Waive vs. Drop vs. Cancel

Today’s post builds on last week’s topic regarding the differences between Assignments and Enrollments in Workday Learning.

I often hear feedback that the differences between the Waive, Drop, and Cancel actions are often confusing. Understanding how each of these can be used and what problems each is designed to solve can be a valuable tool for Learning Admins.

Waive Assignment

Use case: A learner is no longer required to complete a particular piece of content they were assigned. They may have been assigned this content via a Learning campaign, or the assignment might’ve been generated alongside a Mass Enrollment. Regardless, a Learning Admin can waive the assignment, removing the requirement to complete the learning and due date from the learner.

• Initiated by Admin
• Required Assignments inform the “Required for You” slider on the Learning Dashboard for learners
• Only Assignments with a status of “Open” can be waived
• Waiving removes the need for learners to complete the training, but does not de-enroll the learner
• If a learner has enrolled in content, dropping or canceling the enrollment may also be necessary
• Waive Learning Assignment business process can be used for waiving based on learner or content
• Can be completed via EIB (Waive Learning Assignment Web Service)

Drop Enrollment

Use case: A learner might request to drop an enrollment for a course offering because of a scheduling conflict or issue with the content. They may still need to complete the course and will need to re-enroll in the course at a later time or select a different offering. Alternatively, an Admin may initiate the drop on a learner’s behalf.

• Initiated by Learner or Admin
• Dropped enrollments continue to appear on Learner transcripts as dropped
• Enrollments inform the “Continue Learning” slider on the Learning Dashboard
• Only enrollments with a status of Not Started or In Progress can be dropped. Completed enrollments cannot be dropped.
• Enrollments may have an associated assignment, which may need to be waived
• Workday does not assume that waiving an assignment is always necessary when dropping enrollment, and therefore, the Admin must determine whether it is appropriate on a case-by-case basis and waive assignments as necessary
• Validation rules can be configured to prevent drop requests for certain content
• Can be completed via EIB (Admin Drop Learning Enrollment Web Service)

Cancel Enrollment

Use case: An admin might cancel an enrollment that was sent in error or for some other reason where there is no desire to have a record of the enrollment appear on the learner’s transcript.

• Initiated by Admin
• Can be used to cancel enrollments that were sent in error or are no longer relevant for a worker
• Enrollments with a status of Not Started, In Progress, or Completed* can be Canceled.
  •  It is currently not possible to cancel completed enrollments that have assignments attached
• Cancelled enrollments no longer appear on the Learner Transcript, but are accessible through admin reporting
• Mass Cancel Learning Enrollments Business Process exists for Admins
• Can be completed via EIB (Cancel Learning Enrollment Web Service)

We can help empower organizations with the tools needed to optimize Workday Learning, including robust reporting for Admins, Managers and Learners and custom dashboarding to deliver valuable insights and actions at a glance.

The above statements assume and reflect typical security configuration. It is possible to configure different groups to initiate some of these processes and your organization’s own configuration may differ.