Skip to main content
Documentation
Documentation
Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-03-13
Create Time Entry Validations

Create Time Entry Validations

Security:
Set Up: Time Tracking
 domain in the Time Tracking functional area.
Create validations to:
  • Warn workers when entering, or prevent workers from submitting, invalid time entries.
  • Alert reviewers to conditions that need more careful review.
You can also organize validations into groups so that Workday applies them to a more narrow group of workers. Grouping subsets of time entry validations improves the performance of tasks that check for validations.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Time Entry Validations
     report.
  2. Click the
    New Validation
     button for the severity of the validation that you need:
    • Critical
       errors prevent workers from submitting time entries.
    • Warning
       validations display to workers and approvers, but don't prevent time from being submitted or approved.
  3. Enter a
    Description
     of the error or warning.
    Workday uses the description as the error or warning message if you don't enter custom validation text.
    As a best practice, use the
    Description
     field to explain the conditions that trigger the message. Create custom validation text for the message that workers see.
  4. (Optional) Assign the validation a
    Category
    .
    Assigning a category makes it easier for you to find the rule later. You can use the
    Maintain Condition Rule Categories
     task to add or delete categories.
  5. (Optional) To copy an existing validation and modify it, select the validation in the
    Copy Condition from Rule
     field.
  6. For
    Rule Conditions
    , describe the conditions that must be met to generate the error or warning.
    You can reference Workday-delivered conditions, as well as your own custom calculated fields, in the
    Source External Field or Condition Rule
     field.
    Build all validation conditions in reference to one of these business objects:
    • Time Block
    • Time Day
    • Time Month
    • Time Shift
    • Time Week
    • Worker
    All the error conditions that make up a validation rule should reference the same Time Tracking business object. Example: Don't reference both the
    Time Day
     and
    Time Week
     business objects in separate conditions in a single validation rule. If a validation includes conditions based on different business objects, it will fail to generate a warning or error. Alternatively, you can separate error conditions into different validation rules.
  7. Click
    OK
    .
  8. (Optional) Access the
    Create Time Entry Validation Group
     task and create time entry validation groups:
    1. On the
      Time Entry Validations
       tab, select the validations to include in this group
    2. On the
      Eligibility
       tab, select one or more time entry template effective dates to include in the validation group. When a worker is assigned to a time entry template with validation groups, but the worker isn't eligible for any of the groups, Workday only runs ungrouped validations for that worker.
    3. (Optional) On the
      Optional Filters
       tab, select 1 or more values from the
      Country/Country Region
       field.
  9. (Optional) Select
    Validation Configure Validation Message
     from the related actions menu of a validation to add custom validation text.
    Your message can include static text as well as dynamic values from report fields and calculated fields.
When workers create a time entry that meets the conditions for the validation, they receive a warning or error message. If the workers receive an error message, they can't submit the invalid time entry until it's resolved. Managers and other approvers see any warnings in the time entries that they receive for review.
Issue a warning when workers enter more than 8 hours for a day.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Time Entry Validations
     report.
  2. Click
    New Validation
     next to
    Warning
    .
  3. In the
    Description
     field, enter:
    More than 8 hours are reported for the day
    .
  4. (Optional) Select
    Time Tracking
     as the
    Category
    .
  5. Enter these values:
    Field
    Value
    Source External Field or Condition Rule
    Total Reported Hours for a Day
    Relational Operator
    greater than
    Comparison Type
    Value specified in this filter
    Comparison Value
    8
Prevent workers from entering compensatory time when they haven't worked at least 40 hours in a week.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Time Entry Validations
     report.
  2. Click
    New Validation
     next to
    Critical
    .
  3. In the
    Description
     field, enter:
    Comp time is not allowed when reported hours are less than 40.
  4. Enter these values:
    Field
    Value
    Source External Field or Condition Rule
    Total Reported Hours for a Week
    Relational Operator
    less than
    Comparison Type
    Value specified in this filter
    Comparison Value
    40
Prevent workers from submitting time on days when they're on leave of absence.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Time Entry Validations
     report.
  2. Click
    New Validation
     next to
    Critical
    .
  3. In the
    Description
     field, enter:
    You can't enter time if already on leave on the same day.
  4. Add a row with these values:
    Field
    Value
    And/Or
    And
    Source External Field or Condition Rule
    Total Reported Hours for a Day
    Relational Operator
    is greater than
    Comparison Type
    Value specified in this filter
    Comparison Value
    0
  5. Field
    Value
    And/Or
    And
    Source External Field or Condition Rule
    Leaves for a Day
    Comparison Type
    Value specified in this filter
    Relational Operator
    is not empty