This job aid outlines the various ways that you can search in Workday. It also provides some tips and tricks to get the most out of Workday Search.
Global Search
Workday makes it easy to search for people, tasks, reports, and business data using the Search box.
For example, to find a worker, type their name into the Search box and press Enter on your keyboard. From the search results, click People from the Categories list to filter the results to only display workers in your organization. You can use Search categories to filter your search for more specific results.
Keep in mind that searches find exact matches. If you misspell the search text, you will likely see no results. Workday Search also favors complete word matches over partial word matches, so that search results match the term you enter more closely. If you search using partial names or terms, the results may not display partial matches, depending on data volume. For example, if you search for “Alex,” the results may not display the name “Alexander.”
Though complete word matches are favorable, you can also use partial search to find what you are looking for. For example, if you want to find the Maintain Candidate List Assignment task, you can use the search string “main can lis.” This method is still effective, but may not be a best practice for all types of search where there may be multiple results returned.
Search prefixes restrict the search results to a particular type of Workday object. Search prefixes are lowercase letters, followed by a colon (:). For example, “bp:” returns all business process definitions. To see a list of all search prefixes available to you, enter a question mark (?) in the Search box.
Workday saves your recent search results and queries for convenience. The five most recent searches will display, helping you access these items faster.
Worker Search
You can quickly look up an active worker in global search, reports, and prompts. From the Search box, you can search for a worker by first name only. Workday sorts the results by relevance, showing all workers with a matching first name first.
After searching for a worker, their photo, business title, supervisory organization, and location display. This identifying information makes it easy to confirm you have found the correct person.
Prompt Search
With prompt search, you can search directly in a prompt.
There are two ways to use this search type:
- Use the hierarchy provided in the prompt until you find what you are looking for.
- Enter a search, and the system will search against the data that is applicable to that selection.
To make your search most effective:
- Use specific searches, similar to global search.
- Avoid general terms such as “find” and “work.”
- Search for custom IDs, available to power users, for the quickest results.
- Use the first two letters to jump directly to results.
- Press the Enter key on your keyboard. Clicking anywhere outside of the prompt deletes the search.
Search Reports
There are two main use cases for using Search reports: a filter use case and a search use case.
Filter Use Case
Use the filter functionality when you want to find something manually. For example, if you are searching for a specific part of your inventory, you can use the filter to narrow the search by manufacturer. Then, filter by type of part to further reduce results and find what you are looking for.
Search Use Case
If you only have a general idea of what you are looking for, use Find pages to help you narrow down your search. For example, if you are looking to fill an open position with someone internally and they need to meet certain criteria, use the Find Workers report. You can search for employees by city, skill set, cost center, and so on. You can also use the search box within the report to tailor your search results using different types of search methods, such as:
- Boolean search – (sales OR marketing) AND manager
- Phrase search – “marketing manager”
- Exact Match – specificmail@workday.com
You can then save faceted searches for later use.
From the search results, click a link for more information or initiate an action from the object’s Related Actions.