Data Retention Management in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting
In the course of the EU GDPR, companies must balance legal and business aspects against data protection requirements in order to delete data when it is no longer needed for the business purpose. It is interesting to see how these requirements can be met within SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting with DPCS 2.0, starting with the privacy statement at the start of the application process. But under what conditions, in addition to the technical settings, is an application and a candidate profile ultimately anonymized? How is the behavior of SAP SF recruiting and how does data retention management work in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting?
Find out the answers to these questions in this blog post!
Basics of Data Retention Management in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting
When is an application considered inactive?
An inactive application is a "closed" application that is in a "Withdrawn" or "Disqualified" status. Applications are only anonymized if the job "Purge Inactive Applications" has been scheduled.
Applications in the status "Hired on other Requisition" and "Requisition Closed" are considered active applications. If an anonymization is also to be carried out in one of these two statuses, this must be done under Manage recruiting preferences be activated separately.
Which start date can be selected to trigger the deletion period for the anonymization of the application?
There are 3 options for when the system calculates the start date for applications to be anonymized.
- Date of last change (every update by a candidate or recruiter resets the clock; the timestamp can be generated via a report)
- Date of shift to a disposition status by the system (recommended)
- Date of closure of a position
When will the candidate profile be deleted?
The candidate profile will be deleted if the following criteria are met:
- Discontinuation of the DRTM Inactive Candidate Profile Job
- The candidate has not logged into their candidate profile within a period defined by the company
- The candidate has not accepted the data protection declaration within a defined period of time
- request for erasure
- The candidate profile was deleted by the candidate or by an admin
-> should still active If applications exist, the system moves them to the status "Deleted on Demand by Candidate" or "Deleted on Demand by Admin". The data is marked and anonymized with the next deletion run
- Withdraw the privacy policy
- The candidate or an admin has withdrawn the privacy policy
-> If there are still active applications, the system will move them to the status "Declined DPCS". The data is marked and anonymized with the next deletion run
- Manage settings in Recruiting settings
- If the point Do not delete candidate profile if there are applications in the system for the candidate not activated (not recommended), the candidate profile will be deleted after the defined deletion period, even if there are still active applications. The candidate profile will therefore be deleted regardless of the status of the application.
- If the point Do not delete candidate profile if there are applications in the system for the candidate activated (recommended), the candidate profile will be deleted depending on the status of the candidate's application:
| application status | candidate profile |
| In Progress | Will not be deleted |
| Draft, closed, withdrawn, disqualified | Will be deleted |
| Requisition closed | Cleared when the setting for this has been enabled |
| Hired on other Requisition | Cleared when the setting for this has been enabled |
When is an application deleted?
The deletion of an application depends, among other things, on the application status of a candidate. Applications that have a status in the “Withdrawn”, “Disqualified” group or certain system statuses will be deleted.
Withdrawn statuses are:
Deleted on Demand by Candidate
Deleted on Demand by Admin
Declined DPCS
Withdrawn by Candidate
Applications in the first three statuses mentioned are deleted via the RCM Entity Anonymization Job. The deletion then takes place in 1-60 minutes. Applications in the Withdrawn by Candidate status will be deleted with the deletion deadline specified in the DRTM Job Application object.
System statuses in which deletion takes place are:
Requisition Closed (must be activated separately to trigger deletion)
Hired on Other Requisition (must be activated separately to trigger deletion)
Auto disqualified.
For a better overview here again in tabular form:
| status group | status name | Behavior |
| Withdrawn status | Deleted on Demand by Candidate | The profile will be deleted and the application will be marked in the next entity anonymization job |
| Deleted in Demand by Admin | The profile will be deleted and the application will be marked in the next entity anonymization job | |
| Declined DPCS | The profile will be deleted and the application will be marked in the next entity anonymization job | |
| Withdrawn by Candidate | The applications are cleaned by the DRTM inactive application deletion jobs according to the retention period. | |
| In Progress status | Each | The applications will not be anonymised |
| Forwarded status | Forwarded | The applications will not be anonymised |
| Invited to apply | The applications will not be anonymised | |
| System Status | Default | The applications will not be anonymised |
| Requisition closed | The applications will be deleted if the setting for this has been activated | |
| Hired on Other Requisition | The applications will be deleted if the setting for this has been activated | |
| Auto disqualified | The applications are cleaned by the DRTM inactive application deletion jobs according to the retention period. | |
| onboard status | Each | The applications are cleaned by the DRTM inactive application deletion jobs according to the retention period. |
| Disqualified | Each | The applications are cleaned by the DRTM inactive application deletion jobs according to the retention period. |
What happens if the candidate profile has been deleted and the application is in a disqualified status?
If this is the case, the candidate profile will be anonymized within 1-60 minutes and the application will be marked for anonymization. However, the application will remain available until the deletion period has expired and will not be made anonymous. This has a legal background and is expected system behavior.
What options are there if the candidate immediately no longer wants to have application data and profile data in the system?
If a candidate insists on having both the application and the profile deleted immediately, you can use a workaround if the following conditions are met: The application has a disqualified status and the candidate profile has not yet been anonymized. Push the candidate back into an in-progress status. Make sure that no automatic email is triggered to the candidate or the recruiting team. A dummy status can also be created for such a case. After moving the application, the candidate profile can be edited using the function Delete candidates be deleted and both the profile and the application will be deleted with the next RCM Entity Anonymization job.
Manually added applications and not accepted privacy policy
If a candidate is added manually and has not confirmed the privacy policy by the time defined by the company, applications that are in the status "Forwarded", "Invited to apply" or other in-progress status will not be deleted. As a result, the application hangs in the system forever. The application can then only be deleted with a ticket to SAP.
Do you have any questions about the Data retention management in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting or do you need further help? Contact us via the contact form and send us a message.
