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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-07-25
Steps: Set Up Time Tracking

Steps: Set Up Time Tracking

Configure Workday Time Tracking so that:
  • Workers, administrators, and others can enter time.
  • Workday automatically applies overtime, premiums, and other pay policies.
  • Payroll can compensate workers for time worked.
Time Tracking setup is often an iterative process. It isn't necessary to follow these steps in the order listed.
  1. Set up time entry rules.
  2. Create time period schedules to define the dates for which workers can enter time.
  4. Create time calculations.
    Skip this step if you're not interested in having Workday perform calculations. Example: If you're using Workday Time Tracking only for project tracking.
  6. Create work schedules and holiday schedules.
    Define work schedule calendars to specify the days workers are scheduled to work and the start of the work week. You can also use work schedule calendars to assign dates to in/out time entries according to a day breaker other than midnight.
    By default the work week starts on Sunday at 12:00 AM. Even when the default settings apply, Workday recommends that you create a basic work schedule to indicate typical nonworking days.
    You can also create a holiday calendar so that holiday names display on the time entry calendar. When using a holiday calendar, you can also create calculations that take holidays into account.
  7. Configure payroll to pay time.
    Configure Workday Payroll or Workday Cloud Connect for Third-Party Payroll to retrieve approved time when you run payroll.
  8. (Optional) Specify how to manage time off.
  9. (Optional) Enable self-service users to use Time Tracking on mobile devices.
  10. (Optional) Create custom labels to replace the terms
    check in
    ,
    check out
    , and their variations.
    You can use custom labels to replace these terms with alternatives that are appropriate for your organization. See:
You can access the
Run Time Configuration Analyzer Tool
 task to run a process that audits your Time Tracking configuration. Then access the
View Time Configuration Analyzer Results
 report to view configuration information about your tenant including:
  • Counts of Time Tracking workers.
  • Time calculations.
  • Time entry codes.
  • Setup objects.
Workday also displays recommendations about how to address inefficiencies in your configuration, such as workers who have multiple work schedule calendars assigned and workers who have exceeded the recommended number of time calculations per worker. You aren't required to make configuration updates based on these warnings. They only reflect Workday recommendations.