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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
  1. Create an OAuth client in Workday.
  2. 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.

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
  1. Sign into your Workday account as an administrator.
  2. In the Workday search bar, type Edit Tenant Setup - Security, then select the matching option from the search results list.
  3. Scroll down to the OAuth 2.0 Settings section and turn on the OAuth 2.0 configuration.
  4. 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
  5. Use the API scopes field to specify the following permissions for the app to access Workday data:
    • System
    • Staffing
    • Time off and leave
  6. Click Save.
  7. 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
  1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action flows.
  2. Create or edit an action flow.
  3. Open the step sidebar.
  4. Under External actions, click Workday.
  5. Click Connect.
  6. 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

  7. 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.

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

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-DD hh:mm and in the Workday account's timezone.

(Optional) Start date, End date, Comment
Output Request ID

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
  1. Add an action flow trigger with the following details:
    1. Click Add trigger.
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk, click Tickets.
    3. Click Properties and select Ticket tags changed.
    4. Click Add condition.
    5. Under Variable, click Ticket tags changed and select Tags (added).
    6. Set the Operator to Contains at least 1 of.
    7. Under Value, enter approved.
  2. Add a step to look up user details in Zendesk:
    1. In the action builder, beneath the action flow trigger, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up user.
    3. Under Ticket ID, click into the field and then click Select a variable instead.
    4. Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the step that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select Requester ID.
  3. Add a step to look up details about the ticket requester in Workday:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up worker.
    3. Under User ID type, select Zendesk user ID.
    4. For User ID, click Add variable.
    5. Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the step that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select Requester ID.
  4. Add a step to retrieve the employee's data in Workday:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under External actions, click Workday and then select Look up worker.
    3. Under Employee email, click Add variable .
    4. Within the variable menu, select Look up user as the step that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select Work email.
  5. Add a step to send an email notification to the employee's manager:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under External actions, click Microsoft Outlook and then select Send email.
    3. Under Recipient email, click Add variable.
    4. Within the variable menu, select Look up worker as the step that outputs the variable, and then select Supervisor's email.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
  6. Add a step that updates the ticket with a copy of the email sent to the supervisor:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, select Update ticket.
    3. Under Ticket ID, click Add variable.
    4. Within the variable menu, select Ticket tags changed as the step that outputs the variable, and then select Ticket ID.
    5. Under Additional fields, select Comment and Comment is public.
    6. Under Comment, copy and paste the Body value from the send email step.
  7. Under Comment is public, select False.

    The comment is added to the ticket as an internal note.

  8. Click Save.
  9. Click Test to test the action flow.
  10. 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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