Unlocking the Power of Custom Work Tags in Enterprise Systems

In today’s dynamic business environment, organisations often require tailored solutions to manage complex workflows across finance, tax, payroll, and operations.

One such solution is the “Enable, Custom, Work Task” functionality—a limited yet powerful system capability that allows users to create and manage custom work tags.

Although not widely available in standard real-world deployments and often requiring approval to enable, this functionality can significantly enhance how organisations manage data classification, reporting, and task management.

Let’s dive deeper into how it works, its applications, and why it matters.

What Are Custom Work Tags?

Custom work tags act as labels or identifiers that users can apply to specific tasks or transactions. These tags allow organisations to create additional layers of classification beyond the system’s default setup.

For example, in the financial domain, work tags can help organisations track short-term, mid-term, or long-term employee loans. Similarly, they can be used for payroll, tax reporting, and other financial processes.

By simply adding a plus sign (+) and entering the value, users can extend the system’s tagging capabilities to suit their organisational needs.

Managing Custom Work Tags in Workday

The system offers flexibility in both creating and maintaining these tags:

Adding New Values: Users can insert new values, such as short-term, mid-term, or long-term, directly into the existing set of tags.

Deleting Tags: Unnecessary or outdated tags can be removed, keeping the system clean and relevant.

Testing Tags: Before rolling out to production, users can test the system by creating scenarios (e.g., adding a “by loan” tag) to check whether the values appear correctly in workflows.

This ensures the functionality works effectively and avoids issues during live operations.

 Beyond Work Tags: Custom Machine Tasks in Workday

The discussion around custom work tags naturally extends to custom machine tasks—advanced configurations that involve:

Creating custom relation types

Assigning task scores to track usage and impact

Configuring custom foundations to move employees or workers between organisational units

These tasks often include checkboxes for financial work tags and regression tasks, enabling organisations to simulate and configure workflows before final implementation.

The Role of Selection Configurations in Workday

When setting up these systems, selection configuration plays a critical role:

Select the supplier

Define the contract and purchase order

Run metrics on the selected items

Refresh the task to ensure tabs and configurations are correct

This structured approach ensures accuracy and consistency throughout the implementation process.

Why Does This Matter?

Although these customisations may seem niche and are not frequently encountered in everyday business operations, they are vital during implementation and system setup.

By carefully managing custom work tags and machine tasks, organisations can:

Achieve more precise reporting and analysis

Improve flexibility in financial and operational workflows

Tailor systems to meet unique business requirements

Ultimately, the ability to create and maintain custom work tags enhances system adaptability, ensuring long-term efficiency and effectiveness.

Streamlining Procurement with Catalogue Items and Requisitions

In today’s competitive business environment, efficiency in procurement is crucial. One of the key enablers of streamlined purchasing is the use of catalogue items in acquisitions.

Catalogue-driven procurement not only simplifies the requisition and purchase order process but also enables organisations to maintain better control over inventory, suppliers, and compliance.

Understanding Requisitions in Procurement

A requisition is the starting point of most procurement cycles. It is essentially a request raised by an employee or a department to purchase goods or services.

Once submitted, this request follows a predefined business process workflow that ensures proper authorisation and compliance.

In most modern systems, once a requisition is approved, a purchase order (PO) is automatically generated and issued to the supplier. The supplier then acknowledges the PO, ships the goods or services, and issues an invoice.

After receiving the items, the company processes the payment in accordance with the agreed-upon terms.

Types of Requisition Processes in Workday

Different business needs call for different types of requisitions. Some of the commonly used types include:

Maintain Requisition Types – Standard requisitions created for recurring purchases.

Special Requisitions – Used for emergency maintenance, one-time buys, or urgent inventory replenishments.

Inventory Replenishment Requisitions – Triggered automatically when stock levels fall below predefined thresholds.

By defining requisition types, organisations can enforce structured workflows, ensuring the proper approvals, supplier engagement, and compliance checks.

Catalogue Systems: The Backbone of Efficient Procurement in Workday

Catalogues play a central role in making procurement seamless. A catalogue system works much like popular e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or Flipkart, where employees can browse approved items, compare descriptions, and add them to a cart.

Advantages of catalogue-driven procurement include:

Standardisation – Employees order from a predefined list of approved items.

Speed – Reduces time spent searching for suppliers or negotiating one-off purchases.

Accuracy – Minimises errors in descriptions, pricing, or supplier details.

Compliance – Ensures that orders are aligned with company policies and contracts.

For example, companies can create catalogues for office supplies, IT equipment, or maintenance materials. By associating catalogue items with supplier codes and contracts, businesses ensure accuracy and faster turnaround.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them in Workday

While catalogues simplify purchasing, challenges often arise:

System Limitations – Some companies struggle with requisition editing or permissions, which prevent employees from modifying requests.

Security Rules – Restrictions may block users from issuing POs, requiring proper role assignments.

Template Gaps – Missing or outdated templates can make it difficult to generate accurate PO layouts.

Process Delays – Lack of automation or parallel workflows may slow down approvals.

To address these, organisations should:

Regularly review and update catalogue items.

Ensure security and access rights are aligned with business roles.

Implement automation tools to streamline requisition-to-PO conversion.

Provide training and templates for users to avoid errors.

Looking Ahead: Smarter Procurement Systems in Workday

As procurement evolves, businesses are exploring new approaches such as:

Supplier Contractor Systems – To strengthen supplier relationships.

Credit Catalogues – For managing pre-approved budget limits.

Enhanced Security Measures – To ensure compliance with regulations.

User-Friendly Interfaces – To make requisition and catalogue browsing as simple as online shopping.

By focusing on these improvements, companies can ensure procurement becomes less of a bottleneck and more of a strategic advantage.