Organisations depend more and more on cloud-based platforms for core operations like talent management, finance and human resources in an ever-evolving enterprise software landscape. Workday offers solutions in finance, payroll and HR.
With companies seeking integration between Workday and their external systems becoming ever more prevalent, reliable API connectors become even more crucial than before.
Workday’s powerful API environment enables developers to establish reliable connections and streamline processes with other apps seamlessly; but for optimal use of Workday APIs, developers must first be informed about all tools, resources and frameworks available – for instance SDKs, authentication methods or API documentation from Workday itself.
This blog will address Workday APIs, SDK functions, accessible developer documentation and, most importantly, securely authenticating and utilising these APIs for reliable integrations.
Workday’s cloud apps can be accessed programmatically using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
These APIs grant programmatic access to HR, Finance, Payroll, Recruiting and other Workday modules’ data.
Workday API ecosystem is: REST APIs: Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs can provide lightweight connections that are both scalable and user-friendly.
SOAP APIs: Although less popular today, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) APIs remain useful when working on more intricate workflows or legacy interfaces. WWS (Workday Web Services) makes Workday web services available via SOA technology for access.
Workday REST APIs have become the go-to choice due to their ease of use and conformance to contemporary web standards.
REST APIs are most frequently employed when retrieving or updating data as they use basic HTTP protocols such as GET, POST, PUT or DELETE to facilitate retrieving or changing it in Workday integrations.
Before diving in and using Workday APIs, familiarizing oneself with its Developer Documentation is paramount.
This documentation serves as the most trustworthy source of knowledge regarding their usage, available data sources and secure ways to authenticate with and communicate with Workday systems.
Workday API Overview
Workday API documentation contains an outline of their architecture, available APIs and usage patterns – commonly comprising of this section are:
Each API’s capabilities – like creating financial transactions and gathering personnel details – are vitally important.
There is also an array of accessible endpoints, including payroll, business processes and workers that make this possible.
Suggestions for selecting an API appropriate to certain applications.
Authorisation and Authenticity: API authentication is one of the key topics addressed by Workday API documentation.
In order to authenticate requests using Workday APIs that utilise OAuth 2.0 as their form of authentication, an access token will need to be obtained; please follow these instructions to learn how you can generate, manage, and monitor token expirations dates.
API Rate Limits and Throttling: Workday’s API documentation contains details regarding rate limits to protect its resources and ensure equitable usage.
In this section are described the maximum requests in any one period that can be processed per period and how to deal with potential rate-limit issues.
Data Models and Schemas: This section explores Workday’s data representation, object structures and models.
Understanding the structures of entities like Workers, Employees, Organisations and Departments is integral for performing CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) tasks or querying data effectively.
This manual also covers how to address issues like faulty requests, rate limit errors and invalid tokens – providing developers with tools they need to ensure that integrations recover gracefully from mistakes or failures.
Workday’s API documentation contains numerous code samples that demonstrate its intended structure for request URLs, headers, body data and response formats – an invaluable way to quickly start working and grasp common data flows.
Logging onto your Workday tenant and accessing either Workday Community or Documentation portals will enable you to view official API documentation for Workday API.
1. RESTful Workday APIs
Workday REST APIs allow external systems to communicate with Workday more seamlessly and cost effectively, often for real-time updates, record creation or data retrieval purposes.
They offer great opportunities for modern communication solutions in enterprise systems like Workday.
Workday REST APIs have multiple uses; here are just a few:
HR integrations include retrieving employee information and updating it accordingly, while payroll integrations typically consist of creating payroll entries or retrieving payroll data to interact with external payroll systems.
Financial integrations involve connecting to and coordinating data from financial management systems, processing transactions and retrieving reports, as well as automating company procedures such as promotions or performance reviews – this form of automation known as business process automation is also integral.
Necessary Workday REST API Providers:
Get and manage worker details such as name, title, pay rate and more.
Business processes to gain insight into hiring procedures such as payroll processing and performance evaluation.
With regards to time off requests / time off is also used as an admin feature to manage these requests for absence.
Payroll Data Access/payroll- Retrieve payroll history and pay stubs.
Each endpoint corresponds with an HTTP method such as “GET”, “POST”, or “PUT”, depending on whether data needs retrieving, creation/updating/deleting (either one).
2. SOAP Workday APIs
Though SOAP APIs may not be widely utilized for new integrations, they remain useful tools when transaction consistency and reliability are crucial components.
Since legacy systems frequently employ SOAP APIs, companies that continue using legacy systems could need to communicate with Workday’s legacy web services through them.
SOAP is typically utilized when interfacing with systems relying on enterprise service buss (ESBs) or performing more intricate business processes.
SDKs for Workday
Software Development Kits (SDKs) provide libraries and tools that make working with an API simpler, such as Workday does not officially offer its own SDK like other systems do, however third-party SDKs exist which provide more structured developer access to Workday APIs.
Pre-built Functions: Libraries that simplify API requests contain features for handling authentication, processing responses, initiating API calls and error handling in APIs.
Error handling functions also known as helper functions may provide support in case there are exceptions and errors encountered while working with APIs.
Data Mapping: Enabling Workday users to map data between its object models and external systems.
Unofficial SDKs for Java, Python and C# offer tools for working with Workday APIs; however, before deploying any libraries into production it is vitally important that they undergo rigorous security and performance testing before production implementation.
OAuth 2.0 ensures secure authentication for Workday APIs.
This standard permits external services to access resources on behalf of their users without divulging login credentials directly.
Workday ensures only authorized systems interact with sensitive data by employing OAuth 2.0’s REST APIs as secure access points for REST services.
The error 401 Unauthorised may occur when an incorrect access token or an expired token are included in a request header.
While 400 Bad Request may arise due to incorrect request formatting or lack of necessary parameters.
Error 429 occurs when rate limits have been exceeded and rate requests exceed certain rates.
When using Workday APIs, use secure connections through HTTPS in your integrations in order to protect from man-in-the-middle attacks while at the same time protecting data while it travels over public networks such as HTTP.
Maintain OAuth Tokens Properly: Avoid hardcoding login information into your codebase and secure OAuth tokens properly.
Keep an Eye On API Usage: Monitor API rate constraints so your integrations can smoothly handle API rate throttling without creating unexpected issues in their functionality.
Utilize SDKs: Make development quicker and reduce frequent faults with SDKs that are easily available, should they exist.
Log and Test: Integrating API logging will allow for greater monitoring, tracking, and troubleshooting – helping monitor functionality more closely while solving integration problems more swiftly.
Workday’s APIs offer REST and SOAP services which are powerful tools for automating essential business procedures and connecting external systems.
In order to take full advantage of them, SDKs, developer documentation and OAuth 2.0 authentication need to be utilized effectively in order to take full advantage of them.
This e-book’s best practices will ensure your Workday integrations are safe, efficient and scalable, regardless of whether they involve payroll, finance or human resource applications.
By automating processes and connecting systems easily you can increase organizational efficiencies while unleashing new capabilities thanks to becoming an expert user of Workday API ecosystem.
