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Workday Sync Setup

Sync your company’s people data from Workday into Sift.

Ryan Bickham avatar
Written by Ryan Bickham
Updated this week

Overview

Sift connects to your Workday tenant via an OAuth API Client, and retrieves employee (Worker) data using WQL (Workday Query Language)


Sift allows you to configure the WQL query to retrieve the correct scope of workers, and allows mappings to be created to define which fields we retrieve for that scope. Sift will never consume any field that you do not create a mapping for.

Once the integration is set up, Sift will retrieve and update data in your Directory and Org Chart hourly.

Prerequisites

Register a Workday API Client for Sift

1. In Workday, go to the "Register API Client" task

2. Use the following configuration:

Client Name: (this can be whatever you'd like, but probably something like "Sift" or "Sift Data Sync")

Client Grant Type: Authorization Code Grant

Redirection URI: https://login.justsift.com/api/authorize/oauth

Scope (Functional Areas): "System" (This is the permission required to make WQL queries against your tenant)

You may leave everything else as default

3. Click "OK". Workday will take you to a new page listing information you'll need for the setup in Sift. Note the following pieces of info:


​Client ID

Client Secret (Make sure to note this right away, you will not be able to view it again later)

Workday REST API Endpoint

Token Endpoint

Authorization Endpoint

4. Return to the Sift admin dashboard to complete setup

Setting up the Integration in Sift

  1. In the Directory setup wizard, choose Workday as your source type.

  2. When prompted, enter the Client ID, Client Secret, API Endpoint, Token Endpoint, and Authorization Endpoint from the Registered API Client you set up.

  3. After entering in your API client details, Sift will redirect you to Workday to authorize Sift. After successful authorization, you’ll be returned to Sift with a confirmation.

  4. (Optional) By default, Sift will query the allActiveWorkers Data source, which contains your organization's active workers. If you would like to limit the scope of the query to only certain workers, you may change your Data Source Filter, or add a Where Statement for the WQL query.

  5. Once you've successfully connected Sift to Workday, you will go through the rest of the setup process to create your mappings and enable your sync. For Workday, we've pre-populated the mappings page with certain fields that Sift normally consumes. If you'd like to import any additional data, you can Create a Mapping, and enter the name of a WQL alias for the field to import

Manage the Integration on the Source Dashboard

After the initial run, Sift takes you to the Source Dashboard for Workday, where you can:

  • Review current/last sync status and the number of Profiles imported.

  • Reauthorize your sync or adjust your OAuth and WQL configuration

  • Run another sync on demand.

  • Update mappings or other Source settings.
    If something fails, click View Error Report for guided troubleshooting steps, then adjust your config and re-run. Use Return to Sift (top-left) to jump back to Profiles and Org Chart once everything looks good.

Troubleshooting

  • Authorization expired or changed? Re-authorize the Workday Source with a valid OAuth client or admin, then re-run the sync.

  • Missing required mappings (Primary Source)? Ensure every person you intend to sync has Unique Identifier, First Name, and Last Name; otherwise they’ll be skipped and the sync can fail if no valid people are found.

  • Filter too strict? Loosen your WQL clause or temporarily remove it to confirm records flow in, then re-apply a narrower filter.

  • See an error state on the Source Dashboard? Open View Error Report, follow the suggestions, fix, and Run Sync again.

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