Why the education sector is giving automated Workday testing top scores
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The education sector has gone through major reformation over the last few years and one of the most difficult developments has been its accelerated digital transformation. The sudden switch to remote learning and working prompted unexpected and large outlays in supporting technology. To add to the cost pressures, students have become accustomed to flexible, blended learning and have higher expectations for the use of digital technology in education. We explored this issue in more depth in this earlier article.
As insitutions look for ways to be more adaptable, many are turning to digital solutions to streamline processes and improve operational efficiency. One key development in the sector is the adoption of ERPs, namely Workday, as the backbone of an institution—where administrators can collate, analyse and organise data in one efficient system. However, when your entire organisation relies on a single tool to operate, you must make sure it always runs smoothly. Often highly customised, Workday education configurations can be sensitive to change. And education institutions are continually making changes as they support students and staff. As such, a comprehensive testing capability is essential to detect any performance issues.
Why manual testing is old school
While the education sector may be following the same path of the corporate world in adopting Workday, its configurations and maintenance requirements tend to be more comprehensive, resulting in complex testing needs. Universities and colleges typically need bespoke setups to manage data for large populations comprising students, faculty and staff. Some subject areas might even have unique student assessment requirements or employ specialised staff, and the amount of worker types can easily outnumber those of a large corporation.
Educational institutions also experience peak periods that put staff and systems under pressure. Administrative staff are at their busiest during student enrolment in autumn and winter yet are expected to also regression test Workday at the same time. With staff trying to complete two jobs simultaneously, it’s no surprise they sometimes overlook specific testing tasks, resulting in inconsistent testing and a higher risk of human error.
Workday deploys releases weekly that staff need to test, but there are also large bi-annual updates that require everyone in the organisation to test and report back. The testing volumes for Workday are simply too high for staff to manage manually, and too important to allow to slip through the net.
To perform manual tests with a high degree of accuracy, an institution would need to hire a dedicated team. However, that is out of reach for most and nor it that a long-term, scalable solution. The bottom line is that quality manual testing is unrealistic.
Gain peace of mind with automated testing
At Kainos, we know manually testing Workday is not feasible for universities and colleges. That’s why we’ve developed Smart Test, an automated testing solution that can handle even the most complex of Workday configurations. Smart Test gives you peace of mind by taking care of all testing requirements with accurate results every time. Tests are reusable and always in sync with the latest version of Workday; they cover all tenants, from production to testing and sandbox, and can perform all ongoing regression tests as well as test the larger biannual releases. It executes thousands of tests at the click of a button, completing cycles in hours instead of weeks, helping institutions to reduce the number of hands-on testers they need by up to 90%.
Smart Test also helps to ensure organisations comply with data protection legislation, such as FERPA and GDPR. Educational institutions have to meet strict requirements to protect data from unauthorised access and disclosure, and must demonstrate they have safeguards in place to mitigate risks. Smart Test gives institutions audit-ready evidence and provides synthetic data to limit data exposure during testing and system training.
Smart Test is already helping education institutions improve their operations. Seth Brahler, Senior Director of HRIS at Cornell University, has transformed his team’s Workday testing capability with Kainos Smart Test. He explains: “As your Workday footprint grows so does your support footprint— for updates, integrations, new functionality, and training. Smart Test is one of the tools that you can use to keep that gap as small as possible.”
Leverage our expertise
At Kainos, we have worked closely with Workday to deliver the most comprehensive testing solution available. In fact, Smart Test is the only approved testing solution built exclusively for Workday. It's the leading dedicated Workday testing product on the market and the most trusted. Today it safeguards more Workday tenants than any other solution. It saves colleges and universities valuable resources and frees staff to focus on higher priority and higher value work, such as improving student services or exploring innovative features within Workday.
With Smart Test, educational institutions can remove the testing burden from staff who are not Workday experts and allow them to focus on what they are good at. By using Smart Test, any institution can leverage our long-standing expertise in Workday to develop their own reliable testing capability.