C_THR81 Employee Central Core Practice Question
An Employee Central administrator at a multinational company needs to set up a new association between the 'Job Information' portlet and the 'Position' MDF object so that when a position is selected, the corresponding 'Cost Center' from the position record is automatically populated into Job Information. The administrator creates a rule on the Job Information object that triggers on save and uses the 'Position' field to look up the 'Cost Center' from the Position object. However, during testing, the Cost Center is not populated. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that any field can be used to look up values from another object, when in fact the field must be configured as an association to enable that navigation.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The 'Position' field in Job Information is not configured as an association to the Position MDF object.
For a business rule to retrieve data from a related MDF object via a field on Job Information, that field must be defined as an association to that object. Without the association, the rule cannot navigate to the Position record to read Cost Center. Thus, the absence of the association on the Position field is the fundamental issue preventing the automatic population.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The 'Position' field in Job Information is not configured as an association to the Position MDF object.
Why this is correct
For a rule to look up a value from the Position object using the Position field, that field must be defined as an association (e.g., 'Position' association) pointing to the Position MDF object. If it is a simple text or picklist field, the rule cannot traverse to the related object. Thus, the Cost Center cannot be retrieved, causing the failure. This is the most likely cause.
- ✗
The 'Cost Center' field in the Position object is not set as a required field.
Why it's wrong here
Whether Cost Center is required in the Position object does not affect the rule's ability to read its value. The rule can read any field regardless of required status. If the field is empty on the position record, the rule would populate nothing, but the scenario implies the Cost Center exists on the position. The missing required setting is not the cause of the failure.
- ✗
The rule must be configured as an onChange rule instead of onSave to populate the field.
Why it's wrong here
While onChange rules can trigger field updates, the issue described is not about the trigger timing. The rule is on save, and the Cost Center should still populate if the association is properly configured. The problem lies in the association type or field mapping, not the rule event type. Changing to onChange would not resolve the missing population if the underlying association is incorrect.
- ✗
The rule needs to use the 'Position' field as a source and then a 'Lookup' function to retrieve Cost Center.
Why it's wrong here
Using a lookup function is a valid approach, but it requires the Position field to be an association first. If the association is missing, the lookup function cannot work. The root cause is the field configuration, not the rule logic. Simply adding a lookup function without the association would still fail. Therefore, this is not the most likely cause.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official SAP exam blueprint
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