Human Capital Management: Core Objects, Staffing Models, and Security
The worker-centric data model
Workday HCM is built around the Worker object. Every person - employee, contingent worker, or pre-hire - is a worker, and nearly every transaction resolves to a worker record. Candidates must understand the distinction between the worker (the person and their employment identity) and the position (the seat in the organization). A worker can hold multiple positions over time; a position can be filled, frozen, or closed.
Staffing models
There are three staffing models: Position Management (positions are created and workers are hired into them; headcount is controlled by position), Job Management (workers are hired into jobs without discrete position records), and Headcount Management (headcount is tracked without positions). The model chosen at implementation determines which fields and business processes are available. A common trap: questions that ask where headcount is enforced - in Position Management it lives on the position; in Job Management it lives on the job requisition/headcount plan.
Business processes and events
Workday is event-driven. Business processes (Hire, Change Job, Termination, Transfer) are triggered by business process events, and each step can be routed through approvals, checklists, and conditional routing. Understand effective dating: transactions can be future-dated, corrected (rescinded or corrected), and viewed as of a specific date. Questions frequently test whether a change is "effective" versus "entered."
Security and organization
Security is domain- and role-based. Security groups (role-based, job-based, organization-based, user-based) are assigned to roles, and roles carry domain permissions. Supervisory organizations drive management hierarchy and approvals; other organization types (company, cost center, region, matrix) drive reporting and eligibility.
Worked rule of thumb
When a question asks "who approves," trace: business process → step → routing condition → security group membership. When it asks "what data does the worker see," trace: role → domain → security group → organization. These two chains answer most HCM core questions.
Trap to watch: conflating job (a container of job profiles) with position (a specific seat). Another: assuming a rescinded event deletes history - it does not; it marks the event as rescinded while preserving audit.