Workday Glossary
This resource provides a foundation for the terminology you will encounter during our transition to Workday. Please note that this is a growing list; new terms and definitions will be added regularly as we move through different phases of the implementation.
General Workday Terms and Concepts
- Business Process (BP) – A predefined set of steps that a task follows in Workday (for example, a hire, a job change, or an expense report), including who needs to review and approve it.
- Delegation – Temporarily allowing another person to act on your behalf in Workday for certain tasks (for example, approving time or expenses while you are away).
- Job Aid – A short, step‑by‑step guide that shows you how to complete a specific task in Workday, customized for Macalester.
- Manager – In Workday, the person designated to approve and oversee certain tasks for others (such as a supervisor, department chair, or dean), even if they do not think of themselves as a “manager” in the traditional sense.
- Organization (Org) – A way Workday groups people, positions, or financial activity (such as cost centers, supervisory organizations, or grant organizations).
- Role Assignment – The combination of security and functional roles a person has in Workday (for example, Manager, Cost Center Manager, or Grant Manager).
- Security Group – A way Workday groups users who share similar access rights, often based on role (for example, all Cost Center Managers).
- Supervisory Organization – The structure in Workday that shows reporting relationships and who is responsible for approving certain tasks.
- Tenant – Macalester’s specific instance of Workday (its own “version” of the system and data).
- Workday – Macalester’s primary system for managing HR, finance, and related processes.
Workday Navigation
- Employee Directory / People Search – A feature in Workday that lets you find colleagues and see basic information about them.
- Home Page – Your starting page in Workday, where you’ll see applications, tasks, and announcements.
- Hub – A centralized space where you can find and navigate to your most frequently needed tasks, reports, and other resources.
- Inbox (Workday Inbox) – The place in Workday where you receive tasks that you need to complete or approve.
- Learning – The area of Workday where you find assigned training, optional courses, and your learning history.
HR
- Hire (Business Process) – In Workday, the process of adding a person into the system as an employee; what Macalester may have previously called “hiring” or “onboarding.”
- HR Partner (or HR Role) – A Workday security role that has broader access to HR information for a specific area of the college (for example, a division or group of departments).
- Job Change – A Workday business process that manages changes to a person’s job (for example, hours, title, location).
- Job Requisition – A request in Workday to hire for a specific position, which goes through review and approval steps.
- Onboarding – Workday tasks for a new hire to complete after they are hired (for example, forms, training, and orientation items).
- Position Management – A Workday framework that manages positions separately from the people in them (positions can be created, filled, vacated, and refilled over time).
- Talent Management – Workday functionality related to performance, goals, and career development.
- Time Entry – The process of recording hours worked in Workday (for hourly employees).
- Time Off – Approved time away from work, such as vacation or sick leave, requested and tracked in Workday.
- Time Off Request – The specific action in Workday where you ask for time off and route it for approval.
Finance
- Academic Pay – Pay that is tied to academic periods, such as semesters or terms, rather than the standard staff pay cycle.
- Activity Code – A label you add to financial transactions to group similar activities (for example, a specific event, project, or program).
- Allowance – A compensation plan that provides a set amount of money to an employee for a specific purpose over a period of time.
- Budget – The planned amount of money available for a particular area, fund, or purpose, as seen in Workday reports and dashboards.
- Budget Owner – The person responsible for a particular budget in Workday, often tied to a cost center or program.
- Cost Center – A Workday value that represents a department or unit where financial activity is tracked.
- Expense Report – A form in Workday where you enter business‑related expenses and attach receipts in order to be reimbursed.
- Expenses Hub – A central spot in Workday where you can see your expense reports, spend authorizations, and related tasks.
- FOAPAL – The legacy accounting code structure used before Workday. In Workday, FOAPAL elements are replaced by combinations of worktags (such as cost center, fund, program, and spend category).
- Fund – A Workday worktag that represents the type of funding (for example, unrestricted, restricted, grant).
- Grant – A source of external funding (for example, from a foundation or agency) that is tracked in Workday with its own budgets and reporting.
- Ledger Account – A Workday worktag that represents the type of accounting entry (similar to a general ledger account in legacy systems).
- Model My Pay – A Workday feature that lets you see how certain changes (such as deductions) could affect your net pay before they take effect.
- Pcard (Purchasing Card) – A card used for authorized business purchases; in Workday, Pcard activity is more visible and linked to budgets.
- Pay Slip – A document in Workday showing your earnings, deductions, and net pay for a pay period.
- Period Activity Pay – Pay for work tied to a defined period or activity (for example, a special assignment or short‑term academic role).
- Program (Financial Program) – A worktag used to track financial activity for a particular initiative, project, or theme.
- Requisition (Purchase Requisition) – A request to purchase goods or services that begins the procure‑to‑pay process in Workday.
- Spend Authorization – A request in Workday to get pre‑approval for expected costs (such as travel or conference expenses), which can later be linked to expense reports.
- Spend Category – A Workday tag that describes the type of goods or services being purchased (for example, office supplies or travel).
- Work Study – A type of student employment funded by specific programs, tracked in Workday with its own rules and costing.
- Worktag – A label in Workday used to categorize financial transactions (for example, cost center, fund, program, grant, or spend category).
Updated: April 13, 2026