Fixing Missing Cost Centers in Workday Positions with CloudApper hrPad

When managing position data in Workday, especially through bulk uploads using Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB), it’s not uncommon for critical fields to be overlooked. One common mistake is omitting the “Assign Organizations” information—like Company and Cost Center—when creating positions. This often results in newly created positions missing essential data, which causes major disruptions downstream.

For instance, a Workday administrator recently shared their challenge: they loaded over 2,500 positions but forgot to include the Company and Cost Center values. As a result, when they hired an employee into one of those positions, the worker profile lacked key organizational data. This can impact payroll processing, departmental reporting, and approvals tied to company-specific rules.

This issue highlights a broader challenge in Workday: while the system is highly configurable and robust, it doesn’t inherently prevent users from creating incomplete or misconfigured data entries through EIB. Fixing such errors retroactively requires either editing each position manually or submitting a new EIB with updated details—both labor-intensive and prone to mistakes.

The Cost of Incomplete Position Data

Enter CloudApper hrPad: A Smart Expansion to Workday

CloudApper hrPad is more than a self-service kiosk—it functions as an experience layer that enhances how Workday is used across your organization. For HR teams struggling with position-level data accuracy, hrPad provides a front-end solution that helps prevent these issues before they occur.

By integrating with Workday APIs, hrPad can perform real-time validations during critical workflows such as hire, position edits, or onboarding. When a user tries to process a hire or assign a position, hrPad can immediately check if required fields like Company and Cost Center are missing. If they are, hrPad stops the action and displays a prompt asking the user to select or correct the data.

A Practical Example

A large healthcare provider in the U.S. faced this exact issue—multiple positions had been created without Cost Center assignments, and several hires were processed into those roles. Their HR team had to halt onboarding processes and spend hours manually correcting the errors. After implementing CloudApper hrPad, they introduced real-time prompts for “Assign Organizations” validation during the hire workflow.

Now, when a hiring manager selects a position that’s missing a required field, hrPad displays a notification and guides them through filling it in. The system prevents continuation until all necessary data is captured. This led to a 75% reduction in data correction time and significantly improved the integrity of their Workday records.

Final Thoughts

While Workday offers powerful tools for managing HCM data, it doesn’t always enforce business rules proactively—especially during bulk operations like EIB uploads. That’s where CloudApper hrPad comes in. It acts as a dynamic interface that ensures data completeness, enhances user accountability, and removes the burden of reactive fixes.

If your organization struggles with missing organizational data in position records or wants to enforce better validation before hires are completed, CloudApper hrPad provides a smart, scalable solution. It complements Workday by making workflows more foolproof—and your data more reliable.