Building Your Workday Deployment Dream Team
Date posted
1 December 2019
Reading time
12 Minutes
Building Your Workday Deployment Dream Team
When you're a Workday customer, you're always deploying. First there's your initial launch, and then you're continually evolving and growing your Workday footprint with valuable new Workday modules and functionality to deliver evermore benefits and efficiencies to your business.
According to our panelists, one of the most important factors for a successful deployment is finding the right partner and project team member to build your 'A' team.
Finding Your Dream Team
PARTNER SELECTION
Workday recommends that customers work with certified partners who have certified consultants. So selecting a certified partner is the first step towards deployment success. But with all certified partners being qualified and competent, the panel suggested specific advice to vet your way to the best option for you.Favour partners with custom proposals
Once you have a good understanding of your requirements and have developed a detailed RFP to explain those requirements, it's important to find a partner that customises their proposal to those specific needs. It signals that they're taking you and your project seriously, that they listen, and that understanding the nuances of your project is a priority for them. It also indicates the level of collaboration they intend to have with you during the project. Treat boilerplate proposals with extreme caution.Scrutinise their implementation approach
For many companies, deploying Workday or expanding your Workday footprint isn't a cookie-cutter, off-the-shelf system implementation. You may be changing your operating model as part of the project, your service delivery model, your BPs, third-party systems, etc. So be sure to consider the bigger picture and the various activities that will be going on implementation service, delivery model implementation, change management, integrations, data remediation and make sure to select a partner who can help you to link all of those moving parts.Probe with key questions and scenarios
- Lessons learned What are the key lessons learned from engaging with other Workday customers like you on projects like yours? They should be able to describe key challenges they faced and also explain how they mitigated certain risks, which is valuable in helping you evaluate their approach to dealing with issues, finding solutions, and getting through difficult phases.
- Who would do what? Query how they typically segregate tasks and to-dos between the partner and the customer. What would they be expecting from you? Where they are expecting you to take the lead? Where can you expect them to take the lead? Interface discussions are critical during partner selection, as they help you uncover early on if your assumptions are correct, whether you can deliver on their expectation with current internal resources and skill sets, etc.
- Scenarios Scenarios allow you to take unique problems you think you're likely to face in your project because of the nature of your business and hear how a potential partner would handle it. For example, if you have an extensive expat community amongst your workforce, pose a scenario that asks how the partner would manage international assignments and move a worker through the organisation. Can they talk in detail about past experience in this area? Pitfalls to avoid? What they've had success with in the past? Do they have a grasp of key considerations required for all touch points, like benefits, payroll complexities, etc? Do they convince you that they have the skills, knoweledge and experience to come up with the best solutions within Workday for your challenge?