Workday EIB - Inbound

EIB - Inbound

The Workday Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) tool provides an easy-to-use graphical and guided interface to define inbound and outbound integrations without requiring any programming. 

There are two types of EIBs - Inbound and Outbound. I encourage you to first read EIB Outbound. Here we will discuss about EIB Inbound.

The Inbound EIB is just like an Outbound EIB but the way of doing is just a mirror-image. When you want to load the data into Workday from different sources then you would use Inbound EIB. Bulk loads can be done through this EIB Inbounds.

Workday generates a default spreadsheet for the most common set of bulk update operations. These operations include mass payroll, time off, benefit adjustments, etc.

We need to download the generated spreadsheet, add data to it, and then use EIB to import it to the system and update all the records. If your data spreadsheet that you have loaded have any issues, it will notify you of any errors in the load process, and will even highlight which data in the input spreadsheet caused the issue.

Here are the three steps / phases involved in creating an Inbound EIB:

1. Get Data

Here in Get Data you define how you retrieve the data. This means how you input the data to workday. This Phase is very important as this defines how your transform and delivery phases are going to be, like what defaults it will pass on.

Below are the different formats that Workday accepts : Attach File at Launch, Amazon Simple Storage Service, FTP/SSL, REST URL, SFTP.

It is important to select the Web Service operation as to where exactly you want to load the data within Workday. For example if you are updating personal information or emergency contacts or one-time payments etc.,
Also there are different file types available to use

• Web Service Spreadsheet Template (Most commonly used), 
• Custom Object Spreadsheet Template (Used when loading the data for Custom Objects), 
• Predefined Template (less likely used)

2. Transform

Transform will be like using the default options, as this section depends up on the Get Data file type selection.

Custom Object Transformation - By Default and only option when selected Custom Object Spreadsheet Template in Get Data.
Template Model - By Default and only option when selected Web Service Spreadsheet Template in Get Data.

3. Deliver

Workday Web Service Operation is the default Delivery method for Web Services.

Custom Object is the default Delivery Method for Custom Objects.
Use the defaults and proceed.
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Once you configure your EIB, its time to generate the spreadsheet template.

Go to Related Actions >> Template Model >> Generate Spreadsheet Template.  -- This will generate the excel sheet for the Web Service that you have selected.

These delivered spreadsheets can also be customized so that you can specifically identify the columns you need, hide irrelevant fields, etc. Use the Edit and View options in the Template model to edit your spreadsheet template. Once you have your data ready in the spreadsheet, you can launch your integration with below navigation.

Go to Related Actions >> Integration >> Launch / Schedule >> Integration Attachment 
Value Type: Specify Value
Value: Create Integration Attachment -- Here you will attach your data spreadsheet

Configuration of a Sample Inbound EIB:

Create EIB Task

Guided Path:

Get Data

Set Web Service Operation in Get data

 Transform

Deliver

Generate Spreadsheet from Template Model

Additional Reads

Workday EIB Outbound
Workday EIB Interview Questions

Workday EIB - Outbound

EIB Outbound

The Workday Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) tool provides an easy-to-use graphical and guided interface to define inbound and outbound integrations without requiring any programming. 

There are two types of EIBs - Inbound and Outbound. Here we will discuss about EIB Outbound.

Outbound EIBs are used to extract data from the Workday system and send it to external system that could be a third party, vendor, legacy system or just a simple attachment. Mostly they are used to send a file to an external destination via ftp. 

Here are the three steps / phases involved in creating an Outbound EIB:

1. Get Data

In "Get Data" Phase, we will identify the data source. In 90% of the cases, this is will be a custom report and it should be an advanced report which acts as Report as a Service (RaaS). 

If you are specifying a Report Data Source, you can choose the format in which the report results can be delivered. 

Below are the different output formats: XML, simplified XML, CSV, JSON, GData, or RSS. 

You can also use Workday Web Service endpoint as the data source for an EIB.

2. Transform

This is used to transform the data from one format to other. You can either choose from the set of predefined (XSL) transforms, or specify a new one that you will define. The out-of-the-box options include transforms to CSV and Excel formats.This is an optional step if you do not want to transform anything. By default your EIB will produce an XML format.

When you use Custom Report as your Data source, you can make use of the Delivered Transformation or Custom Transformation. And when you use Web Service on the other hand, you will have only one option Custom Transformation.

Like said above, you can use None option if you don't want to transform.

New Custom Report Transformation: This is the delivered one's, it will allow you to use it for the first time, it will automatically create the transformation for your EIB. One you select this option, you will not see this later, It will become Custom Report Transformation.

Custom Report Transformation: Same as above. 

Custom Transformation: This is the custom transformation where you will write a XSLT for your XML and upload the same.

3. Deliver

The output resulting from executing the EIB can either be attached back to your tenant, or alternatively delivered to an external endpoint. 

Supported Delivery Methods are: Workday Attachment, FTP, HTTP/SSL, FTP/SSL, FTP, Email, AS2 

You can configure multiple delivery options for different tenants, For example - for production you may configure PGP Production Key and for non production tenants you may configure PGP non-Production Key. Additionally you can use Workday attachment to be delivered to the local tenant where the EIB is ran.

Configuration of a Sample Outbound EIB:

Create EIB task

Guided Path

Get Data

Transform

Deliver

Additional Reads:

Workday EIB Inbound

Workday EIB Interview Questions