Guide: Five questions to ask a potential Workday deployment testing partner
Workday is exceptionally user-friendly and highly customisable, but the more you tailor it to your unique business needs during the scope of an initial deployment or additional implementation, the more complex its configuration then becomes. The only way to ensure Workday performs exactly as you intend upon Go-Live, and for the life of your system, is to test regularly and thoroughly.
As many organisations quickly discover, however, manually testing Workday during the critically busy time of deployment is expensive, labour-intensive, unscalable and prone to human error. That’s why automated offers a more reliable, cost-effective and less demanding alternative.
But with so many vendors offering automated testing solutions, how do you choose a partner that not only provides the technology you require, but the expertise to ensure your investment in Workday pays off as soon as it's launuched to the business?
Sounds complicated, where do I begin?
Here are some questions to put to vendors to help you select the best solution, and crucially, the best partner for your organisation's Workday deployment project.
1. Is your testing solution specifically designed for Workday?
Testing solutions tend to fall into one of two categories: generic tools that work with a range of ERPs, and those that are only compatible with a particular system.
When it comes to Workday, one size does not fit all. Generic solutions might skip over parts of your system, leaving it vulnerable to security risks and data breaches upon Go-Live—a devastating outcome after months of hard work that can dimish business cases, inflate budgets, and push out deadlines. Solutions designed specifically for Workday are more likely to be robust, easier to set up and manage, and provide actionable results that help you optimise your system for launch.
What to ask:
- Does your tool work seamlessly with Workday?
- Can your solution test complex, highly customised deployment configurations and integrations?
- Does Workday use and endorse your solution or boast the Workday Approved badge?
2. Will I have access to Workday experts?
To maximise value, look for a testing partner that offers access to expertise. Your ideal partner will not just guide you through implementation, but provide ongoing best practice advice on testing strategies, interpreting results and what actions to take to optimise your system. They might even offer you a dedicated point person, saving you from having to explain your business needs every time you have a question or issue. As you approach the exciting moment when Workday or a new module will finally launch, you’ll want a partner that goes above and beyond to support you.
What to ask:
- Do you give regular feedback, via a weekly check-in call?
- Can you write reusable test scripts for us after we launch?
- Do you offer codeless testing, i.e. automated test scripts that don’t require coding?
3. Do you have a relationship with Workday?
If your testing partner is also a Workday partner, they will be privy to resources and information that other companies are not. A key example is advanced access to Workday’s bi-annual major releases, which can help you make some key configuration decisions to ensure seamless post-deployment performance.
Getting hold of the release early means your partner can ensure you have enough testing resources in place and help you plan around any important deployments. The codebase for production, sandbox and all other environments will be different during the testing window, which means that before you go live, you need to be confident that your code is error-free. Early access to Workday releases ensures the codebase is fully up to date across all tenants, avoiding potential system downtime or crises, such as payroll crashing and workers not getting paid.
What to ask:
- Are you a Workday partner, and if so, what level of partnership do you hold?
- How closely did you work with Workday when designing your testing solution?
- Do you get advanced access to bi-annual releases?
4. What value do you offer beyond testing?
A good testing partner will recognise that every organisation is different and has unique testing needs across industries and geographies, especially when first launching a brand new instance of Workday for the first time. You want to work with a partner that offers a bespoke service and scopes out a specific testing framework and strategy for each initial or additional deployment. Also find out if they will help you explore elements of Workday that you may find complex, such as how testing applies to security groups or key worker packs. The best partner will not only make testing easier for you but also help you innovate with Workday and ensure it continues to support you as your organisation evolves beyond Go-Live.
What to ask:
- What is your testing methodology and does it follow Workday's implementation methodology?
- Will you help design a testing strategy, identifying what to test and when to test it?
- How proactive are you in helping clients use Workday in innovative ways, i.e, Phase X deployments, Workday Extend or Adaptive Planning?
5. Is your testing thorough enough?
Unfortunately, not all testing solutions can identify and test small changes to Workday. A tool should test the change automatically, but some follow a ‘happy path’ test and skip to the end of the process without any real validation. This can have a serious impact on your deployment project's success.
If your testing solution overlooks some changes, you won’t know whether the change is a problem until you go live. Ideally, a testing partner will hold your data in a staging area so that you can test any changes using previously generated test data. This means you don’t need to rescript tests for every change and be confident that your testing solution is complete and thorough.
What to ask:
- Is your solution smart enough to identify small changes to Workday, such as a new approvals step?
- How does it react to changes?
- Will the tool automatically test a change or skip over it?
Make an informed choice
Asking a testing partner the right questions will help you compare offerings and avoid costly mistakes. At Kainos, we have worked closely with Workday to deliver Smart Test, an award-winning, automated testing solution that Workday themselves use, and can handle even the most complex of deployment projects.
We have been a certified Workday partner since 2011, and our 700+ Workday experts support clients around the world to launch and protect Workday systems. We offer more than just testing—Kainos will support you in harnessing the power of Workday to optimise your operations today and as you grow. We’d be delighted to answer any of your questions.