---
category: [Administration & Integrations, Platform and Product Extensions, Platform and Product Extensions/Integration, Administration & Integrations/Custom Integrations & Apps, Platform and Product Extensions/Workday Extend]
keyword: [Extend, Orchestration Builder, Orchestrate, Orchestration]
nav: wcp_docs
parent_url: /wcp_docs/
title: >- 
  Steps: Create Extend App Orchestrations
layout: subsection
---

### Prerequisites

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-   Get access to the Workday Developer site.
-   Create an app.


### Context

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Workday Orchestration Builder enables you to create real-time, event-driven processes across Workday and other external systems. The processes you create with Orchestration Builder are called orchestrations. Each orchestration comprises a number of components that you link together to manipulate data. Workday processes orchestrations on a step-by-step basis from top to bottom.

Orchestration Builder automatically populates every new orchestration with starting and ending steps. Other Orchestration Builder components are displayed in a panel on the left of the interface. They're organized into logical groups. Examples: <b>Data Requests</b>, <b>Orchestration Logic</b>. Every component has associated properties.

### Steps

1.  <a id="step_N10054_N10051_N1001F_N10001"></a>On your app's home page, click <b>+ Add Orchestration</b>.

    <b>Note:</b> In App Builder, click <b>Orchestrations</b> in the <b>Logic</b> section of the components panel to view any orchestrations you've created for your app. Click an orchestration's name to open it in Orchestration Builder. Click <b>Add Orchestration</b> to create a new one in Orchestration Builder.

2.  <a id="step_N1007E_N1006C_N1003A_N10001"></a>Select a template to use as your orchestration's starting point. Use this table to determine which template is appropriate for your use case.

<table><thead><tr><th>Template</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Synchronous Orchestration</td><td>Synchronous orchestrations start and complete without awaiting any other input. <p>Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Orchestration Start</b> and <b>Orchestration End</b> steps.</p> <p>Use this template:</p><ul><li>    For self-service applications that need Workday responses to successful data updates.
</li><li>    For lightweight applications that can process quickly.
</li></ul><p>You can configure a Synchronous orchestration to accept a multipart HTTP request. To do so, select the <b>Request Contains Multi-Part Data</b> check box in the <b>Orchestration Start</b> step's properties panel.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Asynchronous Orchestration</td><td>Asynchronous orchestrations contain steps such as <b>Trigger Business Process</b> that await the conclusion of other events. <p>Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Orchestration Start</b> and <b>Orchestration End</b> steps.</p> <p>Use this template:</p><ul><li>    For applications that don't require an immediate Workday response.
</li><li>    For applications that need to process a large amount of data.
</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Workday Business Process</td><td>Workday Business Process orchestrations can be triggered by a Workday-delivered business process. <p>Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Business Process Trigger</b> and <b>Orchestration End</b> steps.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Workday Home Card</td><td>Workday Home Card orchestrations add data to a custom Workday Home Card. <p><b>Note:</b> Workday Home (formerly known as Workday Today) is available in WCP Development tenants. All Extend customers can create Workday Home Cards using Orchestration Builder. However, to use Workday Home Cards in non-Development tenants, you must be a Workday Journeys customer.</p> <p>Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Workday Home Card Request</b> and <b>Select Card to Return</b> steps. Between them, it adds a <b>Create Workday Home Card</b> step.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Workday Integration System</td><td>Workday integrations enable you to exchange data efficiently between Workday and an external endpoint. An integration system is the framework by which Workday launches and tracks integrations. <p>Use this template to create an orchestration that is triggered from a Workday integration system. Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Integration Framework Trigger</b> and <b>Orchestration End</b> steps.</p></td></tr><tr><td>Custom Agent Action</td><td>Custom Agent Action orchestrations are discoverable and invokable by a Model Context Protocol-compatible AI agent using natural language queries. <p>Orchestration Builder automatically adds <b>Custom Agent Action</b> and <b>Custom Agent Action End</b> steps.</p> <p>For more information, see: <a href="/wcp_docs/GUID-fce1f988-5cf6-4d0c-ad1a-953bcfe212c6.html">Configure Custom Agent Action Orchestrations</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table><br/>

3.  <a id="step_N10031_N1002E_N1001F_N10001"></a>To add a new component to your orchestration, drag it from the <b>Components</b> panel and drop it at the appropriate place between the <b>Start</b> and <b>End</b> components.
4.  <a id="step_N10051_N10029_N1001F_N10001"></a>(Optional) To give a component a more descriptive name, click its subtitle in your orchestration. Example: you might give an HTTP Request the subtitle `Workday GetWorkers SOAP Request` to distinguish it from other HTTP requests.
5.  <a id="step_N1005E_N10036_N1001F_N10001"></a>Click a component to display its properties panel on the right. Use this panel to add explanatory comments and to view or edit the component's <b>Reference Name</b>. The <b>Reference Name</b> is the name you use in the Expression Builder to refer to a component from other components.
6.  <a id="step_N1007C_N10036_N1001F_N10001"></a>To add subsequent components, drag them from the <b>Components</b> panel and drop them at the appropriate point in your orchestration.
7.  (Optional) To cut, copy, and paste a step or multiple steps, highlight them and use the appropriate keyboard shortcuts. Orchestration Builder adds pasted steps at the end of an orchestration or error handler.

    macOS shortcuts: Command + x/c/v

    Windows shortcuts: Ctrl + x/c/v

8.  (Optional)  Define and evaluate simple expressions.

    See [Concept: Expression Builder](/wcp_docs/zwn1594742859781.html).

9.  (Optional) [Handle Errors](/wcp_docs/jsa1677245297723.html).

    Create local error handlers for components and groups of components, and global error handlers to specify what action to take when an error isn't caught locally.

10. (Optional) [Add Suborchestrations](/wcp_docs/GUID-53b9199b-89aa-4f65-98b4-dab35fd36218-enHYPHENus.html).

    Create a series of steps that you can reuse across multiple orchestrations in the same app.

11. (Optional) [Add Aggregations](/wcp_docs/GUID-499f45c0-34ac-4d4e-8d46-f9719549acfe-enHYPHENus.html).

    Apply an aggregation strategy that condenses data items into a single output item.

12. (Optional) [Create Loop Early Stop Conditions](/wcp_docs/GUID-ed820c5a-57ac-4cd2-bb5a-7f149a9ffcb6-enHYPHENus.html).

    End loop iteration when a specified condition is met, rather than when there are no more elements to process

13. (Optional) Transform text data by defining how each element in a source character set map to an equivalent in a target character set.

    See [Concept: Character Mapping](/wcp_docs/GUID-37b4e1e4-3bc6-409f-9912-856be54342f3-enHYPHENus.html).

14. <a id="step_N1020E_N100EB_N100C1_N10001"></a>(Optional) [Group Steps](/wcp_docs/ete1677238269689.html).

    Create a collapsible user-defined group of components to make complex orchestrations more navigable.

15. <a id="step_N10127_N1007E_N1004C_N10001"></a>(Optional) [Create Orchestration Credentials](/wcp_docs/uwh1613475703138.html).

    Create credentials for use in HTTP Send requests in your orchestration.

16. (Optional) [Define HTTP Retry Policies](/wcp_docs/ymw1677347032713.html).

    Specify the conditions under which Orchestration Builder retries a failed HTTP request.

17. (Optional) [Add a Connector Action to an Orchestration](/wcp_docs/GUID-9152abb8-ae75-47b1-89b7-35309f50663b-enHYPHENus.html)

    If you have configured a connector for your app, add connector actions from the Connectors palette, next to the Components palette.

18. <a id="step_N100F4_N1007E_N1004C_N10001"></a>To check your orchestration for errors, click <b>Validate</b> in the orchestration tool bar.
19. (Optional) To temporarily a disable a step to facilitate debugging, click the step's related actions menu and select <b>Disable</b>. Orchestration Builder dims the disabled step and excludes it from execution. To re-enable the step, click its related actions menu and select <b>Enable</b>.
20. <a id="step_N10091_N10029_N1001F_N10001"></a>When you've made changes to your orchestration, click <b>Save to App Hub</b> to upload them to App Hub.
21. <a id="step_N101D0_N10095_N1006B_N10001"></a>(Optional) [Export OpenAPI Specifications for Orchestrations](/wcp_docs/obv1626390017162.html).

    Download an OpenAPI document for your orchestration. You can use this document to work with third parties as you build and test external apps that connect to orchestrations.



### Related Information

[Administrator Guide: Steps: Set Up Journeys](https://doc.workday.com/access/sources/dita/topic?wd:docset=adminguide&ft:locale=en-US&resourceid=dge1631223207568&dita:mapPath=dan1370797899707.ditamap)

[Administrator Guide: Steps: Set Up People Experience](https://doc.workday.com/access/sources/dita/topic?wd:docset=adminguide&ft:locale=en-US&resourceid=jbk1594667237433&dita:mapPath=dan1370797899707.ditamap)

[Tutorial: Getting Started with Orchestrate](https://wd5.myworkday.com/workday/learning/course/3c63a1f05c5a10016bd4c041233b0000?type=9882927d138b100019b928e75843018d)

[Tutorial: Create Synchronous Orchestrations](https://wd5.myworkday.com/workday/learning/course/018e318f3fc8011af0c956c2230c2687?type=9882927d138b100019b928e75843018d)