Workday Glossary

General Workday Terms and Concepts

  • Business Process (BP) – The path requests follow in Workday, including reviews and approvals. Examples are Hire and Request Time Off. You experience BPs as tasks/approvals in My Tasks.
  • Delegation – Temporarily assigning your Workday tasks and approvals to another Augsburg worker, for example when you are on vacation. During that time, they can act on your behalf within the dates and limits you set and what Augsburg allows.
  • Job Aid – A short, step‑by‑step guide that shows you how to complete a specific task in Workday, customized for Augsburg.
  • Manager – In Workday, “manager” means the person who leads one or more people, not just someone whose title includes Manager. At Augsburg, this can include staff supervisors as well as deans, department chairs, program directors, and other leaders who have people reporting to them in Workday. If you are a manager in Workday, you appear on the org chart as the lead for that group and receive tasks and approvals for your direct reports.
  • Notifications – Alerts from Workday that let you know something has occurred, such as a task being completed or a process moving forward. Notifications are informational and do not require action, unlike items in My Tasks. You can view notifications in Workday and depending on settings, may also receive some by email or in the Workday mobile app.
  • Organization (Org) – A way Workday groups people, positions, or financial activity (such as cost centers, supervisory organizations, or grant organizations).
  • Payslip – Your detailed record of pay for a specific pay period. It shows your gross pay, taxes, deductions, and net pay, as well as year‑to‑date totals. You can view or download payslips from the Pay app in Workday.
  • Security / Security Role / Security Group – In Workday, security controls what you can see and do in the system. A security role (such as Budget Manager or HR Partner) defines a set of permissions, like which reports you can run or which transactions you can approve. These roles are assigned to people based on their responsibilities. A security group is a collection of workers, positions, or other entities that share the same security roles or access. Workday uses security roles and security groups together to ensure that only the right people can view certain data or complete certain tasks.
  • Submit (vs. Review) – In Workday, Submit is the action that sends a task or request forward in the business process for review and approval. When you click Submit, your entry (for example, an expense report) leaves your workbench and moves to the next step or approver. In contrast, Review (or “Review and Submit”) is the step where you carefully check the details of what you have entered before you click Submit. On many screens, you will see a final Review page; you should verify the information there first, then click Submit when you are sure it is correct.
  • Tabs – Sections within a Workday page or screen that organize related information into labeled areas you can click between, such as “Overview,” “Job,” “Compensation,” or “Time Off.” Tabs help you move between parts of a worker profile, report, or task without leaving the main page. The specific tabs you see depend on what page you are on and your security access.
  • Task – An item in My Tasks or on your home page that you need to complete, such as filling out a form or approving a request.
  • Workday – Augsburg’s primary system for managing HR, finance, and related processes.
    • Formerly: Unit4
  • Worker – The general term Workday uses for anyone who works at Augsburg and has a record in the system, including faculty, staff, and student workers.
  • Worktag – A worktag is a simple label Workday uses to indicate where money should be recorded, for example which fund, grant, program, or department should be charged. Worktags replace account strings, so instead of memorizing long codes, you can usually type a plain‑language name, such as “General Fund” or a grant name, choose the correct worktag, and let Workday handle the accounting details in the background.
  • Employee Directory / People Search – A feature in Workday that lets you find colleagues and see basic information about them.
  • Global Navigation Sidebar – The menu, usually on the left side of the screen, that gives you quick access to search, apps, hubs, and other key areas. It helps you move around Workday quickly. Augsburg controls which items appear here for different roles.
  • Help Text – Guidance that is attached to a business process or task as a whole in Workday, rather than to individual fields. Help Text appears on the main screen for a business process step (for example, at the top or in a dedicated information area) and provides overall instructions, context, or policy guidance for completing that step from start to finish. It is meant to help you understand the purpose of the process and what you should do in that step, not to explain specific fields one by one.
  • Home Page – Your starting page in Workday, where you’ll see applications, tasks, and announcements.
  • Hub  –  A centralized space where you can find and navigate to your most frequently needed tasks, reports, and other resources.
  • Inbox (Workday Inbox) – The place in Workday where you receive tasks that you need to complete or approve.
  • Quick Tips – Short, on‑screen prompts or clickable tips that provide real‑time guidance while you work in Workday. Quick Tips are typically tied to specific fields or page elements, and may appear as icons or short messages you can click or hover over to get more information about what to enter or select. Unlike Help Text, which is general guidance for the business process step, Quick Tips support you at the level of individual fields or actions.
  • Related Actions – A set of context‑sensitive options you can take on a person, position, or item in Workday. For example, from a worker’s record, related actions might let you view their profile, start a job change, or see their pay information (based on your security access). You can access related actions by clicking the small three dots (ellipsis) or related‑actions icon next to a name or item. The related actions menu changes depending on what you are looking at and your security role.
  • Search Bar – The main search box in Workday where you can type a person’s name, a task, or the name of a report. What you see in search results depends on your access level/role.
  • Worker Profile – Your main page in Workday that shows your job information, compensation, time off, and other details. What you can see on someone else’s profile depends on privacy, security roles, and your profile preferences.

HR and Payroll

  • Candidate Pools – Groups of current or past applicants that recruiters/hiring managers keep for future openings, such as a pool of candidates for administrative roles or student worker positions. If you help with recruiting, you may add to or search candidate pools.
  • Comp Ratio (Comparison Ratio) – A compensation metric that compares a worker’s current pay to the reference point for their job (often the midpoint of the pay range). For example, a comp ratio of 1.00 (or 100%) means the worker is paid exactly at the reference point; a comp ratio below 1.00 means they are below it, and above 1.00 means they are above it. Managers and HR may use comp ratio in Workday to help assess pay relative to ranges when making salary decisions or reviewing pay equity.
  • Contingent Worker – Non-employees such as temporary agency workers, contractors, shared service employees, and external consultants. This is different from unpaid volunteers who are not listed or managed in Workday.
  • Direct Reports – People who report to you in Workday. At Augsburg, this can include staff and student employees, and in some cases, people supervised by deans, department chairs, or program directors, even if those leaders do not use the title “manager”.
  • FTE (Full‑Time Equivalent) – A way of expressing how a worker’s scheduled hours compare to a full‑time schedule at Augsburg. An FTE of 1.0 means the person is working full‑time; an FTE of 0.5 means they are working half‑time. For 9‑month workers, FTE describes the proportion of a full 9‑month workload, even though they are not scheduled for the full 12 months of the year. For example, a full teaching load over 9 months may still be recorded as 1.0 FTE, while a reduced teaching load would have a lower FTE. Working FTE in Workday reflects the proportion of work across the full year and may differ from academic or appointment FTE for people who work more than 9 months but less than 12 months. For employees working 9+ months but not a full 12‑month schedule, Working FTE helps show how their actual work time compares to a full‑year position.
  • Hire (Business Process) – In Workday, the process of adding a person into the system as an employee.
  • HR Partner (or HR Role) – A Workday security role that has broader access to HR information for a specific area of the unversity (for example, a division or group of departments).
  • Job Change – A Workday business process that manages changes to a person’s job (for example, hours, title, location).
    • Formerly: PAR or personnel action request.
  • Job Profile – A standard description of a type of job at Augsburg, including a general title and level. Many positions share the same job profile. You may see your job profile on your worker profile; it helps keep job titles and levels consistent across the university.
  • Job Requisition – A request used by HR in Workday to hire for a specific position, which goes through review and approval steps.
  • Learning – The area of Workday where you find assigned training, optional courses, and your learning history. This is currently not being used.
  • Leave of Absence (LOA) – Different from an absence or time off, an LOA is a longer period away from work, such as medical or parental leave.
  • Onboarding – Workday tasks for a new hire to complete after they are hired (for example, forms, training, and orientation items).
  • Position – A defined role in the organization that someone can be hired into, tied to a job profile, cost center, and location. A position can be filled or open and helps Augsburg plan and manage staffing and budgets.
  • Skill – A capability or area of knowledge you have, such as a language, software tool, lab technique, or leadership ability. In Workday, you can list skills on your profile, and some processes may use skills to match people to opportunities.
  • Supervisory Organization – The structure that shows who reports to whom in Workday. Supervisory organizations are built around managers or other leaders, such as deans and department chairs and their teams. They drive approvals and determine how the org chart is displayed.The structure in Workday that shows reporting relationships and who is responsible for approving certain tasks.
  • Talent Management – Workday functionality related to performance, goals, and career development.
  • Time Entry / Time Tracking / Hours Worked – How you record hours worked in Workday, especially for hourly staff and Student Employees. You enter your time, usually daily or weekly, and your manager or approver reviews and approves it for payroll. Time Entry / Time Tracking may also include recording certain types of paid or unpaid time, following Augsburg’s policies.
  • Time Off (Absence) – Time away from work that you request and record in Workday, such as vacation, sick time, parental leave, etc. Request Absence is the task to submit an absence request.
  • Time Off Balance– How much time off you currently have available in a specific time off type, such as vacation or sick time. Workday updates your balance as you earn and use time off.

Finance

  • Academic Pay – Pay that is tied to academic periods, such as semesters or terms, rather than the standard staff pay cycle.
  • Activity Code – A label you add to financial transactions to group similar activities (for example, a specific event, project, or program).
  • Budget – The planned amount of money available for a particular area, fund, or purpose, as seen in Workday reports and dashboards.
  • Budget Manager/Owner/Approver – A Workday security role for people who need to monitor and manage budgets in the system, usually at the level of cost center/department, grant, or other funding source. A Budget Manager role can give access to budget-related reports, transactions, and approvals for the funds they oversee.
  • Cost Center – A natural-language name and related code representing the department or program that funds an expense (such as a position, purchase, or project). It is used for budgeting and financial reporting, and may appear on your worker profile.
  • Expense Report – A transaction in Workday used to request reimbursement for business expenses. You use an expense report to document what was purchased, the business purpose, and how the costs should be charged (for example, to a fund or grant). After submission, expense reports route for review and approval before being paid or posted.
    • Formerly: Travel Expense Report.
  • Expenses Hub – A central spot in Workday where you can see your expense reports, spend authorizations, and related tasks.
  • Fund – “Fund” identifies the budgeted money being used (such as an operating fund, an endowed fund, or a grant fund). In Workday, this concept is represented as a Fund worktag. When you enter transactions in Workday, you will select a Fund worktag to tell the system which account should be charged. You no longer type a fund number; instead, you choose the appropriate Fund worktag by name.
  • Grant – A source of external funding (for example, from a foundation or agency) that is tracked in Workday with its own budgets and reporting.
  • Ledger Account – A Workday worktag that represents the type of accounting entry (similar to a general ledger account in legacy systems).
  • Model My Pay – A Workday feature that lets you see how certain changes (such as deductions) could affect your net pay before they take effect.
  • One-Time Payment – This is a single, non-recurring payment made to an employee outside of their regular salary or hourly pay. One time payment is typically used for things such as bonuses, awards, small stipends, or special assignments where the work or event is already completed or not tied to an ongoing schedule, and the full amount is paid all at once rather than over a period like Period Activity Pay.
    • Formerly: Payment Authorization
  • Payment Elections – The way you tell Workday where to send your money. Payment elections cover direct deposit for your pay (payroll) and, in some cases, other payments such as expense reimbursements or bonuses. In Workday, you set up your bank account details and choose how your pay and reimbursements should be split across up to 25 accounts.
  • Pcard (Purchasing Card) – A card used for authorized business purchases; in Workday, Pcard activity is more visible and linked to budgets.
  • Pay Slip – A document in Workday showing your earnings, deductions, and net pay for a pay period.
  • Period Activity Pay – Period Activity Pay is a way to pay employees for defined duties that takes place over a set amount of time, rather than through ongoing salary, hourly, or a one-time payment. It is typically used for things like teaching a course outside of one’s standard job duties, leading a special program, or managing a project. The total compensation is agreed upfront and distributed over the activity period.
  • Spend Authorization – A request in Workday to get pre‑approval for expected costs (such as travel or conference expenses) and request a travel advance. Spend authorizations can later be linked to expense reports.
    • Formerly: Travel Expense Authorization Pre-Approval Form.
  • Spend Category – A Workday tag that describes the type of goods or services being purchased (for example, office supplies or travel).
  • Supplier – An organization or individual that provides goods or services to Augsburg and is paid through the University’s purchasing and payment processes.
    • Formerly: Vendor
  • Work Study – A type of student employment funded by specific programs, tracked in Workday with its own rules and costing.
  • Worktag – A label in Workday used to categorize financial transactions (for example, cost center, fund, program, grant, or spend category).

This page is borrowed heavily from Macalester’s page.