Dynamics 365 HR to Workday Data Migration

Moving from Dynamics 365 Human Resources to Workday? Settle automates the mapping between D365's Dataverse-based HR model and Workday's worker-centric architecture.

Working with enterprise teams on active migration programs

settle — Microsoft Dynamics 365 HRWorkday
SourceTarget
HcmWorkerWorker
HcmPositionPosition
HcmJobJob Profile
HcmCompFixedPlanCompensation Plan
HcmWorkerEnrollmentBenefit Election
+5 more objects mappedEvery row validated
See full mapping →

Days

to production-ready mappings

Roughly half

the cost of consulting-led delivery

Every row

validated before go-live

Enterprise migrations routinely run months behind schedule. Yours doesn't have to.

This guide is for VPs of IT, data architects, and migration leads at companies moving data from Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday — whether you're scoping, planning, or mid-program.

Dynamics 365 Human Resources stores worker data in Dataverse entities (HcmWorker, HcmPosition, HcmJob) with the global address book for contacts, while Workday uses a unified worker record with effective-dated business processes. Settle translates D365's entity-based HR model to Workday's event-driven architecture automatically.

Based on the founding team's enterprise migration experience

Last updated July 2026

How Settle automates your Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday migration

  • Settle maps D365 Dataverse HR entities to Workday worker objects — HcmWorker to Worker, HcmPosition to Position, HcmEmployment to Staffing Events — with effective date translation between the two models.

  • Global address book data is filtered to extract only HR-relevant addresses and contacts, then mapped to Workday's worker contact model.

  • Compensation and benefits enrollment data is translated between D365's entity model and Workday's plan-election framework with plan mapping tables generated automatically.

  • Leave balances are calculated as of cutover date with accrual reconciliation — ensuring no employee loses time off during the transition.

See how Settle works end-to-end →

Get your Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday mapping analysis — see results in under an hour

Migration timeline: manual vs. Settle

Traditional approach

Timeline

6–12 months

Estimated cost

$600K–$1.5M

Team size

4–8 consultants

Typically requires

×Manual field mapping in spreadsheets

×Custom ABAP/SQL extraction scripts

×3–5 mock migration cycles

×Dedicated source system consultants

×Manual reconciliation testing

With Settle

Enterprise benchmarks

Timeline

Days

Estimated cost

A fraction of consulting cost

Team size

1–2 internal resources

Included

Schema profiling & analysis

AI-generated field mappings

Transformation SQL

Validation & readiness reports

Production-ready load files

Common challenges migrating from Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday

D365 Dataverse entities to Workday worker model

D365 HR uses Dataverse entities (HcmWorker, HcmEmployment, HcmPositionWorkerAssignment) with effective-dated records. Workday uses a different effective-dating model within business processes. The entity-to-worker translation must preserve employment history while restructuring the data into Workday's event-based timeline.

Explore related migrations →

Global address book to Workday contacts

D365 uses a global address book (DirPartyTable, LogisticsPostalAddress, LogisticsElectronicAddress) shared across HR, finance, and operations. Workday has its own worker contact model. Extracting HR-relevant address data from D365's shared model requires filtering out non-HR party records.

Explore related migrations →

Benefits enrollment translation

D365 HR benefits enrollment data (HcmBenefitPlan, HcmWorkerEnrollment) uses a different plan and enrollment model than Workday's benefit election framework. Plan types, coverage levels, and dependent enrollment rules must be mapped between the platforms.

Explore related migrations →

Leave and absence model differences

D365 HR tracks leave through leave plans, leave types, and leave balances with accrual rules. Workday uses absence plans with different accrual calculation methods. Leave balance carryover during migration requires careful point-in-time calculation to ensure employees don't lose accrued time off.

Explore related migrations →

Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday field mapping — what data moves

10 data objects typically migrated

Source ObjectTarget Object
HcmWorkerWorker
HcmPositionPosition
HcmJobJob Profile
HcmCompFixedPlanCompensation Plan
HcmWorkerEnrollmentBenefit Election
HcmEmploymentStaffing Event
DirPartyTable (addresses)Worker Address
HcmLeaveBalanceTime Off Balance
HcmDepartmentSupervisory Organization
HcmPersonSkillWorker Skill

Typical enterprise migrations include 500K–10M+ records across these objects. Settle handles profiling and mapping at enterprise scale.

The cost of manual Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday migration

Dynamics 365 HR to Workday migrations happen when companies decide that a purpose-built HCM platform better serves their HR needs than Microsoft's HR module. Workday's depth in talent management, workforce planning, learning, and analytics often exceeds what D365 HR provides. This migration is common at companies with 2,000+ employees where HR complexity justifies a dedicated HCM platform, or where the company's HR strategy emphasizes employee experience and people analytics.

The migration translates D365's Dataverse HR entities to Workday's worker model. D365 uses HcmWorker, HcmPosition, HcmJob, and HcmCompensation entities with the global address book. Workday's data model is fundamentally different — workers, positions, and jobs exist within supervisory organizations with effective-dated business processes governing every change. D365's compensation and benefits entities map to Workday's compensation plans and benefit elections through different structural patterns.

Companies typically manage this migration with HR consulting firms, using D365 data entities for extraction and Workday's Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) for loading. The structural translation and validation work is where most of the effort goes.

Consulting-led delivery for migrations in this class typically runs $600K–$1.5M. Settle prices it fixed and scoped — read the full cost breakdown.

Explore all migration paths →

Frequently asked questions

A typical D365 HR to Workday migration takes 6–12 months end-to-end. The data conversion workstream runs 2–4 months in traditional approaches. Timeline depends on employee count, benefits complexity, and historical depth. Settle runs the same migration in days — every row validated before load.

Exceptions surface before the first load, not after the third.

Built by the team that ran Fortune 500 migrations by hand. Currently onboarding enterprise design partners on active migration programs.

Ready to migrate from Microsoft Dynamics 365 HR to Workday?

Tell us about your migration and we'll show you how Settle can help.

No commitment required. We'll review your migration scope and share a preliminary assessment within 48 hours.

✓ No credit card✓ 48-hour response✓ Free initial assessment

We'll review your migration scope and follow up within 48 hours to discuss next steps.

Or book a demo call →