Create a Workday external content connector

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated February 11, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
  • Create an external content connector to retrieve searchable content from your Workday source system.

    Before you begin

    A source system administrator must have already configured your Workday source system to allow access by the Workday external content connector. For details on configuring these settings in the source system, see Configure Workday for external content indexing.

    Role required: sn_ext_conn.xcc_admin

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > External Content Connectors > External Content Admin Home.
    2. If prompted, select Switch scope to switch to the External Content Connectors Admin scope.
      You must be in this scope to create or edit external content connectors.
    3. In the Connectors section, select New.
    4. On the Choose source page, select the Workday tile, then select Next.
    5. On the Connection settings page, fill in the connection settings.
      Table 1. Connection settings
      Connection setting Description
      Connector name Unique name for this Workday external content connector.
      Connection URL Base connection URL for your Workday tenant. This URL typically has the format https://<hostname>.workday.com.

      If you don't have this connection URL, ask your Workday administrator for it.

      Client ID Client ID for the OAuth 2.0 API client that grants the connector access to your Workday tenant.

      If you don't have this client ID, ask your Workday administrator for it.

      Client secret Client secret for the OAuth 2.0 API client that grants the connector access to your Workday tenant.

      If you don't have this client secret, ask your Workday administrator for it.

      Token URL Token endpoint URL for the OAuth 2.0 API client that grants the connector access to your Workday tenant. This URL typically has the format https://<hostname>.workday.com/ccx/oauth2/<tenant-name>/token.

      If you don't have this token endpoint URL, ask your Workday administrator for it.

      Authorization URL Authorization endpoint URL for the OAuth 2.0 API client that grants the connector access to your Workday tenant. This URL typically has the format https://<hostname>.workday.com/<tenant-name>/authorize.

      If you don't have this authorization endpoint URL, ask your Workday administrator for it.

      Tenant name Name of your Workday tenant.

      If you don't have this tenant name, ask your Workday administrator for it.

    6. Save and validate your connection settings by selecting Validate Connection.
      Note:
      If validation of your connection settings fails, the system shows an error message. Verify your connection settings to ensure they're correct. If permissions required by the connector are missing or incorrectly configured in the source system, a warning message appears showing the permissions that must be corrected. Provide the information from this message to your source system administrator.
    7. After your connection settings are validated, select Next.
    8. On the Crawl settings page, modify any default crawl settings that you want to override for this connector, then select Next.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can modify the crawl settings for this connector from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on this procedure and the available crawl settings, see Configure crawl settings for a Workday external content connector.
    9. On the Create crawl page, create a content crawl for this connector by selecting a crawl scope (if supported) and any desired options, then select Next.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can create and run crawls for this connector from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on creating content crawls, see Create a content crawl for an external content connector.
    10. On the Connect search profile page, use the Connect to search profile field and Add button to add any search profiles that you want to connect this external content connector's default search source to, then select Save.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can connect search sources for this connector to search profiles from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on connecting an external content connector to search profiles, see Connect an external content connector to a search profile.

    Result

    Your new external content connector appears in the Connectors list on the External Content Admin Home page.

    What to do next

    To retrieve searchable content with your new connector, you must configure and run content crawls for it. You can modify your new connector's crawl settings and create crawls for it from the External Content Admin Home page even if you skipped these steps during connector creation.
    To make content crawled by your new connector searchable in portals and search applications, you must link one of its search sources to the search profile used by each portal or search application. You can use the connector's default search source or create your own custom search sources.
    Default search source
    By default, the system creates a search source that includes all content from your external content connector's indexed source.
    Custom search sources
    You can create your own search sources with filters to specify which content from the connector's indexed source is searchable. To view the connector's indexed source, navigate to All > AI Search > AI Search Index > Indexed Sources. For information about creating search sources, see Search sources in AI Search.
    You can link connector search sources to search profiles from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on this procedure, see Connect an external content connector to a search profile.