“Right Place”

to unlock New
Value from
Your Workday
An extensibility guide for
IT leaders and builders.
Table of Contents

Introduction 03

A Platform That Meets Your New Agility Needs 04

Openness Through Integration 06

“Right Placing” New Capabilities 08

Solving Use Cases with Ease and Confidence 10

Orchestrating the Future 12

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 2

Introduction
Your business is under constant change, and decision-making
through this change needs to be fuelled by a steady stream of
people, financial and operational data that can dynamically flow
to and across remote, disparate teams. IT needs solutions that
can deliver that data in hours and minutes, not weeks or months.
When used together, these capabilities offer intuitive, powerful ways to analyse,
report, process, engage and act across your people and finance data throughout
its lifecycle. Your IT team will also be free to focus on creating innovation, not
maintaining context, or building new infrastructure or managing underlying
middleware.

This need for a continuous stream of data puts pressure on IT’s ability to
accommodate user needs for collaboration and analysis, orchestrate processes
across multiple systems, and keep a remote, distributed workforce contextually
engaged.

At Workday, we’re meeting this challenge by building on our trusted single source for
data with a growing portfolio of extensibility capabilities within our architecture by:

● I nvesting in innovation that enables Workday to scale to meet the demands of the
largest customers in the world

●C
 ontinuing to build solutions that connect to siloed data within other systems
across your IT environment

● I nvesting in Workday extensibility to rapidly build net-new capabilities around

your people and finance data to address new use cases

No two companies are alike. Our portfolio

of extensibility products can tailor
Workday to meet your business needs and
adapt as those needs change.
A Platform That Meets Your New Agility Needs
A trusted platform lets organisations focus on planning, executing and
analysing within a single system.
A trusted platform lets organisations focus on what matters most: moving their But it’s not enough just to scale. As we’ve seen in 2020, the world can be
business forward. So it’s more critical than ever that systems remain secure and unpredictable. To meet this challenge, we’ve ensured that our architecture is
available even at extraordinary volumes and scales. This requires a technology fundamentally adaptable. It has evolved to support millions of users across the
platform that not only drives agile thinking and solutions, but also ensures stable, globe engaging with Workday Human Capital Management (HCM), Workday
successful innovation. Financial Management, and Workday analytics and planning applications from
remote locations, on mobile devices and by way of different channels, such as
It also demands a platform based on trust – one that is resilient and battle-tested
conversational UIs and natural workspaces.
by the largest enterprises in the world. It demands a platform of openness, allowing
organisations to rapidly connect and integrate with their other systems and
processes, using industry-standard technologies, APIs and protocols. It demands an
extensible platform, allowing organisations to create new experiences and workflows
to tailor the journeys of people and finances to their unique business needs.

“
Workday’s product is incredibly
configurable. We were able to streamline
business processes and configure the
system in a way that suited our unique
business needs.
Vice President of Supply Chain Services
MGM Grand Paradise Limited

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 4

Central to this architecture is the Workday object data model. We use objects to
model entities, attributes and relationships, which is key for adaptability. And unlike
a relational database, new custom objects can be easily added. The update-safe
configuration capabilities in Workday then enable you to extend the model to suit
your individual business needs.
Additionally, the Workday business process framework – core to the Workday
architecture – allows both IT and the business to tailor business process templates
that address your needs for unique business flows and approvals.

Adaptable Foundation
Initiate Hire Approve Hire
Recruiter Manager

Custom
Skills
Badge Information Field

Lessons Custom Field Badge ID

Custom
Object
Worker Approve Request Initiate Badge
Badge Custom
Information Manager HR
Field
Workday
Business Security
Object Level
Location
Betty Liu
Contacts (Worker)
Custom Custom
Object Field Add Badge to ID Review Change
Custom Field Security Manager
Company Licence
Car Number

Create Badge

Object Data Model Configuration Business Process Framework

The object data model, configuration options and business process framework
in Workday working together for a new-hire badge ID request.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 5

Openness Through Integration
Flexible integration supports simple, lightweight and more complex logic-
and flow-driven use cases.
Over time, organisations build up a constellation of systems and applications
to run the business, but often these systems don’t work well together, causing
excessive integration and interoperability costs and challenges. Senior IT leaders
need to evolve toward a seamlessly integrated portfolio of applications, data and
business processes – that can be augmented with machine learning (ML) – to
achieve the agility required across the business.

Within any IT landscape, however, there’s a wide range of third-party upstream

and downstream systems that hold valuable data – with the value of that data
increasing as it enhances existing Workday data. Integration offerings must be
flexible enough to support both simple, lightweight integration use cases based on
easy-to-configure data, as well as more complex logic- and flow-driven integrations.
Doing so ensures that you maximise the number of addressable use cases.

Workday Integration Cloud enables Workday to connect and exchange data with
many third-party systems to automate processes and gain critical insights. Since
its launch in 2011, Workday Integration Cloud has continued to drive faster time to
value for our customers, with over 1 billion integration requests served.

“
Our programme team of circa 25 people
developed and deployed 65 integrations
in and out of Workday.
Vice President of HR Tech
Centrica

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 6

Like our configuration capabilities and business process features, these integration Ultimately, Workday Integration Cloud is designed to make the transition to
capabilities are built into Workday and are provided free to all Workday customers. cloud and digital architectures as easy as possible for IT teams. Implementing a
Workday Integration Cloud is built specifically to help customers quickly and cost- standards-based integration approach allows teams to implement digital initiatives
effectively get up and running on Workday. as quickly and efficiently as possible by reducing the time it takes to build and
maintain data logic and data transformation code.
Leveraging existing Workday skill sets, our customers utilise powerful Workday
capabilities, such as configurable security, business processes, reporting and
auditing, to build and maintain integrations for their unique needs. In addition,
Workday Integration Cloud provides out-of-the-box benefits and payroll integrations,
integration tooling, and a library of thousands of APIs and prebuilt connectors to do
all the heavy lifting for our customers. We work to make it as easy as possible to build
and maintain integrations.

210K
1B
Integration
Deployed Integrations
3,600
Requests Served Certified Integrators

Workday Integration Cloud drives faster time to value with over 1 billion
integration requests served since launch.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 7

“Right Placing” New Capabilities
Build and deploy apps alongside existing Workday applications and data to
leverage people and finance context.
Beyond supporting configuration and data movement between systems, enabling Workday Extend provides customers with the tools and a platform to create
your teams to extend the value of Workday and enhance the employee experience extensions for Workday HCM and Workday Financial Management. These
in a constantly changing business landscape requires deep extensibility. extensions are surfaced as apps for the workforce to use, providing new
experiences and workflows across its people and finances.
It’s critically important when building extensions that you build in the right
place. “Right placing” recognises that the closer your proximity to what matters Workday Extend developers leverage the same capabilities that internal Workday
most – people and finances – the easier it is to build more accurate outcomes. developers use to create native Workday apps – from the user interface and
Traditionally, extensions outside of Workday often means replicating the Workday presentation layer, to the business logic and process layer, all the way down to the
interface and security model as well as exporting – and importing – Workday data. data object layer.
The result is spending more time worrying about costly licences, fragmented user
experiences, expensive and lengthy software upgrades, and maintaining data
integrity, instead of providing value to users.

By extending on the Workday platform, you can build deep extensions to core
people and finance data and processes, and in turn, provide contextually relevant
value to users, all while maintaining one source of truth for your most important
data. This allows you to continue to plan, execute and analyse within a single
system, so you can retire legacy systems and applications and simplify your
technology landscape, reduce the infrastructure cost and reduce the risk of stale,
unsecured data burdening your enterprise.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 8

A powerful suite of app components give developers the ability to create new user
interfaces to capture and process data unique to your organisation. Because of
their proximity, Workday Extend apps are naturally integrated into the Workday
application, including custom dashboards, worklets, profile groups, global search
and related actions, providing a single unified experience for users.
Apps can be accessed from any device, including web browsers and native Workday
iOS and Android mobile apps, allowing you to meet your users where they work.
Workday Extend also provides a rich set of development tools to enable developers
to prototype and build apps, as well as a purpose-built lifecycle management
solution to collaboratively manage, configure and deploy apps.

Cust
om
er A
pp

pp
Ex
ec
ut

A
er
m

e
sto
Cu
Financial Human Capital
App Components Management Management
Developer Site

Customer App
Spend
Plan

Management
Planning

Workday
Student

App Development Tools Analytics & Platform Services

Benchmarking

A n a lys e

Wo r k
day Extend

Workday Extend puts our technology into your hands, enabling you to create deep extensions
within your core Workday people and finance data and processes.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 9

Solving Use Cases with Ease and Confidence
Solve for your most challenging opportunities to streamline experiences or
design new employee programmes.
Workday Extend apps can solve a company’s unique set of business challenges
across its people and finances, helping to respond to urgent and unforeseen needs.
These apps are deeply extensible and run alongside existing Workday applications
on the same technology foundation, leveraging a common user experience, one
trusted source of data and the same pervasive security model.
It’s these architectural decisions – and the close proximity to your people and
finance data – that enable deep extensibility of the Workday products you already
know and trust.
To date, more than 100 apps have been built and deployed with over 1,100
developers being represented across many industries around the world – from
technology to education to entertainment to financial services.

Rewards and Return to Project Close Sales Opportunity

Recognition Work/Office Automation Tracker

Education Foundation Mileage

People Data Expense
Finance Data Collections
Assistance Donation
and Process and Process
Buy/Sell Promotion Review Billable Supplier-Managed
Holiday Nomination Transactions Requisition

Use Workday Extend to build deep extensions in the right place to take advantage
of the close proximity to core Workday data and processes.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 10

 “
Although the types of apps customers build vary, there are a few common business
challenges and corresponding solutions that accelerate time to value:
Using Workday Extend to build our Education Assistance
Design and administer employee programmes, such as preparing for return to app allowed us to replace a manual process with a
work with workplace and worker re-entry so employees, managers, HR and facility streamlined, digital experience.
managers can safely return the workforce back to the office.
Manager
Streamline pay and reimbursement processes by automating the calculation People Service Innovation, Sun Life
of work-related travel using third-party transit data, and making tuition

“
reimbursement easier by collecting degree and course data from employees prior
to reimbursement.
Using Workday Extend to enhance our external PO process
Increase employee engagement with tailored rewards and recognition, including has helped us automate a critical path to close the books
an easy way to submit one-time rewards or feedback to peers, or improve the merit and perform our financial close more quickly.
process by letting employees define the ratio of their equity/cash compensation.
Director of Finance and People Technology
Consolidate performance, feedback and compensation experiences with a way to People Service Innovation, Netflix
nominate employees for promotion or present employees with a single-page view of
base and variable pay, benefits and equity.

Enhance financial management experiences so that project managers use a

guided project close process to automate time-consuming tasks, or a supplier
portal that lets suppliers initiate purchase orders for goods and services.
Orchestrating the Future
Workflow, deeper extensions and the builders of tomorrow.
We continue to expand the development capabilities of Workday Extend as well as meet Workday Workflow is interoperable with the Workday business process framework (BPF),
our customers’ toughest integration challenges. And we’re enhancing Workday as a enabling deep extensions spanning multiple Workday transactions without needing to
system of engagement, with different and personalised ways of communicating – and rely on expensive workflow and middleware solutions that risk your single source of truth.
engaging – across the workforce.
Workday Workflow is available today for Workday People Experience to build cards as
Building workflows. part of the journeys feature in Workday. The planned update in calendar year 2021 will add
support for Workday Extend. Anyone can use the drag-and-drop web-based authoring
With the introduction of Workday Workflow, Workday Extend will enable you to define
tool to rapidly orchestrate real-time, event-driven processes and tasks across Workday
and orchestrate people and finance workflows across Workday and third-party systems.
and other external systems.
By leveraging the same core services that power Workday to capture approvals, evaluate
conditions and connect with third-party systems, Workday Workflow allows you to create
people and finance orchestrations that are driven by user experiences, not systems.

Building a system of
Work from Anywhere Mobile Web Natural Workspaces engagement starts by
Deliver Great Employee
Experiences Anywhere You Work
leveraging an open,
extensible and trusted
technology platform to
Experience
Engaging Employee
respond and adapt to
Experiences Today Help Help constantly changing
Home, Search and Intelligent Assistant Knowledge and Case Management Transition and Life Events
needs.

Open and Extensible

Organisational Agility
Workday Integration Cloud Workday Extend
Workflow
Enterprise Integration Engine App Platform Low-Code
Integrations and
Orchestration

Trust
Technology Foundation
Built for Change Business Process and Model Data and ML User Experience Security
One Process Framework and Data Model One Source of Truth One User Experience One Security Model

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 12

Tap into the core of Workday.
Using the Workday Extend suite of app components, developers will be able to extend
the Workday object model to store, process and secure their app data.
●B
 usiness object and attachment components allow you to naturally extend the
Workday object model to store rich data and files as part of your Workday Extend
apps. You can create sophisticated data models by relating business objects and
attachments to each other, as well as to Workday-delivered business objects.
●B
 usiness process components will allow developers to build their own business
process types to process app data. With business process components, the
power of BPF becomes available to you, including routing, approvals, notifications
and more.
Workday builders.
With such powerful integration and extensibility tools at hand, we see a new
role emerging as our customers and partners build new skills to bridge their
administration, app development and integration needs: Workday builders.
This role starts by leveraging fundamental Workday administration and Workday
Studio integration expertise. By then augmenting web development, data processing
and API experience from elsewhere within your organisation, this new builder role
becomes a trusted advisor to both the business and IT.
And we are supporting Workday builders by continuously investing in the education,
tools and vibrant community to help builders get the most out of Workday.

●A
 nd, just as importantly, security domain components will allow you to secure
your app data using the single Workday configurable security model.

Integration.
We will continue to expand our Workday Cloud Connect portfolio of more than
“
Workday Extend gives us the ability to break the silos
between enterprise applications to deliver a secure,
integrated user experience.
Director,
600 packaged application integrations and more than 2,500 APIs. We will add
Core HR and Payroll Technology Portfolio, IBM
deeper integration points into our application as well as evolve and add more
options with both our no-code and high-code integration tooling so you can quickly
and efficiently build the best integrations for your organisation.

The builder role in Workday represents a new,

emerging responsibility to bridge administration,
app development and integration needs.

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 13

To learn more about how we can help you rapidly extend
Workday people and finance data and processes to solve
unique challenges in times of extreme change, visit:
workday.com/extend

Extensibility Guide for IT Leaders and Builders | 14

Workday | +46 8 446 800 07 | +45 89 88 79 38 | +47 23961003 | +358 942 451052
workday.se | workday.dk | workday.no | workday.fi

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