We’re migrating performance management data from our legacy system to Workday R1-2023 and encountering a critical issue with competency data. The migration template we built in Workday Studio processes employee performance reviews successfully, but competency ratings are completely missing in the target system.
Our source data includes competency assessments linked to each review cycle, but after the EIB load completes, only the overall review ratings appear in Workday. The competency framework is already configured in Workday with matching competency names.
The EIB process shows successful completion with no errors, but the competency data simply doesn’t appear. Has anyone faced similar mapping issues with performance competencies during migration? We need to preserve historical competency assessments for talent planning.
I’ve seen this exact scenario before. The issue is likely that competency assessments need to be associated with a specific review period and worker in Workday, not just loaded as standalone data. Check if your migration template includes the Performance Review reference that links competencies to the actual review document. Without this parent reference, Workday won’t know where to attach the competency ratings.
The issue here is also about understanding Workday’s data model for performance management. Each competency assessment must be part of a review document, and that document must have a valid review period and worker assignment. Let me walk through the complete solution addressing all three focus areas:
Competency Mapping: Your competencies need to reference Workday’s competency library using WIDs or external IDs. Use the Get_Competencies web service in your Studio integration to build a lookup table. Map your source competency identifiers to Workday references before the EIB load.
Migration Template Structure: Rebuild your template to use the Import Performance Review EIB. Structure should be:
Workday Studio Configuration: In Studio, create a multi-step integration: 1) Extract source data with competency details, 2) Call Get_Competencies to validate references and get WIDs, 3) Transform data using XSLT to match Workday’s review structure, 4) Generate EIB file with proper hierarchy, 5) Load using Import Performance Review EIB. Add error handling to catch unmapped competencies before the load.
Key validation: Before full migration, export a sample performance review from Workday using Get_Performance_Reviews web service. Study the XML structure to ensure your migration file matches exactly. Pay special attention to the review document structure and how competency assessments are nested within it.
Also verify your review periods exist in Workday and are properly configured to support competency assessments. The review template used must have competency evaluation enabled.
Thanks for the insights. I checked our template and we are missing the Performance Review document reference. We were treating competency assessments as independent objects. How do we structure the XML to properly link competencies to their parent review? Should we be using a different EIB or web service altogether?
For historical performance data migration, you should use the Import Performance Review EIB rather than trying to load competencies separately. This EIB allows you to include competency assessments as child elements within the review structure. The key is maintaining the hierarchical relationship - review header contains review details, and within that structure you nest the competency assessment sections. Each competency assessment needs the competency reference ID and the rating scale value that matches your Workday configuration. Make sure your rating scales are already set up in Workday before migration.
I want to emphasize the importance of the competency reference validation that Raj mentioned. In Workday Studio, you should create a data mapping step that calls Get_Competencies and stores the results in a variable. Then use XPath expressions to match your source competency names or IDs to the Workday competency WIDs. This ensures you’re passing valid references in your migration file. Without this validation step, you’ll get silent failures where the load completes but data doesn’t populate because Workday can’t resolve the competency references.
Adding to what Jen mentioned - you also need to verify that your competency IDs in the source system match the Workday competency reference IDs exactly. In Workday Studio, when you’re building the migration template, make sure you’re using the Get_Competencies web service to validate the competency references before attempting the load. I’d recommend running a small test batch of 10-20 records first to see if the mapping logic is working correctly. The EIB can show success even when data isn’t properly linked due to reference mismatches.