These guidelines will assist you in directing your client to create a custom object in their Workday tenant, include it in their candidate grid, and write to that custom object through an API.

Customer steps

The customer should open their Workday account and complete the steps below.

1. Type in and select the Create Custom Object task from the search bar.
2. When the task opens, set the Custom Object Name. Ensure that you follow a set naming convention for custom objects that your team will use when creating them in Workday. 
3. Enter a Web Service Alias for the custom object. 
   • Note: The web service alias cannot be modified after the creation of the custom object. 
4. For the Allow Multiple Instance per custom Object? field, select No or Yes to note whether you want to store data that is unique to each instance or share data across multiple instances, respectively. The client can open this link for more information on this setting.
5. In the Field Definitions section, enter a Field Label for the custom object.
6. Select the appropriate Field Type. We generally suggest choosing between List Select or Free Text. 
   • If the custom object will be utilized for managing statuses, List Select is a viable option as it will allow for enhanced reporting capabilities in Workday. 
     • If the client chooses a list select, then they will need to create a Custom List and then this will be available within the Field Type dropdown.
   • If it will capture candidate responses, Free Text is more suitable. 
7. From the Permissions section, select the Domain. It is most common to add the object to the Candidate Data: Job Application domain. 
8. Click OK to save the custom object.
9. To activate a custom object in Workday, open the Create Custom Object task from the search bar once more.
10. Locate and select the custom object you want to activate.
11. Click Activate.
12. An Activate Custom Object window will open. Select the specific object in the Display Value and Reference ID fields. 
13. Check the Hide on View when Unpopulated box if you prefer the object to remain hidden when empty. This option is beneficial if there will be a subset of requisitions that do not utilize the custom object.
14. Click Ok to activate the object.
15. Now that the custom object is created and activated, you can then add it to the UI, most commonly the Candidate Grid. To do this, type and select the Edit Grid Configuration task from the search bar.
16. Select the grid configuration that you will be modifying.
17. Select where on the grid this new custom object will live by selecting the + icon in the appropriate group. Be sure you select the correct business object and then your new field will be available for selection.
18. Click OK to add the object.

API syntax for custom objects

The provided Postman collection can be used to gather API syntax to write to the custom object when it is in the Candidate Data: Job Application domain (most common). The collection includes three API requests:

• Our Standard Get Candidate Request: This request requires an email parameter for retrieval.
• Get Job Application Additional Data Request: This request requires a Job App ID parameter from the previous request. To ensure its effectiveness, the custom object must be pre-populated via the Workday UI. The schema returned from the API call can be used to write back to the custom object.
• Sample POST Request for Writing to a Custom Object: This request is a sample of writing to a custom object. It is important to note that the syntax for this action will vary depending on the specific custom object in question.

Workday Custom Object.postman_collection