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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Concept: Auditing

Concept: Auditing

Workday enables you to view audits of transactions within your tenant. For some data, Workday uses effective dating to track transaction history. Auditors can view audit history in reports but can't make changes to these audit records.

Nondestructive Updates

Workday uses nondestructive updates to retain data and prevent data overwriting. Workday provides a complete audit trail for every change made within our business services. When you update data, the Workday business service records these changes in the secure Workday database. Only users in the
Auditor
 security group can access this data.
Workday records the details of every user-made change, including the:
  • New value.
  • Old value.
  • Person who submits the change.
  • Time stamp.
Workday adds these details to the audit report. An auditor can then retrace the history of that value back to the original data entry. This process helps you enact tight controls over your data integrity for compliance requirements, including Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.

Tracking Past or Future Data

Certain tasks enable you to specify an effective date when you create, edit, and view data.
Example: On September 20, an HR partner updates an existing job profile from Director to Vice President that is effective November 1. Anyone who views current information for the job profile sees Director until November 1. Anyone who runs a job profile report after the effective date change sees Vice President.
Workday applies this behavior to any report that requires an effective date.