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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-05-01
Configure Business Process System Notifications

Configure Business Process System Notifications

Security:
Set Up: System
 domain in the System functional area.
Email templates determine the layout of system notifications generated from business processes. Users that belong to security groups with
Modify
 permission in the
Set Up: System
 domain can configure email content of system notifications, including a different system notification resulting from a send back action.
  1. Access the
    Configure Content of Business Process System Notifications
     task.
    You can access the
    View Configured Content of Business Process System Notifications
     report to view current notification configuration.
    In the report, you can preview configured system notifications which are sent to a specified email. In the sample notification, we display field names and not actual values.
  2. Configure the
    Email Content for All System Notifications
     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, such as
      Assigned to Worker
      ,
      Status
      , or
      Due Date
      . 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. However, report fields you can use in system notifications are restricted to global report fields and event record report fields.
    In the
    Subject
     and
    Body
     grids, you can use a combination of both text and report fields in the system notification. You also can configure the order of each item.
    Example: In the body of system notifications, you want to display the name of the person that the task is about. In the
    Body
     grid, you add:
    • Row 1:
      Text
       and enter
      Complete this action for:
    • Row 2:
      External Field
       and the
      Worker for Step
       report field.
    When an approver receives a system notification for a time-off request, Workday displays the:
    • Subject
       as:
      A Task Awaits You: Approval by Manager - Mike Rooney
      .
    • Body
       as:
      Complete this action for: Mike Rooney.
  3. (Optional) Configure the
    Email Content for "Send Back" System Notifications
     section for notifications resulting from a
    Send Back
     action. Similar to step 2, in the
    Subject
     and
    Body
     grids, you can use a combination of 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.
    Example: In the subject of system notifications, you want to display the name of the business process that’s sent back. In the
    Subject
     grid, you add:
    • Row 1:
      Text
       and enter
      A task was sent back for:
    • Row 2:
      External Field
       and the
      Business Process Definition
       report field.
    When the recipient receives a system notification for a time-off request that’s sent back by their manager, Workday displays the:
    • Subject
       as:
      A task was sent back for: Request Time Off for 1000 Global Modern Services
    • Body
       as:
      Please log into the Workday system to complete this action
      .
Workday generates a system notification for business processes using the content configured on this task. To use the default system notification content, you can remove the configuration in the grids.
We also display the system notification content on the
Full Process Record
. On the
All Events
 tab, the
All Notifications
 grid displays the content in these columns:
  • Email Subject
    .
  • Email Body
    .
For system notifications, the
Informational
 column displays
No
.
You can disable sending system notifications by accessing the business process definition. On the
Notifications
 tab, click
Maintain System Notifications
 and select the
Disabled
 check box for steps you don’t want to send system notifications for.
If the system account of the recipient is:
  • Disabled, we don't send the system notification.
  • Expired, we send the system notification.