Top Workday Extend use cases.
From HCM and finance workflows to industry-specific innovation, see what teams build with Workday Extend — natively on the Workday platform.
HCM use cases: Custom apps for people operations.
Workday Extend helps teams build people-focused apps beyond standard configuration while keeping data, business processes, security, and user experience connected. Common examples include specialized onboarding, recognition and rewards, volunteer sponsorship, PTO donation, talent assessments, nominations, and employee self-service.
Finance use cases: Streamline money-management workflows.
Teams use Extend for approval and request processes, tuition and mileage reimbursement, supplier-initiated purchase-order requests, ad hoc budget requests, and expense and procurement workflows. Apps can use configurable business processes to govern approvals and connect data to Workday Financial Management.
For workflows that span Workday and external systems, use Workday Integrations to support API-driven and orchestrated processes.
Industry-specific use cases.
Examples by industry
Healthcare: Shift bidding, credential tracking, leave donation.
Higher education: Adjunct appointments and pay, faculty workload management, student advising, digital payments, parking and vehicle registration.
Financial services: Regulated-role oversight, multiple work jurisdictions, security access management, organizational transformation.
Retail and hospitality: Frontline workforce tools and bulk-hiring orchestration.
Government: Purchase-order closeout, retiree pension payroll, grievance management, and time entry.
Teams can explore pre-built and partner solutions in the Workday Marketplace before starting a custom build.
Custom agents and agentic apps.
Workday Extend Professional adds tools for custom agents and agentic apps. Teams can build agents that act on Workday data and business context, then manage them alongside applications and orchestrations. For documentation and developer resources, visit the Workday Developer Portal.
Frequently asked questions.
What types of apps can be built with Workday Extend?
Teams build apps and workflows for onboarding, approvals, employee programs, reimbursements, compliance tracking, reporting, data capture, and integrations.
What are the top HCM and finance use cases?
For HCM, common uses include onboarding, recognition, nominations, and self-service. For finance, they include approvals, reimbursements, procurement requests, and expense workflows.
How can organizations build custom solutions within Workday?
Build with Workday Extend using Workday platform components — data, business processes, security, reporting, UI, APIs, and orchestration.