I built my first Workday Discovery Board with genuine excitement.
It had everything: KPI cards showing headcount trends, a beautiful waterfall chart displaying hiring pipeline, color-coded heat maps showing turnover by department, and interactive drill-downs into every metric.
I spent three days perfecting it. The visualizations were stunning. The data was accurate. The interactivity was smooth.
I shared it with the CFO.
She opened it once. Never looked at it again.
Two weeks later, I found her reviewing a spreadsheet someone had exported from a basic Workday report. The spreadsheet had pivot tables and ugly charts, but she used it every Monday morning.
That is when I learned the hard lesson: Beautiful dashboards mean nothing if executives do not actually use them.
Over the past five years, I have built Discovery Boards across dozens of Workday tenants. I have watched executives ignore gorgeous dashboards while repeatedly asking for the same basic reports via email.
But I have also seen Discovery Boards become indispensable tools that executives check daily before their first meeting.
The difference is not the visualization quality or the data complexity. The difference is understanding what executives actually need versus what we think they need.
This guide will show you how to build Discovery Boards that executives actually use, based on real implementations where adoption exceeded 80%.
Why Most Discovery Boards Fail
Before we discuss what works, understand why most Discovery Boards fail.
The Three Failure Patterns
Failure Pattern 1: The Dashboard Museum
You build a comprehensive Discovery Board with 15 sheets, 47 visualizations, and every possible metric the executive might need.
The executive opens it once, gets overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, and never returns.
They go back to asking their assistant to pull specific numbers via email because it is faster than hunting through your 15-sheet dashboard.
Failure Pattern 2: The Beautiful But Useless Dashboard
You create stunning visualizations with perfect color schemes, elegant transitions, and impressive interactivity.
The executive looks at it and says: “This is beautiful. But I still cannot answer my question: Which departments are over budget on contractor spend?”
Your dashboard shows aggregate metrics and trends. It does not answer their specific decision-making questions.
Failure Pattern 3: The Stale Data Problem
You build a Discovery Board that requires manual data refresh or uses data sources that update weekly.
The executive checks it Monday morning to prepare for their leadership meeting. The data is from last Thursday. They make a comment based on your dashboard. Someone corrects them with more recent data.
They never trust your dashboard again.
The Root Cause
All three failures stem from the same problem: You built the dashboard for yourself, not for the executive.
You built what you thought was impressive. What demonstrated your Workday skills. What showcased Discovery Board capabilities.
You did not build what the executive actually needs to make decisions on Tuesday morning.
Understanding What Executives Actually Need
Executives do not need dashboards. They need answers to specific recurring questions.
The Five Executive Question Types
Every executive question falls into one of five categories:
Question Type 1: Status Check (“Where are we right now?”)
Examples:
- What is our current headcount?
- How many open positions do we have?
- What is our month-to-date spending versus budget?
What they need: One number. Current state. Updated in real-time or near real-time.
What they do NOT need: Historical trends, departmental breakdowns, year-over-year comparisons (unless they specifically ask).
Question Type 2: Trend Detection (“Are we moving in the right direction?”)
Examples:
- Is turnover increasing or decreasing?
- Are we filling positions faster or slower than last quarter?
- Is our compensation spend trending toward budget or exceeding it?
What they need: Simple directional indicator (up, down, flat). Trend line over relevant time period (usually last 3-6 months).
What they do NOT need: Statistical significance tests, detailed breakdowns, multiple trend lines on the same chart.
Question Type 3: Problem Identification (“Where are the issues?”)
Examples:
- Which departments have the highest turnover?
- Which roles are hardest to fill?
- Where are we overspending on contractors?
What they need: Ranked list. Top 5 or top 10. Clear identification of where to focus attention.
What they do NOT need: Complete list of all departments, roles, or cost centers. They want to know the problems, not the successes.
Question Type 4: Comparison (“How do we compare?”)
Examples:
- Which department has the highest span of control?
- How does Q4 hiring compare to Q3?
- Which business unit is most efficient on cost per hire?
What they need: Side-by-side comparison. Clear winner/loser identification. Context for whether the difference matters.
What they do NOT need: Every possible comparison. Just the comparisons that drive decisions.
Question Type 5: Deep Dive (“Tell me more about this specific thing”)
Examples:
- Show me everyone who terminated in Engineering last quarter.
- Break down contractor spend by hiring manager.
- What is driving the turnover spike in the Dallas office?
What they need: Drill-down capability from summary to detail. Ability to filter and explore.
What they do NOT need: This level of detail on the main dashboard. This is where interactive drill-through becomes valuable.
The Executive Attention Span Reality
Executives spend an average of 90 seconds on a dashboard before moving to their next task.
If your Discovery Board cannot answer their primary question in 90 seconds, they will not use it.
This means:
- One primary insight per sheet (not 10 vizzes per sheet)
- Three to five sheets maximum (not 15 sheets)
- Clear hierarchy of information (most important at top left)
- Minimal scrolling (fits on one screen without vertical scroll)
The Discovery Board Framework That Actually Works
Here is the framework that consistently achieves 80% or higher executive adoption.
The One-Page, Five-Number Rule
Your Discovery Board should answer five specific questions on one visible page (no scrolling required).
Not five categories of questions. Five actual questions the executive asks repeatedly.
Example: CHRO Discovery Board
Question 1: What is our current headcount?
Visualization: KPI card showing total headcount with trend indicator
Question 2: Are we filling positions faster or slower?
Visualization: KPI card showing average days to fill with month-over-month comparison
Question 3: Which departments have the highest turnover?
Visualization: Horizontal bar chart showing top 5 departments by turnover rate
Question 4: How is our diversity representation trending?
Visualization: Line chart showing diversity percentage over last 12 months
Question 5: Where are we overspending on contractors?
Visualization: Heat map showing contractor spend by department with budget comparison
Five numbers. One page. Answers the five questions the CHRO asks every Monday morning.
The Three-Sheet Maximum
If you need more than five metrics, use sheets (tabs) to organize by decision type, not by data category.
Sheet 1: “At a Glance”
- Five most important metrics
- What the executive checks first thing Monday morning
- KPI cards and simple bar charts only
Sheet 2: “Problem Areas”
- Metrics highlighting issues requiring attention
- Top 5 departments with highest turnover
- Positions open longer than 90 days
- Budget variances exceeding 10%
Sheet 3: “Details” (Optional)
- Drill-down capability for executives who want to explore
- Interactive filters for department, location, time period
- Detailed tables with worker-level data
Most executives never go past Sheet 1. That is fine. Sheet 1 solves 90% of their needs.
The Data Source Strategy
Discovery Boards only support indexed data sources.
This is actually good news. It forces you to use performant data sources that load quickly.
High-Performance Data Sources for Executive Dashboards:
- Workers (indexed, fast)
- Positions (indexed if Position Management enabled)
- Organizations (indexed, fast)
- Compensation (indexed for current compensation)
- Recruiting (indexed for active requisitions)
Data Sources to Avoid:
- Worker History (not indexed, slow for large datasets)
- All Benefit Elections (not indexed unless using current elections filter)
- Custom data sources without indexing
If your executive needs historical trend data, use Workday Prism Analytics for pre-aggregated data instead of pulling raw historical transactions in Discovery Boards.
The Refresh Strategy
Executives need current data, not yesterday’s data.
Real-time data sources: Workers, Positions, Organizations update in real-time in Discovery Boards. These are safe for executive dashboards.
Daily refresh data sources: Compensation, recruiting data may have slight delays. Document this clearly: “Data refreshed daily at 2 AM.”
Manual refresh data sources: If you are using Prism Analytics or custom data sources, document the refresh schedule prominently: “Turnover data refreshed weekly on Mondays.”
If the executive makes a decision based on stale data and gets corrected in a meeting, they will never trust your dashboard again.
The Mobile-First Design
Executives check dashboards on their phones more often than on their laptops.
This means:
- Visualizations must be readable on mobile screens
- KPI cards work better than complex charts
- Horizontal bar charts work better than vertical bar charts (easier to read on narrow screens)
- Avoid tiny fonts and detailed tables
Test your Discovery Board on a mobile device before sharing with executives. If you cannot read it easily on your phone, they will not use it.
The Five Discovery Boards Executives Actually Use
Based on implementations with 80% or higher adoption, here are five Discovery Board templates that consistently succeed.
Discovery Board 1: Executive Headcount Dashboard (CHRO/CFO)
Primary Purpose: Answer “Where is our headcount versus budget?”
Sheet 1: Headcount at a Glance
Metric 1: Total Headcount
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Current headcount with trend indicator (up/down from last month)
- Data source: Workers (Active Status equals Active)
Metric 2: Open Positions
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Count of vacant positions with availability equals available
- Data source: Positions (if Position Management enabled) or Requisitions
Metric 3: Headcount vs Budget
- Visualization: KPI card showing variance
- Shows: Current headcount minus budgeted headcount, percentage variance
- Data source: Workers + Budget data (may require Prism if budget in external system)
Metric 4: Headcount by Department
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Top 10 departments by headcount
- Interactivity: Click to drill into department details
Metric 5: Hiring Pipeline
- Visualization: Waterfall chart
- Shows: Requisitions by status (Approved, Interviewing, Offer Extended, etc.)
- Data source: Requisitions
Sheet 2: Problem Areas
Metric 6: Positions Open Over 90 Days
- Visualization: Table
- Shows: Position ID, Title, Department, Days Open, Recruiter
- Data source: Positions or Requisitions with date filter
Metric 7: Departments Over Budget
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart showing variance percentage
- Shows: Departments where actual headcount exceeds budget by more than 10%
Usage pattern: CHRO checks Sheet 1 every Monday morning before leadership meeting. CFO checks Metric 3 (Headcount vs Budget) daily during month-end close.
Key success factor: Budget data integration. If budget lives in external system, use Prism to bring it into Workday for comparison.
Discovery Board 2: Turnover Analysis Dashboard (CHRO/HR Operations)
Primary Purpose: Answer “Where are we losing people and why?”
Sheet 1: Turnover at a Glance
Metric 1: Monthly Turnover Rate
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Turnover percentage for current month with comparison to previous month
- Calculation: (Terminations this month ÷ Average headcount this month) × 100
Metric 2: Voluntary vs Involuntary Turnover
- Visualization: Two KPI cards side by side
- Shows: Voluntary turnover rate and involuntary turnover rate separately
- Critical distinction: Executives care more about voluntary turnover
Metric 3: Turnover Trend
- Visualization: Line chart
- Shows: Monthly turnover rate over last 12 months
- Helps answer: Are we improving or declining?
Metric 4: Turnover by Department
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Top 5 departments by turnover rate (not count, rate matters)
- Sorted: Highest to lowest
Metric 5: Turnover by Tenure
- Visualization: Bar chart
- Shows: Turnover distribution by tenure bands (0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-2 years, 2-5 years, 5+ years)
- Insight: High turnover in 0-6 months indicates onboarding problems
Sheet 2: Termination Details
Metric 6: Recent Terminations
- Visualization: Table
- Shows: Worker Name, Job, Department, Termination Date, Termination Reason, Manager
- Filter: Last 30 days
- Purpose: Drill-down for executives who want specifics
Usage pattern: CHRO checks Sheet 1 weekly. HR Ops uses Sheet 2 daily for exit interview preparation.
Key success factor: Accurate termination reason coding. If termination reasons are inconsistent or generic, the dashboard provides no actionable insight.
Discovery Board 3: Recruiting Efficiency Dashboard (CHRO/VP Talent Acquisition)
Primary Purpose: Answer “How effective is our recruiting process?”
Sheet 1: Recruiting Efficiency
Metric 1: Average Days to Fill
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Average days from requisition approval to hire date, with trend indicator
- Data source: Requisitions (Status equals Filled, effective date filter for recent hires)
Metric 2: Open Requisitions
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Count of requisitions with status equals Open
- Context: Shows recruiting workload
Metric 3: Hiring Pipeline by Stage
- Visualization: Waterfall chart or horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Count of candidates by recruiting stage (Sourcing, Screening, Interviewing, Offer, etc.)
- Insight: Identifies bottlenecks in recruiting process
Metric 4: Requisitions by Age
- Visualization: Bar chart
- Shows: Count of open requisitions by age bands (0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, 90+ days)
- Insight: Identifies aging requisitions needing attention
Metric 5: Time to Fill by Department
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Average days to fill by department
- Sorted: Longest to shortest
- Insight: Identifies departments with recruiting challenges
Sheet 2: Problem Requisitions
Metric 6: Requisitions Open Over 90 Days
- Visualization: Table
- Shows: Requisition ID, Job, Department, Hiring Manager, Days Open, Recruiter, Candidate Count
- Purpose: Action list for recruiting leadership
Usage pattern: VP Talent Acquisition checks Sheet 1 every Monday morning. Recruiting Ops uses Sheet 2 to prioritize aging requisitions.
Key success factor: Accurate requisition status updates. If recruiters do not update candidate stages promptly, pipeline metrics are meaningless.
Discovery Board 4: Compensation Analysis Dashboard (CHRO/CFO/Compensation Manager)
Primary Purpose: Answer “Are we paying competitively and within budget?”
Sheet 1: Compensation Overview
Metric 1: Total Compensation Spend
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Total annual compensation (base salary + bonuses) with budget comparison
- Data source: Workers with current compensation
Metric 2: Average Base Salary
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Average base salary across organization with year-over-year comparison
- Context: Helps track compensation inflation
Metric 3: Compensation by Department
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Average compensation by department
- Insight: Identifies compensation disparities across organization
Metric 4: Compa-Ratio Distribution
- Visualization: Bar chart or histogram
- Shows: Count of workers by compa-ratio bands (Below 0.85, 0.85-0.95, 0.95-1.05, 1.05-1.15, Above 1.15)
- Insight: Identifies workers paid below or above market range
Metric 5: Compensation Spend vs Budget
- Visualization: Waterfall chart showing variance
- Shows: Budgeted compensation, actual compensation, variance by category (base, bonus, equity)
Sheet 2: Compensation Outliers
Metric 6: Workers Below Market (Compa-Ratio Below 0.85)
- Visualization: Table
- Shows: Worker Name, Job, Department, Base Salary, Market Midpoint, Compa-Ratio
- Purpose: Identifies retention risks
Metric 7: Workers Above Market (Compa-Ratio Above 1.15)
- Visualization: Table
- Shows: Worker Name, Job, Department, Base Salary, Market Midpoint, Compa-Ratio
- Purpose: Identifies budget optimization opportunities
Usage pattern: CFO checks Metric 1 and Metric 5 weekly during budget cycles. CHRO checks Metric 4 monthly for equity analysis.
Key success factor: Accurate job profile to compensation grade mappings. If jobs are not properly mapped to compensation grades, compa-ratio is meaningless.
Discovery Board 5: Diversity & Inclusion Dashboard (CHRO/Chief Diversity Officer)
Primary Purpose: Answer “How is our diversity representation changing?”
Sheet 1: Diversity Overview
Metric 1: Overall Diversity Representation
- Visualization: KPI card showing percentage
- Shows: Percentage of workforce from underrepresented groups with trend indicator
- Definition: Clearly define what “underrepresented” means for your organization
Metric 2: Diversity Trend
- Visualization: Line chart
- Shows: Diversity representation percentage over last 24 months
- Insight: Are we improving or declining?
Metric 3: Diversity by Department
- Visualization: Horizontal bar chart
- Shows: Diversity representation percentage by department
- Sorted: Lowest to highest (highlights departments needing attention)
Metric 4: Diversity by Job Level
- Visualization: Bar chart
- Shows: Diversity representation by job level (Individual Contributor, Manager, Director, VP, Executive)
- Insight: Pipeline representation at leadership levels
Metric 5: Hiring Diversity
- Visualization: KPI card
- Shows: Percentage of new hires from underrepresented groups in last 90 days
- Context: Leading indicator of future representation
Sheet 2: Diversity Deep Dive
Metric 6: Pay Equity Analysis
- Visualization: Scatter plot
- Shows: Compensation by gender/ethnicity within same job profile
- Purpose: Identify potential pay equity issues
- Note: Use Workday’s delivered Pay Equity Discovery Board template as starting point
Usage pattern: Chief Diversity Officer checks Sheet 1 monthly for board reporting. CHRO checks Metric 5 (Hiring Diversity) monthly to validate recruiting effectiveness.
Key success factor: Data quality and privacy. Diversity data must be accurate and voluntarily provided. Dashboard must comply with privacy regulations in your regions.
Building Your Discovery Board: Step-by-Step
Here is the practical implementation process.
Step 1: Identify the Five Questions (30 minutes)
Schedule a 30-minute meeting with the executive.
Ask: “What are the five questions you find yourself asking repeatedly about [headcount/turnover/recruiting/compensation]?”
Do not ask: “What metrics do you want to see?”
Do not ask: “What would you like on a dashboard?”
Ask about questions. Get specific questions. Write them down verbatim.
If the executive says: “I want to know about turnover,” that is not specific enough.
Probe: “When you think about turnover, what specific question are you trying to answer? Is it ‘Which departments have the highest turnover?’ or ‘Is turnover increasing or decreasing?’ or something else?”
Get five specific questions. Write them down. Confirm understanding.
Step 2: Design on Paper First (15 minutes)
Do not open Workday yet.
On paper or whiteboard, sketch how you would answer each of the five questions.
For each question, choose the simplest visualization that answers it:
- Status check question: KPI card
- Trend question: Line chart
- Problem identification question: Bar chart (sorted, top 5 or top 10)
- Comparison question: Bar chart or table
- Deep dive question: Table with filters
Arrange the five visualizations on your paper. Most important (Question 1) goes top left. Least important (Question 5) goes bottom right.
Show this sketch to the executive. Get confirmation before building anything.
Step 3: Build in Workday Drive (60-90 minutes)
Access Discovery Boards through Workday Drive.
Create new Discovery Board:
Build Sheet 1:
- Name the sheet clearly: “Headcount at a Glance” (not “Sheet 1”)
- Add your first visualization (drag data source, choose viz type)
- Configure the visualization to answer Question 1 specifically
- Repeat for visualizations 2-5
- Arrange visualizations to fit on one screen (no scrolling)
Visualization best practices:
- Use KPI cards for single numbers
- Use horizontal bar charts for rankings
- Use line charts for trends over time
- Enable drill-by and show details for interactivity
- Configure data labels for clarity
Performance considerations:
- Limit to 10 vizzes per sheet
- Use indexed data sources only
- Avoid complex calculations in visualizations
- Test load time (should load in under 5 seconds)
Step 4: Configure Security and Sharing
Discovery Boards use Workday Drive sharing model.
Share with executives:
- Click Share button
- Add executive as viewer (not editor unless they need to modify)
- Consider sharing with security group if multiple executives need access
- Discovery Boards respect Workday security model for data access
Important: Test security by viewing as the executive’s persona. Ensure they see the data you intend them to see.
Step 5: Test with Executive (15 minutes)
Schedule a brief screen share with the executive.
Walk through the Discovery Board. For each visualization, explicitly state which question it answers.
Ask: “Does this answer your question [restate their original question]?”
If yes, move to next visualization.
If no, ask: “What is missing?” or “What would make this more useful?”
Take notes. Make adjustments.
Step 6: Document and Train (30 minutes)
Create a one-page guide:
- How to access the Discovery Board (link to Drive location)
- What each visualization shows
- When data is refreshed
- Who to contact with questions
Send this guide with your initial share of the Discovery Board.
Step 7: Monitor Adoption (Ongoing)
Track whether the executive actually uses the Discovery Board:
- Check view count in Drive (shows how often it is accessed)
- Ask for feedback after two weeks: “Are you finding the dashboard useful?”
- Watch for whether the executive still asks for the same data via email (if yes, the dashboard is not meeting their needs)
If adoption is low, schedule a follow-up to understand why.
Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Mistake 1: Too Many Visualizations
Symptom: Executive opens dashboard, looks overwhelmed, closes it.
Fix: Remove visualizations. You need fewer metrics, not more. Start with three visualizations. Add more only if executive explicitly requests them.
Mistake 2: Wrong Visualization Type
Symptom: Executive says “I cannot tell what this is showing me.”
Fix: Simplify visualization type. KPI cards and bar charts are almost always better than scatter plots, bubble charts, or complex combo charts.
Mistake 3: No Clear Question Answered
Symptom: Executive says “This is interesting, but I still need to [pull report/ask assistant for data].”
Fix: Your dashboard is not answering their actual question. Go back to Step 1. Re-identify the specific question. Rebuild visualization to answer that question directly.
Mistake 4: Data Does Not Match Other Reports
Symptom: Executive says “This shows 523 workers, but the HR report shows 541. Which is right?”
Fix: Document data source and filters explicitly. Add text box on dashboard explaining: “Active workers as of [date], excluding contractors and leave of absence.” Ensure definition matches other reports.
Mistake 5: Stale Data
Symptom: Executive makes comment based on dashboard. Gets corrected with newer data in meeting. Stops using dashboard.
Fix: Document refresh schedule prominently. If data is not real-time, consider whether Discovery Board is right tool or if scheduled report would be better.
When NOT to Use Discovery Boards
Discovery Boards are not always the right solution.
Use traditional reports instead when:
- Executive needs data exported to Excel for manipulation
- Executive needs detailed worker-level data (hundreds of rows)
- Executive needs data that requires complex calculations not supported in Discovery Boards
- Data security requirements are complex (Discovery Boards inherit Workday security but have limited customization)
Use Workday Prism Analytics instead when:
- Data comes from multiple systems (Workday + external data)
- Historical trend analysis requires years of data
- Advanced analytics or predictive modeling needed
- Data volumes exceed Discovery Board performance capabilities
Measuring Success
Track these metrics to evaluate Discovery Board adoption:
Adoption metrics:
- View count per week (from Drive analytics)
- Number of executives actively using (viewed in last 7 days)
- Reduction in ad-hoc report requests on same topics
Value metrics:
- Time saved on manual reporting (hours per week)
- Executive satisfaction survey (1-10 scale: “Does this dashboard help you make better decisions?”)
- Decision-making speed (time from question to answer reduced)
Target benchmarks:
- 80% of intended executives view dashboard weekly
- 60% reduction in ad-hoc report requests on dashboard topics
- Executive satisfaction score 8 or higher (out of 10)
Conclusion: Less Is More
The best Discovery Boards are not the most comprehensive. They are not the most visually impressive. They are not the ones that showcase every Discovery Board feature.
The best Discovery Boards answer five specific questions on one page in 90 seconds.
Start small. Five metrics. One page. One specific executive.
Get that working. Get adoption above 80%. Get the executive checking it every Monday morning.
Then build the next one.
Your goal is not to build impressive dashboards. Your goal is to build dashboards that get used.
Tell Me Your Experience
What Discovery Boards have you built that executives actually use? What made them successful?
What Discovery Boards did you build that nobody uses? What went wrong?
Share your experiences in the comments. We learn best from each other’s real-world successes and failures.
