Purpose
This document provides definitions of key terms, terminology, and standard screen icons used in Workday and its business processes.
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Key Terms
- All Items – A tab in My Tasks containing items pending your input, review, or approval for business processes to continue through its steps.
- Application – A collection of information grouped together for viewing and task completion. For Example, the Time Off application allows you to request time off and view accruals.
- Approval Chain – The hierarchy of managers defined to approve a process, one-after-the-other. The process will designate how many levels up the management hierarchy approvals will need to route.
- Approver – The role responsible for approving business processes in Workday. Unable to make changes to data before the approval. Edits must be made by the initiator or reviewer.
- Archive – A tab in My Tasks containing completed and historical actions.
- Business Process – A collection of tasks completed in a specific order using pre-defined routing to accomplish a desired business objective.
- Routing of a business process is conditional on attributes, such as Employee Type, Supervisory Organization, and Job Family. Examples of business processes are Hire, Change Job, Add Additional Job, and Terminate.
- Business Process History – Historical record of actions associated with a specific business process. Includes information on the task, step, status, completed on date, due date, and the individual/role in which the process is awaiting action.
- Chicago ID – The Chicago ID is a 9-character string, comprising 8 digits followed by a letter, assigned randomly when an individual first joins the University. Each person receives only one permanent Chicago ID, which is never reused. This ID is used to identify faculty and other academic appointees, staff, students, alumni, affiliates, postdoctoral researchers, and any others who need access to the University’s services, systems, properties, or facilities, or for whom records are maintained in the University’s core business systems.
- CNetID – Chicago Network Identifier. The username and unique identifier available to all University faculty, students, and staff used to access most online services at UChicago. CNetID is commonly referred to as network credentials or network login at other institutions/businesses.
- Chart of Accounts (COA) – The basic structure used to record all financial transactions for the University. COA is a 10-segment string of numbers used to track income and spending at the University.
- Consolidated Approval – A single view that consolidates all steps of the main business process and any sub-processes that allows the reviewer to evaluate and approve easily.
- Financial Accounting System (FAS) – Historic and inactive accounting structure that has been replaced with COA and PPM/POETAF.
- Financial Systems Transformation (FST) – The successfully completed multi-year initiative that launched the use of Oracle Cloud ERP. Oracle Cloud ERP replaced the University’s legacy, mainframe-based financial accounting system (FAS) and related finance and operations systems in July 2024.
- Human Resource Partners (HRPs) – The Human Resources representative for a particular unit on campus. Unit or divisional liaison who serves as the representative in all human resource activities in Workday.
- Initiator – The role responsible for initiating a business process. Each business process can have multiple roles listed as initiators. (i.e., The Create Position business process has the roles of both HR Partner and Academic HR Partners as initiators.)
- Job Architecture – HR-led University initiative aimed at creating transparency and understanding about how staff positions are organized relative to responsibilities, scope, and skill/education requirements.
- Job Family – A grouping of similar Job Profiles within Job Architecture.
- Job Profile – Contains information about the Job Family, Career Track, Job Level, and Exemption Status. Assigned to any position that exists in Workday and is a component of Job Architecture.
- Location – Address or city in which a position is executed. This field tracks where employees are physically located across the University. It is also used for federal and state mandated taxation reporting. A “Remote” location indicates the individual works from home.
- My Tasks – A centralized location to view, filter, search, and act on all Tasks, Approvals, and To Do’s requiring action.
- Notifications – An alert area in Workday that notifies you a business process is complete, or a report is ready.
- Project Portfolio Management (PPM/POETAF) – The accounting structure used to record project cost accounting, such as the management of sponsored and non-sponsored projects at the University. POETAF is a 6-segment string of numbers used to track project-related income and spending at the University.
- Position – Made up of defining attributes that include Supervisory Organization, Worker/Employee Type, Time Type (full time vs. part time), Job Family, and Availability Date.
- An employee cannot be hired without a position. A position will exist with or without an employee assigned to it (i.e., there are filled and unfilled positions in Workday).
- Reason Codes – Pre-defined criteria selected in Workday to indicate why a business process is being initiated. Often determines the remaining path a business process goes through to completion.
- Reviewer – The role responsible for reviewing and approving business processes in Workday. Able to make changes to data before approval.
- Roles – Consists of security permission levels and determines what you can and cannot see in Workday. Differentiates level of access to data. Establishes business process routing and functional responsibilities.
- Security Groups – A collection of related users or objects that are grouped to determine and regulate access.
- Supervisory Organization – Groups employees into a management hierarchy. All faculty, other academic appointees, staff, students, and contingent workers must be hired into a supervisory organization.
- Task – An actionable item that must be completed for a business process workflow to proceed.
- To Do – A reminder to the user to complete or update data in a section of Workday that is outside of the business process. A To Do must be submitted for the business process at-hand to move forward.
- UCAT – University Card and Account Tool. This is a separate tool outside of Workday that can be used by department administrators to enter future employee data so that employees can claim a CNetID.
- Validation Rule – Prevents the entry or completion of a business process. Instead, triggers an error or warning message upon submission and prompts for further action.
- Workday – The University’s unified Human Resources and employee data system. It is used for recruiting and hiring staff, as well as accessing, managing, and reporting employment, payroll, and benefit data. Faculty, academic appointees, staff, and students with campus jobs use Workday to view and manage contact information, tax and payroll, and benefit elections.
- Worker Type – A user-defined type assigned to each worker when they are hired. There are two worker types: Employee and Contingent Worker. Each Worker Type has nine Sub-Worker Types to allow for further classification.
- An Employee is an individual who completes work for UChicago and is paid for that work by the University. Employee Sub-Worker Types include Staff, Academic, Faculty, Temporary Staff, Seasonal, Temporary Academic, Student, Postdoctoral, and Converted Retiree – Medical.
- A Contingent Worker is an individual who is not an employee but can perform functions similar to employees in Workday. Contingent Workers are not eligible to payment through the University’s Payroll system. Contingent Worker Sub-Worker Types include Academic Affiliate, Argonne Staff, BLDNH, Housing Leader, CASE Member, Contractor, External Academic Research Scholar, International Staff, and Med Center Employee.
- Worker Type and Sub-Worker Type allows an organization to group employees who are defined as the same cohort, under university policy and statutes.
- Commonly used as a condition in business process (BP) routing so that when academic or faculty employee types are selected, BPs will route to the central Provost roles (i.e., Academic HR Administrator) whereas when a staff or student profile is selected, BPs will route to the central HR roles (i.e., HR Operations).
- Worklet – Worklets are quick-access widgets that offer a snapshot of specific metrics, displayed as charts with corresponding data tables beneath for detailed insights.
- Worktags – Represents fields where one would enter COA or POETAF values. Please see COA and/or PPM/POET(AF) definitions for more information.
Standard Screen Icons
For a visual walkthrough of Workday’s standard screen icons, please review the Standard Screen Icons in Workday video course.
- Add – This function is indicated by a plus icon and allows you to add new data, rows, or elements.
- Calendar – This icon helps you pick dates without manually typing them. Selecting it opens a monthly calendar view.
- Configure – This icon, depicted by a set of sliders and usually found in the upper right corner of a worklet or graphic, opens a menu where you can select the chart type that best fits your data representation needs and adjust chart variables.
- Enter Information – This command is represented by a pencil icon. Select this whenever you need to input or edit data in a specific field. You can reverse your edits using the Undo button, represented by a back arrow, or save them using the Save button, represented by a checkmark.
- Error Message – This alert is a red-colored message that provides a warning on issues that require attention and STOPS further processing.
- Expand/Collapse – This icon is indicated by two arrows pointing outward or inward, or by an arrow next to a vertical line. Selecting this icon lets you expand or collapse specific sections on your screen, optimizing screen space.
- Expand/Collapse Chart – This icon, which typically appears on the top right side of certain report tables and is represented by a column chart/graphic, can be used to generate a chart if there is enough information to populate it.
- Expand/Collapse Rows – These icons, which typically appear on the top right side of report tables, are identified by a table icon with multiple rows (Collapse Rows) and a table icon with fewer rows (Expand Rows). Use them to customize the text display in each report cell. Expand Rows wraps extra-long text into multiple lines, allowing you to see the entire content. Collapse Rows displays text in a single line, with expand/collapse arrows to view all information as needed.
- Export to Excel – Icon that allows you to download your data in an Excel format, making it easier to analyze or share.
- Favorite – Icon represented by a star. It allows you to mark an item as a favorite to facilitate sorting within My Tasks.
- Filter – This icon is represented by a funnel, and helps you narrow down displayed data based on specific criteria.
- Grid Preferences – This icon, represented by a two-column table, typically appears on the top right side of report tables. Selecting this icon allows you to show or hide, freeze, and reorder the report columns.
- Hamburger Menu – Icon indicated by three dots followed by three lines that look like a “hamburger.” This icon is used to open a side menu or navigation drawer.
- Help Text – Icon represented by a question mark. It is used to display support text relevant to the field or task being completed.
- Home – This icon is represented by the UChicago logo, and it is located on the top-left corner of the screen. It takes you back to the homepage from anywhere within Workday.
- My Tasks – Icon represented by a tray. Business process Tasks, Approvals, and To Dos that require your action are routed to My Tasks. The number next to this icon represents the number of unread tasks.
- Menu – This icon is represented by 3 horizontal lines, and it opens the Workday Applications and Shortcuts menu, where you can navigate to various modules, tasks and reports within Workday.
- More Actions/Options – Icon represented by an arrow pointing down or right, or by only three dots listed vertically or horizontally, that opens a menu with additional actions or commands.
- Notifications – Icon represented by a bell. Workday sends real-time notifications about different activities, such as new assignments, approvals, or alerts. It keeps you updated about your pending tasks. If you have new notifications, you will see a number on this icon indicating how many new notifications you have.
- Profile – This icon is represented by a person silhouette. Selecting this icon opens a menu where you can navigate to your employee profile to view and edit your personal information, set your preferences, or log out of the system.
- Related Actions – This icon is made up of a small rectangle with three dots in the middle, or a button with the word “Actions” inside an oval, and it is reminiscent of a brick or the backside of a “twinkie.” It offers additional actions related to a specific item and is used to initiate business processes in Workday.
- Remove – This function is indicated by the minus icon, or the trash can icon, and enables you to delete certain data or elements.
- Required Field – Marked with a red asterisk, it indicates that this information is necessary to complete a form or task.
- Search – Icon represented by a magnifying glass inside the search bar. This tool allows you to search for various modules, tasks, reports, or employee details. Just enter your query, hit Enter, and you will get the relevant results.
- Settings – This icon is represented by a gear and is used to access configuration or additional option on a specific screen.
- Soft Warning – This alert is an orange-colored message that provides a warning on issues that require attention but DOES NOT STOP further processing.
- View Printable Version PDF – Icon that lets you generate a printable version of your data or reports.
- Workday Assistant – This icon is indicated by a speech bubble. It acts as a virtual assistant within the Workday platform. By selecting this icon, users can ask questions, request certain actions, and navigate through the software using text commands. The Workday Assistant can help users find data, complete tasks, or guide them through workflows in a more conversational and intuitive manner.