Pathfinder

An application designed to visualize and analyze relationships between Workday business objects through an interactive graph. It enables users to discover possible links between business objects and aids in the creation of ARI and LRV + ESI calculated fields.

🎯 Objective

Workday stores data in business objects. Business objects have fields and instances, which are similar to columns and rows in a spreadsheet. Each row is an instance, and each column represents a field. The Workday object model can be conceptualized as a graph, with business objects as nodes and fields as edges that connect them.

In the example below, the Supplier Created By field available on the Supplier business object is an instance field that links to a specific Worker in the Worker business object. This field identifies the Worker who created the Supplier and allows retrieving all other information related to that Worker from the Worker object onto the Supplier object. In other words, this field — available on the Supplier spreadsheet — acts as a bridge to bring in Worker data from Worker spreadsheet onto the Supplier spreadsheet.

{ "Business Object": "Supplier", "Related Business Object": "Worker", "Field": "Supplier Created By" }

In a report based on Supplier, the Employee ID of the Worker who created that Supplier may need to be retrieved. Since the Employee ID is not available directly on the Supplier object, accessing it requires moving from the Supplier object to the Worker object and retrieving the Employee ID field. The process of moving from one object to another within a complex network of interconnected objects is known as Traversal.

But what if the required data is not readily available on the primary or the immediate related business objects? What if the path to get to the required data is unknown? This is where Pathfinder (inspired from Pathfinding) comes into play. Given two business objects — a source and a target — along with a depth level (representing distance in a traditional sense), it identifies and displays possible paths to navigate objects and retrieve the required data within that distance. It also features a canvas that enables users to add and remove business objects while dynamically updating the relationships between them in real time.

⚙️ Setup

To use the application, an end-user only needs to download the latest object relationships data from the tenant and attach the resulting files during runtime. To extract most relationships from the tenant, three reports must be created. The instructions for creating these reports are provided below. Sample JSON files are available on Community for quick testing but are outdated.

Download Object Relationships from Tenant

Report #1: All Fields Report and JSON

• Create an Advanced custom report using All Fields data source. Enable the report as a web service.
• Create a Concatenate Text calculated field with the name CF TC Field Name on Field business object as shown below:

  Field to Concatenate	Field Type
  Field	Self-referencing instance
  Single Space	Text
  (	Text
  Report Field Type	Text
  )	Text

• Add the following fields/Columns to the report:

  Business Object	Field	Column Heading Override XML Alias
  Field	Business Object	B
  Field	CF TC Field Name	F
  Field	Related Business Object	R

• Add the following Filter conditions:
  • Business Object is not empty
  • Related Business Object is not empty
  • Authorized Usage any in the selection list Value specified in this filter ->select all except those marked internal
• Save the report.
• Click on related actions of the report and navigate to Web Service > View URLs. Click on the JSON link and enter credentials to download the JSON.

Report #2: All Data Sources Report and JSON

• Create an Advanced custom report using All Data Sources data source. Enable the report as a web service.
• Create a Concatenate Text calculated field with the name CF TC Field Name on Field business object as shown below:

  Field to Concatenate	Field Type
  Field	Self-referencing instance
  Single Space	Text
  (	Text
  Report Field Type	Text
  )	Text

• Add the following fields/Columns to the report:

  Business Object	Field	Column Heading Override XML Alias
  Data Source	Primary Business Object	B
  All Report Fields	CF TC Field Name	F
  All Report Fields	Related Business Object	R

• Add the following Group Column Headings:

  Business Object	XML Alias
  All Report Fields	R_G

• Add the following Filter conditions:
  • All Report Fields is not empty
  • Primary Business Object is not blank
• Add the following Subfilter conditions on the All Report Fields Business Object:
  • Related Business Object is not empty
  • Authorized Usage any in the selection list Value specified in this filter ->select all except those marked internal
• Save the report.
• Click on related actions of the report and navigate to Web Service > View URLs. Click on the JSON link and enter credentials to download the JSON.

Report #3: Classes Report and JSON

• Create an Advanced custom report using Classes data source. Enable the report as a web service.
• Create a Concatenate Text calculated field with the name CF TC Field Name on Field business object as shown below:

  Field to Concatenate	Field Type
  Field	Self-referencing instance
  Single Space	Text
  (	Text
  Report Field Type	Text
  )	Text

• Add the following fields/Columns to the report:

  Business Object	Field	Column Heading Override XML Alias
  Class	Business Object Name	B
  Class Report Fields for Class and Super Classes	CF TC Field Name	F
  Class Report Fields for Class and Super Classes	Related Business Object	R

• Add the following Group Column Headings:

  Business Object	XML Alias
  Class Report Fields for Class and Super Classes	R_G

• Add the following Filter conditions:
  • Class Report Fields for Class and Super Classes is not empty
  • [Optional] Class Name equal to Value from another field Business Object Name
• Add the following Subfilter conditions on the Class Report Fields for Class and Super Classes Business Object:
  • Related Business Object is not empty
  • Authorized Usage any in the selection list Value specified in this filter ->select all except those marked internal
• Save the report.
• Click on related actions of the report and navigate to Web Service > View URLs. Click on the JSON link and enter credentials to download the JSON.

Additional Considerations

• There are some business objects that share the same name despite being completely different. Even though the number of such cases is small, for increased accuracy, append the last six characters of the WID to the business object names so that each one remains truly unique in the context of this application.

Run the application

Navigate to https://sy276.github.io/pathfinder/pathfinder.html to access the application. Alternatively, the latest version can be downloaded here. The hosted version on github.io is recommended, as it stays up to date with the latest changes. Regardless of which version is used, all data is processed on the client side (i.e., on the local computer).

📚 User Guide

• The first step is attaching the JSON files on page load. When the ⚡Upload files to get started. prompt appears, the JSON files downloaded from the tenant should be attached.
  • For optimal performance and accuracy, attach the All Fields and All Data Sources JSON files first. If the desired traversal paths are not returned, attach the Classes JSON file in addition to the other two files. The Classes file should be used as a last resort, as it often contains relationships that may not always work as expected.
• On the next page
  • The most commonly occurring business object is displayed on the graph. Clicking on this business object reveals connected business objects with links to and from it. From that menu, immediate neighbouring business objects can be added to the graph to establish a path. This process can be repeated to continue establishing paths. Clicking on these paths displays the list of fields connecting the business objects.
  • The interface also features two buttons - Fileloader and Pathfinder - along with a search bar.
  • The search bar enables searching for business objects and allows for adding, removing, and locating these objects on the graph.
  • Fileloader allows for the upload of additional files that may not have been added initially.
  • Pathfinder enables the discovery of potential links between two business objects.
    • The Pathfinder screen features three input fields - Source Object, Target Object, Depth Level - along with a Find Paths button.
    • Source Object represents the starting point of your search. When creating calculated fields, the Source Object is the business object onto which you want to bring a specific field. For example, if you're building a report based on the Worker business object and need to include the Additional Nationalities field from the Dependent business object, the Source Object will be Worker. This field is case-sensitive.
    • Target Object is the destination of your search. Using the previous example, the Dependent business object would be the Target Object. This field is case-sensitive.
    • Depth Level defines how many levels deep the search should traverse to locate the desired business object. In the above example, reaching the Dependent business object requires traversing one level. If the available paths at a given depth level do not meet your needs, you can specify a higher number. The minimum Depth Level is 1, and while there is no maximum limit, increasing the depth significantly extends processing time due to exponential complexity.
    • Clicking Find Paths shows possible connections from Source Object to Target Object within the specified Depth Level.
      • Every path features two buttons - Plot Path and Field Paths.
      • Plot Path adds the business objects from the selected path to the graph and updates connections between all business objects present on the graph.
      • Field Paths displays possible field combinations that connect business objects from the selected path. Since multiple fields can link the same business objects, this screen presents every potential path, showing how fields establish those connections.
        • Each path includes a Calculated Fields button that, when clicked, displays instructions for creating calculated fields for the selected path. Users can choose between LRV + ESI or ARI calculated fields.

⚠️ Limitations

Extracting object relationships is challenging because Object-to-Object and Object-to-Field relationships are not fully exposed through any report data sources. While the three reports above allow us to extract most of these relationships, there may still be more in the tenant that are not captured. There may also be broken relationships that, despite appearing in the application, do not always function in the tenant. Most of these issues arise from how the relationships are sourced. Unfortunately, no better alternative has been identified at this time, and as efforts to explore this area continue, the three reports should be considered a good starting point rather than a complete solution.