If you were expecting your Workday investment to integrate with your organization seamlessly, but it didn’t, you’re not alone. Getting there takes persistence, patience, and a plan! In my former life as a Workday customer for an organization that went live two (2) years before my arrival, I was responsible for relaunching Workday. Unfortunately, team members were experiencing conflict over the following challenges:
Broken Integrations
Data Quality Issues
Missing team processes for governance, optimization, and support
No plan for modernization and optimization
Underutilization of manager self-service features
Thankfully, a year later, after executing a successful relaunch approach, I synchronized the organization using a Workday implementation strategy and renewed the organization’s trust in its investment.
Although relaunching Workday can be challenging, these seven (7) steps are critical for success:
Step 1: Create a Project Team
Create a team of diverse roles to support the effort, including:
Project (Executive) Sponsor
Legitimizes project objectives
Champions progress with key stakeholders
Employee Experience, Communications, & Change Management Team
Develops and owns change, engagement, and communication plans
Collaborates with key stakeholders and end-users
Ensures employee experience is a priority
Project Manager
Keeps project plan on track
Maintains project notes, timelines, and roadmaps
Organizes project team meetings
Subject Matter Experts
Serves as Workday change champions and includes:
Finance
Human Resources
Individual Contributors
People Leaders
Technology
Other critical resources
Step 2: Establish Steering Committee
Identify senior and executive leaders to oversee the relaunch roadmap. The Steering Committee is responsible for:
Championing the project
Executing calls-to-action from the project team
Providing insight and direction on critical decisions and resourcing
Step 3: Utilize Professional Support Services
A robust network of resources is available to support your Workday journey, including:
Customer Support Center
Increase familiarity and become an avid Workday Community user
Receive valuable support through Customer Care requests & Training
Free Annual Review provides valuable insight regarding:
Analyzing system usage
Designing relaunch approach
Maximizing module features
Professional Services
Review & Recommend to optimize your system
Learn on Demand & Virtual Classrooms to build subject matter expertise
Jumpstart Services & Office Hours to accelerate new enhancements
Third-Party Resources
Gain additional subject matter expertise and temporary resourcing from Workday Partners, Independent Consultants, and Staffing Agencies
Step 4: Develop Workday Roadmap
A robust roadmap is critical for success. Creating a roadmap should include:
Reviewing company priorities and internal priority roadmaps
Aligning Workday functionality to organizational priorities
Asking the project team and steering committee to review the roadmap to build comprehensive project plans for each initiative
The roadmap must incorporate necessary inputs from:
Auditory Risks & Compliance Issues
Company Priorities
Recurring Annual Activities (e.g., Open Enrollment, End of Year Payroll Processing, etc.)
Workday Annual Review
Step 5: Create Relaunch Campaign
To help team members regain trust in the system, create a change, engage, and communicate campaign to share the project plan with the team. This plan is vital in:
Encouraging input on the roadmap
Gaining buy-in
Identifying change champions
As part of the relaunch, I ensured senior and executive leaders were informed and engaged by sharing the relaunch vision. I also provided a comprehensive overview of Workday’s features and articulated how these features would advance the organization’s strategic objectives.
Step 6: Leverage Workday’s Extensive Features
Develop organizational trust by highlighting quick wins. Use the following features and tools to maximize your Workday success:
Workday Administrator Guide
Provides step-by-step instructions on how to configure certain features
What’s New in Workday
Report can be used to identify new functionality for adoption
Workday Community
Review contributed solutions, best practices, and collaborate with other users
Step 7: Actively Monitor Your Resources and Support Model
Establish and assign an effort level for each relaunch initiative based on the roadmap. If the level of effort exceeds your available resources, coordinate with the project team and steering committee to identify the best approach. This may include moving dates, adding temporary resources, and other changes to execute the project.
With executive sponsorship, an effective relaunch plan, and adequate resourcing, achieving Workday success is possible. Partner with Abnormal Logic to support your Workday relaunch. Visit AbnormalLogic.com to get started.
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