Workday BIRT Reports vs Workday Docs for Layouts: Picking the Right Tool for Your Needs

05.14.2025 | Technical Articles

Workday customers rarely have to “make do” with their business tools. The ever-growing number of modules, products, AI agents, and other features contained within this enterprise suite allows for right-fit approaches to a range of problems. With Workday Extend, leaders can go a step further, customizing their dashboards and capabilities to better address challenges.

That said, there’s a different type of hurdle Workday customers have to overcome: finding the perfect Workday solutions for given circumstances.

Consider Workday BIRT Reports vs Workday Docs. Both are powerful tools when it comes to generating business documents. Both offer ease of use, but they satisfy drastically different needs. Here is what your business should know to navigate both of these exceptional Workday tools.

When to Choose Workday BIRT Reports

For a while, Workday’s Business Intelligence and Reporting Tool (BIRT) was the go-to for transforming reports into polished and print-ready documents. Accessible through Report Designer, which is a plug-in to Workday Studio, Workday BIRT excels under the following use cases:

Pay Slips and Compensation Statements
Invoices and Billing Statements
Regulatory and Compliance Reports
Operational and Financial Summaries

For companies with intricate reporting requirements that demand precise positioning of data elements, watermarks, or specialized charts, this open-source tool delivers exceptional control. It’s also great for meticulous professionals who want pixel-perfect control over their document formatting and layout.

Here’s a glimpse of how Workday BIRT operates:

However, there have been some limitations to this tool. Workday BIRT requires technical knowledge of XML to create the structure and test data from reports as well as design tools to make the content visually appealing.

Additionally, users need to take some precautions if they’re collaborating on BIRT-generated documents. Making too many code changes at a time or collaborating simultaneously on a document can cause problems as well. In general, divide the work into multiple parts, test it, save a copy, and enhance a copy from production (always with a backup in place).

Why Choose Workday Docs for Layouts

Launched in 2023, Workday Docs for Layouts is the next stage in the evolution of document generation within the Workday ecosystem. This user-friendly tool has expanded into many of Workday’s core processes since its inception, eliminating the need for specialized technical knowledge or external design when creating various document types.

In fact, Docs for Layouts shines when using advanced custom reports to generate the following types of documents:

Compensation Review
Supplier Remittance
Employee Talent Cards
Employee Reviews
Invoices

The additional benefit is that all your work occurs in the Workday environment without needing to use Workday Studio or Report Designer. Plus, it allows for the intuitive customization of rich text formatting, images, tables, headers, footers, and page settings. It allows language translations to be set based on user locale and can also integrate electronic signature solutions like DocuSign and Adobe e-Sign.

Setting up Docs for Layouts is fairly easy:

Again, there are some limitations. Docs for Layouts can only work with Advanced custom reports, limited data sources and is incapable of basing the design on multiple reports. Users cannot reuse content elements between document layouts; instead, they must update them separately. Plus, calculations, charts, data visualizations, barcodes, and QR codes are currently unsupported.

How They Fit in Your Workday Picture

No matter which tool you end up using for your document generation, you still have the major advantages of working on the Workday platform. You get structured, ready-to-use files that you can print, export, or store within your enterprise cloud without much hassle. Best of all, it’s not either/or; your business can use both.

Many organizations find value in maintaining both tools in their arsenal, using BIRT for complex regulatory documents and Docs for Layouts for routine business communications. By thoughtfully selecting the right tool for each document type, you can maximize efficiency while ensuring all stakeholders receive well-designed, accurate documentation that supports your business objectives.