Workiva Support Center

What is "Customize Workiva"?

Customize Workiva provides the capabilities that natively tailor experiences, solutions, and functionality to our clients' unique business needs — pairing the flexibility of AI with governed control to deliver outcomes you can trust on the Workiva platform.

Customize Workiva currently includes:

• Scripting: Create and run automations that apply your business rules through custom Python logic — executed securely on Workiva-managed infrastructure.
• Custom Fields: Add new fields to capture business data that can be used for automations and to provide a unique lens for monitoring and dashboards.
• Integrated Automations for Scripting: Natively integrate your custom scripts within the files where users work.
   

Who can use Customize Workiva?

Customize Workiva is available to all partners and customers, but is not available within Government or Resale deals. 

Are all Customize Workiva capabilities available for every solution?

Scripting and Integrated Automations for Scripting are available across all solutions. Custom Fields are also available across all solutions except for GRC solutions.

Are there customer licensing fees?

Yes. Customize Workiva is a paid add-on to your existing Workiva subscription.

Pricing depends on two things: how Customize Workiva is scoped for your organization and your current Workiva subscription. Customize Workiva can be scoped to a single solution or to your entire account, and that scope also determines where you can use it:

• Account-level scope: Customize Workiva is available across all eligible areas of your account.
• Solution-level scope: Customize Workiva is available within the specific solution it's scoped to.

You'll work with Workiva to determine the right scope and pricing for your use case.

How does Scripting complement Chains and the rest of the Data Management suite?

Customize Workiva adds governed extensibility and execution to Workiva’s automation ecosystem. Chains, Customize Workiva, and APIs are not competing tools. They are strongest when each is used for what it does best.

• Chains' no-code structure can automate everyday processes, eliminate human mistakes, and boost efficiency across the organization without the need for an on-staff developer. Chains is usually the right place for orchestration: connecting systems, scheduling work, monitoring runs, and giving teams visibility into each step of a process.
• Customize Workiva is where governed extensibility comes in. This is where teams can add custom logic, capture structured workflow context with Custom Fields, and execute scripts securely on Workiva-managed infrastructure. It helps move specialized logic out of one-off workarounds and into something more controlled and repeatable.
• APIs are the bridge into Workiva data and automations. They let scripts and chains read, write, and update platform data in a controlled way.

The strongest outcomes come when Workiva’s automation and extensibility capabilities are combined, turning business needs into tailored, governed workflows that run consistently, remain auditable, and stay native to the Workiva platform.

For more information on Chains and Scripting and the unique challenges they address, see the Workiva Chains and Scripting Usage Guidance Support page

How do we get started after purchasing? / How is it implemented?

By the time you purchase Customize Workiva, you'll already have determined who will build your implementation — that's part of validating fit before the sale. The builder is typically one of:

• Your own technical team — if you have builders with the right Python and Workiva platform skills
• A qualified implementation partner — Workiva can help you find one if you don't already work with a partner
• Workiva's Data Management Practice — through a scoped Statement of Work, when a partner path isn't the right fit

Once Customize Workiva is added to your subscription, your workspace is enabled and your builder can begin.

Building in-house expertise: If your team is building or maintaining the solution, we recommend completing the publicly available “Customize Workiva with Scripting” training course and using the Scripting and Custom Fields articles in the Support Center to build the skills needed to be successful. 

What are the Customize Workiva requirements for partners?

Partners who deliver Customize Workiva implementations need to have script builders with the right skills and credentials before they own a customer implementation. At a high level, that means builders who:

• Have intermediate-level Python skills, validated by a recognized certification such as passing the Certified Associate in Python Programming (PCAP) certification (evidence of competency will be requested). 
• Have completed the “Customize Workiva with Scripting” training course. 
• Hold the Workiva Platform certification.

For the full list of required Python skills, recommended certifications, and Workiva training, see Skills and expertise for building Workiva Scripting implementations.

Previously, partners were required to complete Workiva's Scripting Readiness Program. That program is no longer available. Instead, partners are now expected to complete the “Customize Workiva with Scripting” training course and hold the right credentials before owning a customer implementation.

Partners should also plan for ongoing ownership: after handoff, maintenance of custom scripts is typically the customer's responsibility unless a standing maintenance agreement or follow-on SOW says otherwise. Partners need to make certain that there is a plan in place identifying who will maintain the script implementation if the original builders are no longer available.

Who owns and supports the custom code? / What does Workiva Support cover?

Under the Customize Workiva Terms of Use, you are solely responsible for your Scripts and Custom Fields. 

Responsibility for maintaining and troubleshooting custom logic sits with you or your partner — not with Workiva. After handoff, ongoing maintenance is typically your responsibility unless a standing maintenance agreement or follow-on SOW says otherwise. For example, if Workiva updates an API, you're responsible for updating any of your scripts affected by that change.

Workiva supports the platform underneath your custom code: the Scripting and Custom Fields capabilities, the execution infrastructure scripts run on, the published APIs, documented product behavior, and the related escalation paths.

A simple way to think about the boundary: Workiva is responsible for the platform and infrastructure — the "plumbing." You and your partner are responsible for the custom code and logic built on top of it.

Do I need Signature Support?

No — Signature Support isn't required for Customize Workiva. 

It's recommended, especially if you don't have in-house support for Scripting, because it gives you a higher level of technical support as you build and operate your custom solutions. Whether to add it is up to you, based on the level of support your team needs.

How can Customize Workiva be used?

Customize Workiva is most valuable for specialized, repetitive, or high-stakes workflows that standard configuration can't handle cleanly. Below are common use cases that customers and partners deploy today. Most combine all three capabilities — Scripting, Custom Fields, and Integrated Automations for Scripting — to turn a manual process into a repeatable, governed one.

• Filing Consolidation: Generate tailored filings for different entity types (LLC, LP, LTD, and others) from a single master template. Instead of maintaining the same content across many separate documents, you maintain one consolidated template, select the filing type, and the automation produces a new file with just the relevant content — cutting update time and reducing the risk of missed changes.
• Template Deployment: Deploy a master template consistently across many workspaces at once — useful for managed service providers and fund administrators managing dozens of workspaces. Rather than manually copying and importing files, you select the template, run the automation, and it deploys everywhere, tagging each workspace with the right context.
• Document Posture Management: Switch sections between printing and non-printing based on filing type. Instead of manually toggling hundreds of sections, you select the filing type and the automation sets the correct posture across the entire document.
• Linking: Build and synchronize links across documents, files, and workspaces. Add a link once in a master workspace and the automation replicates it across every related template and workspace, keeping sources connected to the right destinations.
• Tracking Workflow: Capture workflow status and metadata with Custom Fields, then use Scripting to monitor it across workspaces — including which template version is deployed and how often a template is used, which is especially helpful for licensing and version control.
• Roll Forward: Streamline period-over-period updates by dynamically updating query parameters, refreshing multi-source connections, and updating input data.
• Statement of Investments: Automate refreshing fund connections, processing data groupings, and updating range links and formatting end to end.
• Bulk Permissions Updates: Programmatically manage user access and permissions across files and workspaces at scale.

These are common examples, not an exhaustive list — Customize Workiva applies anywhere a workflow involves heavy manual effort or strict validation requirements.