Config Security
Config Security
1 | Configurable Security
1.1 | Configurable Security Basics
1.1.1 | Setup Considerations: Configurable Security
You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your use of configurable security. It
explains:
What It Is
Workday configurable security enables you to control the items users can view and the actions they
can perform in your tenant. You can determine how you want to group users through security
groups. You can specify the items and actions that members of security groups can view and
perform through security policies.
Business Benefits
Automate permission assignments by grouping users based on similar attributes, saving
you the effort of setting up permissions individually.
Manage access to integrations, reports, mobile devices, and IT access using a single
security model, making it easier to maintain access at scale.
Make mass changes to your security configuration as your organization grows.
Use Cases
Automatically add new users to a defined security group based on their position, such as
adding financial analysts to a security group when hired.
Enable users to access only nonsensitive portions of data, such as enabling HR
administrators to access aggregated payroll results.
Provide different levels of access for different types of users in the same tenant.
Questions to Consider
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Questions Considerations
How do you want to determine who can view Workday provides different types of security
items and perform actions in Workday? groups to enable you to address the security
needs of your organization. Example: Job-
based security groups enable you to control
access to items and actions by grouping
users based on their job details.
What level of permission do you want to Workday groups similar tasks and reports
provide to tasks and reports? into security domains. To provide access to
the tasks and reports, set View or Modify
permission on the security policies that
secure them.
What level of permission do you want to You can use business process security
provide to business processes? policies to set permissions for the actions on
business processes, such as initiation and
action steps.
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Questions Considerations
What's your change management strategy The changes you make to security policies
for security? go into effect when you activate the
changes. You can:
Do third-party resources need access to your You can use Service Centers to grant third-
Workday tenant? party contracted organizations access to
your Workday tenant without granting them
access to sensitive data.
Recommendations
Before you create your own security groups, use Workday-provided security groups, which enable
you to:
Benefit from questions and feedback about the security groups as captured on Workday
Community.
Use Workday-verified security configurations.
Provide users with the fewest privileges to information and resources needed to accomplish their
job functions. Providing users with the fewest privileges enhances the protection of your
information and resources.
Turn off functional areas and security policies that you don't currently use to simplify your security
configuration.
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Review setup considerations for security groups and security policies for additional
recommendations.
Requirements
To set permissions for domains and business processes, enable each functional area as well as its
security policies. Enabling a functional area doesn’t automatically enable all the security policies
within the functional area.
Review setup considerations for security groups and security policies for additional requirements.
Limitations
You can’t:
When you revert to another configuration using security policy change control, the original
configuration is no longer available.
Tenant Setup
No impact.
Security
These domains in the System functional area:
Domains Considerations
Business Processes
No impact.
Reporting
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Reports Considerations
Business Process Security Policies for Displays all business process security
Functional Area policies for a functional area.
Domain Security Policies for Functional Displays all domain security policies for a
Area functional area.
View Security for Securable Item Displays how Workday secures delivered
items.
View Security Groups for User Displays the security groups that a user is a
member of.
Integrations
No impact.
Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships
in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Configurable Security
Concept: Security Policy Change Control
Tasks
Maintain Security Group Permissions
Reference
Setup Considerations: Security Groups
Setup Considerations: Security Policies
Reference: Security-Related Reports
Reference: Security Group Types
Prerequisites
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Context
Before you can configure security for workers in your tenant, enable the functional areas and
security policies for secured items you want to provide access to.
Steps
Example
Activity streams, you can specify the workers who can collaborate with others.
Extended enterprise learning, you can specify the workers who can create and manage
extended enterprise learners.
Lease accounting, you can specify the workers who can manage account posting rules.
Prerequisites
Enable the functional areas for the items you want to use.
Security: Security Configuration domain in the System functional area.
Context
Set up security for workers in your tenant so they can access tasks, reports, and other secured
items in Workday. Workers gain access to items when you:
Add workers to security groups or identify an existing security group that contains the
workers.
Associate the security groups with the security policies that secure the items.
Activate your changes to the security policies.
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Assigning users to security groups directly. Example: Using user-based security groups.
Deriving membership based on information about users. Example: Their role assignments or
job details.
Steps
1. Identify an existing security group that contains the users for whom you want to set
permissions.
You can also access the Create Security Group task to create a new security group.
See Reference: Security Group Types and Reference: Workday-Delivered Security Groups.
2. (Optional) Access the View Security for Securable Item report.
Identify the security policies that secure specified items.
3. Add the security group to the security policies.
See Edit Domain Security Policies and Edit Business Process Security Policies.
4. Activate your changes to security policies.
See Activate Pending Security Policy Changes.
5. Verify your security configuration.
See Reference: Security-Related Reports.
Result
Workers in the specified security groups can access items that Workday secures to the associated
security policies.
Example
Access specified hold reasons and whether those workers can override or update the
corresponding student holds.
Complete an electronic Form I-9.
Create and modify headcount plans and view and analyze plan data.
Related Information
Reference
The Next Level: Getting to Know Configurable Security
You can control the items users can view and the actions they can perform in your tenant with
configurable security.
Functional Areas
Workday groups reports, tasks, and other items into different functional areas. Each functional area
includes items that enable users to perform similar actions. Example: The Benefits functional area
includes reports, tasks, and other items for managing benefits.
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Domains, which include reports, tasks, instance sets, report fields, integration templates,
web services, and data sources.
Business process types, which include the steps for actions in business processes, such as
initiation and action steps.
To view functional areas and the domains and business processes within them, access the
Functional Areas report.
Security Groups
Security groups are collections of users that you can use to grant access to secured items and
business process steps. You can create custom security groups to serve security requirements
beyond the security groups in your tenant. You can add workers to security groups by either:
Security Policies
Security policies enable you to configure access to groups of items and individual business process
actions. By associating security groups with security policies, you can enable members of the
security groups to access the secured items and actions. You can't change the items in a domain or
actions in a business process.
You can also set various permissions for actions on business processes, such as View All, Rescind,
and Deny permissions.
You can:
Identify whether a domain security policy inherits permissions by accessing the domain
security policy on the View Domain report.
Override inherited permissions when a child security policy needs different permissions.
Return to the parent permissions using the User Parent Permissions option on the View
Domain Security Policy report.
The items in a parent security policy include the items from the domain it secures and all the
subdomains. The domain it secures might not have securable items of its own. Overriding
permissions doesn’t affect the inheritance on any other child security policies.
Inherent Permissions
Workday provides default access to certain securable items through inherent permissions. While
you can remove security groups from some domain security policies, the security groups retain
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access to the securable items that Workday secures to the security policies.
Example: The Implementers security group has inherent permissions to the User-Based Security
Group Administration domain security policy. Members of the Implementers security group have
permanent access to items secured by the domain.
The Inherent Permission field on the View Domain report lists the security groups that have
permanent access to a domain security policy.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
Concept: Security Policies
Concept: Security Policy Change Control
Reference
The Next Level: Getting to Know Configurable Security
Workday provides reports in these areas to help you manage security in your tenant:
Security Groups
Security Policies
Domains and Business Processes
Workers
Security Audits
Security Groups
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Security Analysis for View the secured items Security Group (Optional)
Security Groups associated with 1 or more
Include Disabled
specified security groups.
Domains/Functional Areas
(Optional)
Web Service Security Audit View the security groups Web Service Task to Select
that can run web service (Optional)
tasks.
Security Policies
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Domain Security Policy View the current security Functional Areas (Optional)
Summary configuration for every
domain in 1 or more
functional areas.
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Workers
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View Security Groups for View all the security groups Person
User that a user is a member of.
Security Audits
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To (Optional)
Include Subordinate
Organizations (Optional)
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Configurable Security
Concept: Security Policies
Concept: Security Groups
Reference
Workday Community: Security Reports
What if users can access items that they shouldn't be able to access?
What if users can't access items that they should be able to access?
How does a user get access to an instance?
Which security groups have permission to view background processes?
Which security groups have permission to access My Reports and download content from
Workday?
How can I fix securable items that have exceptions?
Why does a user receive an error when attempting to access an Inbox item or email
notification link?
Where can I view the different role and security group assignments for 2 different workers?
Where can I view the different security policy assignments for 2 different security groups?
Where can I view the permissions granted to a security group?
Where can I view the security for securable items?
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What if users can access items that they shouldn't be able to access?
The Security Analysis for Securable Item and Account report can help you determine if you need to
remove:
The report can also help you determine if a secured item displays in more than 1 domain. Users
with different levels of access in different domains have the most permissive access granted.
Example: A user has Modify permission to a secured item when the user has:
If users have permission to access a secured item that they shouldn't have permission to access:
View the Access Rights to Organizations section in the security group definition and
inheritance.
Access the Secured Items in Multiple Domains report.
All changes to security groups or security policies are effective immediately. Before you make
changes, consider how the changes affect other access for the security group and user.
What if users can't access items that they should be able to access?
These reports can help you compare the security groups for a user with the security groups on a
securable item:
Add the user to a security group that has permission to access the item.
Grant access to a security group that the user belongs to.
The access of the user when you associate them with a security group that has permission
to access the item.
The number of other users in the security groups that the user is in.
The role-based security group that provides the user with access to the instance.
The instance ID.
Use this information in the Test Security Group Membership report and:
Add 1 security group at a time to identify the security group that provides access.
Identify the security groups assigned to the user or the role assignments for the user.
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You can view background processes in the Background Processes for a Process report.
Any user who belongs to an Administrative security group can view all background processes in this
report.
All users can view the background processes for processes that they’ve run. For Integrations, users
can view processes if you provide them with permission to view the relevant templates.
Users can view these background process types if they have the appropriate permissions:
Which security groups have permission to access My Reports and download content from
Workday?
Security groups that have access to the Export to PDF and Excel domain security policy can:
By default, Workday configures the All Users security group on the Export to PDF and Excel domain
security policy.
Security groups that have access to the domain security policy can download these types of
content:
Drill-down menus.
Grids.
Items accessed using context menus.
Pages.
The domain security policy has no impact on self-service type content. Security groups that don't
have access can download items such as:
Business forms.
Pay advice.
W-2 forms.
(Workday Extend only) For Export to Excel grids, Workday doesn't support security policies
configured on the Export to PDF and Excel domain. To prevent users from exporting grid data, the
Workday Extend app developer must disable the Export to Excel feature on the grid.
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Exceptions can occur when someone changes a security policy, which invalidates an access
assignment. These exceptions can happen when you activate a pending security policy change in
which a:
Business process security policy is missing a security group that the business process still
uses.
Security policy specifies a security group that you deleted from Workday.
Before you remove a security group from a business process security policy, remove the security
group from the business process definition.
In either case, change the business process definition for that organization to specify only valid
security groups.
Why does a user receive an error when attempting to access an Inbox item or email notification
link?
A user might receive an error when someone changes the security policy on a business process
after the process starts.
The error might occur when the security group with permission to access the step doesn't have
either:
Business Process Policy View Audit: Identify security groups that don't have View access to
components of business process types that might involve them.
Security Exception Audit.
Where can I view the different role and security group assignments for 2 different workers?
Access the Compare Security of Two Worker Accounts report to view:
Where can I view the different security policy assignments for 2 different security groups?
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Access the View Security Group report and view a security policy from 1 of these tabs:
You can also access the Action Summary for Security Group report. You can use the report to view
details about the security policy assignments for a security group.
Related Information
Reference
Workday 32 What's New Post: Configurable Security Reporting
Workday 32 What's New Post: View Security for Securable Item
You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of security
groups. It explains:
Business Benefits
Security groups save you time configuring and managing permissions for large collections of users.
Use Cases
Depending on the type of security group you use, you can:
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Questions to Consider
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to set security permissions for You can use user-based security groups to
individual users? set security permissions for individual users,
such as administrators with elevated
privileges.
Do you want to enable third-party users to Service Center security groups enable third-
access secured items? party users in a Service Center to access
secured items. You can use user-based
security groups to provide certain users in
the Service Center with elevated privileges.
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to adjust the permissions on an Use these types of security groups to adjust
existing security group without changing the permissions by combining members from
security group? other security groups:
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to set permissions based on a Job-based security groups enable you to
worker's job? automate security group assignments based
on the job profile details of a worker.
Example: Enable hourly, nonexempt workers
to access time tracking functionality.
Do you want to set permissions to support a You can use constrained role-based security
worker population in a certain location? groups to provide access based on the
position you assign to a role in a location
hierarchy. Example: The manager of the
Berlin office sits in the London office. You
can enable the manager to access data in
Germany by assigning the position on the
Manager role for Berlin.
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to enable workers to access You can constrain certain security group
data for only their assigned organizations? types so that members can access only data
that you secure to their organizations. You
can also constrain role-based security
groups by:
Customer.
Job requisition.
Prospect.
Requisition.
Supplier contract.
Recommendations
Workday recommends that you:
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Avoid creating intersection security groups that contain only 1 security group.
Avoid creating user-based security groups that contain only 1 user.
Remove security groups from security policies when you intend to replace the security
groups with aggregation, intersection, or segment-based security groups.
Test each change to a security group by signing in as other users and reviewing the data
that the users can access.
Use simple constraints when creating security groups to ensure that Workday evaluates
security more quickly.
Many security policies have restrictions on the types of security groups that you can add to the
security policies. Before you create security groups, consider the:
Data points, tasks, reports, and business processes you want to provide access to.
Security policies that secure those items.
Types of security groups that you can associate with the security policies.
Use the default security groups in your tenant as a starting point for your configuration. You can
then refine the security groups as you need to so you can:
Take advantage of the questions that others ask on Workday Community by referencing the
same security language.
Use the security group configurations that Workday designs and verifies.
Consolidate similar business requirements into broad security groups. By configuring less-specific
security groups, you can:
The security groups you use can impact how quickly you can generate reports and route steps on
business processes. When performance is an important consideration, use:
Copy security groups carefully to avoid providing new security groups with more access than you
intend to provide. When you copy security groups, Workday copies all the security permissions to
the new security group. When you want to change the permissions on the security group, you must
remove security policies individually.
Requirements
No impact.
Limitations
When you configure intersection security groups, you can't use:
You can't use these Workday-delivered security groups in intersection security groups:
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All Users.
Manager's Manager.
Tenant Setup
No impact.
Security
These domains in the System functional area:
Domains Considerations
You can use these delivered security groups to enable users to set and manage security in your
tenant:
Business Processes
No impact.
Reporting
These reports display security groups in your tenant and enable you to evaluate membership in the
security groups:
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Reports Considerations
Action Summary for Security Group Displays the security policies that you
associate with a security group.
Compare Permissions of Two Security Displays the security policy permissions for 2
Groups security groups.
Security Analysis for Security Groups Displays the items that you associate with 1
or more security groups.
You can also use the Security Groups data source to create custom reports about the security
groups in your tenant. The data source displays 1 row for each security group and includes all
security group types.
Integrations
No impact.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
Setup Considerations: Security Policies
Reference
Reference: Security Group Types
Reference: Workday-Delivered Security Groups
You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of role-
based security groups. It explains:
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Business Benefits
Using role-based security groups, you can assign and remove access rights automatically as
workers change positions or jobs, enabling you to:
Use Cases
Role-based security groups enable you to automatically:
Questions to Consider
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Questions Considerations
How do you configure role-based security The security groups you use can impact how
groups for optimal performance? quickly you can generate reports and route
steps on business processes. To optimize
performance:
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Questions Considerations
How does your staffing model affect role- The staffing model you use can impact
based security groups? whether workers backfill vacancies and
inherit the associated permissions. With the:
How do you provide similar permissions to Workday recommends that you use
multiple roles? aggregation security groups to set similar
permissions. When you copy security groups,
you must manually update permissions on
each security group separately during
security changes.
Recommendations
Use:
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1 role for each role-based security group to simplify your security configuration.
1 organization type for each role, except when you use hierarchical organizations that roll up
to other organizations. Example: You can use 1 role for Cost Center Hierarchy and Cost
Center because they're part of the same organization type.
Unconstrained role-based security groups carefully. Anyone with the position you associate
with the role can access the secured data for all organizations.
User-based security groups to provide specific users, such as administrators, with access to
securable items that aren't organization-specific.
Data points and business process steps you want to provide access to.
Security policies that secure those items.
Types of security groups that you can associate with the security policies.
HR Partner describes the HR functional area with modify access; HR Analyst describes the
area with view access for HR data.
Finance Partner describes the Financial functional area with modify access; Finance Analyst
describes the area with view access for financial data.
Requirements
No impact.
Limitations
No impact.
Tenant Setup
No impact.
Security
Domains Considerations
Security Administration domain in the System Enables you to manage who can assign role
functional area. permissions.
Security Configuration domain in the System Enables you to create, view, and delete role-
functional area. based security groups.
Manage: Organization Roles domain in the Enables you to run audits and reports on
Organizations and Roles functional area. roles.
Set Up: Assignable Roles domain in the Enables you to view and maintain roles.
Organizations and Roles functional area.
Business Processes
No impact.
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Reporting
Reports Considerations
Role Assignments for Worker Position Displays the roles and the associated role-
based security groups for a specified worker.
View Assignable Roles Displays all roles in your tenant and the
security groups that can assign the roles.
Worker Roles Audit Displays the roles for each worker within a
specified organization.
Integrations
No impact.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Assign Roles
Concept: Assignable Roles
Concept: Security Groups
Concept: Staffing Models
Reference
Setup Considerations: Roles
Reference: Security Group Types
Prerequisites
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Context
You can use aggregation security groups to combine members from other security groups. Workday
includes users who are members of at least 1 of the included security groups. You can also exclude
workers who are members of a specified security group. Consider using aggregation security
groups to ease maintenance when several security groups have common access requirements.
Steps
Example
You assign security permissions to the HR Partner (Supervisory Organization) and HR Partner
(Location Membership) groups separately. As a result, you need to maintain those assignments
individually. Alternatively, you can create an HR Partner aggregation security group that includes
both the HR Partner (Supervisory Organization) and HR Partner (Location Membership) security
groups. Using the aggregation security group in security policies, you can assign permissions to
both security groups simultaneously, making it easier to maintain your security configuration.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Examples
Example: Create a Service Center Security Group for Benefits Support
Prerequisites
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Context
You can use conditional role-based security groups to apply a constrained role-based security group
based on a condition. You can also use conditional role-based security groups to limit the display of
detail-level data while still displaying aggregate values in these report types:
Advanced reports, when you also select the Summarize Detail Rows check box on the report
definition.
Composite reports.
Matrix reports.
Trending reports.
In these report types, aggregate values reflect the Security Group When Condition Not Met
evaluation. Detail-level data, such as in a drill-down menu, reflects the full security group evaluation.
Steps
Option Description
Security Group when Condition Not Met The constrained role-based security
and for Aggregate Data in Standard and group to apply if the worker isn't in any
Custom Reports specified location hierarchies.
Example
Your company headquarters are in the U.S. with branch offices in France and Germany. To comply
with Works Council regulations for organizations, managers in Germany can only view worker data
down to 2 levels in the organization chart. The regulations don't apply to offices in the U.S. and
France. You can create a conditional role-based security group so you can enforce the Works
Council regulations for team members located in Germany.
Next Steps
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Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Examples
Example: Create a Conditional Role-Based Security Group
Prerequisites
Context
Constrained ISSGs, you can filter data results contextually based on specified organizations.
Example: Export data only for workers who are members of a specific supervisory
organization.
Unconstrained ISSGs, Workday provides members with access to data for all organizations.
When you constrain the security group type, filtering depends on the data access method:
Public web services: Workday filters by element, not by row, based on the security of the
web service operation. Example: A Workday integration that returns worker data only returns
1 row for each worker, but can filter out some worker data. Workday filters out data if
different domains secure the element from the underlying web service operation and the
web service operation.
Reports as a Service: Workday filters by row based on the security of the report data source.
When an ISSG specifies organizations as inclusion or exclusion criteria, match the organization type
from the organization criteria to the security group restrictions. Example: When you specify a
Company on your ISSG, you can add the security group to only security policies that permit
Companies.
To interact with data in Workday, your integration system requires access to the web service
operations that retrieve and insert the related data.
Steps
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2. (Optional) Select the Inactive check box to disable permissions for members of the security
group. You can't inactivate the security group when you:
Grant the security group permission to the Security Configuration domain.
Include the security group as a member of another security group.
Specify the security group as an administrator for another security group.
3. From the Integration System Users prompt, select ISUs to include in the security group.
4. (Constrained only) From the Organizations prompt, select organizations to which you want
to constrain the security group.
5. (Constrained only) As you complete the Access Rights to Organization section, select
organizations that the group criteria applies to:
Option Description
Access to Current Organization Only ISUs can access protected data for
members of the specified organization.
Access to Current Organization And All ISUs can access protected data for
Subordinates members of the specified organization
and all its subordinate organizations.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Reference
Workday Community: API Documentation
Prerequisites
Context
You can use intersection security groups to combine members and constraints from other security
groups. Workday includes workers and constraints that are common to all the included security
groups. Workday excludes users and constraints in some or none of the included security groups.
You can also explicitly exclude workers and constraints from a specified security group.
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Hide populations or target instances. Example: Hide data about HR employees from other
HR employees.
Intersect constrained role-based security groups that you enable for different organizations.
Example: Intersect Canadian Workers with the Sales Organization.
Limit self-service tasks or functionality to a certain population. Example: Limit time tracking
to contingent workers.
Note: Workday doesn't recommend using intersection security for Compensation because it doesn't
apply to all situations. One case where Workday can't evaluate intersection security is exclusion
criteria, which depend on organizations. Many compensation components, including plans, grades,
and pay ranges aren't associated with organizations. Managers can't have security over
compensation components through organizations and roles the way they can for employees.
Steps
Option Description
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Option Description
Applies to Current Organization And All Prevent users in the intersection security
Subordinates group from being able to access
information about users with current
positions in:
Example
You want to enable only U.S.-based workers to submit expense reports in Workday. You can create
an unconstrained organization membership security group for the U.S. Location Hierarchy that
includes all U.S.-based workers. You can then intersect the security group with the Employee As
Self security group. You can replace the existing self-service security groups on the Self Service:
Expense Report domain with your new intersection security group. As a result, only users in both the
U.S. Location Hierarchy and Employee As Self security groups can submit expense reports in
Workday.
Next Steps
When using intersection security groups, especially ones with exclusion criteria, Workday
recommends that you thoroughly test access, prompting, routing, and other functionality to ensure
that security works as you expect.
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
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Context
You can use job-based security groups to set security permissions based on job details. You can
create:
Constrained job-based security groups so members of the security group can access
instances for select organizations.
Unconstrained job-based security groups so members of the security group can access
instances for all organizations.
When you create constrained job-based security groups, you can define membership based on
these job details:
Job category.
Job family.
Job profile.
Management level.
When you create unconstrained job-based security groups, you can also define membership based
on these job details:
Exempt jobs.
Nonexempt jobs.
Work shift.
Steps
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Option Description
Applies to Current Organization Only Workers with the specified job details
can access securable items for specified
organizations.
Applies to Current Organization And All Workers with the specified job details
Subordinates can access securable items for specified
organizations and all subordinate
organizations.
Example
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Job-based security group (unconstrained) You want to enable the Chief Human
Resources Officer (CHRO) of your company
to view actual values for benchmarking. You
can configure an unconstrained job-based
security group to ensure that the person who
fills this position in your organization
automatically gets the correct access. When
you create the unconstrained job-based
security group, you can use the job profile of
CHRO as the criteria for membership. As a
result, Workday automatically updates the
security assignment as different individuals
move in and out of the CHRO position.
Job-based security group (constrained) You want to enable workers in a Team Lead
job profile to have access to other workers in
their supervisory organization. You don't
want them to have access to workers
outside of their own supervisory
organization. You can create a constrained
job-based security group using the Team
Lead job profile as the criteria for the group.
You can then grant the access to the
Supervisory Organization type and apply that
access to only the current organization.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
Complete the:
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Context
Level-based security groups define how workers at 1 level can access worker data at another level,
independent of organizational structures. Level-based security groups associate with these types of
leveled structures:
Compensation grade hierarchies: Workday maps workers to each level based on their
compensation grade.
Management-level hierarchies: Workday maps workers to each level based on their job
profile.
You can use level-based security groups with Workday Talent Management functionality, such as
nBox reporting and Find Workers. Workday doesn't recommend you use level-based security groups
on security policies in other application areas.
Steps
Example
You want managers to be able to view talent and performance information about their direct
reports. You can create a compensation grade hierarchy to define the relationship between
employees. You can then use the compensation grade hierarchy to create a compensation level-
based security group. By adding the security group to the Worker Data: Talent and Worker Data:
Performance Reviews domains, managers can view talent and performance information about their
direct reports.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
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Prerequisites
Context
Location membership security groups enable you to group workers who are in any of the specified
locations. Example: All workers in Amsterdam and Tokyo. The security group type isn't context-
sensitive. That is, Workday doesn't match worker location to the location of the secured item.
Steps
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
Context
You can use organization membership security groups to set security permissions for workers in
specified organizations. You can include organizations of any type, such as Company or Cost
Center. You can also include workers in subordinate organizations. When you create:
Steps
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Option Description
Applies to Current Organization Only Workers can access securable items for
specified organizations.
Applies to Current Organization And All Workers can access securable items for
Subordinates specified organizations and all
subordinate organizations.
Example
Organization membership security group You want any worker in a Legal supervisory
(unconstrained) organization to be able to view all worker
data in the tenant. You can create an
unconstrained organization membership
security group that references the Legal
supervisory organization. You can then apply
the security group to the necessary security
policies.
Organization membership security group You want any worker in a cost center
(constrained) hierarchy to be able to view other workers in
their cost center hierarchy. You don't want
them to be able to view workers outside of
the cost center hierarchy. You can create a
constrained organization membership
security group that references the cost
center hierarchy. You can then apply the
security group to the necessary security
policies.
Next Steps
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Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
Context
You can use Prism access security groups to combine members from other Prism access security
groups. Workday includes users who are members of at least 1 of the included security groups. Use
Prism access security groups to assign permissions to users in an unconstrained security group in
Prism-related domain security policies. Some Prism-related domains allow Prism access security
groups instead of unconstrained security groups.
Steps
Example
You want to give unconstrained access to a group of workers who can create and edit Prism
Analytics tables. You can create a user-based security group that includes the workers. You can
then create a Prism access security group that includes the user-based security group. You can
then edit the security policy for the Prism Tables: Create domain, and assign permissions to the
Prism access security group.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
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Prerequisites
Context
You can use role-based security groups to derive security permissions based on roles. Role
assignments involve assigning a role to a given worker position or job for a specified organization
or role-enabled instance. When you create:
Constrained role-based security groups, you can constrain access based on organizations
or other role-enabled objects. Example: Recruiters can only access job applications for their
organizations rather than for all organizations in your tenant.
Unconstrained role-based security groups, you can provide access to all instance data in all
organizations. Example: Recruiters can access job applications for all organizations in your
tenant.
Steps
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Option Description
Applies to Current Organization Only Workers with the specified role can
access securable items for the current
organization.
Applies To Current Organization And Workers with the specified role can
Unassigned Subordinates access securable items for the current
organization and all subordinate
organizations that don't have the
specified assignable role.
Applies to Current Organization And All Workers with the specified role can
Subordinates access securable items for the current
organization and all subordinate
organizations.
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Option Description
Applies to Current Organization and Workers with the specified role can
Subordinates to Level access securable items for the current
organization and all subordinate
organizations. The subordinate
organizations are up to a specified
number of levels under the specified
organization. You can use the
Subordinate Levels field to specify the
number of levels under the organization
in the hierarchy.
Note: When you view the organization, Workday displays security access on the Security
Groups tab, not on the Roles tab. Workers automatically inherit roles from the top-level
organization down through the hierarchy. When Inherited displays in the Role From column
on the Roles tab, the worker has access to the organization only when you also assign the
worker to the security group displayed on the Security Groups tab.
4. (Constrained only) In the Access Rights to Multiple Job Workers section, select
permissions to position or job data, and person data, for workers with multiple jobs:
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Option Description
Role has access to the positions they Grants access only for the job or position
support that you assign to the role in the
specified organization.
Role for primary job has access to all Grants access to assignees who have a
positions role in the organization associated with
the primary job or position. Denies
access to assignees who have a role in
the organization associated with an
additional job or position.
Person data.
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Option Description
Role has access to all positions Grants access to assignees who have a
role in the organization associated with
the primary or additional job or position.
Person data.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Reference
Setup Considerations: Role-Based Security Groups
Examples
Example: Set Up Domain Security for Workers with Multiple Positions
Example: Set Up Business Process Security for Workers with Multiple Positions
Prerequisites
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Context
You can use rule-based security groups to constrain the members on a baseline security group
using conditional rules. Examples: You can enable:
Modify rule criteria without needing to activate individual security policy changes.
Reuse rule criteria in multiple rule-based security groups.
Use conditional rules that aren’t maintenance intensive.
Steps
Option Description
Example
You want to enable only part-time workers to track their work hours in Workday. You can define a
security rule using the Time Type security field to identify part-time workers. You can then apply the
security rule on the inclusion criteria of a rule-based security group. As the baseline security group,
you can use the All Users security group. By adding the new security group to the Worker Data: Time
Tracking domain, you can enable only part-time workers to track their work hours.
Next Steps
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Use the Test Security Group Membership report to evaluate whether a Workday account is a
member of a rule-based security group. An account isn’t a member when the account either:
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Reference
2020R1 What’s New Post: Rule-Based Security Groups
FAQ: Rule-Based Security Groups
Examples
Example: Set Up Rule-Based Security Groups
Prerequisites
Security: Set Up: Security Rules domain in the System functional area.
Context
You can configure security rules to define criteria for determining membership on rule-based
security groups. You can only use security rules on rule-based security groups.
Steps
Next Steps
Use the Test Security Rule report to evaluate whether a Workday account satisfies the conditions
on a security rule. You can’t specify a security rule on the report when the security rule contains
report fields secured to self-service domains.
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Related Information
Reference
FAQ: Rule-Based Security Groups
Examples
Example: Set Up Rule-Based Security Groups
Prerequisites
Context
You can use segment-based security groups to enable members of other security groups to access
select components of a securable item. Members can be part of multiple security groups and have
permission to access multiple security segments. Workday enables you to define security segments
when you belong to a security group with Modify permissions on the Segmented Setup domain.
Steps
Example
You want a Benefits Administrator to be able to manage only benefits-related documents. You don't
want them to be able to manage payroll-related documents. Workday secures access to manage all
worker documents to the Worker Data: Add Worker Documents and Worker Data: Edit and Delete
Worker Documents domains. You can create a Document Categories - Benefits segment to identify
benefits-related documents. You can then use the security segment to create a segment-based
security group so Benefits Administrators can access only the benefits-related documents.
Next Steps
Users with access to a domain through both a segment-based and a non-segment-based security
group have permission to access all segments. Make sure you associate non-segment-based
security groups with users who have permission to access all segments by:
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Reviewing all security groups on the policy before adding segment-based security groups.
Reviewing the included security groups in an aggregation security group.
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
Context
You can use service center security groups to grant third-party users access to Workday. You can
create:
Constrained service center security groups so third-party users can support select
organizations.
Unconstrained service center security groups so third-party users can support all
organizations.
Steps
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Option Description
The organization type from the organization criteria must match the organization type from
the security group restrictions. Example: When you select Company, you can add the
security group to only security policies restricted to the Company organization type.
Example
You want to hire temporary workers to assist with the benefits enrollment process. Instead of hiring
the workers through the typical staffing process, you can provide the workers with temporary
access by creating a service center. You can use the service center to create a service center
security group. You can then assign the security group to the same domains assigned to the
Benefits Administrator security group. As a result, temporary workers can assist with the enrollment
process without going through the typical staffing process.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Examples
Example: Create a Service Center Security Group for Benefits Support
Prerequisites
Context
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You can't:
Steps
Example
You want to enable certain employees to create and maintain all bank setup data regardless of their
organization. You can create a Bank Administrator user-based security group by directly assigning
users to the security group. You can then add the security group to the View: Bank Entity and Set Up:
Cash Forecasting domains to enable the assigned users to administer bank setup data. As you hire
new employees to administer bank setup data, you can assign the employees to the security group
directly.
Next Steps
1 user-based security group, access the Assign User to User-Based Security Group task.
More than 1 user-based security group, access the Assign User-Based Security Groups for
Person task.
Related Information
Tasks
Edit Domain Security Policies
Edit Business Process Security Policies
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
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Examples
Example: Create a User-Based Security Group for Administrators
Prerequisites
Context
You can use the Maintain Permissions for Security Group task to:
Using the task, you can copy permissions from an existing security group to:
Steps
Result
Workday:
Example
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Next Steps
Verify the changes to the target security group using the View Security Group task.
Activate pending security policy changes.
Activate the security group when you want to enable the permissions on an inactive security
group.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
Tasks
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Reference
2020R1 What's New Post: Mass Maintain Security Permissions
Prerequisites
Context
You can use the Maintain Permissions for Security Group task to:
Add and delete domain security policy permissions on an existing security group.
Review business process security policy permissions on an existing security group.
Steps
Next Steps
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Verify the changes to the target security group using the View Security Group task.
Activate pending security policy changes.
Activate the security group when you want to enable the permissions on an inactive security
group.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
Tasks
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Reference
2020R1 What's New Post: Mass Maintain Security Permissions
Prerequisites
Context
You haven't activated, whether or not the security groups have members.
You add to security policies, as long as you haven't activated the security policy changes.
You can't delete a security group once you add it to security policies and activate the changes.
Steps
Security groups are collections of users that you can use to grant access to securable items in your
Workday tenant. You can add users to security groups by either:
Assigning users to security groups directly. Example: Using user-based security groups.
Deriving membership based on information about users. Example: Their role assignments or
job details.
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Configurable security groups: Your implementation partner loads these commonly used
security groups into your tenant during implementation. You can create, change, and delete
these security groups.
Workday-delivered security groups: Workday defines these security groups and determines
their members. You can’t create, change, or delete these security groups.
You can create your own security groups when your tenant doesn't include the ones you need.
Context Types
Workday enables you to restrict the access that members of a security group have using these
context types:
Aggregation
Intersection
The name of a security group type can help you determine the access to secured data instances.
Example: Members of role-based security groups (constrained) have contextual access.
Context Sensitivity
Constrained security groups provide members with access to a subset of secured data instances
based on context. Example: Members have access to data in the context of their own organizations
only. These types of security groups are context-sensitive by organization:
Customer.
Job requisition.
Prospect.
Requisition.
Supplier contract.
These types of security groups are context-sensitive when at least 1 security group contained in
these security group types is context-sensitive:
Aggregation
Intersection
Segment-based
The organization type on the organization criteria must match the organization type on the security
group restrictions on these security group types:
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Example: You can't add a security group to a security policy that you restrict to organization types
other than Company when you:
Include a role-based security group that is valid for security group restrictions of Roles –
Company in the Intersection Criteria.
Specify a Company in the Exclusion Criteria (Constrained Context) of an intersection
security group.
Specify a Company in the Organizations prompt of an integration system security group
(constrained).
Workday grants securable item access to targets associated with a context-sensitive security group
only when the targets and the item instance share the characteristic that makes the security group
context-sensitive.
Example: A constrained integration system security group is context-sensitive by an organization. A
segment-based security group with access to an integration system security segment is context-
sensitive by an integration system. You can’t use the segment-based security group to grant
integration systems to the constrained integration system security group. Instead, Workday
recommends that you:
Public Domains
Domain names that include the keyword Public provide access to public information, such as
contact addresses. Access to these domains depends on the security group that you assign to the
domains.
Workday delivers job-based security groups that group members independently of the configuration
of an organization. You can assign delivered job-based security groups to Worker Profile domains,
such as:
You can define your own security groups to meet your business needs. Examples: These security
groups provide more open access to worker data:
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Job-based security groups, such as All Managers, with access to All Organizations enable
any manager to access any worker.
Job-based security groups for other groups, such as Any HR Partner. The security groups
enable all HR Partners to access the information for any worker who you secure through a
security policy.
User-based security groups, when job-based security groups can't group users based on
management levels or job profiles.
Full data, place the security group you create on the Worker Data: Public Worker Reports
domain in place of the Manager or HR Partner security groups.
Limited data, place the security group you create on the Worker Data: Current Staffing
Information and Worker Data: General Staffing Information domains.
Support Groups
Each worker is a member of 1 or more organizations. The other role assignees on those
organizations make up the support groups for a worker. You can expose support groups for a
worker on the Support Groups worklet using the Configure Support Groups task (secured to the Set
Up: Assignable Roles domain).
Workers can use the worklet to view important contacts in their support groups, such as their HR
Partner. The worklet displays specified security groups and the role assignees on those security
groups.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Configurable Security
Reference
Reference: Security-Related Reports
The Next Level: Getting to Know Configurable Security
The Next Level: Advanced Security: If You’re Doing It Right, No One Will Know
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An intersection security group comprises 1 or more security groups. It includes users who are in all
of the security groups.
Job-Based.
Location Membership.
Organization Membership.
Role-Based.
Workday-Delivered, except for All Users and Manager's Manager.
You can access the Security Exception Audit report to find intersection security groups that include
any of the organization types.
Recommendations
Workday recommends against using:
Intersection security groups that use excluded organizations in business process security
policies.
Organization membership security groups that use custom organizations with dynamic
membership rules in intersection security groups.
When working with such intersection security groups, test your configuration to make sure it works
as intended.
Students protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Workers in sensitive positions.
You can restrict access by selecting a custom organization containing the workers or students from
the Exclude Target Position in Organization prompt. If a worker or student held prior positions in
other organizations, you can exclude the positions by adding them to the exclusion criteria.
You can’t create an intersection security group that:
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Select the role-based security group from the Security Groups to Include prompt.
Select the population they can't access from the Exclude Target Position in Organization
prompt.
Example: To prevent HR Partners from viewing other HR Partners, create a custom organization of
HR Partners and:
Select the HR Partner role-based security group from the Security Groups to Include
prompt.
Select the HR Partner custom organization from the Exclude Target Position in
Organization prompt.
Additional Considerations
You can’t apply intersection security groups that intersect 2 or more context-sensitive security
groups to:
The restriction prevents you from applying security groups to policies for items that run with 1
contextual filter.
You can't add an intersection security group to a security policy that Workday restricts to
organization types other than Company when you:
Include a role-based security group that’s valid for security group restrictions of Roles -
Company from the Intersection Criteria prompt.
Select a Company from the Exclusion Criteria (Constrained Context) prompt of an
intersection security group.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Intersection Security Groups
With role-based security groups, you can control access to items and actions based on roles you
create and assign to members of your organizations. For workers, you assign roles to positions. For
nonworkers, you assign roles directly to the:
Academic Affiliate.
Service Center Representative.
Student Recruiter.
Constrained role-based security groups are context-sensitive because Workday matches security
group members to the role-enabled object of an item. Only members with a role on the role-enabled
object can access securable items in a domain.
Organization Assignments
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Workday determines the organization to which a particular instance of a secured item belongs.
Workday only grants access to workers in positions or roles that support that organization.
Example: You can use a constrained role-based security group to ensure that only a worker with the
HR Partner role can review or approve a step in the Hire business process.
Reorganizations
When you create constrained role-based security groups, you can decide whether you want
subordinate organizations to inherit the permissions from a role-enabled object. Workday
recommends that you re-evaluate your configuration during reorganizations if you configure a
constrained role-based security groups so unassigned subordinate organization inherit permissions
from a parent organization. Otherwise, subordinate organizations might not have the appropriate
role assignments after the reorganization goes into effect.
Example: Logan manages Admin in Payroll. Logan hires Betty to manage Adam and has Betty
report to Logan. When Betty begins to manage Adam, Logan loses access to data about Adam.
Logan loses access because Adam is in a subordinate organization that inherits permissions from
a parent organization. Because Betty is in the parent organization to Adam, Betty gains access to
data about Adam.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Assignable Roles
Tasks
Set Up Assignable Roles
Reference
Setup Considerations: Role-Based Security Groups
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Job-based Collection of users based on You can use the job profile
job details, such as: of Chief Human Resources
Officer (CHRO) to ensure
that the person who fills the
Job category.
position automatically gets
the correct access.
Job family.
Job profile.
Management level.
Compensation
grade.
Management.
Location membership Collection of users who are You can enable all workers
in any of the included in Tokyo to access target
locations. data.
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Organization membership Collection of users who are You can enable any worker
members of a specified in a Legal supervisory
organization type, such as: organization to be able to
view all worker data in the
tenant.
Cost center.
Location hierarchy.
Pay group.
Prism access Collection of users who are You can assign permissions
members of other to the Prism Data
unconstrained security Administrator (User-based)
groups. Workday includes security group through a
users who are members of Prism Data Admin - PASG
any of the security groups prism access security
used in the inclusion criteria. group. You can use the
Prism Data Admin - PASG
security group to assign
permissions to Prism-
related domain security
policies that don't allow
permissions directly on
unconstrained security
groups.
Rule-based Collection of users who are You can enable only part-
members of a baseline time workers to track their
security group and who work hours by defining a
satisfy a specified condition security rule using the Time
on the baseline security Type security field to identify
group. part-time workers.
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Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
Reference
Setup Considerations: Security Groups
Workday automatically populates these security groups. You can't create, edit, or delete them.
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All Extended Enterprise Learners Includes all users from outside your
company who can access your learning
catalog.
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Enroll in courses.
All External Learning Users Includes all users from outside your
company who can access your learning
catalog.
All Internal Learning Instructors Includes all instructors that you created from
workers already in your tenant who:
Give lessons.
Manage waitlists.
All Learning Assessors Includes users who grade work, and record
attendance in individual lessons or courses.
Is on an international assignment.
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Directly.
All Recruiting Agency Users Includes users with a Recruiting Agency User
account.
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Extended Enterprise Learner as Self Includes all users from outside your
company who can access your learning
catalog. These users have a Workday
account and can access self-service tasks.
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Enroll in courses.
External Learning User as Self Includes all external, third-party learners with
a Workday account who can access self-
service tasks.
Inactive External Committee Members as Includes users with a previous (not current)
Self committee membership as determined by
the dates of the Manage Committee
Membership business processes. The
security group provides self-service access
to invitees for new committee memberships.
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Internal Learning Instructor As Self Includes all instructors that you created from
workers already in your tenant who:
Give lessons.
Manage waitlists.
Learning Assessor as Self Includes users who grade work, and record
attendance in individual lessons or courses.
The security group provides users with self-
service access to their own information.
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Is on an international assignment.
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Is on an international assignment.
Recruiting Agency User as Self Includes recruiting agency users who can
access the Workday security domains
available for recruiting agency self-service.
Service Center Representative as Self Includes users who have a Service Center
Representative account, which gives them
access to self-service tasks.
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Supplier Contract Specialist for Supplier Includes users whose names you specify as
Contract the contract specialist on a supplier contract.
You can remove a member from the security
group by replacing the name on all supplier
contracts.
Worker Start Date Correction Assignee Group Includes users who are setup to receive
notifications for events that require manual
action on the Correct Worker Start Date
business process. The users also receive
notifications when Workday encounters an
issue for automatic actions on the business
process.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Groups
How many membership security rules can I select on a rule-based security group?
Should I rerun the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task when I change a security
rule?
Why can't I access certain report fields on the Worker business object when I configure a
security rule?
Why can’t I access the security rules that display on my rule-based security group?
How do I migrate rule-based security groups and security rules between tenants?
What time zone does Workday use to evaluate whether a user is a member of a rule-based
security group?
How many membership security rules can I select on a rule-based security group?
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You can select 1 membership security rule for each rule-based security group. You can also:
To combine existing conditions, add security rules to the Copy Condition from Rule prompt on the
Create Security Rule task.
Should I rerun the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task when I change a security rule?
You don't need to rerun the task when you change a security rule.
Why can't I access certain report fields on the Worker business object when I configure a security
rule?
Workday enables you to access a subset of the report fields on the Worker business object.
Workday provides these report fields:
Workday currently provides the subset of report fields based on these prioritized use cases:
Enable managers who have active contingent workers in their departments to share reports
on contingent workers.
Enable only nonexempt US employees to clock in and out.
Enable only US employees to access benefits information.
Provide access based on worker type or compensation grade.
Provide restricted self-service access to temporary employees and employees on leave.
Why can’t I access the security rules that display on my rule-based security group?
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You can access security rules on rule-based security groups only when you can access the:
How do I migrate rule-based security groups and security rules between tenants?
Implementers can use web services to migrate security rules and rule-based security groups. The
web service used to migrate rule-based security groups only migrates the rule-based security group,
its baseline security group, and any associated security rules. The web service doesn't include data
that supports the baseline security group.
What time zone does Workday use to evaluate whether a user is a member of a rule-based
security group?
Workday uses the preferred time zone for a user to evaluate membership on rule-based security
groups. When a user doesn't have a preferred time zone, Workday defaults to this order to
determine the time zone to use:
When a user changes their time zone, Workday uses the new time zone once the user signs out and
then signs in.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Rule-Based Security Groups
Examples
Example: Set Up Rule-Based Security Groups
This example illustrates how to use a conditional role-based security group to apply a constrained
role-based security group based on a specified condition.
Scenario
Your company headquarters are in the USA with branch offices in France and Germany. To comply
with Works Council regulations for organizations, managers in Germany can only view worker data
down to 2 levels in the organization chart. The regulations don't apply to offices in France and the
USA.
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Prerequisites
Steps
Field Enter
3. Click OK.
4. In the Assignable Role prompt, select Manager.
5. In the Access Rights to Organizations section, specify:
Field Enter
Subordinate Levels 2
6. In the Access Rights to Multiple Job Workers section, select Role has access to the
positions they support.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Done.
9. Access the Create Security Group task.
10. Enter these values:
Field Enter
Result
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Managers in the France office can view data for workers in France up to 3 levels down the
organization chart. If a worker relocates to the Germany office, the managers won't be able to view
data for the worker.
Next Steps
Add the conditional role-based security group to a domain security policy that controls access to
worker data. Ensure that the constrained role-based security group isn’t on that domain security
policy.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Conditional Role-Based Security Groups
1.2.27.2 | Example: Set Up Business Process Security for Workers with Multiple Positions
This example illustrates how to enable an HR partner to approve job changes for workers who have
multiple positions.
Scenario
You want to give the HR Partner for Company 1 the ability to approve Change Job business process
events for Sarah.
Prerequisites
Steps
Option Description
2. Click OK.
3. Specify these values:
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Option Description
Access Rights to Multiple Job Workers Role has access to all positions
4. Click OK.
5. Access the Edit Business Process Security Policy task and enter Change Job.
6. Click OK.
7. Add the new Primary HR Partner security group to the Approve action.
8. Click OK.
9. To activate your changes, access the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task.
10. In the Comment field, enter Enable the HR partner to approve job changes for Sarah.
11. Select the Confirm check box.
Result
The security group enables the HR partner to approve job changes for Sarah.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Role-Based Security Groups
1.2.27.3 | Example: Set Up Domain Security for Workers with Multiple Positions
This example illustrates how to expand domain security policies for workers who have multiple
positions.
Scenario
You want to give the managers and global mobility partner access to Sarah's compensation
information.
Prerequisites
Steps
1. To create a Global Mobility Partner security group, access the Create Security Group task
and enter:
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Option Description
2. Click OK.
3. Specify these values:
Option Description
Access Rights to Multiple Job Workers Role has access to all positions
4. Click OK.
5. To create a Primary Manager security group, access the Create Security Group task and
enter:
Option Description
6. Click OK.
7. Specify these values:
Option Description
Access Rights to Multiple Job Workers Role for primary job has access to all
positions
8. Click OK.
9. To change the Manager security group, access the Edit Security Group task.
10. Enter Manager from the Tenanted Security Group prompt and click OK.
11. Select Role has access to the positions they support in the Access Rights to Multiple Job
Workers section.
12. Click OK.
13. To grant access to the new security groups, access the Worker Data: Compensation by
Organization domain security policy.
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14. Select Domain > Edit Security Policy Permissions from the related actions menu of the
domain security policy.
15. In the Report/Task Permissions section, add Global Mobility Partner and Primary Manager
with View access.
16. Click OK.
17. To activate your changes, access the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task.
18. In the Comment field, enter Enable the managers and global mobility partner to access the
compensation information for Sarah.
19. Select the Confirm check box.
Result
The security groups enable the managers and global mobility partner to access the compensation
information for Sarah.
Jane can access compensation information for both of Sarah's positions through the Global
Mobility Partner security group.
Mark can access compensation information for both of Sarah's positions through the
Primary Manager security group.
Susan can access compensation information for Sarah's secondary position through the
changes to the Manager security group.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Role-Based Security Groups
This example illustrates how to build a rule-based security group using a membership security rule.
Scenario
Currently, you enable all employees to enter their work time on Workday. You want to change your
security configuration to ensure that only nonexempt U.S. employees can enter their work time on
Workday.
Prerequisites
Security Activation
Security Configuration
Set Up: Security Rules
Steps
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Option Description
3. Click OK.
4. Enter Exempt U.S. Security Rule in the Description field.
5. Select these values in the Rule Conditions grid:
6. Click OK.
7. Access the Create Security Group task.
8. Specify these values:
Option Description
9. Click OK.
10. Select Employee As Self from the Baseline Security Group prompt.
11. Select Include Members by Rule in the Membership section.
12. Select Exempt U.S. Security Rule from the prompt.
13. Click OK.
14. Select Domain > Edit Security Policy Permissions from the related actions menu of the Self-
Service: Time Tracking High Volume domain.
15. Replace Employee As Self with Non-Exempt U.S. Employees on the Report/Task
Permissions grid.
16. Click OK.
17. Access the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task.
18. Enter Enabling only nonexempt U.S. employees to enter their work time in the Comment field.
19. Click OK.
20. Click Confirm.
21. Click OK.
Result
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Nonexempt U.S. employees can access the Enter My Time task. Non-U.S. employees and U.S.
exempt employees are among the workers who can no longer access the task.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Rule-Based Security Groups
1.2.27.5 | Example: Create a Service Center Security Group for Benefits Support
This example illustrates 1 way to create an aggregation security group that includes the service
center security group for each supported location.
Scenario
Your organization hires third-party users to provide benefits support to workers in the U.S. and
Canada. You want to create separate service centers to support workers in different locations, but
you don’t want to assign permissions to each service center individually. You can create an
aggregation security group that includes the individual security groups so you can more easily
assign permissions to the security groups.
Prerequisites
Steps
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Result
You can assign permissions to service center representatives in all locations using the All Benefits
security group.
Related Information
Tasks
Create Aggregation Security Groups
Create Service Center Security Groups
Maintain Security Group Permissions
This example illustrates 1 way to set security permissions for administrators using a user-based
security group.
Scenario
You recently hired a new Compensation Administrator who needs unconstrained access to worker
compensation data. You can create a user-based security group and assign the new Compensation
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Administrator to the security group. As you hire additional Compensation Administrators, you can
assign them to the security group without needing to reassign the security permissions.
Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Create User-Based Security Groups
Maintain Security Group Permissions
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You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of security
policies. It explains:
Workday enables you to configure permissions for reports and tasks separately from permissions
for integrations. You can set:
You can also set various permissions for actions on business processes, such as View All, Rescind,
and Deny permissions.
Business Benefits
Security policies enable you to deliver the right information and actions to the right users. By
configuring:
Domain security policies, you can efficiently set permissions for groups of items rather than
for individual items.
Business process security policies, you can decide who can take actions on a business
process.
Use Cases
Add security groups to the Initiate permission on the Change Job business process security
policy to enable members of the security groups to initiate job changes.
Add security groups to the Report Prompt Set Management domain security policy to enable
members of the security groups to create report prompt sets.
Remove security groups from the Photo Change business process security policy to prevent
members of the security groups from changing their photos.
Questions to Consider
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to provide users with access to When you enable users to access business
certain information in a business process? processes, Workday doesn't automatically
enable the users to access all the
information they need access to in the
business processes. Use the domains
associated with the business processes to
determine what the users can access in the
business processes.
Do you want to provide users with access to Providing access to certain actions on a
certain actions on a business process? business process can also provide access to
other actions on the business process.
Example: Providing security groups with
Correct permissions also provides the
security groups with View All permissions for
transactions that are cancelable.
What security group types can you add to a You can access the Allowed Security Group
domain security policy? Types field on a domain to view the types of
security groups you can add to a domain
security policy.
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Questions Considerations
When do you need to activate changes to Changes to security policies only go into
security policies? effect when you activate the changes. You
only need to activate pending changes when
you change a security policy. You don’t need
to activate these types of changes:
Assign roles.
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Questions Considerations
Do you want to undo activated changes to Workday enables you to revert to previous
security policies? timestamps, undoing changes to security
policies that you’ve activated.
Recommendations
Consider all the items you’re providing access to when you assign a security group to a domain
security policy.
Find the domains that secure the content you're looking to secure using the View Security for
Securable Items report.
Requirements
Workday groups functionally similar domains and business processes into functional areas. To set
permissions for domains and business processes, enable each functional area as well as its
security policies. Enabling a functional area doesn’t automatically enable all the security policies
within the functional area.
When you remove a security group from a business process security policy, also remove it from the
steps in the business process definition that reference the security group. Otherwise, Workday
might not assign the steps in the business process to users, causing the business process to stall
and requiring you to intervene.
Limitations
You can’t:
Tenant Setup
No impact.
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Security
These domains in the System functional area:
Domains Considerations
Business Processes
No impact.
Reporting
These reports enable you to audit security policies for business processes:
Reports Considerations
Business Process Security Policies Changed Displays the changes to a business process
within Time Range security policy, who made the change, and
when they made the change within a time
frame.
Business Process Security Policies for Displays the security configuration for each
Functional Area business process security policy in a
functional area.
Business Process Security Policies with Displays each business process security
Pending Changes policy with a pending change, who made the
change, and when they made the change.
Business Process Security Policy History Displays the changes to a business process
security policy, who made the change, and
when they made the change.
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Reports Considerations
Domain Security Policies Changed within Displays the changes to a domain security
Time Range policy, who made the changes, and when
they made the changes.
Domain Security Policies for Functional Displays the security configuration for each
Area domain security policy in a functional area.
Domain Security Policies with Pending Displays each domain security policy with a
Changes pending change, who made the change, and
when they made the change.
Secured Items in Multiple Domains Displays every secured item that Workday
secures to more than 1 domain.
These reports provide more general support for security policies and functional areas:
Reports Considerations
View Security for Securable Item Displays how Workday secures delivered
items, such as reports, tasks, integrations,
business processes, and data sources.
Integrations
Integrations and other applications that access Workday must have an Integration System User
(ISU) with:
Get and Put access to the domains that secure web service operations.
View access to the domains that secure report data sources and report fields.
Outbound EIBs also require access to the custom report used as a data source.
Workday secures each REST method to a domain or business process security policy. Each REST
method can access only the domains and business processes that the current user can access.
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Example: The GET /supervisoryOrganizations REST API returns only the organizations that the user
has permission to access.
Other Impacts
In addition to using segmented security, you can limit access to items in a domain through View
permissions. When you set View permissions, members of the associated security groups can
access only the items that users can view. Example: A domain includes 6 reports and 4 tasks. By
setting View permissions, members of the associated security groups can only access the 6
reports.
You can use the Maintain Permissions for Security Group task to add 1 security group to many
security policies at once.
Related Information
Concepts
Setup Considerations: Security Groups
Concept: Business Processes
Concept: Configurable Security
Concept: Security Policies
Concept: Security Policy Change Control
Tasks
Steps: Enable Functional Areas and Security Policies
Prerequisites
Context
You can configure which security groups have permission to access the secured items in a domain.
Steps
Next Steps
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Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Security Policies
Tasks
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Prerequisites
Context
You can specify which security groups have permission to access each of the securable items in a
business process security policy.
Hierarchical relationships in business process security policies logically group similar policies, but
there's no inheritance.
Steps
1. Access the Business Process Security Policies for Functional Area report.
2. Click Edit Permissions.
3. Add or remove security groups for each relevant action on the business process.
Note: If you remove a security group from a business process security policy, you must also
remove the group from the corresponding business process definition.
Next Steps
Related Information
Tasks
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
Edit Business Processes
Edit Domain Security Policies
A security policy secures the items in a domain or business process. Each functional area can
contain security policies for:
Actions, such as action steps, approvals, and initiation steps on business processes.
Reporting and task items, such as data sources, delivered worklets, report fields, reports,
and tasks.
Integration items, such as integration templates and web services.
For each functional area, you can view the security policies for:
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Domains by accessing the Domain Security Policies for Functional Area report.
Business processes by accessing the Business Process Security Policies for Functional
Area report.
By selecting Edit Permissions on a security policy, you can assign or remove security groups from
the security policy to modify permissions to secured items. However, you can't:
When you configure the security policy for a business process, Workday:
Displays an Initiation step for each way to start the business process.
Enables you to specify whether you can delegate the business process to others.
Includes separate securable items for each Action step in the business process.
For each update, Workday creates empty domain security policies that you can configure. You can
use the Create Security Policy for Domain task to create the security policy for a domain between
updates. As you complete the task, the For Domain prompt displays only domains that don't already
have associated security policies in your tenant.
You can derive security group membership based on relevant information about users. Examples:
You can assign:
The appropriate job profile during the hire or job change process.
Users to the appropriate locations when you configure location-based security groups.
Users to the appropriate organizations when you configure organization-based security
groups.
Worker positions to organization roles. When you need organization-specific security
access, you can create organization roles and role-based security groups.
After you assign users to security groups or derive security group membership, assign the security
groups to security policies using these tasks:
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For a Hire business process event, the event target is the person you're hiring.
For an Expense business process event, the event target is the person responsible for the
expense report.
To access an event target, you must have permission to access both the:
When you lose access to an event target, you also lose access to an event involving the target. That
is, unless you are in a security group with access to the event.
To hide the details of a business process event from an event target, use the Hide Details from
Worker check box on the Edit Business Process Security Policy task.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Configurable Security
Concept: Security Groups
Reference
Reference: Security-Related Reports
Prerequisites
Context
Create an active timestamp using the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task. Security
policy changes made since the previous active timestamp take effect immediately. The active
timestamp now reflects the current time, whether or not changes are pending.
You can run these reports to view a detailed list of the security policy changes you're activating:
Steps
Next Steps
You can use the View All Security Timestamps report to roll back to a previous timestamp.
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Prerequisites
Context
Workday enables you to revert to a previous security timestamp for troubleshooting purposes.
When you activate a previous timestamp, Workday prevents you from using the current timestamp
again.
If you're recovering from a faulty configuration, activating a previous timestamp doesn't fix errors; it
only evaluates your security configuration at an earlier point in time. The errors still exist and you
must correct them before you run the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task to create a
new timestamp.
When you activate a previous timestamp, check for changes not governed by the security policy but
that affect it. Example: A security group isn't part of the security policy that references it. You can
delete a security group and change security policies to no longer reference that security group.
However, the security group doesn't display if you activate a previous security timestamp
referencing that security group. Changes made to a business process could mean that it’s no longer
secured or routed correctly when you revert to a previous timestamp.
When you change the name of a security group, run the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
task to update security policies with the new name.
Steps
Result
Any security policy changes made after this timestamp are no longer in effect, but Workday
preserves the changes as pending changes. Use the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
task to implement these changes.
Next Steps
You can edit your comments at any time. To edit your comments, select Security Timestamp > Edit
from the related actions menu of the View All Security Timestamps report.
Related Information
Tasks
Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
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Revert to previous versions of your security configuration so you can correct critical security
errors.
Prepare complex security changes and activate the changes when you're ready to deploy
them.
Security policy change control doesn’t enable you to retain alternate valid security configurations.
When you revert from a security configuration, the security configuration is no longer available.
How It Works
With security policy change control:
Example
You activate security policy changes in March, June, and September. In September, you discover a
serious error in the security configuration from March. You decide to activate the timestamp from
March by running the Activate Previous Security Timestamp task.
After you activate the timestamp, the June and September changes are pending. The changes you
make to fix the error from September are also pending. When you run the Activate Pending Security
Policy Changes task:
Workday creates a new timestamp and activates all changes made since March.
You can no longer activate the timestamp from September because Workday considers it an
invalid configuration.
Reporting
You can view an activated security policy and the pending changes by accessing:
Domain Security Policy > View Latest Version from the related actions menu of a domain
security policy.
Business Process Policy > View Latest Version from the related actions menu of a business
process security policy.
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You can compare security policy versions, before and after changes, by accessing:
Domain Security Policy > View Pending Changes from the related actions menu of a
domain security policy.
Business Process Policy > View Pending Changes from the related actions menu of a
business process security policy.
Related Information
Reference
Reference: Security-Related Reports
Context
You can configure service centers to grant third-party organizations access to your Workday tenant,
without granting them access to sensitive data. Service centers consist of representatives who
work only for that service center and aren't part of your headcount.
Service center representatives can have limited access to your Workday tenant and support only a
subset of workers in your organization. They aren't workers but can perform tasks in Workday within
a predefined scope. Example: They can help employees enroll in benefits or unlock their locked
accounts.
Steps
Result
Service center representatives can perform tasks in your Workday tenant on specified items.
Example
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Global Modern Services outsources its IT support to Global Technologies. Kevin, an employee of
Global Modern Services, locks himself out of his account. You can configure a service center so a
representative from Global Technologies can unlock his account.
Next Steps
Run the View Service Center report to view information about the service center and the service
center representatives, including:
Related Information
Examples
Example: Create a Service Center for Third-Party Auditors
Prerequisites
Configure the Assign Roles business process and security policy in the Organizations and Roles
functional area.
Context
When you assign the Service Center Manager role to a Service Center, Service Center Managers can
authorize representatives to perform tasks and access other secured items.
Steps
1. From the related actions menu of a service center, select Roles > Assign Roles.
2. Select a role from the Assign Roles grid.
Make sure you can assign the role to users. You must be in a security group in the Assigned
by Security Group field on the Maintain Assignable Roles task.
Workday indicates whether you can assign a role to multiple users on the Restricted to
Single Assignment field. You can modify the field on the Maintain Assignable Roles task.
3. Assign the role to one or more users.
Related Information
Tasks
Set Up Assignable Roles
Create Role-Based Security Groups
Create Service Center Security Groups
Prerequisites
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Create role-based security groups for Service Center Managers and add them to the Manage:
Service Center security domain with View and Modify permissions.
Context
You can create different business process definitions for the Create Workday Account business
process for each Service Center, enabling Service Center Managers to:
Steps
1. View the definition of the Create Workday Account (Default Definition) business process.
2. From the related actions menu of the business process definition, select Business Process
> Copy or Link Business Process Definition.
3. Select Copy Workflow Definition to Business Object.
4. From the prompt, specify the Service Center.
5. From the related actions menu of the business process definition for the Service Center,
select Business Process > Add Notification.
6. Create notifications for the appropriate security groups, such as:
Security Administrator.
Service Center Representative as Self.
Result
Workday notifies members of the selected security groups when you create a Workday account for
a Service Center representative.
Related Information
Tasks
Assign Roles to Service Centers
Create Custom Notifications
Edit Business Processes
Edit Workday Accounts
Prerequisites
Context
Service Center representatives can reset and change passwords for workers in your Workday
tenant. These steps only apply to Workday accounts, which are accounts that Workday manages.
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Steps
1. From the related actions menu of a worker profile, select Security Profile > Manage
Workday Account Credentials.
2. As you complete the task, consider:
Option Description
Require New Password at Next Sign In Workday ignores this setting when users
sign in using Delegated Authentication or
SAML.
Related Information
Tasks
Configure Password Reset
Edit Workday Accounts
Prerequisites
Configure the Inactivate Service Center Representative business process in the System functional
area.
Context
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As a Service Center Administrator, you can inactivate any Service Center representative. When you
inactivate a Service Center representative, Workday:
Steps
This example illustrates how to provide third-party auditors with read-only access to securable
items using service centers.
Scenario
Your organization decides to engage temporary third-party auditors to complete audits of your
tenant. Because the auditors are temporary engagements, you don’t want to onboard them through
the typical staffing process. You only want to provide the auditors with temporary read-only access
to reports for auditing. You can create a service center for the auditors to provide them with the
right permissions quickly.
Prerequisites
Steps
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a. From the related actions menu of the representative, select Security Profile > Create
Workday Account.
b. Enter James.Morgan in the User Name field.
c. Enter a password for the new representative.
d. Clear the Require New Password at Next Sign In check box.
e. Click Submit.
4. Associate the representative with the System Auditor user-based security group. Workday
associates the delivered security group with all the necessary items for auditing.
a. Access the View Security Group report.
b. Select System Auditor from the Security Group prompt.
c. Click OK.
d. From the related actions menu of the System Auditor security group, select User-
Based Security Group > Assign Users.
e. Specify James Morgan in the System Users field.
f. Click OK.
5. Activate pending security policy changes.
a. Access the Activate Pending Security Policy Changes task.
b. Enter Enabling third-party auditors to access tasks and reports for auditing in Workday
in the Comment field.
c. Click OK.
d. Select the Confirm check box.
e. Click OK.
Result
Workday associates the domain that secures the items for auditing with the System Auditor
security group. You can grant access to the items by assigning representatives to the security
group.
Related Information
Tasks
Steps: Set Up Service Centers
Examples
Example: Create a Service Center Security Group for Benefits Support
Context
Workday enables you to configure constrained proxy access so that users can delegate tasks and
reports to other users in any Workday environment. This eliminates the need to share passwords,
enables you to audit user actions, and helps you comply with security best practices.
Steps
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Result
Users can request proxy access on behalf of a worker using the Request Proxy Access task.
Workday notifies the worker so the worker can approve or deny the request.
During proxy sessions, Workday displays On Behalf of and the name of the user on whose behalf a
proxy user acts.
Example
As chief financial officer (CFO), Teresa wants to include important financial metrics in an upcoming
presentation. Teresa delegates certain reports to Olivia, an executive assistant, so Olivia can export
the financial metrics for the presentation. Teresa enables Olivia to access only the relevant reports
that she needs in order to export the financial metrics.
Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Constrained Proxy
Reference
2021R1 What's New Post: Constrained Proxy
Examples
Example: Set Up Constrained Proxy Access
Prerequisites
Security: Set Up: Tenant Setup - Worklets domain in the System functional area.
Context
You can configure the My Proxy Dashboard worklet to display on the Home page for any Workday
user. The worklet enables users to access their delegated tasks and reports quickly, making it
easier for them to:
You can also access tasks and reports for configuring constrained proxy.
Steps
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Related Information
Concepts
Concept: Constrained Proxy
1.6.3 | Set Up the Security Policy for the Proxy Approval Process
Prerequisites
Context
You can configure the Constrained User Proxy business process to route proxy requests for
approval. This business process enables you to specify who can:
Only security groups based on employee or contingent workers can approve proxy requests.
Workday delivers these worker-based security groups:
All Employees
All Contingent Workers
Note: The first time you configure the Constrained User Proxy business process security policy, you
can’t add the All Employees and All Contingent Workers security groups to the Who Can Start the
Business Process section. Complete the initial business process security policy set up, and then
edit the policy again to select the All Employees and All Contingent Workers security groups.
Security groups not based on employee or contingent workers can't approve proxy requests.
Examples of ineligible Workday-delivered security groups include:
Steps
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4. From the Security Group prompt in the Who Can Start the Business Process section, do 1 of
these procedures:
Select a security group other than All Employees or All Contingent Workers and click
OK to complete the task. Access the Edit Business Process Security Policy task
again to select the All Employees and All Contingent Workers security groups.
Select Create and create a security group based on workers. Only employees or
contingent workers can start the business process to approve proxy requests.
5. In the Who Can Do Actions on Entire Business Process section, add these security groups
to the View action:
Initiator
Employee As Self
Contingent Worker
Members of the security groups can access the View Event button on proxy access
notifications and view their archived approvals.
6. In the Who Can Do Actions on Entire Business Process section, add these security groups
to the Approve and Deny actions:
Employee As Self
Contingent Worker As Self
Employees and contingent workers can approve or deny requests to access items on their
behalf when you add the security groups.
7. Activate Pending Security Policy Changes.
Next Steps
Prerequisites
Context
You can configure the Constrained User Proxy business process so users must approve requests to
access securable items on their behalf. You only need to configure the proxy approval process
once.
Steps
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Option Description
Result
Employees and contingent workers can request proxy access using the Request Proxy Access task.
The Constrained User Proxy business process initiates when employees and contingent workers
complete the task.
Next Steps
Prerequisites
Context
Restriction sets are custom collections of tasks and reports. Users can request access to
restriction sets so they can access tasks and reports on behalf of other users. Once users request
access to restriction sets, you can't delete the restriction sets.
Steps
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You can configure constrained proxy access so Workday users can delegate tasks and reports to
other users in any Workday environment. Constrained proxy access exclusively enables proxy users
to:
Constrained proxy access also enables you to configure proxy access for any Workday
environment.
Delegation
Constrained proxy and delegation enable users to share responsibility for secured items without
permanently reassigning the items. The types of items you can delegate differ among constrained
proxy and delegation. With:
Constrained proxy, you can share responsibility for tasks and reports.
Delegation, you can share responsibility for initiating tasks and Inbox items associated with
1 or more business processes.
Excluded Functionality
Proxy users can’t:
Workday doesn’t support business process delegation for the Constrained User Proxy business
process.
All Constrained User Proxy Requests report (secured to the Security Configuration domain)
to view all approved constrained proxy requests for any user. The report is available from the
My Proxy Dashboard worklet.
View User Activity report to view the actions users perform in proxy sessions.
Users can run the Manage My Constrained Proxy report from the My Proxy Dashboard to:
You can configure the Revoke Constrained Proxy Policies service on a Termination business process
definition to revoke proxy access for a terminated worker automatically.
Workday prevents a proxy user from performing actions in a proxy session when the user that
they’re acting on behalf of revokes their proxy access.
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Proxy users don’t need to restart proxy sessions when you make changes to restriction sets.
Proxy users and the users they're acting on behalf of receive a notification when someone modifies
a restriction set that's in use.
Related Information
Tasks
Steps: Set Up Constrained Proxy Access
Reference
Setup Considerations: Delegation
This example illustrates how to enable users to delegate securable items to other users by
providing them with constrained proxy access.
Scenario
The chief financial officer (CFO) of your organization wants to review organization performance
against budget in each revenue category. The CFO decides to delegate the relevant report to an
assistant for 1 week so the assistant can generate the results. After that time, the CFO wants
Workday to remove their access to the item.
Prerequisites
Steps
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Next Steps
The assistant can request proxy access using the Request Proxy Access task and select the:
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When the assistant completes the task, Workday notifies the CFO to approve or deny the request. If
the CFO approves the request, the assistant can access the Budget vs. Actual by Revenue Category
report using the Start User Proxy task on the My Proxy Dashboard worklet.
Related Information
Tasks
Steps: Set Up Constrained Proxy Access
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