10 things you need to know about Workday deployments
Deploying Workday can be a challenging process; but with proper planning and execution, the transition can be smooth and efficient. Whether you are going live with Workday for the first time or deploying additional modules (Phase X), preparation is key to ensure a successful implementation.
Here, our Workday experts share ten practical tips to support your next deployment.
1. A project plan is essential
With your implementation team, establish project management and define your goals and objectives to determine what you want to achieve with Workday and create a timeline based on business priorities with milestones and deliverables. Before deploying Workday, consider what you want to implement first and what can wait. Highlight the business processes you want to introduce, improve or automate and the metrics you will use to measure success.
2. Engage key stakeholders early
Once you have your project plan in place, assemble your team. Identify key stakeholders including business leaders, technical experts and end-users and involve them in the deployment process. Gain their buy-in and address any concerns they may have and keep them informed of progress.
Seek continuous feedback throughout the implementation to ensure you are delivering against the intended goals. Work with a certified Workday implementation partner to get the most out of your investment. You may also want to engage other specialist partners to work alongside your deployment partner.
3. Optimise your data
Data migration is a critical aspect of Workday deployment. Ensure your data is clean, accurate and up-to-date and be sure to analyse existing data sources to cleanse and validate. Work with your implementation team to develop a data conversion plan and establish governance policies.
4. Define configuration and customise to business needs
Workday offers extensive configuration options to align the system with your organisation’s requirements and business needs. Therefore, it requires a deep understanding of the software. Define the required configuration settings, set up security roles and permissions, workflows and reports as needed and assess the need for customisations carefully – as too many can impact future upgrades.
5. Analyse business processes to ensure integration
Workday needs to integrate with other systems in your organisation such as HR, payroll, finance and third-party applications. This can be challenging if the business has legacy systems that aren’t compatible with Workday. Conduct an analysis of existing business processes and identify areas that can be optimised or redesigned within Workday – defining workflows, data requirements and integration points with other systems. Leverage Workday’s integration tools such as Workday Studio and Workday Cloud Connect.
6. Plan and execute testing
The key to a successful deployment is planning and having the right team. A strong test strategy paired with a well thought-out test plan is essential. Plan and execute comprehensive testing, including unit and end-to-end test scenarios to ensure Workday functions as expected. Involve end-users in the testing process to gather feedback and validate the system against business requirements , as well as company needs before going live. Be sure to address any issues or gaps and conduct functional, integration and user acceptance testing to ensure Workday is stable and accurate.
Testing requires a large level of effort from your implementation team – who still have day jobs – which can often lead to teams feeling stretched and as a result a lower quality and/or scope of testing. With Smart Test automation, you can supplement, extend and accelerate your testing efforts significantly adding breadth and depth to ensure comprehensive testing coverage. Often testing teams can struggle to ‘think like a tester’ but Kainos, Test Consultants guide and support you through the implementation.
When testing with non-HR personnel or third-party testers – data privacy can be at risk. With Smart Shield, you eliminate the risk around testers having access to sensitive data they shouldn’t see with intelligent data-masking. Data-Masking is especially important when testers or third-party implementers get elevated access via proxy for end-to-end business approval testing. Kainos Test Consultants take an established testing approach as it relates to risk ensuring appropriate access, and drive the process from scenario creation to issue management, vendor alignment and facilitation of test execution.
7. Develop a change management plan
Implementing Workday can be a significant change for your organisation and it often involves big changes in processes and systems. Develop a comprehensive change management strategy to prepare employees for the transition, provide training and address any resistance to change. Communicate the benefits of Workday to end-users and highlight how it will improve their work experience.
Establish a training plan to educate users on using Workday effectively and consider different methods of training, including e-learning modules and instructor led sessions. During these training sessions, data-masking should be used to protect the sensitive data of employees but still give new Workday users a chance to learn about its great new features.
8. Ensure effective security controls
Deploying Workday requires careful attention to security, particularly when it comes to sensitive employee and financial data. As an organisation, it is your responsibility to ensure that proper data access measures are in place to protect data stored in Workday and to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.
Ensure Workday is configured with the appropriate security controls - establish users access controls, data encryption and multi-factor authentication. Smart Shield works alongside Workday’s security controls, to manage your data access controls seamlessly across your non-production tenants. This is especially important when you are granting elevated access to testers to production data in non-production tenants.
9. Seek support and maintenance
Once Workday is deployed, you need to ensure you have the right resources to provide ongoing support and maintenance. Stay updated with Workday’s releases, new features, and best practices through Workday Community, release notes and training resources. Consider the scalability of Workday to accommodate future business growth and increasing employee numbers. Evaluate the capacity of the chosen Workday deployment model – either multi-tenant or single-tenant – to meet future requirements.
10. Monitor and measure
Workday is a dynamic platform and organisations should leverage its capabilities for continuous improvement. Monitor performance and measure its impact on business processes and metrics and continue to optimise by exploring new modules, optional biannual update features, and seeking user feedback to maximise Workday value.