Workday is a leading cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) and human capital management (HCM) software solution used by businesses for finance, HR and talent management purposes.
It offers multiple integration methods with its cloud platform – one such method being Workday SOAP API (Simple Object Access Protocol API).
In this blog post, we’ll take an in-depth look at Workday SOAP API – including its purpose, key features, setup requirements and how it interacts.
Whether you are an integration developer, system administrator or simply interested in discovering how Workday integrates with other systems – this blog post covers everything that’s important.
Workday SOAP API is an Internet service interface that enables external applications to interact with Workday over the internet using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), an established protocol used for exchanging structured information via web services implementation, typically employing XML as the formatter and running over either HTTP or HTTPS as its transport protocol.
Workday SOAP API offers organizations a convenient method of connecting Workday with other third-party systems such as payroll systems, financial applications and HR tools.
Organizations can take advantage of this API to automate workflows and extract data while streamlining multiple aspects of operations with Workday.
Data Access: Provides access to Workday objects like employee records, job positions, compensation data and business processes.
Its Web Service Protocol: Leverages SOAP-based web services as communication channels while standardizing message formats.
Security: SOAP provides secure communication by employing encryption technology for secure transmission of sensitive information.
Extensibility: Its API can easily be customized and extended to meet organizational or custom application needs or to integrate seamlessly.
Batch Processing: Workday SOAP API supports batch processing for large datasets, making it efficient in transporting large volumes of information quickly.
Organizations utilize the Workday SOAP API for many reasons. Here are a few common use cases:
Data Integration: External systems can use Workday SOAP API to retrieve or send real-time or batch processed data back and forth from them into Workday using real time or batch processes – including payroll systems, ERP software or external HR tools (integrate Workday into them all!).
Automation: Payroll can take advantage of Workday automation features in real-time or batch to automate processes between Workday and other platforms (integrate payroll systems, ERP software etc…
Payroll: Utilize automation features at scale. Payroll know your every movement so don’t ever leave offbeat.
Payroll Know Where We Stand by Automating processes inside Workday when accessing or sending data into it or from Workday when sending or retrieving it all!
Routine processes, like employee onboarding and offboarding as well as payroll processing can all be automated with Workday API to reduce manual effort and errors while increasing efficiency.
Furthermore, external systems may pull data directly from Workday into customized reports or dashboards created through Workday API integration.
Integrate Workday with Business Intelligence tools in order to analyze HR metrics.
System Synchronization: Maintaining consistency and accuracy across your enterprise software ecosystem by synchronizing Workday data with internal systems like HRIS or HR systems.
Workday SOAP API is composed of several key components, which make up its overall structure:
WWS: Workday Web Services is exposed via WWS as the entryway into its SOAP services; whilst WSO acts as its core operations.
Each Workday web service exposes a set of operations that define specific functionalities.
Create: For creating new records or objects within Workday (such as employee records);
Read: To retrieve information from Workday, such as employee profiles.
Update: To modify existing records within Workday and
Delete: To permanently remove records from the system.
Search: To search and retrieve lists of records based on specific criteria.
3. Request and Response Messages
SOAP messages in Workday API consist of:
Request: The external client (external system) sends Workday an XML request message for specific operations to perform; whilst its response contains results.
Request and response messages adhere to Workday’s web service schemas for consistency between requests and responses, which define how data exchange occurs.
Setting Up Workday SOAP API
1. Acquire API Access Credentials
To utilize Workday’s SOAP API, several steps must be completed in order to properly set up and authenticate.
These include obtaining API Access Credentials as you will require these to authenticate.
Web Service User: An API access user who must have been assigned specific security roles and permissions before accessing API functionality.
Workday generates and provides this file for each service it offers to provide an overview of what each WSDL indicates about them and their operations.
Workday typically uses the WS-Security standards for message level security; therefore an API security token (or username/password for basic authentication) will be necessary in order to authenticate requests and create the necessary messages in Workday.
2. Access the WSDL
Once you possess the required credentials, it’s easy to gain access to the Workday web service you intend on leveraging.
It will provide details regarding its operations (e.g. CreateEmployeeData or GetEmployeeData); data types used as requests or responses, message structures for both requests and responses as well as potential operational concerns that need addressing before moving forward with implementation of it.
Endpoints to submit SOAP requests.
3. Configure Your SOAP Client
Next, create a SOAP client in your programming environment using languages such as Java, Python or C# to access Workday API.
Many SOAP libraries include functionality to import WSDL files automatically generating code to make API requests (for instance:
Java developers can utilize libraries such as Apache CXF and JAX-WS; Python users may prefer Zeep or Suds for creating SOAP clients; Visual Studio offers tools specifically dedicated to SOAP proxying in C# development environments.
4. Create API Calls
Once your client is set up, you can begin creating API calls to interact with Workday’s system. Here is an outline of an typical API call:
Request Creation: Draft an XML request detailing which operation(s) you wish to complete before sending.
Authentication: Be certain your API request includes authentication details (username/password or security token).
Utilise SOAP Client to send the XML request directly to Workday endpoints.
Process Responses: Workday will return an XML response that your application can utilize to extract all relevant data.
5. Handle Errors
SOAP APIs may return errors such as invalid requests, security problems or connectivity problems that must be handled carefully to maintain good connectivity and meet business demands.
Workday provides detailed error messages in its response XML files to assist with diagnosing and correcting such problems quickly and efficiently.
Security Considerations
Since you will be dealing with sensitive organizational data, security should always be top of mind when using Workday SOAP API.
Important security measures you should keep in mind include:
Workday typically employs WS-Security for message-level security, which ensures both data and identity protection of requestor.
Utilise SSL/TLS to encrypt connections to Workday to safeguard its transmission of confidential data.
Authentication and Authorization: For optimal web service user account protection, configure roles and permissions accordingly to restrict access only to relevant data.
Workday SOAP API offers a powerful and flexible means for connecting Workday with other enterprise systems, automating business processes and retrieving essential data for reporting and analysis.
Through proper knowledge of its structure, setup process and common use cases, developers can construct robust integrations that improve overall efficiency within organizations.
As Workday evolves and expands its features, an in-depth knowledge of its SOAP API will ensure your organization can leverage this cloud-based suite effectively for business success.
