Blog
October 24, 2025
Workday Data Masking Done Right: Cut Risk, Not Speed
Data Management,
Security & Compliance
When Workday data masking isn't done right, your organization faces millions in potential fines and devastating data breaches.
Workday stores some of your most sensitive information: Employee data. Payroll details. Benefits information. Financial records. All of it needs protection, especially in non-production environments where developers and testers work every day.
The stakes are high. According to our 2025 State of Data Compliance and Security Report, 60% of organizations have experienced data breaches or theft in non-production environments. That's an 11% increase from last year.
The good news? There's a better way to mask your Workday data — one that safeguards your sensitive information while accelerating development and testing. Let's explore how.
Table of Contents
- What is Workday Data Masking?
- Understanding Workday Data Security Challenges
- Why Native Workday Security Isn't Enough for Non-Production Environments
- The Perforce Delphix Approach to Data Masking with Workday
- The Business Case for Automated Workday Data Masking
- Protect Your Workday Data with Delphix
What is Workday Data Masking?
Workday data masking replaces sensitive information with realistic but fictitious values. This protects real data in non-production environments.
The goal is simple. Enable your teams to work with functional data. But never expose sensitive information.
Let's use salary data as an example. Details from a real employee named "Annabelle Adams" become the fictional "Betty Brown" with a different, but realistic, salary. The data still works for testing, but it's no longer tied to a real person.
Think of it as creating a working twin of your production data. Same structure. Same patterns. Different values.
According to our research, 17% of organizations are actively masking Workday data, making it the #7 most commonly masked data source.
📘Related resource: Data Masking Methods: The Complete Guide
Back to topUnderstanding Workday Data Security Challenges
Types of Sensitive Data Stored in Workday
Workday holds three main categories of sensitive data:
- Personal Identifiable Information (PII): Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, and email addresses.
- Financial Data: Salaries, bonuses, bank account details, tax information, and payment history.
- Other HR Records: Performance reviews, disciplinary actions, medical information, background checks, and compensation history.
These are the types of data that create risk when exposed in testing and development environments.
Common Compliance Requirements
Workday data must comply with multiple privacy and data privacy compliance regulations, including:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): Protects EU citizen data. Requires strict consent and protection measures.
- CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act): Gives California residents control over their personal data.
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): Protects health information in benefits data.
- PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): Secures payment card information in payroll systems.
The numbers tell the story. All organizations we surveyed reported having data subject to privacy regulations in their non-production environments. The top regulations cited in our report were PCI DSS (71%), followed by GDPR (51%) and CCPA (30%).
Risks of Exposing Production Workday Data
The consequences of exposed Workday data are serious.
- Data Breaches: Unauthorized access to employee personal and financial information.
- Insider Threats: Employees with test access viewing real salary and personal data.
- Regulatory Violations: Failing to protect data as required by law.
- Financial Penalties: GDPR fines can reach €20 million or 4% of global revenue. CCPA violations cost up to $7,500 per record.
- Operational Disruptions: Emergency response to breaches halts normal operations.
Why Native Workday Security Isn't Enough for Non-Production Environments
Workday has built-in security features for production data. Role-based permissions control who sees what. Field-level security restricts access to sensitive information.
But here's the problem: These native controls only work in your production Workday environment.
The Non-Production Data Challenge
When you need to copy Workday data for testing, development, or training, you face a dilemma:
- Development teams need realistic data to build and test new features.
- QA teams need production-like data to validate changes before release.
- Training environments need sample data for onboarding new employees.
- Analytics teams need representative datasets for reporting.
Common Workday Data Masking Challenges
Organizations typically face these hurdles when masking Workday data.
| Challenge | What Happens |
| Time-Consuming Processes |
|
| Maintaining Referential Integrity |
|
| Keeping Up with Workday Updates |
|
| Risk of Human Error |
|
| Scaling Across Multiple Environments |
|
Why Organizations Add Static Data Masking
This is where static data masking becomes essential. Here's how it works:
- Extract data from your production Workday environment.
- Mask sensitive fields (names, SSNs, salaries, addresses).
- Load masked data into test/dev/training environments.
- Use that secure copy repeatedly for non-production purposes.
The result? Your development and testing teams get realistic data that mirrors production complexity — without exposing actual sensitive information.
How 280 Enterprises Mask Workday, Oracle, SQL, & More…
Our latest State of Data Compliance and Security Report reveals how organizations are tackling today’s biggest data compliance challenges — and where critical gaps still exist.
17% of organizations currently protect sensitive data in Workday. This number highlights how third-party business applications are becoming top priorities for compliance and risk management.
Get the full report for insights and trends to strengthen your data masking strategy.
Back to topThe Perforce Delphix Approach to Data Masking with Workday
Perforce Delphix takes a smarter approach to Workday data masking. It’s automated, intelligent, and built for complex enterprise applications.
First, Delphix extracts data from Workday into files. Then it automatically discovers sensitive data. Next, it applies masking rules while maintaining data relationships. Finally, it loads the masked data back into your target environment.
This approach solves the biggest challenges with traditional methods. No manual discovery. No broken relationships. No stale data.
📘 Related resource: Deterministic Masking Is the Key to Secure, Integrated Test Data
Delphix Key Capabilities for Workday Data Masking
| Capability | What It Does | Key Benefits |
| Automated Sensitive Data Discovery | • Scans Workday environments to identify all sensitive data fields. • Detects PII, financial data, and protected information. • Finds sensitive data in custom fields and extensions. | • Reduces discovery time from weeks to just hours. • Eliminates risk of overlooking sensitive fields. • Continuously monitors for new sensitive data. • Provides comprehensive classification reports. |
| Automatic Referential Integrity | • Ensures employee IDs match across all related records. • Preserves organizational hierarchies and structures. | • Test data remains fully functional. • No manual mapping required. • Maintains manager-employee relationships. • Keeps financial structures intact. |
| Consistent Cross-System Masking | • Masks data consistently to maintain a single source of truth for masked values. • Supports multi-system environments. | • Same employee has same masked values everywhere. • Prevents testing mismatches. • Ensures data integrity across ecosystem. |
| Compliance-Ready Audit Trails | • Complete logging of all masking activities. • Built-in compliance templates for major regulations. | • Provides detailed reports for audits. • Exportable reports for regulators. • Real-time compliance visibility. |
| DevOps Integration | • API-driven architecture for CI/CD pipelines. • Self-service portals for developers. • Integrates with Jenkins, GitLab, and Azure DevOps. | • Automates data provisioning. • Eliminates development bottlenecks. • Supports Agile methodologies. |
| Realistic Test Data | • Maintains original format, length, and data type. • Preserves data distributions and patterns. • Supports complex data types. | • Test results reflect production behavior. • No compromise between security and usability. • Maintains data quality for performance testing. |
| Centralized Data Management | • Centralized policy management. • Role-based access controls. • Approval workflows for sensitive operations. • Automated policy enforcement. | • Consistent compliance policies. • Separation of duties. • Automated retention policies. • Alerts for policy violations. |
The Business Case for Automated Workday Data Masking
Cost Comparison: Manual vs. Automated
Manual data masking requires constant attention. IT staff spend hours writing scripts. DBAs spend days refreshing environments. Security teams spend weeks auditing compliance.
Automated masking flips this equation. The initial setup takes time, but ongoing operations become push-button simple.
Consider the math using this example:
- Manual approach: 40 hours per month per environment
- Automated approach: 2 hours per month per environment
For an organization with five test environments, that's 1,900 hours saved annually. If we were to price it at $100 per hour, that's $190,000 in direct labor savings.
Risk Reduction and Compliance Benefits
Remember the alarming fact that 60% of organizations have experienced data breaches in non-production environments?
Automated masking reduces this risk dramatically. Sensitive data discovery catches everything. Consistent masking eliminates gaps. Audit trails prove compliance.
The cost of a breach exceeds the cost of protection. GDPR fines reach €20 million. CCPA violations cost up to $7,500 per record. But the real cost is reputational damage and lost trust.
Improved Development and Testing Cycles
Developers need data to work. Fast.
Traditional approaches create bottlenecks. Developers wait days for refreshed test data. DBAs become gatekeepers. Projects slow down.
Automation removes these barriers. Self-service portals let developers provision their own masked data. Refreshes happen automatically. Testing accelerates.
The result? Faster time-to-market. More frequent releases. Better software quality.
Resource Optimization
Your IT team has better things to do than manually mask data.
Automation frees them for higher-value work. Empower them to focus on strategic projects for innovation and system improvements.
How Delphix Delivers Measurable Value
Organizations across industries are driving measurable results with Delphix data masking solutions. By automating data delivery and securing sensitive information, teams accelerate innovation while maintaining compliance.
Tokio Marine implemented Delphix to both secure and streamline their data environments. With Delphix data masking, they protected sensitive information across all environments and reduced non-production storage by 85%.
Watch the Tokio Marine testimonial
Boeing Employee Credit Union (BECU) needed a way to automatically discover and consistently mask sensitive data across systems. With Delphix, they masked 680 million rows in just 15 hours, giving more than 200 developers self-service access to secure, production-like data.
“Not only does Delphix reduce our risk footprint by masking sensitive data, but we can also give developers realistic, production-like environments.”
— Kyle Welsh, CISO, BECU
Back to topProtect Your Workday Data with Delphix
Data privacy requirements aren't going away. They're accelerating.
Your Workday data deserves enterprise-grade compliance. Manual approaches just can't keep up. That’s where an automated masking solution like Delphix delivers the security, compliance, and agility modern organizations need.
Ready to Transform Your Data Protection?
Delphix compliance solutions deliver comprehensive data masking for Workday and your entire enterprise application ecosystem — ensuring your sensitive information remains secure across every environment.
Ready to experience it firsthand?
Schedule a Delphix data masking demo and see how automated masking can protect your Workday data while accelerating your development cycles. Simplify compliance and reduce risk without slowing innovation.
Don’t wait for a breach to take action. Protect your sensitive HR data today with Delphix.