The Integration Imperative

Organizations implementing Workday Financials alongside SAP Concur face critical integration decisions that significantly impact expense management efficiency, financial accuracy, and user experience. While both systems offer robust capabilities within their domains, their effectiveness depends heavily on the quality of integration between them. This integration challenge extends beyond simple technical connectivity to encompass data modeling alignment, process synchronization, and governance considerations.

Industry observations reveal a spectrum of integration maturity, from basic file-based data transfers to sophisticated real-time integrations leveraging purpose-built connectors. Organizations’ integration approaches often evolve through distinct maturity stages, with each stage delivering incremental benefits while creating foundations for more advanced capabilities.

Core Integration Requirements

Effective integration between SAP Concur and Workday Financials must address several fundamental requirements:

Requirement 1: Master Data Synchronization Critical master data elements requiring synchronized maintenance include:

  • Employee profiles and hierarchies
  • Cost center structures
  • Project/grant hierarchies
  • Expense categories and GL mappings
  • Foreign currency definitions and exchange rates

Synchronization strategies must address initial loads, ongoing changes, and exception handling for each data domain.

Requirement 2: Financial Transaction Processing The core transactional integration involves expense report and invoice processing:

  • Approved expense submission to Workday
  • Employee reimbursement coordination
  • Corporate card reconciliation
  • Accrual handling across period boundaries
  • Invoice handling for Concur Invoice implementations
  • Receipt image/documentation transfer

Requirement 3: Approval Workflow Coordination Both systems implement approval workflows that must be harmonized:

  • Role-based approval mapping between systems
  • Delegation and out-of-office synchronization
  • Approval workflow routing alignment
  • Exception handling and escalation coordination
  • Audit selection and compliance review processes

Requirement 4: Reporting and Analysis Effective analysis requires consolidated views across both systems:

  • Period-end reconciliation reporting
  • Spend analytics across payment methods
  • Budget vs. actual comparisons
  • Compliance and policy exception monitoring
  • Employee reimbursement tracking

Integration Architecture Options

Organizations can pursue several distinct architectural approaches, each with different characteristics:

Architecture 1: Native Connectors Both Workday and SAP Concur offer pre-built integration capabilities:

  • Workday Studio integrations
  • Concur Integration Administrator
  • Workday Cloud Connect for Concur

These connectors provide standardized integration patterns with limited customization capabilities but offer the advantage of being maintained by the respective vendors as both platforms evolve.

Architecture 2: Integration Platform Approach Third-party integration platforms offer more flexible capabilities:

  • Dell Boomi, MuleSoft, Jitterbit, or similar iPaaS platforms
  • Dedicated middleware with transformation capabilities
  • Monitoring and exception handling frameworks
  • Reusable integration patterns and components

This approach delivers greater flexibility and integration with broader system ecosystems but requires additional expertise and infrastructure.

Architecture 3: Custom Integration Development Custom-developed integrations using platform APIs can address unique requirements:

  • Concur Web Services APIs
  • Workday Web Services
  • Custom data transformation services
  • Specialized business logic implementation

Custom approaches provide maximum flexibility but create maintenance burdens and potential compatibility issues with platform updates.

Architecture 4: Hybrid Approaches Many organizations implement hybrid architectures:

  • Core connectors for standard integrations
  • Custom components for specialized requirements
  • Integration platforms for orchestration and monitoring
  • Phased implementation across integration domains

Hybrid approaches balance standardization benefits with customization where business requirements demand it.

Data Mapping and Transformation Considerations

Successful integration requires careful mapping between different data models:

  1. Organizational Structure Mapping

    • Harmonizing different hierarchical representations
    • Handling matrix organizations in Workday vs. linear approvals in Concur
    • Maintaining synchronization during reorganizations
    • Supporting both financial and approval hierarchies

  2. Financial Dimension Mapping

    • Translating Concur custom fields to Workday worktags
    • Mapping expense types to financial accounts
    • Handling ledger-specific posting rules
    • Supporting multi-company, multi-currency scenarios

  3. Temporal Considerations

    • Managing different processing times across systems
    • Handling retroactive changes and corrections
    • Accruals and reversals across accounting periods
    • Historical data conversion and cutover strategies

  4. User Identity Mapping

    • Synchronizing worker records and contingent workers
    • Managing delegate relationships
    • Handling worker transitions and terminations
    • Supporting single sign-on implementations

Implementation Strategy Frameworks

Organizations successful in their integrations typically follow structured implementation approaches:

Strategy 1: Phased Implementation A carefully sequenced implementation plan prioritizes:

  • Master data synchronization first
  • Simple expense types before complex scenarios
  • Critical financial integrations before ancillary capabilities
  • Core workflows before edge cases

This approach allows organizations to build on successful foundations while managing implementation complexity.

Strategy 2: Build-Test-Adapt Cycles Iterative testing proves critical for integration success:

  • Sandbox validations before production deployment
  • Structured test scenarios spanning end-to-end processes
  • Exception handling and error recovery testing
  • User acceptance involvement in validation cycles

These testing approaches identify integration gaps that static design reviews often miss.

Strategy 3: Governance-First Approach Establishing governance frameworks before technical implementation:

  • Clear master data ownership definitions
  • Process boundary agreements between system teams
  • Integration monitoring responsibilities
  • Change management coordination
  • Exception handling procedures

Governance frameworks ensure technical integrations support rather than conflict with organizational processes.

Common Integration Challenges

Several challenges consistently emerge in SAP Concur-Workday integrations:

  • Organizational Hierarchy Complexity - Reconciling different hierarchy representations between systems, particularly for matrix organizations or complex approval requirements

  • Timing Synchronization - Managing different processing cycles between real-time Workday updates and Concur’s batch-oriented extraction patterns

  • Error Handling Maturity - Developing robust processes for managing integration exceptions that inevitably occur despite careful planning

  • Reference Data Proliferation - Controlling the growth of reference data like expense types, projects, and cost centers that can undermine usability when overly complex

  • Approval Workflow Conflicts - Harmonizing different approval paradigms when business requirements demand both Workday and Concur approval steps

Advanced Integration Capabilities

Beyond basic integration, organizations increasingly implement advanced capabilities:

  • Mobile Receipt Processing - Integrating mobile capture workflows with approval and accounting processes
  • Corporate Card Integration - Automated reconciliation between card feeds, Concur expenses, and Workday financial records
  • Analytical Data Integration - Consolidated reporting spanning both platforms for spend analysis and compliance monitoring
  • Continuous Auditing - Automated policy compliance verification with cross-system validation rules
  • Vendor Management Integration - Connecting Concur Invoice processing with Workday supplier records and payment workflows

These advanced capabilities deliver additional efficiency gains beyond basic transaction processing.

Strategic integration between SAP Concur and Workday Financials creates a foundation for efficient expense management while ensuring financial control and visibility. Organizations that carefully address both technical and process dimensions of this integration achieve significantly better outcomes than those focusing solely on technical connectivity.