Not sure if this helps you but I have a workspace on server which reads itself using $(FME_MF_DIR)$(WORKSPACE_NAME).fmw as the path to expose the modified_date and write it to a "processed jobs" table. This way I can reprocess older jobs when the workspace is updated. So at least it works without downloading.

Yeah I would think it would work if you have the correct system path. For windows the workspaces are usually stored as

C:\\ProgramData\\Safe Software\\FME Server\\repositories\\<repo_name>\\<workspace_name>\\<workspace_name>.fmw

Thanks both, i had a typo in the first <workspace_name> in the address - using $(FME_MF_DIR)$(WORKSPACE_NAME).fmw to get the information and copy and pasting sorted it :-)

Curse those typos!! Typos are the worst!