Stop Exporting. Start Streaming Workday Data.
If your reporting rhythm still looks like this—run Workday report, export CSV, clean in Excel, refresh Power BI. You’re burning time on work that Workday can already automate.
Buried inside the platform is one of its simplest and most powerful analytics capabilities:
A custom Advanced Report exposed as a Web Service (RaaS).
With one well-designed report, you can build a lightweight API that powers:
- Headcount and attrition dashboards
- HRBP and leadership reporting packs
- Recruiting pipeline and movement analytics
- Finance and workforce cost insights
All using configuration you already own.
Step 1: Build a BI-Ready Advanced Report
This method lives or dies with the quality of your underlying report. Treat it like a data model, not a pretty UI report.
Build it like this:
- Use a custom Advanced Report on the correct primary business object (Worker, Position, Job Application, etc.).
- Include only the fields you will actually chart or slice—no filler.
- Keep data types clean: dates as dates, numbers as numbers, not text.
- Add Start / End Date prompts or similar filters.
- Default those prompts to something sane (for example, last 12 months) so your first pull isn’t gigantic.
A focused, BI‑ready dataset gives you:
- Faster refreshes in Power BI / Excel / Tableau
- Fewer Power Query transformations
- Lower risk of hitting size and timeout limits
Think: “dataset for analytics,” not “on‑screen report for end users.”
Step 2: Turn That Report Into a Data Endpoint (RaaS)
Once the report runs cleanly in Workday, flip the switch that makes it consumable by external tools.
In Workday:
- Open the report definition.
- Go to Actions → Web Service → View URLs.
- Find the JSON or OData URL (RaaS endpoint).
Copy that URL.
You’ve just created a Workday → BI data feed. Any tool that can call a web endpoint and authenticate can now pull structured data straight from Workday.
No custom code.
No connector licence.
No extra ETL layer in the middle.
Step 3: Connect Workday to Power BI, Excel, or Tableau
Now plug that RaaS URL into your analytics stack.
Power BI / Excel (Power Query):
- Get Data → Web (or OData feed, depending on your URL exposure).
- Paste the Workday RaaS URL.
- When prompted, use Basic authentication with an Integration System User account.
- In Power Query, expand the JSON/records until you get a flat table.
- Rename columns, set data types, and drop any technical columns.
Tableau:
- Use the Web Data Connector or OData connection.
- Point it at your Workday URL, authenticate, and configure the data source.
From this point on, your dashboards are driven directly by Workday, not by manually refreshed spreadsheets.
Step 4: Secure the Connection Like an API
This setup is powerful, so it must be secured properly. Treat RaaS like a read‑only API endpoint into Workday.
Create a dedicated Integration System User (ISU):
- Create an Integration System User.
- Mark it as Do Not Allow UI Login.
- Assign it to a minimal Integration System Security Group.
- Grant read‑only (GET) access only to the domains and fields needed by this report.
Workday still enforces:
- Supervisory organization boundaries
- Domain security and field‑level restrictions
- Prompt filters defined on your report
You’re not sidestepping security; you’re reusing the same guardrails your tenant already relies on.
Step 5: Use This Where It Delivers Maximum Value
This pattern isn’t a silver bullet for every reporting need. It shines in very specific, high‑impact areas.
Great fit for:
- Headcount, movement, and attrition dashboards
- HRBP and people leader analytics packs
- Recruiting pipeline and funnel visibility
- Monthly / quarterly leadership views that need fresh data
- Lightweight analytics for HR and Finance teams
Poor fit for:
- Very large historical pulls (for example, 50k+ rows at once)
- Massive operational reports with hundreds of columns
- Enterprise data lakes, warehouses, and complex joins
When you hit those limits consistently, that’s the signal to consider Workday Prism or a full‑blown ETL + warehouse architecture.
Most teams never get there. They just need a handful of clean, refreshable feeds into tools leaders already use.
Step 6: One Workday Feed, Many Analytics Destinations
The real advantage of RaaS is leverage. Once you create one clean endpoint, you can reuse it across your ecosystem.
That same URL can feed:
- Power BI datasets
- Excel workbooks (via Power Query)
- Tableau dashboards
- Python notebooks and scripts
- Microsoft Fabric and other data platforms
- Automation tools like Workato or Power Automate
- Internal apps and custom connectors
You’ve effectively created a Workday‑powered analytics layer using nothing but configuration and one tightly scoped integration user.
From Manual Exports to a Real Analytics Backbone
The biggest reporting pain for many Workday customers isn’t a lack of functionality. It’s that valuable data is trapped behind manual exports and one‑off spreadsheets.
By exposing a few well‑designed Advanced Reports as RaaS endpoints, you:
- Eliminate repetitive export/clean/import cycles
- Reduce errors and version confusion
- Give HR and Finance near‑real‑time visibility in their favorite tools
- Build a scalable pattern you can expand report by report
That’s how Workday goes from “yet another system I export data from” to the live backbone of your HR and Finance analytics.
