Workday Data & Integration Specialist — Job Description
Duration:
- 3 months (if the person has knowledge of just Finance/Accounting module).
- 8 months (if the person meets all of the requirements).
Summary:
This contractor will serve as the Workday data and reporting expert embedded within the EBI team. The role has three core mandates:
- Build: Develop custom RaaS (Report as a Service) reports, web service integrations, and data extraction pipelines to move Workday data into the BI staging environment. The build must align with data warehousing needs/requirements.
- Map: Complete field-level source-to-target mapping between legacy systems (Great Plains, PeopleSoft, Taleo) and Workday objects/fields, including transformation logic and business rules.
- Transfer: Train and coach the existing BI team members to independently build, maintain, and govern Workday reports and data extractions, creating a sustainable internal capability.
Responsibilities:
Workday Data Extraction & Integration (50%)
- Design and build custom advanced (RaaS) reports in Workday to extract transactional and master data for BI consumption across HCM, Finance, Payroll, Recruiting, Benefits, Absence, and Learning modules.
- Configure Workday web service integrations for setup/reference data extraction (organizations, cost centers, companies, locations, job profiles).
- Resolve extraction limitations, including the matrix/composite report constraint for summarized financial data (GL balances, income statements, balance sheets) that cannot be exposed as RaaS.
- Collaborate with the BI integration team (via CData middleware) to validate that extracted data populates staging and fact tables correctly, with field-level accuracy.
- Document all custom reports, data sources used, calculated fields created, filters applied, and business logic embedded — to a standard sufficient for ongoing maintenance by staff.
Source-to-Target Mapping & Data Modeling Support (30%)
- Complete the Workday-side field mapping for all GP Finance fact tables, identifying which Workday field, data source, and report corresponds to each legacy staging table column.
- Extend the mapping to PeopleSoft HR, Taleo Recruiting, and D2L/Lambda Learning staging tables as modules come into scope.
- Support the Enterprise Data Architect in validating Workday metadata for the Microsoft Purview business glossary, including object definitions, field descriptions, and relationship context.
- Advise the data modeling team on Workday-specific nuances: effective-dated records, multi-instance relationships, supervisory org hierarchies, and cross-module joins that impact dimensional model design.
- Support data reconciliation between legacy reports and new Workday-sourced reports, identifying and resolving variances caused by differing business logic, field semantics, or aggregation rules.
Knowledge Transfer & Training (10%)
- Conduct structured hands-on training sessions for 4 BI team members on Workday Report Writer, data sources, business objects, calculated fields, and custom fields.
- Create internal reference documentation: a practical Workday reporting guide tailored to company configuration (not generic Workday training material).
- Pair-program with BI analysts on RaaS reports end-to-end, progressively transferring ownership so team members can build independently by month 4.
- Establish report development standards: naming conventions, security domain considerations, testing protocols, and change governance procedures.
Cross-Team Collaboration & Advisory (10%)
- Participate in CR20 and PFM integration meetings as the team internal Workday data subject matter expert, reducing dependency on PwC for data-level questions.
- Liaise with the PFM Workday configuration team on custom objects, calculated fields, and security domain changes that impact BI data extraction.
- Advise on the Unified Reporting Strategy decision framework: which reports belong in Workday native vs. Power BI, based on data source constraints and platform capabilities.
Required Qualifications:
Workday Technical Expertise:
Data Integration & Warehousing Knowledge:
- Strong understanding of data warehouse concepts: star schemas, fact tables, dimension tables, grain definition, slowly changing dimensions, and ETL/ELT patterns.
- Ability to perform source-to-target field mapping between legacy relational databases (SQL Server, GP Dynamics, PeopleSoft) and Workday’s object model.
- Familiarity with data reconciliation techniques — comparing legacy report outputs against new-source outputs to identify and resolve variances.
Professional Skills:
- Exceptional documentation skills — able to produce clear, maintainable technical documentation that a non-Workday specialist can follow.
- Strong teaching and coaching ability — comfortable leading hands-on training sessions and pair-programming with analysts of varying technical backgrounds.
- Self-directed and able to work independently with minimal supervision in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
- Effective communicator across technical and business audiences — able to translate Workday platform constraints into business impact language for stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with Workday implementations in Canadian healthcare or not-for-profit organizations.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Power BI, Azure SQL Managed Instance, or Microsoft Fabric as downstream BI/data platforms.
- Knowledge of Workday Prism Analytics for curated dataset preparation.
- Experience with Microsoft Purview or similar data governance/metadata management tools.
- Prior experience working alongside PwC, Deloitte, or other Big Four implementation partners in a Workday engagement.
- Workday Pro certification in Reporting or Integrations.
Key Deliverables (6-Month Engagement) – subject to change. Provided to demonstrate a subset of the deliverables:
- Timeline | Deliverable | Success Criteria
Month 1: Complete GP Finance RaaS reports (7 fact tables) and validate data extraction through CData into staging. | All 7 GP fact tables populated with validated field-level accuracy. - Month 2: Complete PeopleSoft HR core staging table extractions (employee, position, organization, compensation). Resolve GL Summary matrix report constraint. | HR staging tables populated. Summarization workaround validated with finance team.
- Month 3: Extend to Recruiting (Taleo equivalent) and Learning (Lambda equivalent) modules. Complete source-to-target mapping documentation for all modules. | All PFM Phase 1 modules have validated extraction pipelines. Mapping document complete.
- Month 4: Conduct structured training sessions. Begin pair-programming handover of report ownership to BI team members. | At least 2 BI team members can independently build a basic RaaS report.
- Month 5: Support data reconciliation testing (legacy vs. Workday-sourced reports). Resolve variances. Support PFM go-live readiness. | Critical reports produce equivalent outputs from Workday source. Go-live sign-off criteria met.
- Month 6: Finalize documentation. Complete knowledge transfer. Establish report governance framework and handover to BAU team. | All documentation delivered. BI team self-sufficient for report maintenance. Governance framework approved.
MUST HAVE SKILLS (mandatory):
Integration from Data from Workday; Understanding of Workday Data Structures and Object Models within:
- Finance (finance/account/billing modules).
- If the person has the following, then eligible for the 8 months contract: working understanding of HCM, LMS and Recruitment modules.
- Finance and accounting concepts (mandatory).
Very important, but not mandatory:
- Finance: Great Plains.
- HR: PeopleSoft, Taleo.
Please review JD before apply.