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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-07-26
Setup Considerations: Mobile Applications

Setup Considerations: Mobile Applications

The solutions described in this section are not part of the Workday Service. See Legal Notice for details.
You can use this topic to help make decisions when planning your configuration and use of Workday on Android and iOS. It explains:
  • Why to set it up.
  • How it fits into the rest of Workday.
  • Downstream impacts and cross-product interactions.
  • 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 provides mobile applications so users can easily access and complete self-service tasks and view reports. Workday uses the same security model and applies the same feature configurations across all platforms. Setup for Workday mobile applications requires minimal mobile-specific configuration.

Business Benefits

Mobile apps increase productivity and are convenient for users who:
  • Don’t have consistent access to a desktop computer.
  • Frequently need to complete quick transactions. Examples: Employees checking in and out or managers approving time off.

Use Cases

Use cases for Workday mobile applications vary, depending on the products that your tenant uses. These are example use cases for some products with mobile feature availability:
Product
Example Use Case
Absence
Employees can request time off.
Managers can approve time off.
Analytics
Employees can access dashboards and reports.
Leaders can view metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Benefits
Employees can complete open enrollment.
Expenses
Employees can create expense reports and use their camera to scan receipts for expenses.
Human Capital Management
Employees can access worker information on worker profiles and view organization chart details.
Learning
Employees can view or create learning content.
Pay
Employees can view payslips.
Recruiting
Recruiters can access reports and tasks for managing candidates and open jobs.
Student
Students can enroll in classes, view their schedule and grades, and request transcripts.
Administrators can create student prospects, and add academic records and advising notes.
Talent and Performance
Employees and managers can view and complete performance reviews.
Time Tracking
Employees can check in or out, enter time, and view their work schedules.

Questions to Consider

Question
Considerations
How do your employees use Workday?
Consider the habits and needs of self-service users. They can benefit from mobile if your company has:
  • A workforce dispersed across many locations. Example: Companies in the retail industry.
  • Employees who don't have regular or reliable access to desktop computers.
  • Employees who need quicker options for accessing commonly used tasks.
  • Managers who are frequently away from the office and need to approve items in
    My Tasks
    .
Which authentication options are most practical for your company and users?
Review:
  • The mobile authentication options and the security policies for your company.
  • Existing Workday authentication policies for the desktop experience to understand how they might impact mobile authentication.
Single Sign-On (SSO) and multifactor authentication both require several steps for users to sign in and can make signing in more difficult for mobile users. Biometric authentication enables a more streamlined sign-in and better user experience for employees, while offering the same amount of security and protection as other authentication methods.
What data and device usage policies does your company have?
Consider whether to enable users to:
  • Access company information in Workday remotely or only on premises, using authentication policies with network restrictions.
  • Use their own mobile devices or managed devices. You can use authentication policies, tenant setup settings, and mobile device management (MDM) solutions to manage mobile usage and privileges.

Recommendations

Before enabling the mobile usage domains, Workday recommends that you set up:
  • Authentication for enhanced security and easier sign-in.
  • Push notifications to increase engagement and usage.
  • The new Absence Calendar Experience on desktop and mobile.

Requirements

Configure the mobile usage security domains to set up the mobile apps so users can access Workday on mobile.

Limitations

Because Workday designs mobile applications for the self-service user, not all features are available. Run the
List Tasks Available on Mobile
report to see which business processes and actions you can complete on each platform.
While the mobile apps have limited functionality, you can access features available on the Workday browser application. To access features on the Workday browser application, enter your tenant URL in a mobile web browser.

Tenant Setup

Access the
Mobile
section on the
Edit Tenant Setup - System
task to view mobile-specific tenant configuration options.
It's more common to control checking in and out with authentication policies instead of using the
Disable Check In/Out on Mobile
check box.
You can remove the
View PDF Statement
button from payslips using the
Disable Payslip Printing (Business Form)
check box on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
task.

Security

Users with access to these domains in the System functional area can sign in to Workday on a mobile device:
  • Mobile Usage - Android
  • Mobile Usage - iPad
  • Mobile Usage - iPhone
The Workday mobile applications don't store or cache any business data on mobile devices. They only store simple settings, such as the tenant web address and tenant name. An exception is when you view PDF or Excel files. Workday caches these files for the duration of your sign-in session. To restrict file export, you can create an authentication policy with an access restriction that excludes the export to PDF and Excel functionality. The other features commonly included in authentication policy network restrictions are:
  • Check in and check out.
  • Payment elections.

Business Processes

No impact.

Reporting

No impact.

Integrations

No impact.

Connections and Touchpoints

No impact.
Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships across your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.

Other Impacts

No impact.