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Sf Scraper

Scrape employee data from a logged-in SAP SuccessFactors browser session using browser automation. Use when: user provides an employee ID and wants employee...

personAuthor: venkatalokesh-dothubclawhub
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SF Scraper — SuccessFactors Browser Scraping Skill

Scrape employee data from a live, logged-in SAP SuccessFactors session via browser automation. This skill uses ONLY browser snapshots and actions — zero API calls.

Prerequisites

  • User must have SAP SuccessFactors open and logged in on a Chrome tab.
  • OpenClaw Browser Relay Chrome extension must be active (badge ON) on that tab.
  • Always use profile="chrome" for all browser calls (we need the authenticated session).

Step-by-Step Workflow

Step 1: Verify Session & Get Base URL

browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome", compact=true)

Check for these states:

  • Login page detected (look for: "Log in", "Username", "Password", "Company ID" fields) → Tell user to log in first and re-attach the relay.
  • Session expired ("Session Timeout", "session has expired") → Same, ask user to re-login.
  • SF Home/Dashboard → Good. Extract the base URL from the page URL in the snapshot. It will be one of:
    • https://<company>.successfactors.com
    • https://<company>.successfactors.eu
    • https://<company>.sapsf.com
    • https://pmsalesdemo<N>.successfactors.com (demo instances)
    • https://hcm<N>preview.sapsf.com (preview instances)

Store the base URL — all subsequent navigation uses it.

Step 2: Navigate to Employee Profile

Try these navigation strategies in order. Move to the next only if the current one fails.

Strategy A: People Profile Deep Link (preferred)

browser(action="navigate", profile="chrome", targetUrl="{base_url}/sf/liveprofile?selected_user={employee_id}")

Wait 2-3 seconds for load, then snapshot. This is the most reliable deep link in modern SF instances.

Success indicators:

  • Page contains a heading with a person's name
  • You see sections like "Personal Information", "Job Information", "About Me"
  • URL contains liveprofile and the employee ID

Failure indicators:

  • Blank page, spinner that never resolves
  • "Page not found", "Error", or redirect to home
  • Generic dashboard with no employee context

Strategy B: Alternative Deep Links

If Strategy A fails, try these one at a time:

{base_url}/xi/ui/peopleprofile/pages/index.xhtml?selected_user={employee_id}
{base_url}/sf/peopleprofile?selected_user={employee_id}
{base_url}/#/userprofile/{employee_id}
{base_url}/sf/admin/employeefiles?selected_user={employee_id}

Same validation — snapshot after each and check for profile content.

Strategy C: Global Search Bar

If all deep links fail, use the search:

  1. Snapshot the current page.
  2. Find the search element. Look for:
    • A searchbox role element (most common)
    • A textbox with placeholder containing "Search", "Search People", "Find Someone"
    • An element with aria-label containing "search"
    • The magnifying glass icon / search icon button (click it first to expand the search bar)
  3. Click the search box to focus it.
  4. Type the employee ID: 
    browser(action="act", profile="chrome", request={kind: "type", ref: "<search_ref>", text: "{employee_id}"})
  5. Press Enter or click the search button: 
    browser(action="act", profile="chrome", request={kind: "press", ref: "<search_ref>", key: "Enter"})
  6. Wait 2-3 seconds, then snapshot the results.
  7. Parse the results:
    • If one result → click it to open the profile.
    • If multiple results → look for the one matching the employee ID. Results typically show as a list with name, ID, and photo. Click the correct one.
    • If no results → report to user that employee ID was not found.

Strategy D: Admin Center / Employee Files

Last resort — navigate through menus:

  1. Navigate to {base_url}/sf/admin
  2. Snapshot, look for "Employee Files" or "Manage Employees" link
  3. Click it, then use the search/filter within that view
  4. Find and click the employee

Step 3: Handle Page Loading & Iframes

SuccessFactors heavily uses iframes and lazy loading. Critical handling:

Iframe detection:

  • After navigating, if the snapshot shows minimal content or an iframe structure, try: 
    browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome", compact=true, frame="main")
  • Common iframe names/ids in SF: "main", "contentFrame", "bizmuleApp", "xCalApp"
  • If frame doesn't work, take a full (non-compact) snapshot to see the full DOM tree

Lazy loading / SPA transitions:

  • SuccessFactors is a Single Page Application. After navigation, content may take 3-5 seconds to render.
  • Always snapshot twice if the first snapshot shows loading indicators:
    • Loading spinners: look for "Loading", "Please wait", spinner icons, progress bars
    • Wait 3 seconds between snapshots
    • If still loading after 2 retries (total ~9 seconds), inform user of slow load

Popup/Modal handling:

  • SF sometimes shows popups ("What's New", cookie consent, tour prompts)
  • If a modal/dialog appears, look for "Close", "X", "Dismiss", "Got it", "Skip" buttons
  • Click to dismiss, then re-snapshot

Step 4: Scrape the Profile Page

Once on the employee profile, take a detailed snapshot:

browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome")

SuccessFactors People Profile has these typical sections/cards:

Header / Banner Area

Contains the most important info, always visible at top:

  • Full Name — Large heading text, usually heading level 1 or 2
  • Job Title — Text directly below the name
  • Photo — Avatar image (not scrapable as data, but confirms you're on the right profile)
  • Employee ID — Sometimes shown near name, sometimes in a subtitle like "ID: 12345"
  • Quick action buttons — Email, phone icons (these contain contact data)

Info Cards / Sections (varies by company config)

Each card has a header and key-value pairs. Common patterns:

"Personal Information" / "About" card:

  • First Name, Last Name, Middle Name
  • Preferred Name / Display Name
  • Date of Birth (may be restricted)
  • Gender
  • Nationality
  • Marital Status

"Job Information" card:

  • Job Title / Position Title
  • Job Code
  • Department / Division / Business Unit
  • Cost Center
  • Employment Type (Full-time, Part-time, etc.)
  • Employee Class / Employee Type
  • Regular/Temporary
  • Standard Hours
  • FTE (Full-Time Equivalent)
  • Pay Grade
  • Worker's Compensation Code

"Employment Details" / "Employment Information" card:

  • Hire Date / Original Start Date
  • Seniority Date
  • Service Date
  • Last Date Worked
  • Termination Date (if applicable)
  • Employment Status (Active, Terminated, Leave, etc.)

"Compensation Information" card (may be restricted):

  • Annual Salary / Base Pay
  • Pay Component
  • Currency
  • Compa-Ratio
  • Range Penetration

"Contact Information" card:

  • Business Email
  • Personal Email
  • Business Phone
  • Mobile Phone
  • Home Phone
  • Business Address (Street, City, State, Zip, Country)
  • Home Address

"Organizational" / "Position" card:

  • Manager Name (usually a clickable link)
  • Manager ID
  • Position
  • Direct Reports count
  • Legal Entity
  • Company Code

"Spot Profile" / "About Me" card:

  • Bio / About Me text
  • Skills
  • Interests
  • Social accounts

How to Extract Key-Value Pairs

In the accessibility tree snapshot, profile data appears as:

  • Labels — text or label nodes with the field name (e.g., "Department")
  • Values — Adjacent text, link, or statictext nodes with the value (e.g., "Engineering")
  • Pattern: label followed by its value, often in a grid/table or definition list structure

Example snapshot patterns:

text "Department"
text "Engineering"
text "Manager"
link "Jane Smith"
text "Location"
text "Bangalore, India"
text "Email"
link "john.doe@company.com"

Scan sequentially and pair each label with its following value.

Step 5: Navigate Tabs for More Data

SuccessFactors profiles often organize data into tabs or collapsible sections.

Common tab names:

  • "Personal Information" / "Personal Info"
  • "Job Information" / "Job Info"
  • "Employment Information" / "Employment Details"
  • "Compensation Information" / "Compensation"
  • "Pay Components" / "Pay Details"
  • "Organizational Information" / "Organization"
  • "Contact Information"
  • "Documents"
  • "Performance History"
  • "Goal Plan"
  • "Time Off" / "Leave"

To navigate tabs:

  1. Snapshot and identify tab elements (role: tab, tablist, or clickable links with these names)
  2. Click the tab you need: 
    browser(action="act", profile="chrome", request={kind: "click", ref: "<tab_ref>"})
  3. Wait 1-2 seconds for content to load
  4. Snapshot again and extract the new section's data

Collapsible sections:

  • Some profiles use expandable/collapsible sections instead of tabs
  • Look for button elements with section names and expand/collapse indicators
  • Click to expand if collapsed, then snapshot

Step 6: Handle "Show More" / Pagination

  • Some sections show limited data with a "Show More", "View All", or "See More" link
  • Click it if present to reveal full data, then re-snapshot
  • Employment history or compensation history may have multiple records — scrape all visible

Step 7: Return Results

Format results clearly, grouped by section:

═══ Employee Profile ═══

👤 Basic Info
   Name: John Doe
   Employee ID: 12345
   Job Title: Senior Developer
   Department: Engineering
   
📧 Contact
   Email: john.doe@company.com
   Phone: +91-9876543210
   Location: Bangalore, India
   
🏢 Organization
   Manager: Jane Smith
   Division: Technology
   Business Unit: Product Development
   Legal Entity: Company India Pvt Ltd
   
📋 Employment
   Hire Date: 2020-03-15
   Status: Active
   Type: Full-Time Regular

Rules:

  • Only include fields actually found on the page — NEVER fabricate data
  • If a field's value is empty or hidden ("*****", "Restricted"), report it as restricted
  • If the user only asked for a name, don't scrape every tab — just return what's visible in the header

Batch Mode

For multiple employee IDs:

  1. Process one at a time sequentially
  2. After each profile, navigate to the next using Strategy A
  3. Collect all results
  4. Present as a formatted table at the end
  5. Note any IDs that failed

Configuration (Optional)

User can add to TOOLS.md:

### SuccessFactors
- Base URL: https://yourcompany.successfactors.com
- Default fields: name, email, department, manager

If configured, use the base URL directly (skip discovery). If default fields are specified, only scrape those.

Error Handling

| Scenario | Detection | Action | |----------|-----------|--------| | Not logged in | Login form visible | Tell user to log in and re-attach relay | | Session expired | "Session Timeout" text | Same as above | | Employee not found | Search returns 0 results | Report clearly, suggest checking ID | | Access denied | "Unauthorized", "No access", "Insufficient privileges" | Report — user may lack permissions | | Profile restricted | Fields show "*****" or "Restricted" | Report which fields are restricted | | Page won't load | Loading spinner after 3 retries | Report timeout, suggest refreshing SF | | Multiple matches | Search returns >1 result | List matches with names/IDs, ask user to pick | | Wrong instance | URL doesn't match expected SF domain | Warn user, ask to confirm |

Important Notes

  • NEVER use OData, REST API, or any programmatic endpoint. Pure browser scraping only.
  • Always use profile="chrome" — never profile="openclaw" (need the user's auth session).
  • Be patient — SF can be slow. Always verify page state with snapshots before extracting.
  • Don't navigate away from SF without warning the user.
  • Respect permissions — if data is restricted/hidden in the UI, it's restricted for a reason. Don't try to circumvent.
  • Screenshot fallback — if snapshot (accessibility tree) doesn't capture visible text, use browser(action="screenshot", profile="chrome") to see the rendered page visually and extract from the image.