In the fast-paced world of business tech, Workday has become the go-to maestro, orchestrating integrated solutions for HR, finance, and planning. It’s the superhero of enterprise software. In this landscape of innovations, Workday Docs application in as the trusty sidekick, making document generation a breeze within the Workday realm. Think of this guide as a friendly stroll through the magic of Workday Docs. We’re not diving into a manual; we’re taking a park tour, pointing out the cool stuff along the way. From unraveling Workday Docs’ secrets to showing you how it transforms your document game, this journey is for both seasoned pros and new cape-wearers. It’s not just software; it’s a tool that can make your work life a bit more super.
Workday Docs: Features for Streamlined Document Creation
Here are some of the new and customizable features offered by Workday Docs that address the limitations of Text Blocks and BIRT for document creation within Workday:
- Drag-and-Drop Functionality:
Unlike Text Blocks and BIRT, Workday Docs allows users to add, remove, and rearrange elements within a document using a simple drag-and-drop interface. This provides greater flexibility in designing layouts and organizing content.
- Custom Color Selection:
Workday Docs also allow custom color selection for text and formatting. You can highlight text with various colors or use the “Text Color” option for a wider range of custom choices, though support might vary based on your organization’s configuration.
3. Headers and Footers:
Workday Docs allows creating and editing headers and footers within documents. You can access this feature through the “Layout” menu and even set up multiple layouts based on conditions, like displaying different headers for specific departments. This lets you include essential information like your company name, document title, or page numbers consistently throughout your documents.
- Add Pictures:
Workday Docs allows you to embed pictures, including logos and company images, directly into your documents. This functionality enhances your content by adding visual elements like charts, graphs, or even photographs.
5. Data Integration: Workday Docs integrates seamlessly with other Workday modules, allowing you to pull data fields like employee names, positions, or compensation details directly into your documents. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures personalized and accurate documents for each recipient.
6. Conditional Blocks: This advanced feature enables you to show or hide specific sections of a document based on defined conditions. This allows for creating dynamic and adaptable documents that cater to various scenarios. For example, a document might display additional information only if certain criteria are met.
7. Advanced Formatting Options: Workday Docs provides a wider range of formatting options compared to Text Blocks and BIRT. This includes features like:
- Font styles and sizes
- Bold, italics, and underline
- Text alignment and indentation
- Bullet points and numbered lists.
- Basic table formatting
8. E-signatures: Workday Docs eliminate the need for separate e-signature tools. It allows for secure electronic signatures directly within the platform, streamlining the document approval process and saving time.
9. Collaboration Features: Workday Docs fosters collaboration through real-time editing, comments, and annotations. This enables multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously, track changes, and provide feedback efficiently.
10. Security and Access Control:
Workday Docs prioritizes security with granular access controls. This allows you to define who can view, edit, or download documents based on their roles and permissions, ensuring data privacy and document security.
By leveraging these customizable features, Workday Docs offers a powerful and user-friendly alternative to Text Blocks and BIRT for document creation within Workday. It empowers users to build flexible, personalized, and secure documents while streamlining the entire document creation process.
11. Transfer Ownership:
Workday Docs simplifies document ownership transfers within your organization. You can control user access with roles, track changes with version control, maintain audit trails, and even utilize a dedicated “Transfer Ownership” function (availability may vary) to seamlessly assign ownership to new individuals, ensuring a secure and transparent document lifecycle.
12. Move Docs Templates Between Tenants:
Migrating Workday Docs templates between tenants involve exporting from the source and importing into the destination, as OX migration isn’t supported. Remember to always open the imported template for error checking before use. Notably, Workday Docs doesn’t replace existing templates. If you update a template in Sandbox and want to use it in Production, you’ll either need to manually replicate the changes in the Production template or upload the updated one as a new template and configure it accordingly.
13. Designing and customizing content for multiple languages:
Workday Docs can be used to create and modify material for several languages. English is chosen by Docs as the basic language when you build a template; this base language serves as the basis for all new language instances. The content of the base language is automatically copied by Docs into the new language instance when you create one, and you can then configure the new instance for that language.
The trade-offs between Text Blocks and Workday Docs:
While Text Blocks are indeed easily editable, they do fall short in other aspects compared to Workday Docs:
Limited Customization:
- Text Blocks: Offer basic formatting options like bold, italic, and font changes, but lack the ability to integrate data, insert images, or create complex layouts. This limits their customization and professional feel.
- Workday Docs: Provides a rich set of features for customization. Users can utilize templates, drag-and-drop elements, and integrate data for personalized documents. Additionally, features like conditional blocks and advanced formatting options allow for much greater control over the final document presentation.
Limited Functionality:
- Text Blocks: Primarily function as text modules within other documents and lack functionalities like collaboration tools or e-signatures. This can lead to inefficiencies and require additional tools for features beyond basic text editing.
- Workday Docs: Offers a comprehensive solution. It not only allows editing but also integrates seamlessly with other Workday modules, enabling data-driven documents, real-time collaboration, and built-in e-signatures. This streamlines the document creation process and eliminates the need for multiple tools.
How Workday Docs Save Time
Workday Docs, as part of the broader Workday suite of applications, offers several features that can help reduce timeframes and enhance document security:
Collaboration in Real-time: Workday Docs allows multiple users to collaborate on documents simultaneously. This real-time collaboration feature reduces the need for back-and-forth emails or waiting for updates, speeding up the document creation and editing process.
Version Control: Workday Docs automatically tracks versions of documents, making it easy to revert to previous versions if needed. This eliminates the time-consuming process of manually managing different versions of documents and ensures that everyone is working with the most up-to-date information.
Centralized Storage: Workday Docs provides centralized storage for documents, eliminating the need to search through multiple folders or systems to find the document you need. This saves time and improves productivity by making it easier to access and organize documents.
Document Templates: Workday Docs allows users to create templates for commonly used documents, such as reports or presentations. This streamlines the document creation process by providing a starting point with predefined formatting and content, reducing the time needed to create new documents from scratch.
Security Features: Workday Docs offer robust security features to protect sensitive information. Administrators can control access to documents based on user roles and permissions, ensuring that only authorized users can view or edit sensitive documents. Additionally, Workday Docs provides audit trails that track who have accessed or made changes to documents, enhancing document security and compliance.
Overall, by leveraging the collaboration, version control, centralized storage, document templates, and security features of Workday Docs, organizations can significantly reduce timeframes for document creation, editing, and management while ensuring document security and compliance.
Business Case Scenario for Workday Docs:
Simplifying Offer Letter Creation with Workday Docs and E-Signatures
How do Workday Docs work: Below is a process on How to configure Docs in Workday, populate data and secure the data using Workday’s Security Model.
- Enabling Security Policies:
To initiate the utilization of Workday Docs, it is imperative to initially configure security groups and policies within the newly designated Doc’s security domain. This domain can encompass roles such as Recruiter, Recruiting Administrator.
Note: There is not much work involved in setting up Docs. To get started with Workday Drive, all
you must do is enable “Domain: Docs”. Select the View and Modify check boxes. Make sure the DWXF file type is a supported type for the tenant by navigating to the Edit Tenant Setup – System task and add the DWXF file type as a supported type, by either supporting all file types or adding it as a supported type. The DWXF type is a proprietary file type for Docs templates; it’s used primarily when moving templates from 1 tenant to another. You can move (migrate) templates only if your destination tenant supports this file type.
2. Creating Document Template: Users can create new Document templates from scratch or use pre-built templates provided by Workday or their organization using Workday Drive option in user profile menu. When creating a document template, users define the structure, layout, and data fields/columns they want to include.
3. Link to Business process and category: For configuring Document template, it needs to be associated with a business process in the form of Source and then select a category which will lead us to our destination to link with Document generation step.
Business Processes That Support Workday Docs:
You can use Workday Docs as part of some of these HCM business processes with specific categories of document template.
Business Process (Source) |
Change Job |
Edit Position |
Offer |
Hire |
Move Workers (By Organization) |
Termination |
Wage Theft Prevention Notice |
Employee Contract |
Employment Agreement |
Create Position |
End Contingent Worker Contract |
End International Assignment |
4. Modification and Publishing Document Template: Once Source and category has been selected, User can add text to design required business document layout i.e., offer letter, termination letter and different agreements etc. Users can add dynamic data fields to get dynamic data from specific business processes as shown in screenshot given below. Users can add different language using “add language option” in the language menu.
5. Adding Document Generation Step in business process definition: After publishing template, user can add document generation step in the relevant business process and configure the document template to link published template to business process.
6. E signature and Acknowledgement: Users can configure review document step after generating document, to collect acknowledgement or sign the document using electronic signature using DocuSign or Adobe Sign integration. Note to get these mentioned electronic signatures, workday administrators must authenticate these platforms with their license details using “edit tenant setup -Business processes” task.
7. Collaboration: Workday Docs support collaboration among users and different security groups. Sharing with individual users/security groups enables owners to set a specific permission level for the person; these settings remain active if you turn off link sharing.
Unleashing User Creativity with a User-Friendly Interface
Workday Docs empowers users to create professional and customized documents with a range of powerful and intuitive features:
- Empowering Diverse Business Functions Across Industries The versatility of Workday Docs extends across various business functions, making it a valuable tool for organizations of all sizes and industries:
- Human Resources: Workday Docs simplifies the creation of critical HR documents, such as offer letters, employment agreements, performance reviews, and termination notices. This streamlines HR processes and ensures that documents are legally compliant and consistent with company policies.
- Recruiting: Recruiters can leverage Workday Docs to create personalized cover letters, candidate profiles, and interview reports using data from the Workday Talent Pool. This personalized approach enhances candidate engagement and improves the recruitment process.
- Finance: Workday Docs facilitates the generation of accurate and timely financial documents, such as invoices, purchase orders, and expense reports. By directly extracting data from Workday financial systems, Workday Docs eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures that financial documents are always up to date.
- Legal: Legal documentation, such as contracts and agreements, can be generated and reviewed within the Workday, maintaining a centralized repository of legal documents. This centralized approach enhances document accessibility and promotes collaboration between legal and other departments.
Conclusion: A Catalyst for Organizational Transformation Workday Docs represents a catalyst for organizational transformation, empowering businesses to achieve new levels of efficiency, collaboration, and data accuracy. By seamlessly integrating document management into the Workday platform, Workday Docs simplifies processes, enhances communication, and enables organizations to focus on their core strategic initiatives. As organizations embrace the transformative power of Workday Docs, they are poised to experience significant gains in productivity, reduced costs, and improved decision-making.