With 1902 release, SuccessFactors Reporting and Analytics has enhanced its Advanced Reporting solution further to eliminate the need of manual Metadata reloads which will eventually eliminates the customers dependency on SAP SuccessFactors to sync metadata changes from Employee Central to Advanced Reporting.

Before 1902:

For even a very small Metadata change (Configuration change) in Employee Central, Customer needs to reach out to SAP SuccessFactors to get the Metadata refresh so that any configuration change made in Employee Central gets reflected in Advanced Reporting.

After 1902:

How the Metadata changes will be taken care post 1902 release:

1. Automatic refresh:
   1. Any Metadata change in EC will be reflected in Advanced Reporting within 24 hours(max).
   2. A daily Job is scheduled for all Data center which sync the Metadata change from EC to Advanced Reporting.
2. Manual refresh (for immediate sync):
   1. Customers can now use the Purge Advanced Reporting Metadata Cache option to sync the Employee Central metadata changes, so the updates immediately reflect in Advanced Reporting

Release Information:  https://help.sap.com/viewer/7a5e1d53ab524d72bb5b98547e9f9c42/1902/en-US/5420155750b24325a223ff50e1c62c4f.html 

FAQ

• Who will have access to “Purge Advanced Reporting Metadata Cache” Option?

Any user having below permission assigned will have access to Purge Advanced Reporting Metadata Cache.

For Report Center enabled instances: Analytics Permission -> Report – Canvas Designer Admin 

For Report Center disabled instances: Role Maintenance -> Action Restrictions-> Report Designing Admin

• How to access Workforce Planning and Analytics Administration Page?

For Report Center Customers:

Option 1: Go to Report Center Page -> Edit any Report Canvas -> Click Admin from Top right corner

Option 2: Go to Report Center Page-> View Schedules -> Switch to Legacy Report Distributor Tool -> Click Admin from Top right corner

For Non – Report Center Customers:

Go to Analytics -> Click Admin from Top right corner

• I have Admin access but cannot see “Purge Advanced Reporting Metadata Cache”?

The option is only available to customer with View Based Metadata (VBM) enabled Advanced Reporting instances.

• What is View Based Metadata(VBM) ?

View-based metadata (VBM) is an alternative solution to the existing persisted metadata known as code-based metadata (CBM). With VBM, the metadata is built and populated on the fly and on demand, so, no manual effort is needed for any kind of changes in BizX that includes the standard and country specific data model changes and MDF changes.

• How to know if VBM is enabled in my Advanced Reporting instance or not ?

The View Based Metadata (VBM) in Advanced Reporting is being enabled for SAP SuccessFactors tenants on HANA, in planned phases. If you are getting an option of “Purge Advanced Reporting Metadata Cache” under Workforce Planning and Analytics Administration Page, that means your Advanced Reporting instance has VBM enabled.

• Can I request to enable VBM for my Advanced Reporting instance?

The View Based Metadata (VBM) in Advanced Reporting is being enabled for SAP SuccessFactors tenants on HANA, in planned phases. All the Advanced Reporting instances will be using VBM by 1905. Request for manually enabling VBM is not an option.