Using Workday actions in action flows



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By connecting the action builder to external systems, such as Workday, admins
can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows, improving
collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.
Note: The
steps associated with external systems in action flows are referred to collectively
as external actions.

This article contains the following topics:
Connecting Workday to action builder
Using Workday actions in action flows
Recipe: Notifying managers when a request for hardware is approved




Connecting Workday to action builder

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the
action builder to the external system.
When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:
All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.
All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.
When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.



To connect Workday to the action builder

Create an OAuth client in
Workday.

Use the OAuth client to
connect Workday to the action builder. After you've connected
to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and details
about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available
for Workday.

(Optional) Configure Workday to allow contact information to be updated
through REST API requests.




Creating an OAuth client in Workday

Workday uses OAuth 2.0 for authorization. A Workday administrator must
set up an OAuth 2.0 client in Workday to provide Zendesk secure access to your
data in Workday.

To set up an OAuth 2.0 client in Workday
Sign into your Workday account as an administrator.
In the Workday search bar, type Edit Tenant Setup - Security, then select the matching option from the search results list.
Scroll down to the OAuth 2.0 Settings section and turn on the OAuth 2.0 configuration.
Configure the API client:

Search: Select Register API Client.

Client Name: Enter a meaningful name for your client, such as Zendesk
connection.

Client Grant Type: Choose Authorization Code. See OAuth 2.0 Security Best Current Practice for more information about grant types.

Client Redirect URL: Enter
https://zis.zendesk.com/api/services/zis/connections/oauth/callback




Use the API scopes field to specify the following permissions for the app to access Workday data:
System
Staffing
Time off and leave

Home Contact Information


Work Contact Information



Click Save.
After saving, securely save the following generated values that appear in Workday. These are required for connection, authentication, and token generation.
Client ID
Client Secret
Note: The Client Secret displays only once. Copy and save it in a secure
location, such as a password manager.

Token Endpoint URL
Authorization Endpoint URL
Workday REST API URL




Note: If an Admin changes the password in Workday, the OAuth2 client stops functioning. When this happens, you must remove the existing connection and set it up again.




Connecting Workday to the action builder

After creating the Workday OAuth 2.0 client, you have the information necessary
to connect Workday to action builder.

To connect action builder to Workday
In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action
flows.

Create or edit an action flow.
Open the step sidebar.
Under External actions, click Workday.
Click Connect.
Enter the following values from the Workday OAuth client in the corresponding
fields:
Client ID
Client Secret
Token Endpoint URL
Authorization Endpoint URL
Workday REST API URL



Follow Workday's prompts to authenticate and complete the
connection.
Note: All external actions performed by an action flow
are attributed to the user who connected the external system.
Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service account
rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.






Configuring Workday to allow REST API updates to contact information

Before you can use the Contact information action, you must configure
Workday to allow users' contact information to be updated by the API. To do
this, grant permission to a security group to update employee contact
information using the Workday REST API.
The following requirements must be met to configure this:
Admin-level access to Workday security and business process
policies
A security group exists or is created for the service account
All changes are tested in a sandbox environment first



To configure Workday to allow API updates to user contact information
In Workday, run the Maintain Permissions for Security Group
task.
Select the security group you want to allow to use the API to update
contact information.
For the Person Data: Home Contact Information and Person Data:
Work Contact Information domains, add the following
permissions:
View and Modify
Get and Put


Run Activate Pending Security Policy Changes to publish the
domain-level permission updates.
Open your Business Process Security Policy for Work Contact
Change to edit it.
Under Initiating Action > Change Work Contact Information (REST
Service), add the security group you just granted permission to
use the API to update contact information.
Click Save.
Open your Business Process Security Policy for Home Contact
Change to edit it.
Under Initiating Action > Change Home Contact Information (REST
Service), add the security group you just granted permission to
use the API to update contact information.
Click Save.
Run Activate Pending Security Policy Changes to publish the
updates.






Using Workday actions in action flows

Workday action steps can be used to look up employee details and submit time off
requests.
The following Workday actions are available:
Look up worker
Request time off
Manage primary home
email
Manage primary home
phone
Manage primary work
email
Manage primary work
phone




Looking up an employee

Use the Look up worker action to retrieve the personal and employment data
for an individual employee.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID or Work email
address



Output
The employee's personnel data








Requesting time off

Use the Request time off action to submit time off requests in Workday on
behalf of employees.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID, Request
date, Time off type, Daily
quantity
Note: Dates must be formatted as
YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDhh:mm and in the Workday
account's timezone.
(Optional) Start
date, End date,
Comment



Output
Request ID








Managing a user's primary home email address

Use the Manage primary home email action to update a user's primary home
email address.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID, Home
email (Optional) Comment,
Public visibility



Output

Request status, Updated primary
home email









Managing a user's primary home phone number

Use the Manage primary home phone action to update a user's primary home
phone number.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID, Home phone
number, Country,
Device type (Optional) Public
visibility



Output

Request status, Updated primary
home phone number









Managing a user's primary work email address

Use the Manage primary work email action to update a user's primary work
email address.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID, Work
email (Optional) Comment,
Public visibility



Output

Request status, Updated primary
work email









Managing a user's primary work phone number

Use the Manage primary work phone action to update a user's primary work
phone number.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Worker ID, Work phone
number, Country,
Device type (Optional) Public
visibility



Output

Request status, Updated primary
work phone number










Recipe: Notifying managers when a request for hardware is approved

The following example action flow automatically sends an email notification to an
employee's manager when a Zendesk ticket requesting new hardware, such as a laptop,
is approved.

To create an action flow that automatically notifies managers when their
employee's request for hardware is approved

Add an action flow trigger with
the following details:
Click Add trigger.
In the step sidebar, under Zendesk, click
Tickets.
Click Properties and select Ticket tags changed.
Click Add condition.
Under Variable, click Ticket tags changed and select
Tags (added).
Set the Operator to Contains at least 1 of.
Under Value, enter approved.


Add a step to look up user details in
Zendesk:
In the action builder, beneath the action flow trigger, click the
Add step icon ( ).
In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up
user.
Under Ticket ID, click into the field and then click
Select a variable instead.
Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the
step that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
Requester ID.


Add a step to look up details about the ticket requester in Workday:
In the action builder, click the Add step icon ( ).
In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up
worker.
Under User ID type, select Zendesk user ID.
For User ID, click Add variable.
Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the
step that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
Requester ID.


Add a step to retrieve the employee's data in Workday:
In the action builder, click the Add step icon ( ).
In the step sidebar, under External actions, click
Workday and then select Look up worker.
Under Employee email, click Add variable .
Within the variable menu, select Look up user as the step
that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select Work
email.


Add a step to send an email notification to the
employee's manager:
In the action builder, click the Add step icon ( ).
In the step sidebar, under External actions, click
Microsoft Outlook and then select Send email.
Under Recipient email, click Add variable.
Within the variable menu, select Look up worker as the step
that outputs the variable, and then select Supervisor's
email.
Under Subject, enter the subject of the email. For example:
"Update: Laptop request for Employee Name" where Employee
Name is a variable from the Look up user step.
Under Body, enter the message you want to send to the
employee's supervisor. Include relevant information as variables
from the Look up user and Look up worker steps, respectively, to
streamline their ability to solve the ticket. In the following
example, all variables are
italicized: Hi Look up worker > Supervisor Name,
Your team member, Look up user > Name (employee ID: Look up worker > ID), will be issued a
(Ticket tags changed > Laptop make) laptop in the next five days.

Note: To
make the laptop information available for use as variables in
the action flow, that information must be configured as a ticket
field.



Add a step that updates the ticket with a copy of
the email sent to the supervisor:
In the action builder, click the Add step icon ( ).
In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, select Update
ticket.
Under Ticket ID, click Add variable.
Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the
step that outputs the variable, and then select Ticket
ID.
Under Additional fields, select Comment and Comment
is public.
Under Comment, copy and paste the Body value from the
send email step.


Under Comment is public, select False. The comment is added
to the ticket as an internal note.

Click Save.
Click Test to test the action flow.
Click the options menu ( ) and select Activate to begin using the
action flow to automatically send an email to employees' supervisors when a
request for hardware is approved.




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