Workday Student Glossary
Please note: This glossary is a work-in-progress, and will be continually updated as we progress through the implementation of Workday Student.
Navigate by Workday Term:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Workday Term | Workday Definition |
|---|---|
Academic Affiliate | Academic Affiliates are people who work at an educational institution but are not in an employment relationship with the institution. They are usually visiting professors, scholars, clinical faculty, or other administrative personnel. |
| Academic Appointments | Academic Appointments track an academic appointee's time at a university or college and record an appointee's relationship to an Academic Unit over a period of time on a particular academic track. |
| Academic Calendar | The Academic Calendar provides the time framework for UMD’s Workday Student system. The basic structure comprises Academic Period Types such as Fall and Spring. |
| Academic Level | Academic Level is the status of an educational objective that a student can achieve at UMD. Examples include Undergraduate and Graduate. |
| Academic Periods | Academic Periods make up an Academic Year. Standard periods (2025 Fall) represent reporting windows and can't overlap. Nonstandard periods (modules like 2025 Fall First Half, 2025 Fall Second Half) must fall within a standard period, but can overlap with other module periods. |
| Academic Plans | Academic Plans are Workday's version of a graduation plan. Academic Plans allow students to plan for when they will complete academic requirements within their Program of Study. |
| Academic Requirement Override | An Academic Requirement Override allows administrators to apply coursework towards academic requirements that would not normally be eligible for application to defined degree program requirements. |
| Academic Unit | An Academic Unit is a Workday organization type that represents a school, college, university, or other unit of UMD. The unit can admit students, offer programs of study, offer courses, and administer financial aid. |
| Academic Unit Hierarchy | An Academic Unit Hierarchy is a hierarchical grouping of Academic Units primarily used for roll-up reporting. |
| Academic Unit Policies | Academic Unit Policies allow the University to define various rule sets for academic units. Students are subject to the policy the University assigns to their Academic Unit, Level, or Program of Study. Academic Units inherit academic policies from superior units, unless overridden. Examples of Academic Unit Policies are Class Standing Policy, Load Status Policy, Academic Standing Policy, and Course Repeat Policy. |
| Academic Year | An Academic Year is a compilation of academic periods, such as Fall 2025 or Spring 2026. The associated academic calendar determines the structure of each academic year. For example, the 2025-2026 Academic Year includes the Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 Academic Periods. |
| Action Item | Action Items are assigned to individuals in Workday to complete a task, such as providing proof of eligibility or additional documentation. |
| Admissions Cohort | An Admissions Cohort is a grouping of applications for the same admitting academic level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate) of an Academic Unit and the same anticipated start date. |
| Attendance Plan | Financial Aid Attendance Plans can be used to project expected attendance for students, even before they enroll in courses. They enable the Office of Student Financial Aid to know which academic periods and award years, academic load, and other information to use when calculating cost of attendance, packaging student awards, and running other financial aid processes. |
Business Object | A Business Object is used to store data in Workday (such as organizations or student records). The Object has fields and instances, which are analogous to rows and columns in a spreadsheet. Workday links related Business Objects: an Academic Record is associated with a Student Profile, the Student Profile is associated with a Course in the student’s Academic History, and so on. |
| Business Process | A Business Process is a sequence of one or more tasks that accomplishes a desired business objective (e.g., hiring a new employee or new student onboarding). |
| Business Process Definition | A Business Process Definition is the list of steps (tasks) that comprise the Business Process and the Security Groups responsible for completing them. Workday includes several predefined Business Processes for different purposes. These are called default Business Process Definitions. |
| Business Process Instance | A Business Process Instance is the Business Process that the initiator has started. For example, Create Course Business Process Definition becomes an instance when the initiator uses it to create a course. |
| Business Process Security Policies | Business Process Security Policies are rules that dictate which Security Groups can participate in the Business Process and how they can participate. |
Course Definition | A Course Definition includes all the data about a course, including its controls and relationships with other courses or objects in Workday. The functionality is a central source for data related to an individual course. A Course Definition is a view of a course intended for administrators. Students and faculty have a separate view. |
| Course Section Definition | A Course Section Definition includes all the data about a Course Section, including its controls and relationships with other Course Sections or objects in Workday. The functionality is a central source for data related to an individual course section. A Course Section Definition is a view of a course intended for administrators. Students and faculty have a separate view. |
| Course Sections | Course Sections are registration-eligible offerings of courses that include the specific times, days, and date ranges in which the course offering takes place. |
| Courses | Courses are a series of lessons related to a subject, typically leading to qualification. |
Dashboard | A Dashboard is a landing page containing a set of pre-configured reports and tasks for a functional area that can be copied and modified. |
| Date Controls | Date Controls represent milestones, events, or deadlines that can be scheduled. Date Controls serve as the guardrails for academic processes in Workday. Examples of Date Controls include Enrollment Windows, Conferral Dates, and Registration Appointments. |
| Domain Security Policy | A Domain Security Policy contains rules that dictate which Security Group can view or modify data within the Domains. |
| Domains | Domains are a grouping of tasks and reports secured through Domain Security Policies. |
Educational Credential | Educational Credentials are what a student at UMD receives upon completing a Program of Study, such as a Master of Arts or a Global Health certificate. |
| Educational Taxonomy | Educational Taxonomy is a taxonomy scheme and set of codes users can assign to Programs of Study to meet state, local, or other classification requirements. |
| Effective Date | Effective Date is the day when a version of a task, security, process, or policy goes into effect within the tenant. |
| Eligibility Rule | An Eligibility Rule defines criteria a student must meet to determine entry to or completion of a task. Examples include Course Prerequisites, Registration, and Academic Requirements. |
| Event | An event is an instance that occurs within UMD, such as creating a Program of Study or a course. Workday Business Processes represent how Workday should respond to one of these events. |
| External Engagement Item | An External Engagement Item is used to send and track third-party engagement items for communication plans or ad hoc communications. |
Fast Path | Fast Path is a streamlined approach to moving applications for admission from submission to matriculation as quickly as possible. |
| Financial Aid Period Record (FAPR) | A Financial Aid Period Record (FAPR) contains data about student enrollment, Program of Study, and additional detail for a given standard academic period. FAPR is commonly used in reporting to view financial aid data for a given academic period. |
| Functional Area | A Functional Area is a grouping of tasks, reports, and objects within the same operational area (e.g., Academic Foundation, Curriculum Management, Academic Advising, Student Registration, Academic Records, Student Financials, and Financial Aid). |
| Historic Students | Historic Students are inactive students (any students who are neither currently registered nor likely to register and cannot directly be transacted on in the system), typically converted from legacy systems. They have a Historic Academic Record in Workday. |
| Historic Academic Record | A Historic Academic Record is a collection of student information, past academic performance, and student financial data. The Record is stored in Workday and can support basic functionality, including transcript generation. It is a View-only Record by design and lacks the majority of the Workday functionality designated for active Academic Records. |
| Home Landing Page | The Home Landing Page is intended for common applications, such as self-service applications. It is the first page an individual sees once they log into their Workday account. |
Initiator | An Initiator is a user that initiates the business process instance. |
Legacy System | A Legacy System is a technology system or application in use before Workday is the new system of record at UMD. |
| Match and Merge | Match and Merge is a process that helps eliminate duplicate student information in Workday. |
| Move to Production (MTP) | Move to Production is an implementation term that denotes the dates during the Deploy Stage at which Workday configuration and data is moved into the production tenant. Move to Production may differ from Go-Live or Launch dates, the point at which UMD will begin using specific functionality within the Workday Production |
Payment Precedence Group | A Payment Precedence Group defines the order that Student Award Items in a student’s award package will be disbursed.Events that result from the passage of time rather than from a specific change to employee data. |
| Program of Study | A Program of Study represents the educational objectives offered by UMD. For example, a biology major through which a student can achieve a Bachelor of Science degree would be considered a Program of Study. |
| Program of Study Type | A Program of Study Type classifies the Programs of Study offered by UMD by type. For example, majors, minors, or certificates. |
Related Business Object | A Related Business Object is an Object linked to or from a Business Object. |
| Roles | Roles are groupings of specific responsibilities within an organization that are assigned to positions. A Role is assigned to a Security Group to gain access to data associated with the Role's responsibilities. |
Securable Item | An action, report, or data that is part of a security policy. Security policies can be defined to restrict access to an item to specific Security Groups. Related securable items are grouped into domains. |
| Security Groups | Security Groups are collections of system users, which Workday uses to grant access to specific parts of the system. Users are grouped explicitly (e.g., user-based) or derived from other relevant information about the user, including the user's role assignment, job profile, or organization membership. |
| Standard Report | Standard Reports are reports created, delivered, and maintained by Workday for all customers. |
| Student Charge Items | Student Charge Items represent a specific cost that the student incurs and must pay to be eligible for completion of their Program of Study. They can include items such as tuition, housing, or technology fees. The Items are specific to an Academic Unit and can apply to multiple Academic Levels. |
Student Financials Period Record (SFPR) | Student Financials Period Record (SFPR) is the Record specific to a standard academic period (Fall, Spring) that determines how a student is classified for billing. The SFPR holds data such as total registered units and Program of Study for the academic period. |
| Student Notes | Student Notes are used to document, organize, and share notes about applicants and students. They enable users to capture and communicate important information, such as conversations and decisions, to others in the institution. They can optionally share notes with the student. |
| Student Onboarding | Student Onboarding refers to the tasks for new and continuing students to complete before registering in the upcoming term. |
| Student Sponsor Contract | Sponsor Contracts enable corporations, educational institutions, governmental bodies, or third-party organizations to pay educational expenses for one or more students. Sponsor contract payments apply toward student charges according to payment procedure rules. |
| Student Waiver Items | Student Waiver Items are transactions added to student accounts to pay eligible charges. |
Task | A Task is a Business Process step that a user must complete to move forward in a business process. |
| To-Dos | To-Dos remind an individual to complete processes that do not impact the launch of the next step in the business process. For example, this could include reviewing a policy document or submitting a vaccination for incoming students. |
| Total Financial Assistance (TFA) | Total Financial Assistance (TFA) is used to view/edit the total financial assistance a student is receiving. It includes financial aid, sponsor contracts, and waivers. |
User-Based Security Group | A User-Based Security Group is a Security Group whose members are people rather than roles in the system. In a security policy, it grants access to the Securable Items to all members of the group.A security group whose members are individual workers. Users in this group are provisioned enterprise-wide permissions needed to maintain and administer the system. |
Worktag | A Worktag is a named attribute that users can assign to events and objects to indicate their business purpose. For example, users can create a Program of Study Worktag to be used on Student Charge Items whose value is the name of a Program of Study. You can use the Worktag to direct funds and report how much revenue that program of study is generating.A specific and individual location e.g., an office or desk location. |