- * About: Workday

Service overview

Workday is McGill’s cloud-based platform for Human Resources and Travel and Expenses management. It delivers modern, secure, and scalable technology designed to support the university’s operational needs now and in the future.

Good to know: Access in Workday

Access to information and the ability to perform transactions in Workday are configured for each user based on their position and place within the organizational structure (i.e., reporting relationships), in alignment with established security policies.

Security roles are assigned to positions, not individuals.

When workers move into a position, they are automatically granted the security roles associated with that role. These roles determine what a user can see and do in Workday, including task processing, data visibility, and report generation.

Key features include:

Human Resources - Human Capital Management (HCM):

Automation of employee management processes
Simplifying and standardizing of procedures
Provides real-time access to workforce details using the organization structure, reporting features, and employee profiles.

Find more information about Workday on the HR website.

Expenses:

Workday Expenses helps simplify how travel and business expenses are captured, submitted, approved, and reimbursed.

What’s Improved?

Simplifying the submission of expense reports: Create, submit, and track your expense reports with fewer manual steps, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks.
Mobile-friendly receipt capture: Use the Workday mobile app to quickly capture and upload receipts while on the go - helping minimize missing documentation and follow‑up.
Email forwarding & Quick Expenses: Forward receipts by email to automatically create Quick Expenses, speeding up the creation of expense reports.
Smart automation and guided entry: Workday prompts you for the right information based on the expense type, helping ensure accuracy and consistency across submissions.
Faster approvals through automated workflow: Expense reports are automatically routed to the appropriate approvers, with clear visibility into status and next steps for both claimants and support roles.
Reporting and oversight: Authorized users can access real‑time expense data to support monitoring, compliance, and policy enforcement based on defined security roles.

Find more information about Workday Expenses on the Financial Services Knowledge Base.

Who can use it

Workday is available to authorized users at McGill. Access (viewing and transaction rights) depends on the security roles assigned to the user’s position:

Human Resources - Human Capital Management (HCM):

McGill employees can access their own Workday account to update their personal information, make benefits elections, enter time, request absences, review pay and tax slips, explore career opportunities, etc.
Managers have an increased ability to initiate recruitment, compensation, and job change processes, to approve requests and have aggregated visibility on their team’s information, including hours worked, staff movement and time off balances.
HR and Academic Affairs Professionals benefit from:

- Simple request functionalities
- Built‑in eligibility rules ensure employees only see options for which they are eligible, based on their job profile and employee type.
- Automatic routing sends each request to the appropriate next approver or participant in the process.
- A My Tasks / Inbox consolidates all items requiring action and provides access to archived, completed tasks.
- An auditable, automatically saved transaction history is maintained for full traceability.

Finance Partners are included in the HCM business processes, and they are responsible for validating the fund and activity codes associated with employees’ pay.
Retired McGill employees retain access to Workday to view and update personal information and banking information; view pay slips and tax documents and manage benefits.
External job applicants can view job postings and apply for a McGill position through the McGill’s Career site.
Additional security roles in Workday support the main business processes, including:
- Local Timekeepers
- Absence Partners
- Compensation Partners
- Recruiters and Recruiting Coordinators
- Central HR & APO roles – (HCM)

Expenses:

McGill employees (claimants) can submit expense reports and, where applicable, request spend authorizations such as Cash Advances or Direct Travel.
Expense Partners and Fund Financial Managers (FFMs) are responsible for reviewing and approving expense items and full expense reports.
Expense Partners support claimants by ensuring that expense submissions are accurate, complete, and compliant with University policies for their Faculty or Administrative Unit.
Expense Data Entry Partners (EDEPs) can enter and support expense reports on behalf of visitors or other individuals, based on their assigned role.
Central Financial Services roles (Expenses) provide oversight and support for travel and expense processes across the University.

Students and visitors (non-employees)

McGill students who are not McGill employees do not have access to Workday. All of their reimbursement‑related requests must be submitted through the Finance Service Desk (Jira) forms.
Visitors who are not McGill employees also do not have access to Workday. Visitors should submit their expense documentation and required information directly to their designated Expense Data Entry Partner, who will enter the expenses into Workday on their behalf.

How to request & access the service

Applies to Workday (overall):

McGill employees can log into Workday using their McGill username and password.
Retired McGill employees retain their access to Workday and log in using their McGill username and password.

To access the full range of Workday features from outside the McGill network, two-factor authentication (2FA) is required. Downloading and setting up the Microsoft Authenticator app on your mobile device is highly recommended.

The use of the McGill VPN is recommended when accessing McGill Systems from public networks (e.g., airports, cafes). However, employees with an administrative user-based group will continue to be required to use VPN when working off campus or on a network not managed by McGill. For more information, see the Virtual Private Network (VPN) job aid.

Human Resources - Human Capital Management (HCM):

External job applicants can apply on the Career site.

Internal job applicants can apply by typing “Find Jobs” in the Workday search field.

The All About HR Data Security job aid introduces to you the data security basics and your roles and responsibilities in keeping data safe. The job aid provides further details regarding when 2FA and the VPN are required based on Workday security roles.

Expenses:

Workday Expenses Hub can be accessed via Workday Desktop version (see image below):

or via the Workday mobile app (see image below), which supports receipt capture and Quick Expenses.

Cost

There is no cost associated with using this service.

Availability

This service is available 24 X 7.

FAQ

None available.

Best practices & policies

If your Workday security role allows you to access other employees' information, be mindful of potential security risks. Do not download employee data to personal devices or devices not owned and managed by McGill.
Never share your McGill username and password with anyone.
Be sure to create a different password if you use your McGill email address to sign in to external websites and services.
Adhere to data security guidelines set out in the All About HR Data Security job aid.

Training and documentation

Human Resources - Human Capital Management (HCM):

Visit the Human Resources Workday Training webpage for information about employee self-service training and live online Workday training that has been designed based Heavy User security role assignments.
The following Academic & Administrative HR Knowledge bases contain job aids providing step-by-step instructions on Workday business processes. Users can access these environments by logging in with their McGill employee username and password:
1. The Staff – Academic & Administrative HR Knowledge Base contains job aids and instructional information for all employees.
2. The Restricted – Academic & Administrative HR Knowledge Base job aids relevant to Heavy Users and Managers.
3. The Confidential McGill HR Documentation SharePoint site contains specialized job aids for certain HR Centres of Expertise (currently Total Compensation and Disability Management).

Expenses:

Self-learning resources (videos and how-to guides) are available via the Financial Services Knowledge Base. (login required)

Support

Applies to Workday (overall):

For technical difficulties accessing Workday, contact the IT Service Desk.

Human Resources - Human Capital Management (HCM):

For requests and inquiries:

Access the McGill Academic & Administrative HR Service Portal
Email: hr.hr@mcgill.ca
Telephone: 514-398-4747

Visit the Workday webpage on the HR website.

Expenses:

For requests and inquiries related to travel and expense reimbursements (including spend authorizations):

Please contact your Local Faculty / Unit Change Agent
Submit a ticket via the FIS Service Desk Portal