Role feature access: HR Admin > HR Admin > Employee Data Mapping Rules > Retain Existing Data
If a mapping rule in HR Admin > Employee Data Mapping Rules is configured to assign an employee property that an employee already has a record for in their profile, the mapping rule still updates the existing record by default. However, you can configure the rule not to update the existing record. This prevents the value in the record from being overwritten if it’s different from the value set in the mapping rule.
For example, an organization uses an employee property that has a checkbox to track whether new hires have completed their onboarding tasks. When an employee is hired, a mapping rule assigns this employee property to them with the checkbox cleared. When onboarding is finished, a manager selects this checkbox in the employee’s profile. However, updates made to the employee’s profile at a later point can trigger the same mapping rule to run. In this case, the checkbox for the employee property is cleared based on the configuration of the mapping rule, unless you configure the rule not to update the existing record.
After you enable this feature for your role, and you go to HR Admin > Employee Data Mapping Rules, the Mapping Values list shows the Retain Existing Data column. This column shows a checkbox when you select Employee Property in the Mapping Object drop-down list of a mapping value.
Note: The Retain Existing Data column is only applicable for employee properties. The checkbox under the column is hidden when any other mapping object is selected for the mapping value.
You can select this checkbox for employee properties that you don't want the rule to update when an employee already has a record for that same property:
In addition, the Retain Existing Data checkbox is only applicable for employee properties that are configured to allow one record to be assigned to an employee at a time. (In HR Admin > Employee Properties, these employee properties have One at a time selected in the Assignable drop-down list.)
When an employee property is configured to allow more than one record at a time, existing records that employees have for that employee property aren't updated. Instead, the mapping rule adds an additional record for that employee property to the Employment > Employee Properties screen of People.