Workday Reporting
Reporting Basics Refresher
At Sequoia Solutions, we open a lot of existing reports before we ever build a new one, and similar patterns show up consistently. Someone needs headcount by department, and what they've got is an Advanced Report listing every employee record, exported to Excel and pivoted by hand every time the number is needed. Advanced Reports are the default most admins reach for, even if they're not the right tool for the question being asked.
Report Types and Usage
Rosters and logs
Advanced Reports
Advanced Reports return a list of individual records matching a set of criteria where every employee where X, every transaction where Y. They're built for rosters and transaction logs, not for summarizing or grouping data on their own. If the output needs pivoting once it lands in Excel, that's usually a sign the wrong report type was used to begin with.
Grouping and totals
Matrix Reports
Matrix Reports work like a pivot table inside Workday. They group data into rows and columns and aggregate it directly. Headcount by organization, location, or job level, or any breakdown across a dimension, belongs here rather than in an Advanced Report someone reshapes afterward.
Several metrics, one view
Composite Reports
Composite Reports combine several Matrix, Advanced, or Trending reports into a single view. They're often the right choice in instances where a handful of related metrics need to sit side by side, rather than living in five separate reports someone has to open one at a time. An example, creating an income statement that compares the actuals and plan data so that you can drill down on the data by ledger account and region.
Where Reports Commonly Go Wrong
A few habits show up across most tenants, independent of industry or size:
Advanced Reports get built for questions that needed a Matrix Report instead, shifting the aggregation work into Excel and turning a two-minute answer into a recurring manual task.
Reports carry a dozen or more calculated fields with nested logic, which slows them down to the point of running for minutes or timing out. That logic usually belongs in a Business Object Calculated Field, or the report needs to be broken apart.
Date ranges get hard coded into filters instead of built as prompts, so the report has to be edited every single reporting cycle just to keep working.
Reports get tested against a small sample and pass, then time out once they run against actual production volume.
Ask Yourself
- How many of your Advanced Reports get exported to Excel and pivoted by hand before anyone can use the number?
- Do any of your reports need to be manually edited each cycle because the date range is hard coded rather than prompted?
- Have your calculated-field-heavy reports been tested against full production volume, or only a sample?
How Sequoia Solutions Can Help
We help clients match the report to the question instead of defaulting to whichever type they're most familiar with. That includes:
- Reviewing your existing report inventory to find where an Advanced Report is doing a Matrix Report's job and rebuilding it.
- Standardizing report tags and naming conventions, keeping your custom report inventory searchable and organized as it grows.
- Moving calculated-field logic into Business Object Calculated Fields to bring long-running reports back to a usable speed.
- Converting hard-coded filters into prompts, so a report keeps working cycle after cycle without edits.
- Building custom dashboards that consolidate the metrics leadership is already requesting separately.
If your team exports reports to Excel to get an answer a report should hand them directly, that's worth fixing.
Have a Workday question this raised?
Spend thirty minutes with someone who actually does the work. Bring a Workday problem, or a question you haven’t been able to settle internally.