Concept: ID Definitions and Sequence Generators

ID definitions specify the format of identifiers (IDs) that Workday generates for various business objects. You can select default ID definitions for invoices, orders, receipts, employees, beneficiaries, and so on, by accessing the

Edit Tenant Setup

tasks. If you don't select an ID definition, Workday generates its own internal ID codes.

Sequence generators are a type of ID definition. They identify people, positions, or incidents by using a unique number for a specified time period.

You can view a specific ID definition or sequence generator in the

View ID Definition/Sequence Generator

report.

You can run the

Sequence Generator Padding Report

to monitor sequence generators for potential overflow issues. The report displays a percent usage metric that indicates how close the current sequence number is to the maximum sequence number allotted. The report also displays the overflow behavior and notification groups for each sequence generator.

For these business objects, Workday uses the sequence generator ID you set up as the integration reference ID:

Advance Ship Notice
Purchase Order
Purchase Order Acknowledgment
Receipts
Request for Quote (RFQ) Awards
Requisition
RFQ Response

If you have multiple companies, you can make Workday generate distinct IDs in numeric order for the business objects of each company. You can override the default ID definition for a specific company by accessing the

Edit Company ID Definitions

task. You can distinguish companies by entering a wide gap between the

Last Sequence Used

for the sequence generator of each company. You can access the

Edit Company ID Definitions

task to assign these unique sequence generators to companies in your tenant.

Example: An administrator enters 1000001 in the

Last Sequence Used

field for the sequence generator of Company A. They also enter 2000002 in the

Last Sequence Used

field for the sequence generator of Company B.

The result is that separate sequence generators create IDs in numeric order on purchase orders for each company:

PO#1 - ID of Company A: CA-PO-2018-09-1000001

PO#2 - ID of Company A: CA-PO-2018-09-1000002

PO#3 - ID of Company B: CA-PO-2018-09-2000002

PO#4 - ID of Company B: CA-PO-2018-09-2000003

Example: An administrator enters the same number in the

Last Sequence Used

field for the sequence generator of both Company A and Company B.

The result is that the same sequence generator provides ID numbers across companies on their purchase orders:

PO#1 - ID of Company A: PO-2018-09-00001

PO#2 - ID of Company B: PO-2018-09-00002

PO#3 - ID of Company B: PO-2018-09-00003

PO#4 - ID of Company A: PO-2018-09-00004

A sequence generator can leave gaps if you roll a transaction back. A gapless sequence generator has a built-in mechanism to prevent these gaps.

You can create a gapless sequence generator using the

Create ID Definition/Gapless Sequence Generator

task.