Implementation with exact time and budget plans

Deploying new technology that can impact your core business while fundamentally changing the way you think and work within your organization takes careful research and evaluation to find an innovative vendor that can meet current and future business needs and provide a deployment methodology with ongoing customer support, training, and regular updates.

A new cloud technology can fundamentally change the way employees work in terms of organizational structure and processes. After the choice of a provider and an implementation partner has been made and the external resources have been clarified, internal teams need to be put together.

Functional and technical experts support deployment with their expertise, while "internal champions" drive adoption among employees by communicating the benefits.

The Executive Sponsor secures executive team support for this change management project, develops the escalation path, and keeps senior management informed.

It starts with a detailed analysis process by Workday or a partner to gain insight into requirements and existing data and systems. Customers receive a preconfigured client based on insights from the analysis process and best practices, which speeds planning and avoids costly assumptions.

The customer data is loaded into the client in advance and is available in real time. Subsequently, the preconfigured prototypes can be extended and refined, and thus optimally adapted to customer requirements.

Process design and data

Workday and the deployment partner assist with process design and data preparation for the new solution: A thorough inventory and consolidation pays off. First, identify the data that has the highest priority for migration. Always keep an eye on the project scope, schedule and budget, because overruns on any one point will always affect all factors.

New technology offers the opportunity to re-evaluate and re-engineer internal processes, but requires an examination of the enterprise-wide impact. The goal should be to improve data consistency while standardizing and simplifying without fundamentally changing workflows. Ideally, internal processes will be adapted to the new technology as you phase in new features and functionality.

With its carefully selected partner network, Workday ensures a successful implementation. Currently, over 75 percent of deployments are managed by consulting partners.

These include small, regional companies as well as large, global systems integrators and external process outsourcing providers. Because of this wide range, Workday can provide each customer with exactly the support they need. Each Partner Consultant undergoes a rigorous certification process.

As with any change project, IT implementations and the shift to the cloud usually cause unrest in companies and therefore require, on the one hand, a lot of explanation and training in line with the respective corporate culture.

In addition, complex topics and changed working methods must be communicated in a language that is understandable to all, and techniques and tools must be made explainable. Simply providing information is often not enough; a communication strategy and active, dialog-oriented communication and internal marketing help with the changeover and decisively increase the acceptance and satisfaction of all users.

Dynamic go-live

The go-live is only the beginning of a changeover process. It is crucial to maintain a dynamic that facilitates the successive introduction of new functions and functional areas in order to quickly adapt them to changing business requirements.

Workday and partners also provide a Customer Success Manager to assist with business reviews, training recommendations, and support needs to improve solution expertise and reduce reliance on external resources.

A go-live with Workday means: Preconfigured standard packages from past deployments enable rapid and low-risk implementation within four to six months. Naturally, no hidden additional costs and budget overruns and continuous value and ROI through comprehensive training and enablement solutions.

As part of the standardized Accelerated Deployment methodology, Workday offers over 270 preconfigured business processes that can be used as a starting point for a customized deployment. Through iterative prototyping, customers have the opportunity to optimize these processes for their specific requirements.

This approach enables a uniform rollout for all customers and facilitates communication within the network. The benefits of this approach are faster payback, better alignment with individual company specifics, and continued value creation after go-live.

The Framework for Success series is part of the subscription. It is a series of online offerings that help customers prepare for productive use.

To get the best value from the solution, the preparation phase provides customers with information on administration, such as the key roles required, and suggestions for designing a support organization. Under the Updates topic, there is a step-by-step description of what to do when Workday updates its application suite.

The premium service Delivery Assurance for go-live is an all-round carefree package that enables customers to have their configurations and integrations evaluated by product experts from the network as early as the various implementation phases.

Project Plan Review

Successful implementation is ensured through the following steps: In the Project Plan Review, the project plan is reviewed with regard to important tasks and milestones to ensure rapid introduction in accordance with the Accelerated Deployment method. In another module, the process design is reviewed at the very beginning of the project. This is to ensure that existing best practices are taken into account for the subsequent configuration.

As soon as the first design and the corresponding configuration have been created as a prototype, they are evaluated. This is done before the first system test in order to detect any problems that may occur later at an early stage.

In the Integration Build Review, the programming and system configuration are scrutinized in detail. Finally, the design and configuration are checked one last time before the start of production.

Knowledge management ensures optimally trained users. Even after implementation, Workday offers a comprehensive service: a wide range of training options - adapted in method and content to the respective target group. The Adoption Toolkit enables employees and managers to get up to speed quickly and easily. The toolkits include a facilitator guide, guides, FAQs, and demo videos.

In classroom training, core project teams and administrators are trained on configuration and use. Technical teams, power users, and administrators receive knowledge in virtual classrooms on setting up and managing security mechanisms, defining business processes, and using the reporting and integration solutions.

On-demand instruction is provided to current and new employees as needed to familiarize them with the processes they need to complete their tasks.