Commonly Used Workday Terms

Ledger account

Account

An accounting dimension. Transactions are assigned ledger accounts based on pre-defined account posting rules so there is no need to specify a ledger account when running payroll.

Example: 510000

Action

Step in a business process within Workday a worker must complete (e.g., edit information, approve, deny, etc.).

Allowance plan

Differential

Allowance plans are used to pay employees as part of their regular paycheck. This may include things such as work out of class (WOC), leadwork or a bilingual differential.

Application

An icon on your home page – providing easy access to tasks and information you use on a regular basis.

The applications you see on your home page will be based on your role. Employee applications include Pay, Personal Information and Benefits, while managers will also see applications such as My Team Management and Team Time Off.

Approve (in BP step)

When someone must approve an action within Workday for the business process to proceed further. No changes can be made at this step; however, there is an option to send back.

See also: Review (in BP step)

Benefit service date

Calculated date used to determine longevity payment amount. This should always match the Continuous Service and Time Off Service Dates.

Business process (BP)

Set of tasks that need to be completed for an event to occur, the order in which they must be done, and who must do them. Also referred to as a “BP.”

Business title

Working title

A descriptive job title of the employee’s job. May be different from the job profile.

Business Object

Objects used to store data in Workday (such as organizations or workers). A business object has fields and instances, which are analogous to rows and columns in a spreadsheet. Workday links related business objects: a worker is associated with a position, the position to a job profile, and so on.

Change job

Movement from one position to another

Swap

Workday uses the change job process to move employees to different jobs between agencies or within agencies. This is the business process for employee actions such as promotions, transfers, etc. and can be initiated by managers or HR.

Closed

Abolished

Refers to a position that is closed indefinitely and cannot be reopened.

Company (organization)

Agency

Each state government agency/board/commission in all three branches is considered a company in Workday.

Company (financial)

Business unit (PeopleSoft usage)

Usually represents a legal entity and is the primary entity for recorded business transactions and financial reports.

Example: 04000

Company service date

Agency service date

Company service date is the first date that an employee started with their current company (agency).

Compensation grade

Pay band / Salary range

Grades define the standard compensation range for a given job or job level.

Compensation package

Compensation plan

A bundled group of compensation plans. A grouping of compensation guidelines (grades, grade profiles and their associated steps) and plans.

Continuous service date

Calculated date used to determine length of service. This should always match the Benefits Service and Time Off Service Dates.

Contract

Agreement

Document format used for limited duration employees.

Cost center

Division / Department

Employees are assigned cost centers when hired. This is displayed as a designation within an organization to which expenses are charged.

Cost centers are also grouped into hierarchies for financial reporting purposes.

Example: 040_6700001

Costing allocation

Labor cost allocation

When the costs of a position are separated into multiple labor costs. This is generally the level at which budgets are created and managed.

Critical job

Essential position

Individuals assigned by an agency head as essential  to operations during curtailment or closure.

Custom org

Budget reference

Example: 21 (this may not be needed)

Delegation

The ability to allow another individual to:

• Start a business process on your behalf
• Review/approve a business process on your behalf from your Workday inbox

Delegation in Workday does not enable a user to run reports or view employee information on someone’s behalf. This function only allows those assigned to participate in business processes like initiating change job or reviewing employee time/time off requests

Drill down

A feature to view more data in a report. When you click on a drillable element (such as a drillable field in the table view or a column, line or pie segment in the chart view), a context menu appears that enables you to select a new View By field. Additionally, you’re able to click on any blue, hyperlinked data to drill through to a lower level of detail behind that number/text.

Employee self-service (ESS)

Employee self-service allows employees to perform tasks that pertain to their worker status. For example, workers can: update their address, emergency contacts and phone number.

Evergreen requisition

Ongoing requisition

Refers to a job posting open to gather an ongoing pool of candidates.

Example: Firefighters for fire season.

Fund

Class funding

A financial accounting dimension prefixed with agency.

Example: 040_19010

Fund heirarchy

Fund type

Not an accounting dimension, rather fund hierarchies are used for reporting.

Example: 1000

HCM

Human resources (HR); personnel information; HCM

Human Capital Management (HCM) refers to core human resources (HR) functionality.

Hire date

The hire date is populated from most recent hire (or contract contingent worker) business process.

Workday inbox

To-dos or task action items in a business process requiring a follow-up step appear in your Workday inbox. When you receive an action in your inbox, you need to do something. Inboxes replace paper documents or emails that require action such as review or approval.

Initiate (in BP step)

First step of a business process – only visible to those who can begin a process.

Job requistion

Requisition

Proposal for a new job, which is created by certain users to open a position to fill and to specify the characteristics tied to that position.

Leave of absence

An approved period of time during which an employee may be absent from work for an extended period or for special circumstances which require payroll forecasting to be paused.

See also: Time off

Length of service

Length of service is calculated from the continuous service date to current date.

Manager self-service (MSS)

Manager self-service allows supervisors to perform tasks that pertain to their manager status. For example, supervisors can initiate job changes for their workers such as transfer, promotion or termination.

Non-active worker

A worker with a status of terminated or non-leave for payroll processing purposes. A run category can define rules for processing non-active workers.

Notifications

A “for your information” (FYI) of an activity in Workday driven by a business process; you do not have to respond or complete an activity as a result of receiving a notification. Notifications replace FYI copies of paper documents, post it notes or “cc” emails that inform you of something occurring.

Onboarding

New hire activities / paperwork

A set of activities to be completed by the employee upon hire. It may include things like entering contact information, selecting direct deposit as a payment election, and entering I-9 information in Workday. This should not be confused with any onboarding checklist that a specific agency may use, which might include activities outside of Workday like attending new employee orientation.

Original hire date

First date of state service.

Pay rate type

Defines whether the worker is paid a salary or a certain amount per unit of time, for example, hourly or weekly.

Payment elections

Direct deposit form

Designates the payment type (check or direct deposit), account information for direct deposits, payment order, and the distribution of balance for split payments. The employee may choose only one account for direct deposit.

Pre-hire

The status of your top selected candidate post offer, prior to starting their first day.

Probation period

Trial period

The final phase of the hiring process to afford an employee the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to perform the work and provide state agencies the opportunity to confirm qualifications and fitness for the position.

Request absence

How workers ask for time off. Includes the rules that apply to specific workers based on their position information such as eligibility and entitlement maximums.

Review (in BP step)

When the recipient of an action is able to make changes to, send back, deny or approve a request within Workday.

Role

Authorizations within Workday for position that need specific access and privileges to information and/or business processes.

Example: HR Partner, Safety Partner, Manager. A role is assigned to a worker’s position to support a supervisory organization or company. Therefore, any subsequent employee to the position will inherit the role(s) when they are hired/job changed into the position. Some role assignments will inherit from the assigned organization to subordinate organization if the subordinate has not been specifically assigned. Some roles will inherit to all subordinate organizations regardless of other assignments.

Seniority date

Length of continuous service from the date of hire and can be adjusted by certain leaves or breaks. Does not include temporary time. Not union seniority date.

Supervisory organization

Organization charts

The management hierarchy (i.e., who reports to whom). A supervisory organization can be an agency, division, program or unit. Positions are associated with supervisory organizations, and workers are hired into positions associated with a supervisory organization.

Task (in BP step)

A step in a business process you must complete.

Time in job profile

Length of time in the employee’s current job profile (classification).

Time in position

Length of time in the employee’s current position.

Time off

Short time away from work such as for a vacation or sick time. May also be called Absence in Workday.

See also: Leave of Absence

Time off service date

Calculated date used to determine leave accruals. This should always match the Benefits Service and Continuous Service Dates.

To-dos (in BP step)

Reminders to complete a task. The task may be within Workday or outside of the system. They are a part of business processes and can be either optional or required to complete before the workflow advances to the next step.

Workday

PeopleSoft

The system that serves as the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) of record for all three branches of state government. Transactions and activities include but are not limited to hire, onboard, talent management, recruiting, compensation, performance reviews, personal information and time off.

Worker

Employees, Staff

An individual in the system who may be an employee or contingent worker. Contingent workers are contractors or volunteers.

Worker profile

A worker profile contains employee information such as contact information, job information and work anniversary information. Only limited information, such as contact information (e.g., telephone number; email address), team or organization is available to other employees. This information acts as a directory for all employees.

Worklet

Quick access icons to common tasks that can be customized on the dashboard displayed on the Workday home page.

See also: Application