Workday Integration Cloud

In an ideal scenario, an ERP technology should satisfy all the needs of a particular organization via the various modules available. These multiple modules communicate with each other using pre-defined integrations that exist as a part of the technology. But such ideal scenarios are not to be found in the real world. Instead, what we do encounter in the real world is the presence of many different technologies in the same organization. The presence of these varied technologies can be accounted for due to a variety of reasons

• The inability of the technology to meet the business requirements

• Multiple technologies each with their own areas of expertise and specializations

• Lack of a centralized vision from the organization, which leads to individual departments implementing technologies to best suit their needs

The result of this is that there needs to be an exchange of information between the different technologies so that each might carry on with its core set of activities. For e.g. the Payroll module in order to pay an individual would require the compensation and allowance information which is stored as a part of the HR module. It would require the bank account details where the salary is to be credited, which is also stored in the HR module. In the event the payroll and the HR module are from different technologies, integrations would need to be set up between them to ensure that they can fully carry out the activities. 

Currently Workday as a technology has its strong point in the HR domain, and a majority of the clients implementing it, are using it to manage their HR activities. In order to better serve its client, Workday provides a complete array of integrations, to other technologies which are the front runners in particular modules. 

Workday Integration Network currently service the following areas

• Workday Benefits Network

• Workday Payroll Network

• Workday HCM Network

• Workday Payroll Interface

• Workday Financial Network

• Workday Spend Network

Information regarding these pre-delivered integrations would be provided later on as a part of a different topic. This chapter deals with providing a basic understanding, of the framework, that has been provided by Workday in designing custom integrations for the various needs that exist within any given organization. 

Workday has provided 2 avenues for designing of custom integrations. These are

• Enterprise Interface Builder

• Workday Web Services