Workday HCM cheat sheet

Effective-dated records: a change creates a new version with an effective date; history is preserved and future-dated changes apply automatically on that date.

Supervisory Organization: the core staffing structure that holds workers, drives approvals, and defines manager visibility; it is separate from the company hierarchy.

Business Process security is governed by domain security policies plus role-based (initiator, approver, viewer) assignments; segment-based security restricts by organization.

Worker types (Employee, Contingent Worker, etc.) determine which business processes and onboarding/offboarding steps apply.

Staffing actions use reason codes and action events; Hire, Transfer, Promote, and Change Job are distinct events with different required fields.

Position Management is optional; when enabled, headcount is tied to positions and Requisition-to-Position linkage controls hiring.

Mass operations: EIB (Enterprise Interface Builder) inbound loads and Mass Actions process many workers; changes are validated against business-process rules.

Delegation transfers an approver's tasks for a date range; it does not transfer security group membership.

Gross-to-net sequence: earnings and deductions accumulate to taxable wages, taxes are calculated, then net pay is produced per pay group run.

Pay Groups define the payroll run calendar, pay frequency, and currency; pay periods must be calculated before completion.

Earnings and deduction codes carry taxability flags and calculation types (flat amount, percent, unit-based); order of calculation affects results.

Payroll input includes on-cycle (recurring) and off-cycle (one-time) elements; off-cycle runs can be manual, on-demand, or correction runs.

Payroll calculation can be previewed (Payroll Results) before completion; completion locks results and creates pay results and GL accounting entries.

Payroll accounting maps earning/deduction codes to ledger accounts and cost centers/worktags; accounting entries post to financials.

Payslips and payment elections are worker-maintained where enabled; payment split rules determine distribution across bank accounts.

Tax authorities and tax filing entities must be configured with company tax IDs; multiple tax jurisdictions can apply per worker.

Talent pools are curated groups of workers (not requisitions) used for sourcing, succession, and development; membership can be manual or rule-based.

Job Requisition lifecycle: create, approve, post, source, screen, interview, offer, and fill; a requisition must be open to accept candidates.

Offer letters use templates and require approval; the offer must be accepted before converting a candidate to a hire.

Performance reviews are driven by review periods, templates, and participant groups; calibration adjusts ratings before finalization.

Goal management links individual goals to organizational goals; goal status and weighting feed performance and compensation reviews.

Succession planning uses talent review meetings, readiness ratings, and key positions; successors are ranked by readiness.

Skills and competencies attach to job profiles; gap analysis compares worker skills to job requirements.

Career development uses job families and career paths; internal mobility is tracked via job changes and transfers.

Time tracking captures time entries against projects or worktags; time must be approved before it feeds payroll or billing.

Scheduling uses shifts, schedules, and shift templates; schedule publication notifies workers and locks assignments.

Time off plans define accrual rules (e.g., per pay period), eligibility, and balances; accruals run on a schedule and balances are worker-visible.

Labor demand is forecast from historical volume and staffing requirements; schedules are generated to match demand within rules.

Time calculation rules apply premiums (overtime, shift differential) based on worked hours, thresholds, and eligibility.

Attendance and absence tracking records exceptions (late, absent); exceptions can trigger corrective actions or payroll impacts.

Workforce analytics use headcount, turnover, and labor cost metrics; dashboards are built from delivered reports and calculated fields.

Time and attendance data flows to payroll via time calculation; unapproved time can block payroll processing.