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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-05-01
Create Custom Notifications

Create Custom Notifications

Select a language and locale for your tenant.
Security: These domains in the System functional area:
  • Business Process Administration
  • Manage: Business Process Definitions
You can create custom notifications that trigger on any business process step, or on the status of the business process as a whole. You can also delay when a notification is sent.
For any business process definition, you can configure custom business process notifications to use a different sent From email address in the notification.
If the system account of the recipient is:
  • Disabled, we don't send the custom notification.
  • Expired, we send the custom notification.
For an active business process delegation, we don’t send custom notifications to the delegate if the delegate has an expired or disabled system account.
For audit reporting, you can tag instances of business processes. This process enables you to track and report on business process configuration changes in your tenant. Example: Creating custom notifications on a business process definition. In the
Audit Trail Report
, Workday might display more than 1 audit trail entry when you add, edit, or remove a custom notification.
The maximum size of an email notification is 20 MB. When you exceed this size, the notification doesn’t process and you don’t see an error message.
  1. From the related actions menu of a business process definition, select
    Business Process
    Add Notification
    .
  2. As you complete the task, consider:
    Option Description
    Override Email Template
    You can only associate 1 email template with each custom notification. Use the
    Maintain Email Templates
     task to designate which email template is the
    Default
     and which templates are
    Active
    .
    If you use Notification Designer, you can create a notification template and enable it for the
    Custom Business Process
     notification category. You can then select the notification template in the
    Override Email Template
     prompt. Custom notifications are sent using the selected Notification Designer template.
    Do Not Include Notification Details Link
    Select this option if the notification recipients don't have Workday accounts. If you configure an SMS notification, Workday won't include the
    Notification Details Link
     in the SMS message regardless of if you select the check box.
    Triggers
    Specify if the notification is triggered by the status of the business process as a whole, or when the business process enters or exits the step you specify.
    For recruiting business processes only, you can configure notifications to trigger based on disposition reasons when you select
    On Disposition
     and a reason. Example: A recruiter declines the job application of a candidate. A custom notification is sent to the candidate with the disposition reason.
    When a step is configured with a custom notification and a user skips the step without completing it, Workday sends the notification and displays it on the
    Notifications
     page.
    When there's a subprocess with a custom notification configured on exit of the
    Initiation
     step of the subprocess, the custom notification won't trigger until the completion of the subprocess. Workday recommends that you configure the notification on the entry step of the next step in the subprocess.
    When a business process definition contains a shared participation step, you can specify a notification trigger using
    On Shared Participation Step
    . When you select this option, you must also select the
    Trigger on Participant State
     for the notification.
    Routing modifiers aren’t respected in custom notifications. However, system notifications do respect line level routing.
    Conditions and Rules
    Notification triggers include the trigger specification and the rules and conditions you specify. Both triggers must be met before Workday sends the notification.
    Delay Notification
    You can delay when a custom notification is sent to recipients. In the
    Delay Notification
     section, configure what the delay is based on and the amount of time to wait before sending the notification.
    You can configure a delay based on a:
    • Trigger Moment
      . The moment the notification trigger occurs. (This is what’s selected in the
      Triggers
       section.) Example: A notification is sent
      On Exit
       of step
      c
      .
    • Field. A report field. Example: Offer Date.
    In the
    Delay By
     section, select the amount of time for the delay in the
    Calculated Date
     prompt. A 1-day delay occurs at midnight of the next day.
    If you don’t select an option in the
    Calculated Date
     prompt, the notification delay won’t occur.
    When you base the notification delay on a report field, and that field is blank, Workday evaluates the delay and sends the notification based on the current date. Example: You configure a custom notification to delay by 2 days based on a hire date. Workday triggers the notification on Monday but there's no hire date, so we send the notification on Wednesday.
    Repeat On
    Select a related instance for which you want to generate separate notifications. In the
    Email Message Content
     and
    SMS Message Content
     sections, you can include text and content from external fields in the notification. Since custom notifications are about the event by default, the
    Repeat On
     field enables you to change the context of external fields configured in the notification by taking the event and retrieving related instances. If you don't configure the
    Repeat On
     field, the context of the external fields remains the event. If you configure the
    Repeat On
     field and there are a set of instances for the external field, Workday generates separate custom notifications for each instance of that external field.
    Example: You select
    Workflow Steps Completed
     from the
    Repeat On
     field. This takes the event and can return a set of workflow steps. Workday generates 1 notification for each returned step, or no notification if there are no returned steps.
    Recipients
    Select who receives the custom business process notification by configuring 1 of these prompts:
    • Recipients
      : Select a report field the recipients are associated with. When we send notifications and the report field isn't valid, we display
      not available
       instead of the report field value in the notification. Example: The recipient doesn't have security access.
    • Groups
      : Select the security role related to the event.
    Email Option
    You can use the
    Mass Update Email Address Option on Notifications
     task to change the
    Email Option
     for all custom notifications defined for business process types.
    Workday provides 6 options:
    • Default
      : If the notification is Worker-based, Workday uses the worker's work email address if available. If no work email address is configured, Workday uses the worker’s home email address. If the notification is business-based, Workday uses the business email address.
    • First Institutional, then Default
       (available only for Student business processes): Workday uses the institutional email address for the recipient. If no institutional email addresses are configured, then Workday uses the
      Default
       notification option.
    • First Work, then Home
      : Workday uses the work email address for the recipient if available. If no work email address is configured, Workday uses the home email address of the recipient.
    • Home Only
      : Workday uses the home email address of the recipient.
    • Institutional Only
       (available only for Student business processes): Workday uses the institutional email address for the recipient.
    • Work Only
      : Workday uses the work email address of the recipient.
    Workday doesn't send custom business process notifications to disabled accounts. Example: A terminated user.
    Workday recommends selecting the
    Work Only
     option to avoid sending emails to home email addresses.
    Email Addresses
    Workday sends the notification to the email addresses you enter. You can use the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Notifications
     task to verify configuration for email notifications for custom business processes.
  3. (Optional) Configure email settings for the notification in the
    Override Email Settings
     section.
    • Email Configuration
       prompt: Select a Customer SMTP configuration override to use for the custom business process notification. Workday displays the
      From Address
       that you specify there as the sent From email address in the notification. Workday displays available Customer SMTP configuration in your tenant as options in the
      Email Configuration
       prompt. If you don't have other Customer SMTP configuration in your tenant, Workday won't display values in the
      Email Configuration
       prompt. When you don’t select an email configuration override, Workday displays the
      From Address
       that you specify in the Default SMTP Configuration on the
      Edit Tenant Setup – Notifications
       task as the sent From email address. You can access the
      Create Email Configuration
       task to create a different Customer SMTP configuration to use on a custom business process notification.
      Workday uses the Default SMTP Email Configuration on the
      Edit Tenant Setup – Notifications
       task when the
      From Address
       in the Customer SMTP configuration override fails. Example: The email address is spelled incorrectly.
    • Reply to Email Address
       field: Enter an email address that the recipient replies to. Workday sends the response to this email address when users reply to a notification. This address overrides the
      Reply To
       email address in the notification SMTP configuration.
  4. (Optional) Configure the subject and body of the email in the
    Email Message Content
     section. In the
    Subject
     and
    Body
     grids, you can select these options:
    • Text
      : Enter content for the subject line of the email or the body of the email.
    • External Field
      : Select a report field to use for the subject or the body of the email. Similar to creating a report, you can use report fields in an email that returns specific information or data for the business process and that's specific to the recipient.
    In the
    Subject
     and
    Body
     grids, you can use a combination of both text and report fields to build your email notification. Example: You want to send an email notification to a person only when their time-off request is in
    Denied
     status. On the
    Request Time Off
     business process, you configure the
    Email Message Content
    . In the
    Subject
     grid, you add:
    • Row 1:
      Text
       and enter
      Your
      .
    • Row 2:
      External Field
       and the
      Business Process Type
       report field.
    • Row 3:
      Text
       and enter
      is
      .
    • Row 4:
      External Field
       and the
      Status
       report field.
    In the
    Body
     grid, you select
    Text
     and enter
    Please contact your manager
    .
    When the recipient receives the custom notification, Workday displays the email:
    • Subject as:
      Your Request Time Off is Denied.
    • Body as:
      Please contact your manager.
    You can access the
    Report Fields
     report to view details about a report field such as:
    • Business object name.
    • Field description.
    • Field type.
  5. (Optional) Configure SMS message content to send custom business process notifications through the Workday Messaging delivery channel.
    You might need to take additional steps to enable this feature depending on your organization's subscription service agreement. For more information, see this Community article.
    When you copy a business process definition that has SMS message content configuration, Workday also copies the SMS message configuration.
  6. (Optional) Add attachments to the notification.
    You can add email attachments only when:
    • You select
      Allow Attachments within Emails
      on the business process security policy.
    • Email attachments are enabled for the tenant.
    Workday doesn't scan email attachments for viruses.
  7. (Optional) Click
    Preview
     to send a sample of the configured notification to your My Tasks.
    The sample notification contains field names, not values. Workday sends this notification using the routing rule for the
    Business Process General Notifications
     notification type that you configure on the
    Business Process
     section on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Notifications
     task.
When you use an
Approval Chain
 step type and select
Manager
 as the security
Group
 for that step, you can also create a custom notification for the step. Workday recommends that you select
Awaiting Persons
 as the
Recipient
 in the notification definition. If you select
Manager
 as the
Recipient
, then a notification is sent to the manager of an employee for every approval chain level. If you select
Awaiting Persons
 instead of
Manager
, you force the notification to move up the approval chain.
Optionally, use the
Configure Content of Business Process System Notifications
 task to customize the subject and the first line of the body of system notifications generated from business processes. You can configure notifications resulting from a Send Back action differently.
To disable system or custom notifications, access the
Notifications
 tab on the business process definition and click:
  • Maintain System Notifications
    . You can disable system notifications for steps on subprocesses by disabling the related system notification on the initiation step of the subprocess. When you select the
    Disabled
     check box, Workday won't send the notification through configured notification channels such as email. However, we still generate the notification for the task and send it to the Workday My Tasks. Example: You disable the system notification for an
    Approval
     step. Workday doesn't send an email to the approver, but the approver receives the task in their My Tasks to complete.
  • Maintain Custom Notifications
    . When you select the
    Disabled
     check box, Workday won't send the custom notification through configured channels such as email or SMS. The notification also won't display on the bell icon.
To edit a custom notification on the
Notifications
 tab of a business process definition, select
Business Process
Edit Notification
 from the related actions menu of the custom notification.