Setup Considerations: Time Zones

Administrator Guide

You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of the time zone functionality in Workday. It explains:

Why to set it up.

How it fits into the rest of Workday.

Downstream impacts and cross-product integrations.

Security requirements and business process configurations.

Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.

Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.

What It Is

Workday enables you to maintain data for users in different time zones. You can configure your tenant to accommodate users who aren't in the Pacific Standard Time (PST) time zone.

Business Benefits

Workday can now base snapshots of transactions on the time zone of the tenant or user. This adds accuracy to:

Business process routing.

Data management.

Security group membership.

Use Cases

When transactions occur for users who aren't in PST, Workday retrieves the appropriate data based on the effective date in their local time zone. If you've opted in to the Workday 32 - Time Zones feature, then Workday uses the user's local time zone.

Functionality	Example Use Case
Role Inheritance	Role inheritance takes effect at 00:00 (midnight) in the tenant default time zone. Example: Japan Standard Time (JST) is the tenant default time zone. It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. Yuki, in the JST time zone, has a manager role in Organization A. On 2019-06-21, you add a new Organization C that's subordinate to Organization A, without assigning a manager role. By default, Yuki becomes the manager. When a user in JST signs into Workday at any time after 00:00 JST, they see that Yuki inherited the manager role for Organization C. Yuki has role-based security access for Organization C. He receives My Tasks items and requests for business process approvals for the organization. See Concept: Roles, Time Zones, and Snapshots.
Positions and Position Restrictions	New managers and HR Partners who are in time zones earlier than PST can enter or select new positions or position restrictions on the Edit Position and Edit Position Restrictions tasks. Example: You create a new position, hire Misato in JST, and assign her the HR Partner role. Another position is created and Ichika is hired into the new position. When Misato runs the Edit Position and Edit Position Restrictions tasks, she can enter or select the recently filled position and position restriction held by Ichika.
Organization Profile or Role Assignment	When viewing the Members , Staffing , and Unavailable to Fill tabs on the organization profile, Workday displays data based on the accessing user's time zone. Example: It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. A position is created effective 2019-06-21. Sakura is immediately hired into the position. On 2019-06-21, users in JST can view Sakura on the Members and Staffing tabs, and the position doesn't display on the Unavailable to Fill tab.
Organization Hierarchies	Supervisory organization hierarchy changes become effective as of 00:00 in the tenant default time zone. Example: The tenant default time zone is JST. You assigned a new superior organization to a supervisory organization hierarchy effective 2019-06-21 JST. The new superior organization for the supervisory organization hierarchy displays in Workday as of 2019-06-21 00:00 JST. JST is 16 hours ahead of PST, so users in PST can view the new superior organization as of 2019-06-20 08:00 PST. Workday honors the tenant default time zone for the effective date of supervisory organization hierarchies only. All other hierarchy types, including companies, cost centers, regions, locations, and custom organizations, become effective as of 00:00 PST. Example: You assign a new superior organization to a cost center organization hierarchy effective 2019-06-21. The new superior organization for the cost center hierarchy displays in Workday as of 2019-06-21 00:00 PST. JST is 16 hours ahead of PST, so users in JST can view the new superior organization as of 2019-06-22 16:00 JST.
All Jobs Report on Worker Profile	Workday considers the accessing user's time zone when viewing the All Jobs report on the Worker profile. Example: It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. Hiroshi is in JST and has an additional job added, with effective date 2019-06-21. Users in JST can view this additional job in the Current section of the All Jobs report.
Security Group Membership	For select security groups, membership is updated at midnight based on the user's time zone instead of PST. Example: It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. New employees in JST can sign into Workday at the beginning of their day.
Routing	When a change job event completes for a worker and their manager changes, Workday routes events to the manager based on the time zone of the user initiating this change. Example: It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. Andy is transferring from California to Japan on 2019-06-21. An HR partner in PST submits a change business title event, and it routes to Andy's previous manager, since it's 2019-06-20 for this initiator. Meanwhile, an HR partner in JST submits another change business title event, and it routes to the new manager, since it's 2019-06-21 for this initiator.
Business Processes	Workday updates select business processes to access the user's local date for snapshots. Example: It's 2019-06-21 in JST and 2019-06-20 in PST. A new employee is hired in JST effective immediately. The Change Job task is run on Richard, who is based in Japan, and it's effective dated on 2019-06-21. The change is visible on 2019-06-21, 00:00 (midnight) JST to users based in Japan. Meanwhile, the change is visible on 2019-06-21, 00:00 (midnight) PST to users based in California.

Questions to Consider

Question	Considerations
Does your company need to opt into the time zone functionality?	If you do business across time zones, you probably want to set up time zone functionality and test it in your Preview tenant to see how it affects you.
How does your company define a worker's time zone?	A worker's time zone is the time zone associated with their primary location unless: Their time zone is edited using the Edit Worker Time Zone task. If you enter a time zone in this task, it isn't used for a worker's role-based security group membership. They don't have a position. Then, their time zone is the default of the tenant. There isn't a default time zone set up in the tenant. Then, their time zone is PST.
Can you override the time zone for particular business processes?	Workday doesn't automatically apply time zone to all business processes. You can enable administrators to override the default time zone on business process configuration tasks by selecting the Business Process Configuration Time Zone check box on the Edit Tenant Setup - System task.
Do you want custom reports to use PST for the effective moment?	(Available on reports that use standard data sources.) You can update custom reports to use Pacific Time for the effective moment on the report instead of an effective local date. Effective moment is when the transaction is effective. This option is applicable only when you enter an effective date when the report runs. You can select the Use Pacific Time Zone for Effective Moment check box when editing specific custom reports, or you can select the check box for multiple reports using the Mass Update Reports to Use Pacific Time Zone for Effective Moment task.

Recommendations

When you configure time zone options on the

Edit Tenant Setup - System

task, Workday recommends that you select:

Assignee Location

for the

Role Assignment Time Zone Option

option.

Event Related Time Zone

for the

Business Process Date Calculation Time Zone

option.

Business Process Configuration Time Zone

check box.

When you set up time zones in Workday, consider the different time zones that can affect when your actions become effective.

Setting	Description
User Time Zone	Workday associates a user with a time zone. The time zone defaults to the business site that the user belongs to. You can override a user's time zone by accessing the Edit Worker Time Zone task.
Location Time Zone	Workday associates a business or site with the tenant default time zone. You can override the default for individual locations when you create them or by accessing the Maintain Location Time Zone task.
Tenant Default Time Zone	A tenant in Workday is associated with a default time zone. Workday uses PST as the default tenant time zone. You can override the default for your tenant by accessing the Edit Tenant Setup - System task.

Requirements

Configuring your tenant to accommodate users that aren’t on PST is optional.

Limitations

Once you select a

Role Assignment Time Zone

, you can't revert to leaving the prompt blank, so test this in your tenant before implementing it in your production system.

Tenant Setup

Configure the

Time Zone Configuration

options on the

Edit Tenant Setup - System

task.

Security

When you assign these security groups to a user, the approval step routes to their managers at the appropriate time zone based on the

Role Assignment Time Zone

configuration on the

Edit Tenant Setup - System

task:

Any Organization Role Group.

Manager for Majority of Event Group.

Role-Based Security Group (Constrained).

Role-Based Security Group (Unconstrained).

When you assign roles to positions, the security group membership for that role takes effect as soon as the position is available in the time zone where it's located.

Business Processes

No impact to step delays in business processes.

Workday updates the snapshots on select staffing business processes based on the user's local date. This increases accuracy on certain transactions by removing delays for users that aren't on PST. Snapshots on these staffing business processes access the user's local date:

Add Additional Job

Add Retiree Status

Assign Pay Group

Change Default Compensation

Change Job

Change Organization Assignments for Worker

Close Evergreen Requisition

Close Job Requisition

Close Position

Compensation Change for Compensation Plan Event

Contact Change

Contract Contingent Worker

Create Position

Edit Job Requisition Additional Data

Edit Position

Edit Position Restrictions

Edit Position Restrictions Additional Data

Edit Worker Additional Data Event

Employee Contract

End Additional Job

End Contingent Worker Contract

End International Assignment

Evergreen Requisition

Evergreen Requisition Change

Freeze Job Requisition

Freeze Position

Hire

Job Requisition

Job Requisition Change

Legal name change

Manage Probation Period

Mass Correct of Hire Business Processes

Move Worker (By Organization)

Move Workers (By Organization)

Onboarding Setup

Payment Election Enrollment

Preferred name change

Propose Compensation Change

Propose Compensation Hire

Propose Compensation Offer/Employment Agreement

Propose Reimbursable Allowance Plan Assignments (Default Definition)

Request Compensation Change

Request One-Time Payment

Request One-Time Payment Offer/Employment Agreement

Requisition Compensation

Remove Retiree Status

Start International Assignment

Submit Resignation

Switch Primary Job

Termination

Title Change

Reporting

The

All Jobs

report on the worker profile displays information based on the accessing user's time zone.

Integrations

You can use the Core Connector: Global Worker integration template to create integration systems that:

Report data with effective moments applicable to a worker's local time zone.

Export the data in a Workday-defined XML format and deliver data files to an external endpoint.

Connections and Touchpoints

Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.

Concept: Core Connector: Global Worker

Reference: Edit Tenant Setup - System