Workday releases are biannual, system-wide updates to Workday that add new functionality, update existing features, improve user experience, or address community feedback. Releases happen in September and March, and include both required and optional changes. New optional features and functionality available within a release are sometimes completed after the release as a Workday enhancement.
The ISC manages these regular releases from Workday to ensure our system remains current, test impacts to existing processes, and evaluate new features that may benefit UBC. Usually, the majority of changes in a release are focused on back-end items, and aren't noticeable to most faculty and staff.
For each release, the ISC shares information on what changes the UBC community can expect to see. Check back here for updates and resources on upcoming and recent releases, and see news for details of past releases.
Workday 2024 Release 2 (September 2024)
The Workday release on Saturday, September 21 was successfully completed. This release included design updates to improve accessibility and visibility, a new AI-enhanced search option, and other changes.
Note: Details are subject to change. Visit the Workday Knowledge Base for the latest information.
Buttons Now More Prominent in Workday
To improve accessibility and make buttons more noticeable in Workday, most clickable buttons are now high-contrast blue instead of orange or grey. Additionally, the Related Actions button now appears larger with a dark outline to improve visibility. When hovered over, the button turns blue and a small pop-up appears to indicate that you can access related actions. These changes will help faculty and staff locate buttons more easily and quickly when completing tasks in Workday.
New Ability to Mass Change Buyer on Multiple Purchase Orders
A new task, Mass Change Buyer on Purchase Order, is now available in Workday to give UBC Procurement the ability to change the buyer associated with multiple Purchase Orders (POs) at once. This new task will help reduce the time spent on updating procurement documents.
AI Enhanced Search
Workday search now has the option to use AI (Workday Assistant Simplified Search) to analyze a search query and display the best matching task or report at the top of the search results. This feature is useful if you are unsure of the exact name of the task or report in Workday you are looking for. For instance, if you search "Reimbursement" with Simplified Search enabled, My Expense Reports will appear as a top result. Additionally, the Simplified Search result view shows your search filters (e.g. people, tasks and reports) on the top of the search results page for easy access.
To disable this feature, simply click the Simplified Search toggle at the top of the search results page. This setting will stay off until you choose to re-enable it.
Note: Workday Assistant can now only be accessed through a chat icon in the top right corner of any page in Workday. It was previously also accessible from a button in the lower right corner.
New Visual View of Benefits in the Benefits and Pay Hub
The Benefits Elections page in the Benefits and Pay Hub now features a more visual, quick-glance view of the benefits you’re enrolled in to make it easy to review detailed information (cost per paycheck, coverage, dependents, etc.). The View as Grid button allows you to view your benefits in a table and export as a PDF or to Excel.
Frozen or Reordered Report Columns Now Saved for Future Use
When the Grid tool view is used to reorder or freeze columns on a report in Workday, these Column Preferences will now be saved for the next time the report is run by an individual. This will save time for faculty or staff who frequently run specific reports to review data.
Note: Column Preferences will not flow through if the report is exported to Excel.
