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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-06-27
Configure Generated Documents

Configure Generated Documents

  • Add a Generate Document
    Action
     step to a business process.
  • Security: These domains in the System functional area:
    • Business Process Administration
      .
    • Manage: Business Process Definitions
      .
You can use an
Action
 step in a business process to dynamically create documents such as employment agreements and offer letters using customizable templates. When you dynamically generate documents, you can also use a
Review Documents
 step to distribute them. Each
Review Documents
 step enables you to distribute 1 generated document. When you add a
Review Documents
 step, the
Action
 step must precede it in the business process definition.
You must configure the
Action
 and
Review Documents
 steps when you add them to a business process definition. You can assign the
Generate Document
 action step to any security group that is on the initiating actions of the business process where a
Generate Document
 step is added.
You can correct business processes that include an
Action
 step to generate documents. When you correct the business process:
  • Before Workday executes the generate document step, Workday displays the corrected values in the generated document.
  • When the generate document step is in progress or completed, Workday doesn’t display the corrected values in the generated document.
You can't include
Generate Document
 in
Consolidated Approval
 and
Consolidated Approval Chain
 step types.
You can add a
Generate Document
 action step to model business processes that you create in Workday Extend.
To enable Workday Extend, contact your Customer Base Account Executive. Workday Extend is a separate product (SKU) that requires a separate license. Workday Extend enables you to build, deploy, and share apps that run on Workday and are tailored to the specific business needs of your enterprise.
  1. Select
    Business Process
    Edit Definition
     from the related actions menu of the business process.
  2. Add an
    Action
     step and select
    Generate Document
     from the
    Specify
     prompt.
  3. (Optional) Add a
    Review Documents
     step.
    This step must come after the generate document
    Action
     step in the business process definition step order.
  4. Click
    Configure Generate Document
    .
  5. As you complete the task, consider:
    Option Description
    Time Zone
    You can only enter a time zone when you select the
    Business Process Configuration Time Zone
     option on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - System
     task.
    When you enter:
    • The current date, changes take effect on the day of processing in the specified time zone. Users in other time zones see the changes at 00:00 (midnight).
    • A future date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at midnight on that date and at the corresponding date and time in other time zones.
    • A past date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at 23:59:59 on the specified date and at the corresponding date and time in other time zones.
    Default Document
    The
    Default Document
     prompt contains only documents that are effective as of the effective date of the step configuration and have the same source as the business process type.
    Step Label Override
    (Optional) You can change the name on the label for certain business process steps.
    Run As User
    This user must be:
    • A member of a user-based security group secured to the
      Document Generation Results
       domain.
    • An integration system user belonging to an integration system security group (unconstrained) secured to the
      Document Generation Results
       domain.
    Recipients of this document view the report field data with the security granted to the selected
    Run As User
    .
    The integration system user must have
    View All
     permission of the business processes that includes the
    Generate Documents
     step. Otherwise, the step doesn't generate a document and the business process is awaiting action by a user that doesn't have a task to complete in My Tasks.
  6. Click
    Configure Document Review
    .
    This step is required when you add a
    Review Documents
     step.
  7. As you configure the document review, consider:
    Option Description
    Document Effective As Of
    Select an appropriate event, such as
    Original Hire Date
    .
    Document
    Select a Document Template or a Generate Document Step.
    When you configure multiple documents on a
    Review Documents
     step, you can select only 1 of these document types from the prompt:
    • Document Template.
    • Generate Document
      Action
       step.
    • Report.
    After you select any 1 of these document types, Workday no longer displays the selected document type in the
    Document
     prompt.
When a recipient doesn't receive an expected document for review in My Tasks, access the
Process Monitor
 report to find business process types that are associated with a
Review Documents
 step to determine if there are any errors.
When a
Generate Document
 event doesn't complete successfully, select
Business Process
Relaunch Generate Document
 as a related action from the failed
Generate Document
 event.