Choosing the Right Mobile Device for Your Needs

Before exploring specific device options, it’s important to highlight our partnership with Levata, formerly Barcodes Inc. Workday highly recommends engaging Levata as the official Workday Partner for device-related needs. Refer to the attached Levata PDF for additional details and contact information.

Workday’s Mobile application supports eligible Android, iPhone, and iPad devices. Use Workday Community to stay informed about operating system updates for iOS and Android through announcements from the Mobile Application team. To receive timely updates through Workday Community:

• Subscribe to Mobile Applications product posts with a Content Type of Customer Alert.

• Refer to our Workday Community article outlining the Workday OS support schedule for iOS and Android.

For optimal performance in Inventory Management and Procurement tasks, Workday recommends rugged Android devices with embedded scanners, such as the Zebra TC52x-HC. These devices undergo extensive testing and validation by our product team to help ensure a smooth scanning experience tailored to application needs.

While the camera on iPad and iPhone devices can be used as a scanner, high-volume scanning might be slower because of camera scan execution timing. Third-party iOS sleds aren't officially supported, although some users have reported success with Honeywell attachments.

Mobile Devices in Workday's Ecosystem

Refer to the table below for insights into the top 10 mobile devices used within the Workday ecosystem:

The data presented in this table represents a sample of mobile Inventory Management and Procurement transactions.

** Although the TC51 device maintains a significant share of transactions, it doesn't meet the minimum Android OS version requirement. While the Workday application might function on this device, there's a significant risk of operational issues and limitations when updating the application.

*** The iPhone and Android phone statistics encompass transactions across a range of device models. Workday can't determine the number of customers using company-owned phones versus personal devices.

Operating System Utilization Breakdown

See the table below for a breakdown of operating systems used for Inventory Management and Procurement tasks:

Configuring Your Mobile Device for Workday Inventory Management and Procurement

Barcode configuration for Zebra devices has been simplified. Workday no longer requires barcode symbology to be passed with every scan. All Inventory Management and Procurement tasks can read and parse barcodes with and without barcode symbology included.

For existing customers using AIM configuration in the DataWedge application, no setup change is needed to stop passing barcode symbology.

If you plan to use Custom Barcodes in Workday to parse multiple data elements from a single barcode, consider whether you're setting up the custom barcode with Barcode Symbologies specified in the Create/Edit Custom Barcode Type task. If you specify Barcode Symbologies for the custom barcode type, you must ensure that your device is configured to pass the barcode symbology when scanning.

For Zebra device customers, this means configuring DataWedge to use AIM scan parameters to pass the barcode symbology. If you don't want to do this, omit Barcode Symbologies when creating custom barcodes.

Note: Devices using camera scanners automatically provide barcode symbologies, and this functionality can't be disabled. The recommendation is to include barcode symbologies when creating custom barcodes if you'll be scanning with a camera device. Refer to the DataWedge Configuration Guide PDF for assistance setting up Zebra devices.

To check whether your device includes the symbology ID, use the Test Barcode Scan task in the Workday application. If your device includes barcode symbology when scanning, the Barcode Symbology field is populated with the symbology ID, such as ]q0. If the field is blank, the device isn't passing the symbology ID in the scan.

Beyond scanner configuration, no additional setup is required for device compatibility with Inventory Management and Procurement tasks. For general setup of the mobile application, refer to the Workday Administrator Guide for Setup Considerations: Mobile Applications and Concept: Best Practices for Mobile Adoption.

If you encounter different scanning outcomes from task to task, open a support ticket as the scanning framework will need to be evaluated to ensure that every task is updated with the latest version. 

Mobile Tasks Supported for Inventory Management and Procurement

When using the Workday mobile application, your primary destination is likely the Inventory Management and Procurement application for accessing mobile tasks and reports related to these functional areas. Within these applications, you’ll find a landing page featuring a curated list of tasks and reports by Workday.

Users can't modify this list. They can't hide, reorder, add, or remove tasks or reports.

The tasks and reports accessible through the Inventory Management and Procurement applications follow the same security measures as their desktop counterparts. They're protected by business processes and domain security policies. However, even if a user isn't authorized to complete a task or run a report, they can still select it within the mobile application. They aren't able to take action within the task or report itself.

Troubleshooting Mobile Devices

If you encounter issues with your mobile device, follow these troubleshooting tips:

• Test your device on another network to help isolate issues.
• Identify specific issues related to Time, Location, Item, Device, or User to help pinpoint the root cause.
• Resolve barcode scanning issues by ensuring the barcode is parsed correctly and the data configuration in Workday is accurate. You can do this by using the Test Barcode Scanning mobile task.
• Workday doesn't support landscape mode rotation on mobile devices. No configuration is available to enable this action.

In Conclusion

Selecting the right mobile devices is important for efficient Inventory Management and Procurement. With the guidance provided in this article and the support of Workday Partners such as Levata, you can streamline your operations and select devices that support your application needs.