Skip to main content
Documentation
Documentation
Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-03-13
Concept: External Content Lesson Tracking and Grading

Concept: External Content Lesson Tracking and Grading

Workday uses tracking statements from third-party platforms to provide insight into learner performance within Workday. This functionality relies on the
Lesson Trackings
 REST API to communicate progress and grades.
This functionality works for partners who aren’t content partners. Content partner integrations should be done via the Cloud Connect for Learner integration. See Concept: Cloud Connect for Learning Integration Methods.

Tracking States and Icons

When a learner accesses a lesson with external completion enabled, Workday immediately sets the lesson status to In-Progress. Workday then updates the completion status and grades using data received from the external provider.
Lesson Status
Icon
Description
In Progress
Half-circle
The learner has clicked the external link, but Workday has not yet received a completion confirmation.
Complete
Check mark
Workday has received a tracking statement or an administrator has manually completed the enrollment.

Grading Logic

You can configure specific external content lessons to provide the official course grade. This ensures that a learner's performance on a third-party platform is accurately reflected in Workday reporting.
  • API Dependency: Tracking occurs only for external lessons where a third-party application is configured to send tracking statements using the
    Lesson Trackings
     REST API.
  • Media Lessons: For courses with both media lessons and external content lessons, to provide a grade for the course, you must select the
    Provide Course Grade
     check box for only 1 lesson.
  • Instructor-Led Lessons: For courses with external content lessons and instructor-led lessons, to provide a grade for the course, you must select either the
    Provide Course Grade
    check box for 1 external content lesson or the
    Track Grade
     check box for 1 or more instructor-led lessons.
  • Learner View: When a learner completes a course, Workday displays the score and grade on the course completion screen.

Legacy Auto-Complete Behavior

If you don’t select the tracking and grading check boxes, external content lessons continue to use the legacy auto-complete behavior. In this scenario, Workday:
  • Marks an external lesson as
    Complete
     immediately after a learner clicks the external link.
  • Doesn’t accept or record any tracking data, scores, or grades sent by external providers via the API.