Organizations constantly seek new ways to improve collaboration and streamline processes across teams and departments in the ever-changing digital transformation landscape. 

Integrations between critical Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) systems are imperative in helping companies achieve these improvements, and the ServiceNow Workday integration is just the tool you need to do it.

Read on to learn more about the ServiceNow Workday integration and how our expert Workday consultants can help your organization.

How Are ServiceNow and Workday Related?

Workday and ServiceNow complement each other, as ServiceNow is the system of action for critical services, whereas Workday acts as the system of transaction records.

Users can manage software subscriptions for the following Workday applications:

  • Workday Financial Management
  • Workday Human Capital Management

By leveraging intelligent integrations between Workday and ServiceNow, companies can synchronize critical employee data from ServiceNow with data in their existing Workday applications for improved collaboration and connectivity across business units.

The ServiceNow integration supports the intelligent resolution of minor issues across the system. It eliminates time wasted on tedious manual tasks, such as managing employee onboarding tasks, conducting routine employee queries, and improving the overall HR service experience.

How The Integration Works

Following the entry of employee information and the activation of integration instances, ServiceNow periodically retrieves data via SOAP web services. After the API captures the required data, it is saved in the Worker object and stores related job profiles, location, department, and personnel details, like email addresses, user names, and first and last names.

Users can observe this information on Workday integration maps displayed within the  ServiceNow platform. The ServiceNow integration also provides automatic record changes for upcoming events like employee onboarding and offboarding, promotions, or transfers to better track employee movement and change over time.

With this integration, any changes made to particular fields in the HR profile can be synchronized with existing data in their Workday system. Fields like first and last names, emails, numbers, addresses, and prefixes are changed after the updated data is taken from Workday. Automatically updated changes save users time and keep employee statuses up to date, which is especially beneficial for temporary or contract staff.

The Integrations Technical Foundation

The Workday ServiceNow integration foundation is an in-built HR Service Delivery tool from ServiceNow, and it uses the following modules to improve process efficiency.

  • Knowledge Management
  • Document Management
  • Case Management

Standard Workday APIs are used within the ServiceNow integration hub to perform tasks such as form validations. The Integration Hub (IH) is a NOW Platform app allowing integration and process automation through familiar protocols, like DBC, APIs, PowerShell, or command line languages and scripting, to connect with Workday and other external systems.

Simple Object Access Protocol is the foundation for the interface technology (SOAP) used to connect existing Workday and ServiceNow platforms. Users can access Workday Business Services through open, standards-based SOAP APIs and generate WSDL URLs unique to each API version. The tenants and their associated functionality are used to publish SOAP-based web services and improve connection across the entire digital landscape.

Users can use RESTful APIs if necessary; however, knowing that the REST web interface does not support all Workday operations or modules is critical. Workday maintains and publishes a version and operation directory where users can obtain information about supported version changes and operations within their existing Workday environment.

Benefits of Integrating ServiceNow with Workday

Here’s a look at some of the main benefits of the Workday ServiceNow integration for users:

All critical HR interactions are automated using ServiceNow HR Service Delivery (HRSD) and a single, centralized platform. Through this integration, employees have access to simple apps like these:

  • Employee Service Center
  • Knowledge and Case Management
  • NOW Mobile for HR Service Delivery
  • Mobile Onboarding
  • Enterprise Transitions and Onboarding

The Employee Service Center, a self-service portal powered by ServiceNow, enables staff members to make requests, pose inquiries, and get prompt answers via on-demand chat tools. Users can also leverage an easily accessible knowledge base to find critical business information and intelligent self-service tools to free HR staff and enhance employee satisfaction across teams.

Onboarding new employees is often time-consuming without the right tools and support services to streamline task management and ensure new hires have the resources needed to complete critical onboarding activities.

With ServiceNow, the onboarding process can be expedited and automated, allowing users to input new employee details before their start date and automatically create a new instance for each user. However, while already created, these records are not activated until the employee’s actual onboarding date.

Additionally, ServiceNow automates employee onboarding procedures for organizations across industries, including receiving laptops from IT, security badges from facilities, and completing any other tasks that ensure a  successful onboarding process. As with onboarding, the system immediately closes the employee’s HR record and personal profile when an employee is off-boarded.

Challenges Associated with Workday ServiceNow Integration

Users can support ongoing business operations and ensure their critical processes are aligned with market changes over time by extending functionality across an enterprise-level organization and managing various platforms, systems, and software solutions in one location.

With disparate HR and IT systems, HR teams must log into their Workday program to find employee information before offering meaningful help on the ServiceNow platform. Effectively and correctly linking both platforms, such as executing a Workday ServiceNow integration, is a straightforward answer.

Poor user experiences or ineffective workflows often result from a lack of platform expertise or design skills for a successful Workday ServiceNow integration. Where can users find tips on creating integrations between systems when designing their roadmap for Workday and ServiceNow? With the help of a reliable Workday ServiceNow integration consultant (like the ones at  Surety Systems), organizations can create a solution that meets critical objectives and aligns with demand over time.

Navigating Integration Issues at Hand

Managing multiple platforms without the right integration tools can pose several challenges for internal teams, including assigning IT staff members specific apps and managing multiple-point solutions and interactions across disparate landscapes.

Because of this, users must ensure ServiceNow Workday integrations are set up correctly and designed to minimize the number of required touchpoints across the landscape. The real question behind ServiceNow Workday integration is where users want to take their user experience. While some HR managers direct users to the Workday interface, others, like IT managers, could leverage ServiceNow as a single point of contact to provide a customized experience for all business services.

Customers should involve the appropriate stakeholders who represent the complete enterprise architecture, business processes, and application owners to make better decisions about user engagement strategy and enterprise application roadmaps.

How We Can Help

Whether you’re looking to implement a cloud-based tool to automate workflows, additional support to improve HR functions and complement your existing Workday ecosystem, or just an extra hand embarking on your journey with Workday, Surety Systems can help.

Our senior-level Workday consultants have the skills and functional expertise to successfully assist your team in implementing new functionality into your current Workday ecosystem and ensure continued success in the long run.

Contact Us

Ready to learn more about the ServiceNow Workday integration and where our senior-level Workday consultants can come in to help?

Contact us today!