In today’s world of complex HCM integrations, organizations are always seeking to find new tools that will help them improve efficiency, promote collaboration between teams and systems, and drive better outcomes. Read on to learn more about Workday connection tools and where our skilled Workday consultants can fit into your organization.
Understanding Workday’s Connections with Other Enterprise Platforms
Workday, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, offers workforce planning, recruiting, financial management, human resource management, learning, and talent management modules in a centralized system to guide users through the complex world of human capital management (HCM).
Need information like an employee ID or dynamic data insights to improve decision-making? Workday can help. Looking to develop a new training plan for your new employees? Workday can help with that, too (and more).
Luckily, Workday Connectors are pre-built integration tools built to simplify and streamline integrations across the Workday landscape and Workday Web Services to write data and facilitate smoother data exchange. With seamless Workday Integrations, you gain complete transparency in your workforce and maintain a single source of truth, no matter what.
Workday Integration Cloud
Workday believes resource and application integration should be easy and able to evolve.
That’s why they created the Workday Integration Cloud!
It’s a complete integration Platform-as-a-Service (Paas) to create, deploy, and manage Workday integrations. It leverages the Enterprise Service Bus, along with other interconnected devices, as a way to efficiently manage and maintain integrations over time.
Workday Integration Cloud offers:
- Connectors: Pre-built integrations for non-Workday systems
- Packaged integrations managed by Workday and their partners
- Configurable connectors or templates for integrations
- Development tools:
- Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB)
- Workday Studio
What is a Connector in Workday?
A Workday Connector offers the processing logic, data translation, authentication types, and error-handling routines to link a third-party system with Workday and maintain a seamless Workday connection. They’re also fully adaptive and adjustable, significantly reducing the time needed to develop integrations. Workday and its partners develop, install, and maintain these connectors.
Connectors operate on the Workday Cloud platform and provide all the benefits of a fully hosted and managed SaaS application. These bundled integrations are maintained by Workday, saving you from having to maintain a separate integration infrastructure and reducing total costs.
It’s a good idea to upgrade the tools and technology behind these connections and adjust them to accommodate new features and capabilities. This way, companies can maintain seamless application integration and operation across the entire enterprise.
Overview of Workday Connector
Here’s an overview of features you can find within Workday Connector:
Built for Connection
Workday offers a variety of options to connect and integrate your systems, including direct use of Workday Web Services and REST-based APIs to write data in and out of Workday. You can also utilize the Workday Integration Cloud, which offers a complete set of integration tools, including an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) integrated into Workday Studio and other tools for managing and monitoring integrations.
This Workday application surfaces all integrations, whether offered by Workday or another service provider and allows you to utilize them directly in your business process setups. This gives you the flexibility to maintain a dynamic HCM strategy over time.
Connecting All HCM Needs
Workday Connectors incorporate industry best practices and decades of expertise from Workday and authorized partners and cover single and multi-use cases. Workday or the supplying partner manages and maintains all connections throughout system enhancements and upgrades, making it easier for companies to stay up-to-date with the most recent vendor, application, or infrastructure capabilities.
The Workday Cloud is used to launch each connector integration, giving users the advantage of a fully hosted and managed application and reliable integrations, no matter what.
Made in the Cloud, for the Cloud
By offering the processing logic, data translation, and error-handling specifics needed to link a third-party system with Workday, Connectors significantly reduces the time needed to complete implementations and integrations. Each connection may be customized for unique client requirements. And, because the connectors are hosted directly in the Workday Cloud, customers don’t have to worry about maintaining a separate integration architecture on their own.
Like other Workday applications, connectors are handled and updated regularly to ensure users are kept up-to-speed on new capabilities and core business processes to maintain compliance with company and industry standards. Workday also oversees a shared roadmap with third-party partners to guarantee that integrations remain current as partner apps develop in the future.
Real-Time Data Exchange
Workday Connectors facilitate real-time data syncing between Workday and the connected applications. This ensures that all stakeholders have access to the most current data. By leveraging a seamless flow of data across teams and systems, companies can increase workforce collaboration and empower employees to make better, more data-driven decisions.
Connector Toolkits
When a packaged integration isn’t available for a third-party application, Workday provides configurable connectors to accelerate the creation of custom integrations. Each connector toolkit contains the processing, error handling, and logic capabilities required to integrate Workday.
The developers build the integration template that connects a third-party system with Workday, and integration specialists focus on customizing the services within the Connector to match different application integration requirements.
Difference Between Workday Core Connectors and Workday EIB
Workday EIB:
The Workday Enterprise User Interface Builder (EIB) is a user-friendly, graphical, and coordinated interface that recognizes inbound and outbound integration without additional programming. EIBs aren’t meant to replace software programs, but they can supplement them.
Types of EIBS:
- Outbound EIBs: These are used to pull information from the Workday framework and unite it back to the client’s tenant or to a different place for additional processing.
- Inbound EIBs: For mass data management or migration cases, inbound EIBs help customers move information straight to the Workday infrastructure from their existing systems or applications.
Workday Connectors:
Connectors come pre-built within the Workday landscape, and Workday and its partners fully sustain them. Connectors decrease the time required to complete integrations by using advanced error-handling, processing logic, and information transformation techniques. This way, users can let go of worrying about separate integration frameworks and step into a world where connector ports can be configured to meet their needs every single time.
Benefits of a Connector in Workday
Workday Connectors are fully designed, maintained, and supported by Workday and its partners, making it easier to add new Workday connections or update existing ones as business needs grow and change over time.
Here’s a look at four of the main benefits of Workday Connector:
- Receive full support from Workday and its partners to maintain and update integrations over time
- Access an ever-evolving Workday Connector catalog
- Convert relational format to hierarchical format before you write data from external sources to Workday
- Support different authentication type formats to authenticate with the proxy server
- Manage and track integrations through Workday UI
- Avoid managing on-premise integrations, allowing IT to focus on more tactical operations
Workday Connector Availability:
Currently, Workday Connectors are available for the following Workday solutions:
- HCM
- Benefits
- Workday Payroll
- Financial Management
- Third-Party Payroll
- Spend Management
How We Can Help
Whether you’re looking for a configurable tool to assist with Workday integrations and maintain a smooth Workday connection, additional support handling third-party integrations, or just an extra hand getting started on your Workday journey, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level Workday consultants have expert-level knowledge and years of experience in the space, providing you with the relevant skills and expertise needed to implement or integrate any Workday application successfully. In other words, we have what it takes to be your biggest advocate!
Contact Us
Ready to learn more about Workday Connector and where our team of expert Workday consultants can come in to help?
Contact us today!
