Workday API
Workday is enterprise software for Human Resources and Financial Management. An unofficial API lets you programmatically pull worker profiles, organizations, time off balances and requests, job requisitions, compensation, suppliers, purchase orders, and supplier invoices—and push upda
What is Workday?
Workday is a cloud platform that centralizes Human Capital Management (HCM), Payroll, Recruiting, Time & Absence, Benefits, and Financial Management/Spend across enterprises. Organizations use Workday to manage worker lifecycle and organizational structures, run payroll and benefits, coordinate recruiting and onboarding, track time and time off, and manage suppliers, purchase orders, and invoices—backed by configurable business processes and role-based security.
Core product areas include:
- Human Capital Management (Workers, Positions, Supervisory Orgs, Job Profiles)
- Time & Absence (Balances, Time Off Types, Requests, Timesheets)
- Payroll & Compensation (Comp Plans, Pay Grades, Earnings)
- Recruiting & Talent (Job Requisitions, Candidates, Offers)
- Benefits (Plans, Elections, Coverage)
- Financial Management & Spend (Suppliers, Purchase Orders, Supplier Invoices, Expense Reports)
- Planning & Analytics (Workforce planning, cost centers, organizations)
Common data entities:
- Workers, Users, Security Groups/Permissions
- Supervisory Organizations, Cost Centers, Companies (Legal Entities)
- Positions, Job Profiles, Business Titles, Managers
- Time Off Types, Balances, Absence Requests
- Compensation Plans, Pay Grades, Currency, Payroll Results
- Recruiting: Job Requisitions, Candidates, Hiring Managers, Openings
- Financials: Suppliers, Purchase Orders, Supplier Invoices, Spend Categories, Ledger Accounts
The Workday Integration Challenge
Enterprises rely on Workday daily, but turning portal and report-driven workflows into API automation is non-trivial:
- Tenant-by-tenant configuration: Custom fields, business processes, and security groups vary widely across customers
- Business process rigor: Changes (e.g., job changes, compensation) must respect multi-step approvals and effective-dating
- Mixed API landscape: SOAP, REST, and Reports-as-a-Service (RaaS) with versioning and XML/JSON/CSV outputs
- Authentication complexity: SSO (SAML/OAuth via Okta/Azure AD) and MFA complicate headless automation
- Role-aware permissions: Security groups/entitlements govern visibility for HR, payroll, recruiting, and finance
- Report-driven exports: Key data often comes from custom reports; schemas and performance vary by tenant
- Attachments & artifacts: Offers, invoices, and onboarding docs need careful upload/download handling
- Data spread: Worker data spans HCM, Absence, Payroll, and Recruiting; finance spans Suppliers, POs, Invoices
How Supergood Creates Workday APIs
Supergood reverse-engineers authenticated browser flows, Workday web services, and report endpoints to deliver a resilient API layer for your Workday tenant.
- Handles username/password, SSO/OAuth, and MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) securely
- Maintains session continuity with automated refresh and change detection
- Normalizes responses so you can integrate once and rely on consistent objects across modules
- Aligns with customer entitlements and security groups to ensure compliant access
Getting Started
- Schedule Integration Assessment
Book a 30-minute session to confirm your modules, licensing, and authentication model.
- Supergood Builds and Validates Your API
We deliver a hardened Workday adapter tailored to your workflows and entitlements.
- Deploy with Monitoring
Go live with continuous monitoring and automatic adjustments as Workday evolves.
API Endpoints
Authentication
/sessionsEstablish a session using credentials. Supergood manages MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) and SSO/OAuth when enabled. Returns a short-lived auth token maintained by the platform.
Authentication
/sessions/refreshRefresh an existing token to keep sessions uninterrupted.
Workers
/workersList workers with filters and summary details.
Time Off Requests
/workers/{workerId}/time-off-requestsCreate a time off request with policy-aware details and optional manager notification.
Job Changes
/workers/{workerId}/job-changesInitiate a job change business process with effective dating, compensation, and org changes.
Supplier Invoices
/financials/supplier-invoicesCreate a supplier invoice with line items, tax, and 3-way match metadata.
Use Cases
Identity & HR Data Sync
- Mirror workers, org structures, positions, and managers into IAM/IT systems - Drive provisioning/deprovisioning via job changes and status updates - Normalize cost centers, locations, and business titles for analytics and planning
Absence & Workforce Scheduling
- Pull time off balances and requests to forecast staffing - Create and update time off requests and sync approvals - Enforce policy via effective dating, types, and security groups
Recruiting & Headcount Management
- Create job requisitions from your ATS or planning tools - Track openings, hiring managers, and posting details - Synchronize candidate status and offer artifacts
Financials: Supplier Invoices & ERP Sync
- Push supplier invoices from AP automation into Workday - Reconcile purchase orders, match statuses, and tax details with ERP (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) - Normalize spend categories, cost centers, and attachments
Technical Specifications
Authentication
Username/password with MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) and SSO/OAuth where enabled; supports service accounts or customer-managed credentials
Response format
JSON with consistent resource schemas and pagination across modules
Rate limits
Tuned for enterprise throughput while honoring customer entitlements and usage controls
Session management
Automatic reauth and cookie/session rotation with health checks
Data freshness
Near real-time retrieval of workers, orgs, time off, recruiting, and financial objects
Security
Encrypted transport, scoped tokens, and audit logging; respects Workday security groups and role-based permissions
Webhooks
Optional asynchronous delivery for long-running workflows (e.g., approvals, requisition changes)
Latency
Sub-second responses for list/detail queries under normal load
Throughput
Designed for high-volume worker data sync and job change/time off processing
Reliability
Retry logic, backoff, and idempotency keys minimize duplicate actions
Adaptation
Continuous monitoring for UI/API/report changes with rapid adapter updates
Frequently asked questions
Supergood supports workflows across commonly used modules such as HCM (Workers, Positions, Orgs), Time & Absence (Balances, Requests), Recruiting (Requisitions), and Financials (Suppliers, POs, Invoices), subject to your licensing and entitlements. We scope coverage during integration assessment.
We support username/password + MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) and can operate behind SSO/OAuth when enabled (e.g., Okta, Azure AD). Sessions are refreshed automatically with secure challenge handling.
Yes. We can normalize invoices, POs, and spend line items to match your ERP/accounting schema (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) and deliver updates via webhooks or polling while complying with rate and permission constraints.
Yes. We model approval paths explicitly and support uploading/downloading attachments via signed uploads with checksum validation and time-limited URLs.
We introspect your tenant (reports, security groups, business processes) and provide a normalized schema with a flexible customFields object for tenant-specific attributes.