,

Rahul

[RahulBPT]

Hi @anantapalli ,

Any update on this?

Thanks,
Rahul

[samueldenys]

Hi! 
Thank you so much for this blog. I found the issue for the picklist not being visibile to onboardee. I just needed to add the picklist in external user visibility @RFernandes.
However I noticed that the task is not reset when the onboarding is restarted, meaning that te task can not be done again in the restarted onboarding process.  How did you solve this? 
Thank you
Samuel

[anne_valo]

We have created a custom task for exist interview but this task is not visible for Offboardee either in ToDo-list or as a tile on Homepage. Edit permission for the custom object has been added to employee self role. What can be the reason that Offboardee cannot cannot see the task? 

Also, should this be EDIT permission for both objects?

Prerequisite: Before going to this step, make sure you have below permissions

• User →   Onboarding or Offboarding Object Permissions →  Custom Task
• User →   Onboarding or Offboarding Object Permissions → Custom Task Definition

[MaudeB]

Thank you for this, for good document to get us started. @anantapalli is there a configuration possible for the offboardee to select multiple answers from the picklist? Example, if I want to know their reasons for leaving, I want them to be able to select more than 1 item from my picklist.

[Bilal1]

Hello,

Is the workflow supported for the custom tasks? I linked the workflow but it's not getting triggered.

Thanks,

Sanjeet

[deomargumaman]

Hi @anantapalli , thank you for sharing this blog.

May I ask if also if you or someone from the community able to implement the below enhancement? I would really appreciate if you can share any document how you've done it?

Improvement Request Details - Customer Influence (sap.com)

Thank you,

Deo

[emily_nagengast]

@Bilal1 - workflow for custom tasks is not supported currently however is a roadmap item. 

[Abdul_Salam]

Hello @emily_nagengast @anantapalli  : Question 1: Is that possible to setup a condition like when we select certain values as Yes for previous question in Custom Task, then instructions or link to be visible otherwise it should be hidden.

As per last release, we have Rule to enable the SHOW or HIDE fields, but we need to build a JSON code to enable the conditions. We have written the below code but it is not working any suggestions with sample code to make the fields SHOW or HIDE based on previous value selection.

{
"type": "Rich Text",
"Condition": {
"scope": "#/properties/x-laptopCharger",
"schema": {
"expectedValue": "Yes"
}
}
}

Questions 2: Is that possible to bring already captured data from Personal Data collection step like Candidate names, Date of Birth and Start Date in the Custom tasks. So that candidate can review the data and fill additional information?

[karishmaneog2]

@anne_valo , Did you manage to resolve the visibility issue. I have created custom task for Offboardee but they are not visible either in To-Do or as a tile on the Home page. Any suggestions?

Many thanks

[ipekNurCabul]

Hi @anantapalli , thank you for sharing this blog.

I have 2 questions regarding custom tasks on onboarding. 

1- We configured custom tasks on onboarding for several roles such as manager, onboardee, custom managers. But all those roles can see each others' custom tasks and I am using seperate objects for each and seperate permission roles. Do you have any idea what could be the problem?

2- We are having "There was an application error - ???COMMON_Ok???" error for some custom tasks but we can complete others. Even though the objects are configured the same, one custom task could be done but the other couldn't. I would really appreciate if you can suggest any solution.

Thank you.

[josealbertova]

@Abdul_Salam,

I was able to show fields according to the value of a previous field.

{
"type": "LEAF",
"scope": "#/properties/x-question03",
"expectedValue": "Yes"
}

But this only works if the field "question03" is a String.

If the filled field with "Yes" is a MDF picklist, this doesn't work and I want to know how to do it 😞

[DP4]

Dear all,

would it be possible to download a document from the employee profile with the employee exit questionnaire?

thanks

[emily_nagengast]

@DP4  - is the questionnaire within the custom task a document? That is the only way a document would be tied to a custom task within Profile. A custom task itself does not generate a form at this time however we are looking to provide the ability to tie a document flow to custom tasks in future. 

[Anfalzz]

Hi 

I have created the program, but the custom tasks are not getting saved on it it's allowing the standard tasks only

[CameliaL]

Hello @anantapalli ,

In the Access Management section above, it says "Ability to determine when such tasks get triggered (1st day for some new hires or 30th day for others)".

What configuration needs to be done for the task to appear on day 1 ? 

We have configured a custom task and put the due date as 0 but it triggers before the first day. 

Thanks,
Camélia

[kan]

The custom task configured for a requirement which has days the candidate would like to work in a week has a loading issue when logged in as a HR ADMIN. Can someone please help on this.

[Abdelaleem]

Dear Expert,

We have created some custom tasks and we need to create story report however we couldn't find the MDF in the story reports?

could you please support us 

thanks