Succession planning report fails to identify critical roles correctly when using custom competency criteria

[deborah_arch]

We’re running into a frustrating issue with our succession planning critical role identification report in Workday R1 2024. The report is supposed to flag positions based on our competency criteria mapping and role criticality algorithm, but it’s missing about 40% of positions we know should be classified as critical.

We’ve configured custom weighting logic that considers leadership impact (35%), revenue responsibility (30%), specialized skills (25%), and span of control (10%). The talent framework integration appears solid on paper, but when we run the report with these filters, key VP and Director roles aren’t showing up.

Critical_Role_Score = (Leadership_Impact * 0.35) +
                      (Revenue_Responsibility * 0.30) +
                      (Specialized_Skills * 0.25) +
                      (Span_of_Control * 0.10)
Threshold: Score >= 75 should flag as critical

The report filter validation shows no errors, but results are clearly incomplete. Has anyone dealt with competency criteria not properly feeding into the criticality calculation? Our succession planning workflows depend on accurate identification.

[marateresa_wd]

I’m wondering if this is related to security permissions on the competency data. If the report is running under a service account or integration user that doesn’t have visibility to certain competency ratings (especially if they’re marked confidential or restricted to HR partners only), those positions would be excluded from the calculation. Check the report’s run-as context and compare it against the security groups that have access to view competency assessment data. We solved a similar issue by creating a dedicated succession planning security group with broader competency visibility.

[brian_dev]

One more angle - are you using position-based or incumbent-based succession planning? If you’re position-based but your competency criteria are mapped to workers rather than positions, that creates a disconnect. The role criticality algorithm needs consistent object types throughout the calculation chain. Also check if your specialized skills component is properly weighted - sometimes custom skill categories aren’t recognized by standard succession planning calculations without explicit mapping in the talent framework configuration.

[joseph_ops]

I can walk you through a comprehensive solution that addresses all the key areas. First, let’s tackle the competency criteria mapping - you need to verify the data source chain from talent profiles through to your report. Navigate to Configure Business Object > Succession Planning and confirm that your custom competency fields are included in the Succession Plan Item data source.

For the role criticality algorithm, the issue is likely that your calculation exists but isn’t properly integrated into the succession planning framework. Here’s the corrected setup:

// Create calculated field: Critical_Role_Flag
IF ((Leadership_Impact_Score * 0.35 +
     Revenue_Resp_Score * 0.30 +
     Specialized_Skills_Score * 0.25 +
     Span_Control_Score * 0.10) >= 75)
THEN "Critical"
ELSE "Non-Critical"

This needs to be added to the Position business object, not the Succession Plan object. Then reference this field in your report.

For custom weighting logic, go to Configure Succession Planning > Critical Role Criteria and enter your percentages there. Don’t just rely on calculated fields - Workday’s succession module has dedicated configuration for these weights that must align with your formula.

Regarding talent framework integration, verify effective dating alignment. Run this validation: Create a custom report showing Position, Effective Date, Competency Assessment Date, and each of your four score components. Filter for positions you know should be critical. You’ll likely find date mismatches or null values in the component scores.

For report filter validation, the issue is your filter is applied too early in the data retrieval process. Instead, modify your report structure: Remove the score >= 75 filter from the report prompts, add your Critical_Role_Flag calculated field to the report output, then filter on that field equaling “Critical”. This ensures all data is retrieved before filtering occurs.

Additional critical steps:

1. Security context: Verify the report runs with a service account that has Succession Planning Administrator and Talent Framework Viewer roles. Without these, competency data may be hidden.

2. Business process configuration: Check that your succession planning business process includes a step to calculate critical role scores. If this step is missing, scores won’t update when competency data changes.

3. Data validation: Before assuming the algorithm is wrong, confirm data completeness. Create a validation report showing all four component scores for your missing positions. I suspect you’ll find nulls in the specialized skills or span of control fields.

4. Position vs incumbent: Ensure you’re using position-based succession planning if your competencies are mapped to positions, or incumbent-based if mapped to workers. Mixed approaches cause exactly this kind of partial data retrieval.

Test this approach: Pick one position you know should be critical, manually verify all four component scores are populated and current, confirm the calculated field returns “Critical”, then check if it appears in your report. If it does, you’ve confirmed the logic works and the issue is data completeness. If it doesn’t, the problem is in the report’s data source or security configuration.

This systematic approach addresses all five focus areas and should resolve your 40% miss rate.

[hcm_wd]

Question about your threshold - is the >= 75 score applied at the report filter level or in the calculated field definition itself? If it’s in the filter, try moving it into the calculated field logic instead. We had better results defining the criticality flag as a boolean calculated field that evaluates the score, then filtering on that boolean. Also, your custom weighting percentages need to be configured in the succession planning setup, not just documented. Go to Configure Succession Planning > Critical Role Criteria and verify those exact percentages are entered there.

[nikhilops]

Adding to what workday_consultant_m said - verify your role criticality algorithm is actually referencing the calculated field. We had a similar issue where the custom calculation was created but never added to the succession planning business process configuration. The report was using default Workday criticality flags instead of our weighted formula. Also double-check that all four components (leadership impact, revenue responsibility, specialized skills, span of control) have valid values for every position. If any component is null, the entire calculation fails silently in some Workday versions. Run a data validation report first to identify gaps in your source data before troubleshooting the formula itself.

[ryan_arch]

Have you checked the effective dating on your talent framework integration? We discovered our competency assessments were effective-dated differently than our organizational structure changes, causing a mismatch. When the report runs, it might be pulling competency data from one time period and organizational data from another. This creates gaps where positions appear to lack the required competencies simply because the dates don’t align. Worth reviewing your as-of date parameters in the report configuration.