Reference: Choose a Distribution Method

Workday provides a variety of report formats, and selecting the appropriate one is a critical step in delivering meaningful data to end-users. Each format, from Dashboards to Worklets, offers distinct benefits in terms of data visualization and functionality, but also comes with specific limitations and design considerations. Understanding these trade-offs is essential for building reports that are not only powerful but also efficient and easy to maintain.

The table below lists some of the features of these reporting formats:

Report Format	Benefits	Limitations	Comments
Worklets	Are accessible from the home page. Enable users to review information relevant to them, such as their team's performance, their own tasks, or reports related to their specific role. Enable users to either use Workday-delivered worklets or the flexibility to create custom worklets from Advanced, Composite, Matrix, nBox, Transposed, and Trending report types.	Must create custom worklets first. Display snapshots of current data. Require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure the information remains accurate and relevant.	Worklets provide users with quick access to the most critical information, such as: Key performance indicators related to a user's role or department. Snapshot of important data, such as open tasks, budget status, or team performance. Monitor progress toward goals or deadlines. Alerts to time-sensitive information or critical issues. Overusing worklets can crowd the Workday Home page. We recommend using dashboards to group related worklets as an effective way to manage the clutter.
Discovery Boards	Offer a high degree of flexibility in how you can present data. Can be shared with individuals or groups with either view-only or edit access, governed by Workday's security model. Provide a drag-and-drop interface that enables users to perform unplanned analysis. Let you drill down to view the details of summarized data. Provide access to real-time data, so reports are always up-to-date. Are relatively easy to learn and use. Can combine data from various Workday sources and integrate external data using Prism Analytics, giving you a holistic view of your organization's performance. Can be easily shared and collaborated on, improving communication and data-driven decision-making across teams. Can pivot on data in real time, enabling you to render data from different angles without reconfiguring a traditional report.	Not available on mobile devices. Unsuitable for highly structured or formal reports that need specific formatting or regulatory compliance. Limited options for scheduling and automated distribution. Might lead to inconsistent data presentation across the organization due to varying visualization styles and interpretations. Potential performance issues, especially with large datasets, when building Discovery Boards that use multiple data sources and visualizations. Workday recommends limiting a single Discovery Board to no more than 15 sheets.	Workday Discovery Boards are a valuable tool for distributing reports, particularly when interactivity, visualization, and data exploration are key. But also consider the potential drawbacks and whether they align with your specific reporting needs and organizational context. Dashboards provide users with a quick overview of key metrics, enabling users to instantly identify areas requiring operational adjustments.
Dashboards	Are accessible from the Home page. Suitable for highly structured and formal reporting needs. Enable users to not only view the data, but also take immediate action on it. Can be viewed on mobile. Are secured by domains to protect confidential information. Enable users to: View data that is most relevant to them from multiple reports in 1 place. Present a curated set of reports and metrics that can be displayed as worklets on the dashboard. Slice, dice, and drill down to data to explore trends and perform their own analysis. Update in real time. Use and customize Workday-delivered standard dashboards. View key metrics and reports from a centralized location. Add Announcements, keeping end users informed about report updates and providing links to user guides Communicate complex data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format. Seamlessly integrate with other Workday applications and workflows.	Are restricted to: 6 tabs, with each tab containing 6 worklets (reports). Number of lines of data that are available on the dashboard. Aren't as flexible as custom reports in terms of formatting and layout. Must implement proper security measures to protect confidential information. Must render in less than 30 seconds to be effective; otherwise, they will time out.	When configuring dashboards, consider the: Audience Level of customization required. Sensitivity of the shared data. Carefully consider access control and data security when sharing sensitive information through dashboards.
Scheduling Reports	Enable users to schedule: Automatic report generation and distribution, ensuring stakeholders receive reports promptly and consistently. Multiple reports with a report group. Reports to run at specific intervals (daily, weekly, monthly) or triggered by events. Each time a scheduled report runs, it generates a new output file, which can be retained for a specified number of days. This creates a historical record that is easy to track. Deliver scheduled reports to a broad audience through various channels, including email, in-app notifications, and external systems through integrations. Generate a new version with each scheduled report, making it easy to track changes and access historical data. Provide a consistent and reliable flow of information, reducing the risk of delays or missed deadlines.	Lose Workday reporting functionality, including charting, Group By options, and the ability to drill into details. Schedules expire and must be recreated. Delivered in static formats (such as PDF or Excel), which limits recipients' ability to interact with the data, drill down, or apply filters. Although reports are generated on a schedule, the data might not be real time, meaning users might see delays between data updates and report delivery. Require appropriate security measures to protect sensitive data within reports, especially when sent through email or external systems. Need ongoing maintenance to ensure accuracy, relevance, and proper delivery, including updating report parameters, recipient lists, and delivery schedules as necessary.	Scheduling reports in Workday is a valuable tool for automating delivery and improving efficiency. It's particularly useful for routine reports with a fixed format and a wide audience. Configure security settings appropriately to ensure that sensitive data in scheduled reports is only accessible to authorized individuals. Be aware that when you share a scheduled report output, you are authorizing the specified users to view the data exactly as yourself, regardless of the authorized users' own security permissions.
Worksheets Templates	Can be viewed on mobile. Provide a high degree of flexibility in designing and formatting reports. Enable scalable distribution while maintaining data security. When a user opens the template, the template queries the source system and only populates the data allowed by that user's security permissions. Deliver report results based on the end user’s security permissions. Enable users to: Drill down to view details of summary data. Slice and dice the data to perform their own analysis. Use formulas, macros, charts, pivot tables, and conditional formatting to create highly customized reports. Decide when to refresh data in the reports.	Only supports Advanced, Matrix, and Composite Report Types. Can distribute to both constrained and unconstrained security groups with a limitation that when a user generates a workbook, Workday respects the users' security. Can't propagate changes made to the template to existing workbooks when users generate a workbook from a template. Users must generate a new version to observe the updates. Can be time-consuming and inefficient to distribute recurring reports created with Worksheet Templates, as users typically manually download and share them. Can be challenging to maintain version control and ensure everyone is using the latest version. Lack the dynamic visualization and drill-down capabilities of Discovery Boards. Require manual data refreshes.	Consider Worksheet templates for distributing reports when advanced formatting, data manipulation, and offline access are important. Carefully consider access control and security measures when sharing templates containing sensitive data. Choose the distribution method that best aligns with your reporting needs and user capabilities. When you share the template, you are giving users access to the template file itself, including the structure, formulas, and links to the underlying reports. Security is enforced when a user runs the template to generate their own workbook. At that moment, Workday executes the reports embedded in the template using the security profile of that specific user.
Slides	Enable users to: Create professional and polished reports that they can share with other users by adding context, explanations, and insights about the data. Add charts, graphs, text, animations, and embedded videos to enhance engagement and understanding. Share summarized data or key metrics with a broad audience (example: executives or managers) without giving them access to the detailed, transactional data in the source report. Export data into common presentation formats such as PowerPoint or Google to leverage advanced features of those tools. Access slides and view them offline once they're exported or generated.	Aren't available on mobile. Enable users to control what data is shared and is independent of the viewer’s security. Lack the interactive elements of Workday dashboards or Discovery Boards, limiting the user's ability to explore data and drill down into details. Can be time-consuming to create slide decks from Workday reports, especially for recurring reports. Must manually update data in exported slides, which can lead to outdated information if not done regularly. Best suited for presenting summarized information and key insights. Presenting large datasets in slide format can be overwhelming and difficult to comprehend. Workday plans to retire this functionality with the 2026-10-16 service update. See Workday Slides.	Workday Slides is the ideal choice when the primary goal is to present a data-driven narrative. They are a good option for distributing Workday reports for board meetings, quarterly business reviews, and executive summaries where context and storytelling are as important as the data itself. It's less suitable for operational reporting or deep-dive analysis where users need to interact with and explore the data on their own. The process is more manual and might not be suitable for all types of reports. Consider the level of interactivity, data complexity, and your audience's needs when choosing this approach.