Unleashing the Potential of Vertex Solutions through Workday and Salesforce Integrations

Today’s business world moves fast, and staying ahead of the curve means finding smarter ways to connect your teams, streamline processes, and drive customer satisfaction. If you’re exploring ways to prepare your operations for the future, you’re probably already aware of the combined benefits of Workday and Salesforce. But what if you could take it a step further? By integrating Vertex for indirect tax management, you’re creating a holistic financial ecosystem.

To make this ecosystem possible, several key elements need to be working in concert, starting by establishing who the customer is and their data governance. The integration process begins with examining the availability and fluidity of customer data, which is especially critical in B2B transactions where exemptions may apply. Traditionally, B2B sales were managed within the ERP system—such as Workday. However, the rise of e-commerce has led to increasing numbers of B2B transactions occurring directly on digital platforms. For example, resellers and wholesale buyers now often purchase directly from websites, making it essential to correctly identify each customer and their corresponding code to ensure proper exemption handling.

After establishing who the customer is, the next step involves identifying what is being sold, whether a product or a service. Vertex plays a key role here by leveraging its tax research content to ensure that products and services are consistently classified using the same codes across all systems. For instance, when a customer checks out via Agentforce Commerce, the system must communicate to Vertex using the same product or service code that is also used in Workday. This consistency is crucial for seamless workflows and accurate tax determination throughout the process.

Furthermore, when identical data configurations exist in all three systems, it simplifies processes for customers and creates a seamless workflow. The checkout or quotation step in a CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) system initiates the process, with Vertex providing a tax calculation based on the submitted data. Once a quotation is completed in Agentforce Commerce, that data is transferred to the ERP (Workday), which acts as the system of record.

Here's a best-practice scenario focusing on tax calculation and the final posting.  In this example, Workday performs a final call out to Vertex for tax calculation after receiving data from Salesforce. Depending on the transaction type, multiple calls may be made to Vertex. The ERP records the final tax response, saving it for reporting and returns in the Vertex tax journal. The key to effective integration is ensuring that data returned from Vertex to Salesforce aligns perfectly with the data used in Workday, leading to clear, concise, and easily reconcilable outcomes.

We’ll wrap this up with a summary of the key benefits of this trifecta: 

• Accurate, automated tax leads to consistent tax calculation for sales, billing, purchasing, and payroll across platforms. It is compliant with U.S. and global tax regulations and reduces errors and manual work with real-time automation.
• Unified tax data governance centralizes tax data from Agentforce Commerce and Workday for accuracy and audit readiness, removing discrepancies between sales, invoices, and accounting. In addition, it eases reconciliation and helps ensure continuous compliance.
• Streamlined e-invoicing and reporting means automated e-invoicing and reporting that links Agentforce Commerce transactions to Workday financials, while simplifying compliance with changing electronic reporting mandates.
• Scalable growth is a reality with cloud architecture that allows expansion without reconfiguration and updates that keep both systems compliant automatically.
• Efficient and lower IT overhead is the result with pre-built integrations that cut deployment time and reduce maintenance—while standardized APIs make change management easier and lower costs.

To learn even more, explore Salesforce Trusted Global Indirect Tax Solutions with Vertex and Workday Tax Compliance for Workday | Vertex Integration Solutions.