Create and View Student Notes 

Tutorial

This tutorial provides an overview of student notes in Workday, including how to view notes and add notes to a student’s record.  

Video Transcript

Welcome to this quick video about how to create and view student notes. 

You can create and see a student’s academic-related notes.  You can use notes to keep others with the appropriate security, in the loop about a student’s academic activities, or conduct concerns, or financial updates. Remember, In Workday, what you can do and view depends on your security role or roles. 

There are 6 broad note categories:  

  • Administration, Advising, Peer Advising, Retention, Student Financials, and Transfer  

Each of these categories has defined topics.  

Instructors won’t use advising notes, instead, they will have another avenue to report concerns through a form in Canvas.    

Let’s take a look at a student’s notes.   Keep in mind that in Workday, you have multiple ways to navigate to the same task, report or data.   

As an advisor, we can find the student notes in History. You can click Expand Notes to read the notes or click the magnifying glass icon to read a specific note.  

Here we can see the student’s advisor recorded this brief note about their interest in a paid summer internship.  

Now, let’s see how to create a note.   

In the student’s history, you can click the Add Student Note button.   

Choose the note category and topic.  

Select student for who initiated the conversation. 

And, let’s go ahead and enter the note.  

Follow up on student internship prospects. 

You can choose to share this note with a student or not. The default is no.  

Let’s select Yes. 

And, click OK.   

Now, this note is visible to our student, and remains in their history.  Notes aren’t sent to the student. Instead, a student must go to their Student History to view them.  Let’s click done and see how the student sees their note. 

Here, our student selects History and clicks the Magnifying Glass icon to see the note.  

You can indicate to not share the note with the student. However it’s helpful to write a note as if the student might read them because a student’s can request a copy of their full academic record, which includes all student notes, even those not initially shared with a student.  

You can edit the note but not delete it. Only the Office of the University Registrar can delete notes.  

Thanks for watching!  

Step-by-Step Instructions

Jump to: Create a note | View student notes | Note categories and topics | Edit notes | Linked student notes

Create a note 

  1. In Workday, search for and select Add Student Note task. 
    • You can also add a student note directly from History on the student’s profile. 
  • Once you create a note, you can edit it but not delete it. Only the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) can delete notes.  
  1. Enter the student’s name.  
  2. In the Note Topic(s) field, select Washington University in St. Louis and then, choose topic(s) from the drop-down menu (e.g., Advising > Academic Planning). You can select more than one topic. 
  3. (Optional) If the note relates to an email or meeting, select who the conversation was initiated by.  
  4. The note date populates automatically with the current date and time. If you prefer, you can edit to when you met with the student. 
  5. Enter the note. 
  6. For Share with Student, either select Yes or No.  
    • No prevents the note from appearing on the student profile.  Even if you select No, write all student notes with the understanding that a student is legally entitled to view all their notes upon request. 
    • Yes allows the student to see the note on their profile. 
  7. (Optional) Choose the academic period and/or financial aid award year for this note. These fields are helpful in filtering notes later. 
  8. (Optional) If the student has multiple academic records (e.g., Ph.D. and Doctor of Medicine student), select the academic record that this note applies to in the Relates To field.  
  9. Click OK. 
  10. (Optional) Click Add Linked Note to create a new, related note. Linked notes create a thread of notes for the same topic. Once you create a linked note, you can see the number of linked notes and details for those notes under History on the student profile. 
    • Tip: You can link existing notes from the Related Actions button of a student note.  
  11. Click Done. You can view the note under History on the student’s profile. 

View student notes

  1. In Workday, search for the student by using the student prefix (e.g., if you’re looking for Michael Bhat, enter student: Bhat, Michael).   
  2. Click the student’s name to access their profile.  
  3. Select History. 
  4. In the table, you will see all the notes on the student’s record, that your security role permits. 
    1. For longer notes, click the Magnifying Glass icon to view the full text. 
    2. Click your browser’s back button to return to the table. 

Note categories and topics 

In Workday, there are various note categories and note topics within those categories. When you create a note, be sure to choose an accurate note topic as it is helpful for reporting purposes.  

Categories Topics 
Administration Academic General  
Academic Planning & Progress 
Faculty Note of Concern 
Behavior 
Career/Professional 
Financial 
Health 
Historical 
Non-Academic General 
Personal
Referral/Recommendation 
Unresponsive 
Academic Policy Exception 
Military Service 
Transcript 
Academic Other
Advising 
*View guidelines and topic definitions from the Office of the Provost.		Academic Evaluation (PhD Only)
Academic General 
Academic Planning & Progress 
Faculty Note of Concern 
Behavior 
Career/Professional 
Financial 
Health 
Historical 
Non-Academic General 
Personal
Referral/Recommendation 
Student Support 
Unresponsive 
Academic Other
Peer advising Academic General 
Behavior 
Career/Professional 
Financial 
Health 
Non-Academic General 
Personal
Referral/Recommendation 
Unresponsive 
Academic Other
Retention 1st Academic Probation
2nd Academic Probation
3rd Academic Probation
Dismissal  
Institutional Withdrawal 
Intent to Transfer 
LOA/Return from LOA 
Remove From Academic Probation
Suspension 
Student financials
*If you’re entering more than 25 notes at once, Student financials can request a bulk data load. 		Collections Balance 
General Student Financials 
Other Student Financials 
Past Due Balance  
PEP On Account 
Student Sponsors 
Transfer Transfer Credit Approval 
Transfer Credit General 
Transfer General 

Edit notes

The Office of the Provost provides an overview on advising notes and guidelines for effective note-taking.

  1. In Workday, search for the student by using the student prefix (e.g., if you’re looking for Michael Bhat, enter student: Bhat, Michael).   
  2. Click the student’s name to access their profile.  
  3. Select History. 
  4. Locate the note you want to edit. 
  5. In the Note column, click the note’s Related Actions button. Sometimes you need to hover your cursor next to an item for its Related Actions button to appear. If you hover your cursor over the Magnifying Glass icon, the button will appear. 
  6. Hover over Student Notes and click Edit.  
  7. Edit your note. 
  8. To save, click OK.
  • Once a note is saved, you can’t edit the topic. Only the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) can delete student notes.
  1. Click Done. 

Linked student notes

In Workday, you can link student notes. Linking notes helps in locating prior notes more easily, as well as documenting related interactions. You can only link notes that share the same note topic.

  1. In Workday, search for the student by using the student prefix (e.g., if you’re looking for Michael Bhat, enter student: Bhat, Michael).   
  2. Click the student’s name to access their profile.  
  3. Select History.
  4. You can either create a new linked note or link a related note that already exists.
    • To create a new linked note:
      1. In the Note column, click the note’s Related Actions button, hover over Student Note, and then click Add Linked Note.
      2. Next, create the new note using the steps above.
    • To link a related note that already exists:
      1. In the Note column, click the note’s Related Actions button, hover over Student Notes, and click Link Notes.
      2. Select the checkbox(es) for the note you want to link. Or, click the Select All checkbox to link all notes related to this student that share the same note topic.
      3. Click OK. 

Additional Context

Key Changes
  • When you created private notes in WebAdvising, they were only visible to you, the note author. However, in Workday, there are no private notes. Notes are shared across campus with staff with the appropriate security permissions. When creating a student note, you can designate whether it will be shared with the student or not. However, under FERPA, students can request their full academic record at any time, which includes all student notes, even notes not initially shared with the student. 
  • Shared notes from WebAdvising will be moved to Workday under historical notes. Private notes from WebAdvising will not be converted. 
  • In Workday, OUR will enter transcript notes.  
Considerations
  • Students cannot create their own notes.  
  • Student Financials and Financial Aid notes can be found in NetPartner and PowerFAIDS but Financial Aid advisors will have access to view and enter notes into Workday; refer to your school/unit financial note policies for additional guidance. 
  • Only OUR can delete student notes.  
  • The author of a student note can edit any note they created with the Edit Student Note task. 
  • You can link student notes together to reference previous student notes more easily and document related interactions with students. 
    • You can only link notes together if they are on the same student’s note history and share the same note topics. 
  • Note: There are a few ways you can navigate to add a student note in Workday: 
    • From the Advisor Dashboard, click Add Student Note under Tasks. 
    • From a student’s profile, click the Actions button, hover over Note, and then click Add Student Note. 
    • From the student’s profile, select History and then click Add Student Note. 
    • From any report with the student’s name listed, select the Related Actions button next to a student’s name, hover over Note, and then click Add Student Note. 
  • Students do not receive a notification when a note has been created for them. To be notified of any new notes on students you advise, schedule the SRPT0047 – Notes by Student Cohort report.  

Reports

  • SRPT0037 – Student Note Details 
  • SRPT0047 – Notes by Student Cohort 
  • SRPT0253 – Notes by Creator and Category 
  • SRPT0657 – Students Notes On or After Date

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