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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-02-06
Steps: Set Up Supplier Connector for Strategic Sourcing

Steps: Set Up Supplier Connector for Strategic Sourcing

In Workday:
In Strategic Sourcing:
The Supplier Connector synchronizes suppliers and supplier information between Workday and Strategic Sourcing.
We recommend that you onboard new suppliers through Strategic Sourcing. You can use the standard onboarding form to capture supplier information such as addresses, bank details, and tax details. When you approve suppliers in Strategic Sourcing, the connector syncs them to Workday as inactive suppliers and initiates the approval process.
For best results, we recommend that you:
  • Use the standard onboarding form to onboard suppliers.
  • Enable suppliers to edit their own information on onboarding forms.
Once you approve a supplier, Workday is the source of truth. When you update any shared fields, update them in Workday, with 2 exceptions:
  • You can edit supplier contact details in either Workday or Strategic Sourcing after you sync the supplier.
  • Suppliers can edit their information in Strategic Sourcing. The connector can sync these changes to Workday and initiate the change approval process.
You run this integration twice on an ad hoc basis as part of the setup:
  • Once with certain settings to verify the connection to Strategic Sourcing.
  • A second time with different settings to synchronize all existing supplier information.
After these 2 runs, you set up a regular schedule to synchronize information that changed since the previous run.
You must have the supplier_classifications_wday feature flag enabled to sync diversity information between Strategic Sourcing and Workday. Submit a Customer Care case to request to enable this flag.
  1. (Optional) Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) for Strategic Sourcing.
    When you use the standard onboarding form to onboard suppliers, set up SSO.
    You must configure SSO and a tenant mapping connection in order to use the Unified Supplier Portal.
    See Steps: Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) for Workday Strategic Sourcing.
  2. (Optional) In Workday, access the
    Maintain Supplier Classifications
     task.
    To sync supplier diversity information between Workday and Strategic Sourcing, set up diversity classifications in Workday.
    Assign the Workday-delivered
    Diversity
     supplier classification category to any new or existing classifications that you want to use to track supplier diversity. Examples:
    Minority-Owned
     and
    Small Business
    .
    Configure each diversity classification on a separate row in the
    Classification Name
     column with the
    Diversity
     classification category. Workday doesn't recommend configuring multiple classifications in a single row using the
    Supplier Classification Type
     column.
    If you set a diversity classification as
    Inactive
     in Workday, you must remove that diversity classification from all Strategic Sourcing suppliers. You must also remove it from your diversity settings in Strategic Sourcing to prevent integration sync errors.
    When you set up diversity classifications for an existing integration, perform a full sync of all supplier data before running your normal integration schedule.
  3. (Optional) Access the
    Maintain Contact Types
     task.
    Map configured contact types to the Supplier Contact role. After you run the integration, all contact types mapped to the
    Supplier Contact
     option assigned in Workday become available for use in Strategic Sourcing. When a contact type is in use, you can't remove it from
    Maintain Contact Types
    .
    Security:
    Set Up: Supplier
     domain in the Suppliers functional area.
  4. Configure an Integration System User (ISU) and grant the integration Get and Put access to these domains:
    • Integration Event
       in the Integration functional area.
    • Set Up: Supplier Contacts
       in the Suppliers functional area.
  5. Create an unconstrained integration system security group. Add the ISU to the security group.
  6. From the related actions menu of the security group, select
    Security Group
    Maintain Domain Permissions
    .
    Assign these permissions:
    Option Description
    Domain Security Policies Permitting Modify Access
    Reports: Supplier
    Set Up: Supplier
    Domain Security Policies Permitting View Access
    Reports: Supplier
    Set Up: Supplier
    Domain Security Policies Permitting Put Access
    Set Up: Supplier
    Set Up: Supplier Contacts
     (when the domain doesn't inherit permissions from
    Set Up: Supplier
    )
    Domain Security Policies Permitting Get Access
    Reports: Supplier
    Set Up: Currencies
    Set Up: Settlement
    Set Up: Supplier
    Set Up: Supplier Accounts
    Set Up: Supplier Categories
    Set Up: Supplier Maintenance
    Security:
    Security Configuration
     domain in the System functional area.
  7. Edit the security policy for the
    Supplier Event
     business process definition.
    Give your security group access to the
    Submit Supplier
     web service as an initiating action.
  8. Access the
    Activate Pending Security Policy Changes
     task.
    Security:
    • Customer Central Security Administration
       domain in the Customer Central functional area.
    • Security Activation
       domain in the System functional area.
  9. From the
    Scope (Functional Areas)
     prompt, select
    Integration
     and
    Suppliers
    .
    Make a note of the
    Client ID
     and
    Client Secret
    .
  10. From the related actions menu of the API client, access the
    Manage Refresh Tokens for Integrations
     task.
    From the
    Workday Account
     prompt, select your ISU.
    Generate a new
    Refresh Token
     and make a note of it.
    Security:
    Security Administration
     domain in the System functional area.
  11. Create Integration System.
    Select the
    Supplier Onboarding (WSS)
     integration template.
    Enable optional integration services:
    • Supplier Onboarding (WSS) Change Detection
       configures the integration to only transfer suppliers that are new or changed since the last integration run. To improve performance, we recommend that you enable this service on your regular scheduled integration runs.
      Workday doesn't recommend running the integration as back dated. If you back date the integration, it impacts the existing supplier data.
    • To WSS
       transfers supplier information from Workday to Strategic Sourcing.
    • From WSS
       transfers supplier information from Strategic Sourcing to Workday.
  12. From the related actions menu of the integration system, select
    Integration
    Configure Integration Attributes
    .
    As you complete the grid, consider:
    Integration Attribute
    Description
    Verify Connection and format WSS configuration
    When you enable this attribute, Workday verifies the connection to the Strategic Sourcing endpoint and formats Strategic Sourcing custom fields for integration mapping. The integration doesn't transfer any supplier information.
    Enable this attribute when you run the integration for the first time.
    Disable this attribute for other runs.
    Workday API Client ID
    Enter the client ID that you generated on the
    Register API Client for Integrations
     task.
    Workday API Client Secret
    Enter the client secret that you generated on the
    Register API Client for Integrations
     task.
    Workday API Refresh Token
    Enter the refresh token that you generated on the
    Manage Refresh Tokens for Integrations
     task.
    User Email
    Enter the email address from your user profile in Strategic Sourcing. The address must match the email associated with your user and company API tokens.
    API-key
    Enter your company API token from Strategic Sourcing.
    User Token
    Enter your user token from Strategic Sourcing.
    segmentation_status
    Enable this attribute to approve suppliers automatically in Strategic Sourcing if they’re approved in Workday.
    We recommend that you enable this attribute.
    description
    Select a value from Workday to display in the
    Description
     field in the supplier directory and on supplier profiles in Strategic Sourcing.
    We recommend that you select
    Supplier ID
    .
    Enable Supplier Event BP
    Select to initiate the
    Supplier Event
     business process in Workday automatically when you transfer suppliers from Strategic Sourcing.
    You can't enable this attribute and the
    Save Supplier for Later
     attribute at the same time.
    Don't enable this attribute when you want to transfer onboarded suppliers in
    Approved
     status.
    Save Supplier for later
    Select to create suppliers in
    Draft
     status when the integration transfers them from Strategic Sourcing to Workday.
    Don't enable this attribute when you want to transfer onboarded suppliers in
    Approved
     status.
    Enable Supplier Change Event BP
    Select to initiate the
    Supplier Change Event
     business process in Workday automatically when a supplier changes in Strategic Sourcing.
    approval status
    Select to only transfer suppliers that have certain approval statuses.
    For the initial supplier sync, we recommend that you only select the
    APPROVED
     option. After the first sync, we recommend you select the
    DENIED
     option also.
    supplier status
    Select to only sync suppliers that have certain statuses.
    For the initial supplier sync, we recommend that you only select the
    Active
     option. After the first sync, we recommend you select the
    Inactive
     and
    Hold
     options also.
    Security:
    Integration: Build
     and
    Integration: Configure
     domains in the Integration functional area.
  13. Run the integration once with the
    Verify Connection and format WSS configuration
     integration attribute enabled.
    After verifying the connection, don't change any
    Field Type
     options in the
    Onboarding Profile Fields
     settings in Strategic Sourcing until you finish setting up the regular integration schedule.
  14. (Optional) When you use the standard onboarding form to collect supplier data in Strategic Sourcing, access
    Settings
     in Strategic Sourcing.
    Access
    Supplier Profile
    Onboarding Profile Fields
     and ensure that any fields required to create suppliers in Workday are also required on the onboarding form.
  15. (Optional) When you use custom bank account validations in Workday, test that the validations synced to Strategic Sourcing.
    In Workday, edit the
    Self-Service: Account
     domain security policy and ensure that all users have
    View
     and
    Modify
     permissions for reports and tasks.
    In Strategic Sourcing, access the supplier directory. Create a new supplier record, then navigate to the
    General Profile
    .
    To test your custom validations:
    1. Approve the supplier.
    2. Access the
      Banking Information
       and select a
      Bank Account Country
      .
    3. Enter invalid values in fields for which you configured custom validations on the
      Edit Payee Bank Account Validation Override
       task in Workday. Ensure that the validations display.
    Ensure that Strategic Sourcing displays the same required and optional fields that you see when creating a supplier in Workday.
    Don’t save the supplier.
  16. After verifying the connection, perform an initial sync of supplier data:
    • Edit the integration attributes to disable
      Verify Connection and format WSS configuration
      .
    • Change the
      approval status
       and
      supplier status
       integration attributes to only transfer suppliers that are currently active and approved.
    • Run the integration a second time.
    After the initial sync of supplier data, configure the integration to run regularly:
    • For better performance, edit the integration to enable the
      Supplier Onboarding (WSS) Change Detection
       integration service.
    • Edit the
      approval status
       and
      supplier status
       integration attributes to include relevant changes in status, such as suppliers that you deny or set as inactive after the initial sync.
    • Set up your regular integration schedule.
    We recommend that you schedule the integration to run every hour when you enable suppliers to edit their own information.
Once configured and scheduled, the integration regularly synchronizes new or changed supplier information between Workday and Strategic Sourcing.
When you delete an attachment from the
Attachments
 section on the
General Profile
 in Workday Strategic Sourcing, the attachment isn't removed from the Workday supplier attachments and the other way around.
To perform an ad hoc full sync of all supplier data, see Example: Synchronize All Supplier Data Between Workday and Strategic Sourcing.