Concept: Shared Participation Step

Administrator Guide

Manage Workday
Business Processes
Business Process Step Types

Last Updated: 2026-07-10

Shared participation steps enable specific participants to perform actions in a business process step without moving the business process to the next step. Only roles with access to the controller action in the business process security policy can move the business process to the next step. Shared participation steps also enable improved collaboration between participants for business process types that have this functionality enabled.

The role assigned to the shared participation step (the controller) in the business process definition performs the participant control event. Each participant performs a participant detail event.

When a shared participation step is launched, participants are notified of their involvement in the business process. Depending on each participant's role, they might be required to perform specified actions. Each of these actions is a participant detail event. But completing any or all of the participant detail events doesn’t move the business process forward to the next step. The controller must submit the participant control event to move the business process to the next step.

You can add a shared participation step to a business process definition only if Workday has configured at least 1 allowed action for that business process type to enable participant-based workflow. When you add a shared participation step to a business process definition:

You can only specify allowed actions for which participant-based workflow is enabled.

You can only add security groups configured for the controller action in the business process security policy.

After you save a business process definition that contains a shared participation step, click

Configure Participation

to select:

The

Effective Date

. The default effective date is the current date.

The

Time Zone

. The default time zone is the user's current time zone.

You can only enter a time zone if you selected the

Business Process Configuration Time Zone

option on the

Edit Tenant Setup - System

task.

If you enter the current date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect immediately. Users in other time zones see the changes immediately.

If you enter a future date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at midnight on the specified date in the specified time zone. Users in other time zones see the changes at the corresponding date and time in their time zones.

If you enter a past date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at 23:59:59 on the specified date in the specified time zone. Users in other time zones see the changes at the corresponding date and time in their time zones.

The

Organization Type to Use

This option isn't available if:

Workday hasn't specified an Organization type for shared participation steps.

Custom organizations aren't allowed.

The security

Group

of the participants who perform the participant detail events. The prompt displays only groups with Modify permissions on the domain security policy of the

Participant Domain

, configured by Workday for that business process type.

This option isn't available if:

Workday hasn't specified an Organization type for shared participation steps.

Custom organizations aren't allowed.

You can also:

Specify that all participants who meet these criteria must complete the participant detail event.

Add a step label override that displays in My Tasks items of the participants.

Under

Participant Detail Step Delay

, you can select for participant detail events:

A report field that the

Delay Is Based On

Additional Calculated Delay

If you copy a business process definition that contains a shared participation step, Workday also copies the participant configuration for that step.

If you change a shared participation step to another step type (such as an Action
step or an Approval
step), Workday deletes the participant configuration for that step.

You can use the

Maintain System Notifications

task on the

Notifications

tab on the business process definition to disable system notifications on shared participation steps. This prevents Workday from sending system notifications to the controller or to participants. Workday displays notifications that are associated with a participant detail event on the Full Process Record of that participant detail event, not of the participant control event.

You can configure shared participation steps to have future effective dates, and apply condition rules to shared participation steps.

You can configure help text on a shared participation step. You can either:

Select

Business Process

Maintain Help Text

as a related action on the business process definition.

Select

Business Process

Maintain Step-Help Text

as a related action on the shared participation step.

You can specify if you want help text to display on the participant control event or the participant detail event, and define different help text for the controller and for participants.

The controller can use My Tasks delegation to delegate the participant control event to another user according to their tenant delegation settings. Access the

Manage Delegations

task to select a delegate and configure the delegation. Workday sends a system notification to the delegate to let them know they're acting on behalf of the delegator.

The controller can also:

Submit

the step and move the business process forward even if all participant detail events aren’t submitted.

The state of tasks that aren’t submitted is shown as Manually Advanced on the

Details

tab of the events, and each task is removed from the participant's My Tasks.

Cancel

the step. All participant detail events are canceled including the tasks that are submitted.

The state of each task is shown as canceled on the

Details

tab of the event, and each task is removed from My Tasks of the participant.

Pull Forward

a participant detail event that isn’t submitted.

The state of the task is shown as Manually Advanced on the

Details

tab of the event. And the task is removed from My Tasks of the participant.

Members of security groups with permission to

Reassign Tasks

in the business process security policy can reassign participant detail events for users they support. Business Process Administrators can also use

Reassign Tasks

to reassign participant detail events on behalf of other users.

Participants in a shared participation step can use the gear icon in the My Tasks item to:

Delegate a participant detail event to another user according to their tenant delegation settings. Workday sends a system notification to the delegate to let them know they’re acting on behalf of the delegator.

Reassign the task to other users in the configured security group for the shared participation step. Recipients of a reassigned task receive the task in their My Tasks. But they can only see other participants who they’re contextually secured to view.

After a participant in a shared participation step submits a participant detail event, the event displays on the