4.1 Latest People Profile, Categories, Cards, and Custom MDF Cards

4.1 Latest People Profile, Categories, Cards, and Custom MDF Cards

Quick Answer: The People Profile shows a person's information from Employee Central and the talent modules on one page. It is structured as a header, categories (such as Personal Data or Job Data), and cards inside each category. Since 1H 2026 the Latest People Profile is on for all customers. Administrators configure it in Configure Latest People Profile, and RBP decides which categories, cards, and fields each user can see.

Structure of the People Profile

• Header: profile photo, display name, login name, pronouns, job title, department, employment indicators and status, out-of-office status, team size for managers, and indicators such as alumni or onboarding new hire.
• Categories: predefined ones (Personal Data, Job Data, Compensation, Time Management, Benefits, Payroll, Performance and Goals, Succession, Learning and Development) and custom categories.
• Cards: predefined cards for personal, employment, compensation, time, benefits, payroll, performance, and succession data. Custom cards can show custom MDF objects, custom background elements, user information, or UI Integration Cards.

All Actions groups the available actions and links into Change and View (EC Quick Actions), Take Action (for example adding concurrent employment or terminating), Links, and Search. Profile Preview gives a snapshot with quick actions, and Spotlight presents skills, mentoring, target roles, and similar cards.

Important current fact: SAP states that since the 1H 2026 release the Latest People Profile is automatically on for all customers, and the legacy People Profile UI is no longer available. Some Edit and History settings are still configured in Configure Legacy People Profile, which is why both tool names still exist. Older material that talks about "sections, subsections, and blocks" describes the legacy UI.

Permission Levels

Full Profile access is controlled at three levels:

Employee Central follows these rules for categories and cards:

• No access to a category hides the category and everything in it, even if the user has card or field permissions.
• Access to a category but no cards shows an empty category.
• Access to a category and one or more cards shows only the permitted cards and fields.

Administrators need Configure People Profile (and Manage Badges for badges) under Manage System Properties.

Configure Latest People Profile

General settings:

• Show external codes for all users. Off by default, so users decide themselves. If turned on, external codes are always shown and users cannot change it.
• Enable the redesigned data editing and History UI on the web. By default the legacy editing UI still appears.
• Background images: a default image for all, disabling employee uploads, or a random or default initial image.
• An introductory text or video, profile completion reminders, and rating data settings (THR81).

Categories: disable a category by setting all its cards to not visible. SAP notes that hiding can take 30 minutes to 1 hour. You can also reorder, rename, set permission (target roles), add, and delete categories. THR81 adds a second way to hide a predefined category: deactivate the card features of all its cards, which removes the cards everywhere including the admin tool.

Cards: uncheck Visible on Full Profile, reorder with the three-dot menu, rename with the pencil icon, and add cards of type Custom MDF Object, Custom Background Element, User Information, or UI Integration Card. Each card can carry card help text. THR81's exercise adds help text to the Edit Personal Information and Edit Biographical Information cards that point administrators to the personalInfo and personInfo elements.

Translations: Bulk Translate uses AI to translate category names, card titles, and card help into several languages at once. You can review and edit the results before saving.

The Employee Information card is fixed: its fields and order are hard-coded and not editable. In EC customers, its HRIS fields are updated by HRIS sync, and non-HRIS fields through Import Employee Data.

Adding a Custom MDF Object as a Card

THR80 shows how to add a generic object, such as a company car, to the profile:

1. In Manage Configuration UI, choose Create New, give an ID, and select the MDF object as the base object. Save.
2. In Configure Object Definitions, open the object (Take Action > Make Correction) and set its Default Screen to the UI you created.
3. In Configure Latest People Profile, select a category, create a card of type Custom MDF Object, and choose the object under Content Configuration.

Restriction: a Live Profile MDF block can be used only for generic objects whose externalCode uses the User data type. Otherwise you cannot select the screen. This is how the profile knows whose record to show.

Worked Example: Adding a User Information Card

THR80's exercise adds a category Personal Information with a User Information card called Personal Info. The card shows First Name, Last Name, Customizable Field 1, and Customizable Field 2. The administrator sees the fields because the role grants view and edit rights in the Employee Data permission category. Changes may take up to an hour to appear.

Exam Tip

A practical task may say a card or field "does not appear". Check in this order: the data model (is the field enabled?), the card configuration (is the card visible and in the right category?), the category permission, the card and field permissions, and finally the timing (log out and in, and allow the documented delay).