Workday Discovery Boards – User Guide¶

Product Summary · May 14, 2026 · Not part of the Workday Administrator Guide

Workflow Overview¶

Discovery Boards is a self-service analytical tool for line-of-business professionals. A discovery board is a project workspace (canvas) created from Workday Drive.

Phase 1 – Create a Discovery Board¶

New board from Workday Drive (New > Discovery Board)
Copy existing board in Drive (right-click → Make a Copy)
Copy Workday-delivered board from Delivered Discovery Boards report
Security: Discovery Boards: Create + Drive domains (System functional area)

Phase 2 – Select and Configure Data in a Viz¶

Each viz uses one data source. Supported data sources: - Workday-delivered data sources - Prism data sources (requires Prism Analytics tenant enablement) - Extend application data sources (Business objects, Business process/event BOs)

Configure per viz: select data source → set prompt values → apply data source filters.

Phase 3 – Configure and Modify a Viz¶

Select viz type, fields (attribute/summarization), and appearance: - Override display names, number/currency formatting, color palettes - Adjust mark size, group by color, set orientation and grouping (Cluster, Overlay, Stack, Stack to 100) - Mark types per y-axis; dual-axis and combination charts - Highlight data in Table viz; apply viz-level or sheet-level filters; sort and limit data

Phase 4 – Prepare for Viewers¶

Up to 10 vizzes per sheet; grid layout
Multiple sheets; rename sheets and vizzes
Add descriptions and resize vizzes
Create Controls linked to prompts/filters → displayed in Control panel for viewers

Share with individual users or security groups (requires Configure Group Sharing in Drive)
Export viz as custom report (Custom Report Creation domain required)
Download as CSV (Pivot Table, Table) or PNG (all other types)

Administrative Functions (Discovery Board Administrators)¶

Curate data source list: Maintain Data Source List for Discovery Boards report
Security: Discovery Boards: Manage Curated Data Source List
Curate field lists (Data Source Fields, Drill By Fields, Show Details Fields): Maintain Field Lists for Reporting report
Security: Discovery Boards: Manage Curated Data Source Field List + Discovery Boards: Manage Drilling Field Lists
Add boards as Home page worklets: Maintain Dashboards report → edit Home dashboard
Security: Discovery Boards: Set Up Discovery Board as a Worklet + Set Up: Tenant Setup - Worklets

Concepts¶

Vizzes¶

A viz = graphical or textual representation of fields from a data source
Each sheet: up to 10 vizzes; vizzes can be related or unrelated (different data sources)
Drill panel: add vizzes, view transaction-level details, export to Report Writer, drill by dimensions

Visualization Types¶

Viz Type	Report-Compatible	Description
Chart	Matrix	Marks (bar/line/point/area) on axes; requires ≥1 summarization field
Donut Chart	Matrix	Circle segments; positive values only; best for <10 attribute values
Pivot Table	Matrix	Tabular with row/column groupings; row and column totals configurable
Table	Advanced	Attribute-only columns; spreadsheet-style
Area Chart	No	Lines with filled area; trend over time
Bar Chart	No	Vertical or horizontal bars; more grouping options than Chart
Heatmap	No	2 attributes vs. common metric; color-coded
KPI Chart	No	Measure + optional comparison + variance + indicator rules
Line Chart	No	Connected line segments; trend over time
Scatterplot	No	2 metrics vs. common attributes; correlation analysis
Waterfall	No	Incremental increases/decreases; positive/negative factors

Discovery Board Workspace (Edit Mode)¶

Key panels (left side icons): 1. Data source panel 2. Builder panel (viz type, drop zones, field config) 3. Filter panel (viz-level and sheet-level filters) 4. Configuration panel (sort order, Drill By, Show Details overrides) 5. Formatting panel (color palettes, field value overrides)

Additional workspace elements: board title/description, Share button, Undo/Redo, sheet controls, Control panel (right side), dual/merged Y-axis selector.

Summarization and Attribute Viz Fields¶

Role	Attribute (Dimension)	Summarization (Measure)
Data type	Qualitative — names, dates, geo	Numeric/quantitative aggregations
Purpose	Categorize and group	Analyze attributes as categories
Field types	All field types	Numeric, Currency, Text, Instance
Examples	Gender, Full Name, Hire Date	SUM(Sales), COUNT_DISTINCT(Full Name), AVG(Base Pay)

Aggregate functions: - Numeric/Currency (all sources): AVG, MAX, MIN, SUM - Workday-delivered sources also: MEDIAN, PERCENTILE (5/10/25/50/75/90/95/97/98/99) - Instance/Text (all sources): COUNT_DISTINCT

Interactive Viz Queries¶

Dragging fields to drop zones constructs queries. Equivalent SQL structure:

SELECT <attributes>, <summarizations>
FROM <data source>
WHERE <filter attributes>
GROUP BY <attributes>
ORDER BY <sort options>
LIMIT <limit options>

Disable auto-update via Automatically Update menu option; manually refresh with Update Now.

Drop Zones¶

Grayed = not applicable to field; highlighted = available
Position of attribute fields in drop zones determines grouping order
Multiple fields permitted in some drop zones; drag to replace existing field

Chart Viz Mark Types¶

Mark	Description
Bar	Rectangular bar; length proportional to value
Point	Dot at Cartesian coordinates
Line	Endpoints connected by straight lines; trend over time
Area	Like line but fills space to x-axis; cumulative totals
Auto	Workday selects best mark type

Discovery Board Controls¶

A control = configurable input linked to a prompt or filter (the "controllable"). Created via Create Control and Link from a prompt or filter menu.

Control panel appears on right side in both edit and view mode
Rename, reorder (drag), or remove controls from the panel
Workday applies AND condition between all controls
Can't create controls for filters without values (e.g., is empty)
View mode changes to control values are session-only and don't persist

Share via Share button on board or via Workday Drive
Permissions: Can View (needs permission on ≥1 data source) or Can Edit (needs Discovery Boards: Create domain)
Group sharing requires Configure Group Sharing in Drive task on tenant
Mixed-language support: admin must enable Allow Mixed-Language Transactions on Edit Workday Account for users whose display language differs from Drive's language

Discovery Board Security¶

Permission	Behavior
Can Edit	Displays placeholder for every viz; shows data only if user has data source permission; shows all sheets
Can View	Hides vizzes without data source permission; reorganizes remaining vizzes; hides sheets with no accessible data sources

Contextual security applies — users only see records and fields they have access to.

Creating Discovery Boards¶

Steps: Create a Discovery Board¶

Access Drive Home page
New > Discovery Board → enter name
Result: board added to My Files in Drive with 1 empty viz

Steps: Create Visualizations¶

Access Drive (or Home page worklet)
Select discovery board → edit
(Optional) Enable Automatically Update
Set Up the Viz Data Source
On Builder panel, select viz type
Drag and drop fields into drop zones
(Optional) Enable Show only curated fields

Set Up the Viz Data Source¶

Select viz → click Data source panel icon
Select data source from list (filtered by permission + curation settings)
(Optional) Save board to populate Recommended Data Sources (max 10, alphabetical)
(Workday-delivered) Select required/optional filters and prompts

Set Up Prompt Values¶

Prompt types: required or optional; apply to all vizzes on sheet using same data source + filter combo
Prompt value options:
Static (default)
Determine Value Dynamically — uses Global business object field (e.g., First Day of This Month)
Override at Viz — moves prompt to Viz Overrides section
Create Control and Link — exposes to viewers via Control panel
Unsupported prompt field types: Currency, DateTime, Numeric, Text

Set Up Curated Data Sources¶

Maintain Data Source List for Discovery Boards report
Add Data Sources → select → Enable in Discovery Boards
Modify via Add Data Sources / Remove Data Sources

Set Up Curated Field Lists¶

Maintain Field Lists for Reporting → Product Area: Discovery Boards
Select Business Object (all data sources with that primary BO share the list)
Data Source Fields tab: Add Fields → Enable in Discovery Boards
Drill By Fields tab: Edit Drill By Field List → add fields, set Default Sort → Enable in Discovery Boards
Drill By not supported for: blank/Other values, non-filterable fields, Lookup prior value calculated fields
Show Details Fields tab: Edit Show Details Field List → add fields, set Default Sort → Enable in Discovery Boards
To reorder: remove fields, then re-add in desired order

Set Up Discovery Boards as Home Page Worklets¶

Maintain Dashboards report → Edit Home dashboard
Content tab → add worklet row → select Discovery Boards folder → select board
Set Required for Groups and Required checkbox
Optional worklets: Configure My Worklet Landing Pages → Home → Optional Worklets

Reference: Supported Fields¶

Prism data sources: all fields, tenant-wide summarization calculations, supported global calculated field functions.

Workday-delivered data sources: Workday-delivered fields, tenant-wide summarization calculations, tenant-wide calculated fields using these functions: Aggregate Related Instances, Arithmetic Calculation, Build Date, Concatenate Text, Convert Currency, Convert Text to Number, Count Related Instances, Date Constant, Date Difference, Evaluate Expression, Evaluate Expression Band, Extract Multi-Instance, Extract Single Instance, Format Date, Format Number, Format Text, Increment or Decrement Date, Lookup Date Rollup, Lookup Field with Prompts, Lookup Hierarchy, Lookup Hierarchy Rollup, Lookup Organization, Lookup Organizational Roles, Lookup Range Band, Lookup Related Value, Lookup Translated Value, Lookup Value As Of Date, Numeric Constant, Substring Text, Sum Related Instances, Text Constant, Text Length, True/False Condition

Unsupported: Fields on Global BO; DateTime, DateTimeZone, Rich Text, Time field types.

Use optimized fields (blue dot indicator) for better performance.

Modifying Visualizations¶

Steps: Modify Visualizations¶

Access viz in discovery board
(Area/Bar/Chart/Line) Enable Dual Y-axis → drag summarizations to Y-Axis (Left)/(Right)
(Bar/Waterfall) Select horizontal/vertical Orientation
(Area/Bar) Select Grouping: Cluster, Overlay, Stack, Stack to 100
(Chart) Select Marks type per y-axis; create combination charts with different marks per axis
Optionally: Adjust Mark Size, Change Viz Colors, Highlight Data, Group by Color, Change Field Options, Set Up Viz Options, Change Number Formatting, Set Up KPI/Waterfall/Donut options, Filter, Sort, Limit

Adjust Mark Size in a Viz¶

Scatterplot or Chart (Point mark type) → drag summarization field to Size drop zone.

Group Data by Color in a Viz¶

Area/Bar/Chart/Line: attribute field to Color drop zone (requires ≥1 attribute in X-Axis)
Donut: attribute field to Color (requires summarization in Angle)
Heatmap: summarization field to Color

Change Viz Colors¶

Formatting panel → select color palette (board-level)
Override at viz level with field value overrides
Clear overrides as needed

Highlight Data in a Viz (Table viz only)¶

Formatting panel → select table or column → apply formatting (Bold, Italic, Underline, Text Color, Background Color)
Conditional formatting for Boolean, Date, Number, Text fields
Multiple conditions: Workday applies first matching condition; formatting applies when no condition matches

Change Field Options for Visualizations¶

Builder panel → drop zone menu → Field Options → update Field Display Name (or Reset to default)
Pivot Table: Display As % of total (Overall Total unavailable for rows-only)
Supported display name drop zones by viz type: Area/Bar/Bubble/Chart/Line/Scatterplot (X-Axis, Y-Axis), Donut (Angle, Color), Heatmap (X-Axis, Y-Axis, Color)

Set Up Visualization Options (Configuration Panel)¶

Pivot Table Columns/Rows: Sort Order, Number of groupings (max 250/12000), Hide Totals
X-Axis (Area/Bar/Chart/Line): Sort Order, Number of axis groupings (max 100), Summarize remaining → Other, Display Name
Y-Axis (Area/Bar/Chart/Line): Axis display name
Color: Sort Order, Number of groupings (max 250), Summarize remaining → Other, Display Name (Donut)
Options (Area/Bar/Line/Matrix Chart/Heatmap/Scatterplot): Data Labels (All or Custom measures), Reference Lines (Constant/Measure/Workday Delivered; Label: Name+Value/Name/Value)
Show Details: Enable toggle, Override default fields/settings toggle, Field list, Sort Order
Drill By: Enable toggle, Override default fields/settings toggle, Field list, Sort Order (Alphabetical/Value Total/Logical)

Change Number/Currency Formatting¶

Hover summarization field in drop zone → Formatting: - Custom: format string - Automatic: Workday determines - Numeric/Currency: Negative Values display, Decimal Places, Display Unit (K/M/B/T), thousands separator, currency symbol (Currency only) - Percentage: Negative Values display, Decimal Places - Reset to Default available

Set Up KPI Viz Options¶

Comparison Measure tab or Period Comparison Date tab → define variance calculation
Select variance display format (% decimal places)
Define base/comparison periods (dynamic or static dates)
Toggle Show Date Ranges on Visualization
Indicators tab → add rules (Base measure value or % of target; comparison operators; visual indicator)
Rules evaluated top-to-bottom; first match wins

Set Up Waterfall Viz Options¶

Builder panel → Viz Options: - Show data labels, Hide Start Value, Hide total - Sort Order (Dimension drop zone only): alphabetical/logical/numerical, asc/desc - Limit (Dimension drop zone only) - Axis display names, Measure display names, Label display name

Set Up Donut Chart Options¶

Builder panel → Angle Options: - Angle Display Name, Show Value Data Labels, Show Percentage Data Labels, Hide Total, Space Out Segments, Show Leader Lines

Concept: Color in Discovery Boards¶

Board-level: select palette + field value overrides
Viz-level: override per field value
Palettes include color-blind friendly and high-contrast options
Color assignments are dynamic unless manually overridden
Waterfall: 4-color palette (Start, Increase, Decrease, Total); Increase/Decrease colors swappable
Color override availability: Yes for Bar/Line/Area/Scatterplot/Waterfall/Chart/Donut; No for Heatmap; N/A for KPI

Filtering and Sorting Data¶

Filter Data in a Viz¶

Select viz → Filter panel → Add filter to Sheet Filters or Viz Filters section
Configure: Field, Filter Operator, Filter Values, AND/OR conditions, Nested groups (up to 4 levels)
Filter menu options:
Determine Value Dynamically — uses Global BO field
Move to Sheet / Move to Viz — change filter scope
Create Control and Link — expose to viewers
Remove — delete filter
Disable — temp disable without removing

Note: Lookup date rollup calculated fields not supported on sheet or viz filters.

Sort Data in a Viz¶

Chart/Area/Bar/Heatmap/Line → X-Axis or Color drop zone options → Sort Order
Donut/Scatterplot → Color drop zone options
Pivot Table → Columns or Rows drop zone options
Table → hover attribute field in Columns → Table Options → Sort Order
Sort options: Alphabetical, Logical (default, e.g., chronological months), Numerical, ascending/descending
Donut: first mark in sorted list starts at Y-axis (top), clockwise rotation

Limit Viz to the Top N Values¶

Supported: Area, Bar, Chart, Donut, Heatmap, Line, Scatterplot, Pivot Table

Click drop zone options for X-Axis, Columns, Rows, or Color containing an attribute field
Select Limit value
(Optional, not Pivot Table) Select Sum Remaining Values → displayed as "Other"

Concept: Viz Filters¶

Viz filters: apply to selected viz only
Sheet filters: apply to all vizzes on sheet using same data source + data source filter
Multiple sheet and viz filters with AND/OR combinations
Can reorder and move between filter groups

Export a Viz as a Custom Report¶

Security: Custom Report Creation + Discovery Boards: Create
Supported viz types: Chart, Donut Chart, Pivot Table, Table
Chart/Donut → Matrix report (chart + table); Pivot Table → Matrix (table only); Table → Advanced report
Each export creates a new report definition; you are set as owner; sharing = Don't share report definition
Color overrides not exported for Chart/Donut

Steps: Select viz → viz menu (upper right) → Create Report → enter report name.

Download Visualizations¶

Security: Discovery Boards: Create
Non-table viz types: Download as PNG
Matrix Report - Pivot Tables / Advanced Report - Tables: Download as CSV
Also available from Drill By and Show Details results
File name = viz name; title and description export with viz
CSV: Microsoft Excel limit 32,767 chars per cell
Can't download multiple CSV files simultaneously

Reporting Limits¶

Data Sources (RDS)¶

Report Criteria	Limit
Indexed RDS	3 million
Indexed RDS (prefiltering)	3 million
Nonindexed RDS (prefiltering)	3 million
Nonindexed RDS (postfiltering, pregrouping)	1 million
Nonindexed RDS (postfiltering, indexed fields)	3 million
Prism (background reports: Advanced, Matrix, Simple, Transposed)	1 million rows
Prism data size	512 MB
Non-Prism indexed data size	2 GB
Prism table rows for discovery board viz / dashboard worklet	2 billion max

Financial Modeled Data Source¶

Description	Limit
Journal line data duration	Up to 3 years rolling (current + 2 prior)
Optional dimensions	15 max
Values per dimension	100,000 max
Query response cells	1,000,000

Processing¶

Report processing timeout: 30 minutes (error); after 20 sec, option to schedule as background
Background/scheduled/web service reports: 6 hours max
Enable Background Only: Report editor → Advanced tab → Report Performance → Background Only checkbox

Discovery Board Viz Limits¶

Query timeout: 45 seconds
Returned data size: 50 MB

Viz Type	Limits
Area/Bar/Chart/Line Chart	100 x-axis values; 250 color groupings + Other; 40M cells
Donut Chart	250 color groupings + Other
Heatmap	100 x-axis + Other; 100 y-axis + Other
Pivot Table	50,000 data rows; 12,000 row groupings; 250 column groupings; 40M cells
Scatterplot	250 color groupings + Other
Table	50,000 data rows
Filter panel (>5,000 values)	Returns up to 5,000 distinct values

Scheduled Report Output¶

Rows	Result
< 10,000	Selected format (Excel, PDF, CSV)
10,000–500,000	Excel or CSV; PDF → CSV
500,000–1M	CSV only
> 1M	CSV (max 15 GB file size)

Report groups: 200 with Excel template; 2,500 without template.

If Excel/PDF exceeds 1 GB WML, Workday auto-generates CSV.

Reports Run in Browser¶

Report Type	Key Limits
All	50 MB file size; 2 GB XML string; 5 sec tabular processing
Advanced	1,000 instances; 10,000 rows (no pagination); 50,000 rows (supported pagination)
Composite	100,000 cells; 1,000 columns; 16,000 rows; 50,000/10,000 rows with drill-down
Matrix	250 columns; 12,000 rows; 15 summarization rows; 80,000 drill-down cells; 1M rows for count distinct (Prism)
nBox	100 images per cell; 50,000/10,000 drill-down rows
Search	2,000 instances; 300,000 per facet
Simple	1,000 instances; 50,000 rows
Transposed	1,000 instances; 50,000 rows
Trending	80,000 drill-down cells; 1M rows (aggregated); 40M rows (background/scheduled/web services)

Report Designer Browser Limits¶

Cells for multi-instance columns/fields: 1 million (composite, matrix, trending)
Top-level rows: 50,000

Browser	Rows Displayed	Columns Displayed
Internet Explorer 11	50	20
All other browsers	200	50

Export to Excel Limits¶

Columns: 16,384
Rows: 1,048,576

Mobile Devices¶

iPad/custom reports — not supported: hiding table borders/column headings, manual refresh, maximizing reports, 3D chart options.

Mobile — not supported: creating composite reports, custom dashboards, saving custom prompt values for worklets, dual-axis/combination charts, composite report formatting styles.

Not supported on mobile: Calendars, XpressO reports with 2 tabs or using related BO data.

Check dashboard mobile enablement: Maintain Dashboards → related actions → Dashboard > Edit → Settings tab → Device Type.