General Data Considerations for HCM Data Loader
This topic describes some general aspects of data preparation. Follow these rules to ensure successful data upload.
Unchanged Attributes
When you update existing data in Oracle HCM Cloud, you supply:
-
A unique identifier for the record being updated
-
The attributes that have changed
Any attributes that you omit retain their current values. For performance reasons, you're recommended not to include attributes that haven't changed.
For date-effective records, all attributes that you supply are updated for the specified date range.
Null Attribute Values
To set an attribute value explicitly to null, you must supply the #NULL token as the attribute value. You can't simply leave the attribute blank.
Lookup-Validated Attributes
For nonflexfield attributes that are defined in Oracle HCM Cloud as lookup types, you can specify either the lookup code or its meaning. For example, you can specify the sex of a person using either the lookup codes or the lookup meanings shown in this table.
Lookup Code |
Lookup Meaning |
---|---|
M |
Male |
F |
Female |
You're recommended to use the lookup code, as the lookup meaning can be translated. The language of the lookup meaning must match the language of the user who's uploading the data.
Different rules apply to flexfield attributes that are defined as lookup types.
Numeric Values
For numeric values, only the decimal separator is supported. Don't include currency symbols, scientific notation, or thousands separators. To set an existing numeric value to null, supply the #NULL token as the attribute value.
Date and Time Attributes
The expected formats for date and time values are shown in this table.
Date or Time |
Format |
---|---|
Date |
YYYY/MM/DD |
Time |
YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS |
For example: 2016/11/05 14:20:00
To set an existing date or time value to null, supply the #NULL token as the attribute value.