Workday Financial Management and Twilio integration

What moves between them

ml-connector polls Workday's GL and AP modules on a schedule you define (typically every 15-60 minutes for operational entities). When a new invoice arrives, a payment run completes, or a purchase order status changes, ml-connector extracts the approver name, department, and threshold from Workday, looks up the approver's phone number or email from your directory, and sends a notification via Twilio SMS or email with invoice number, amount, and approver name. Twilio webhooks return delivery status (sent, delivered, failed) to ml-connector, which logs outcomes in the audit trail. The flow is one-directional: Workday to Twilio. No finance data is written back to Workday from Twilio.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores Workday OAuth2 credentials (tenant, client ID, client secret) and Twilio API credentials (Account SID and Auth Token) encrypted in the cell database. It polls Workday's Supplier_Invoices and Payments endpoints on your specified schedule using date-range filters to avoid re-processing old records. When it finds a new invoice or payment, it applies your alert rules (threshold amount, approver role, priority) to decide who gets notified. For each recipient, ml-connector looks up their phone or email in a reference table (sourced from Workday worktags or uploaded manually), then calls Twilio's REST API to send the SMS or email. Twilio returns immediate status (queued or error); ml-connector stores the message SID in the audit log. Status callbacks from Twilio (sent, delivered, failed) are received asynchronously and reconciled against the audit trail. Because Workday has no webhooks, ml-connector cannot wait for events; it must poll on a predictable cadence and backoff gracefully if a poll fails or takes too long. The polling interval defaults to 15 minutes for invoices and 30 minutes for payments; you can adjust both per customer timezone and payroll calendar.

A real-world example

A mid-sized manufacturing company uses Workday Financial Management for procurement and accounts payable across three facilities and a shared services center. The AP team spends their day in email, spreadsheets, and Workday, manually checking for invoices that need approval and then calling or texting approvers when a large invoice arrives. With Workday and Twilio connected, ml-connector automatically notifies facility managers and the procurement lead via SMS when a new purchase order receipt arrives or an invoice over their threshold is pending approval, including the PO number, amount, and due date. Approvers see the alert instantly on their phone, reducing approval cycle time from 2-3 days to same-day, and the AP team no longer needs to chase approvers manually. Month-end closes faster because invoices are approved and recorded before the close window starts.

What you can do

• •Poll Workday's supplier invoices and payments on a schedule tied to your AP and payroll calendars, with configurable alert thresholds and recipient lists.
• •Send real-time SMS and email alerts via Twilio when invoices arrive, exceed spend thresholds, or reach approval deadlines.
• •Map Workday GL accounts and cost centers to Twilio recipients and departments, so alerts route to the right approver.
• •Authenticate Workday with OAuth2 refresh tokens and Twilio with HTTP Basic Auth, storing all credentials encrypted.
• •Maintain a full audit trail of every invoice polled, notification sent, and delivery status received, with replay capability for missed alerts.

Questions

How does ml-connector know when to send an alert if Workday has no webhooks?

ml-connector polls Workday on a schedule you define (typically every 15-60 minutes for invoices and purchase orders). It uses date-range filters to fetch only records created or modified since the last poll, then applies your alert rules (amount threshold, approver role, priority) to decide who gets notified. This approach avoids re-processing old data and scales with your invoice volume without hitting Workday's rate limits.

Does Twilio deliver alerts exactly once, and what happens if a notification fails?

Twilio webhooks do not guarantee exactly-once delivery, so ml-connector tracks every message SID in the audit log and expects status callbacks to arrive within minutes. If a delivery fails, ml-connector records the failure and can replay the alert manually or on the next poll cycle. Idempotency is enforced at the Workday record level (using invoice or PO ID), not at the Twilio message level.

Can alerts be customized per approver or cost center in Workday?

Yes. ml-connector applies alert rules based on Workday worktags (department, cost center, approver role) and amount thresholds. You configure which combinations trigger an alert and which channel (SMS, email) reaches which approver. Recipient phone and email are sourced from your directory and updated as Workday data changes, so org restructures are automatically reflected in the next poll.