Understanding Workday HCM and key points to consider before Implementing Workday at your Organization.

For any organization to be successful in this competitive world, its workforce plays a crucial role.  Human Capital Management (HCM) is an important area and companies should be equipped with the right HCM (Human Capital Management) software when managing a large workforce. Today there are tons of HCM software options available in the market out of which Workday HCM suite is on the leading edge.

Workday HCM came into limelight after it signed a big contract with Flextronics to provide Human Capital Management software services. It is a cloud-based solution providing endless capabilities with a single data repository that tracks talent activities and practices. It provides a consolidated solution for all HR related activities including onboarding, recruiting, payroll, etc.

Modules included in Workday HCM are:

• Human Resource Management (HRM): HRM is the key component of Workday HCM that helps in planning, organizing, and managing employee data from a single platform. Workday HRM is designed in a way that can be accessed anytime anywhere be it in a browser or in a mobile device to keep the workforce connected at all times.
• Talent Management: It helps in onboarding and managing expertise to meet the talent needs of the organization.
• Recruiting: Workday recruiting offers a clear picture of the entire talent acquisition processes that help in hiring, building great teams, and create workforce plans in a short span of time thereby resulting in increased productivity.
• Workforce Planning: This module aids the management in understanding, planning, and improving the workforce by taking a close look at the quantity, figures, and quality of the employees.
• Time Tracking: This module allows HR to streamline time tracking (in and out) of the employees, absence management, and payroll with its intelligent automation all in one universal system.
• Reporting & Analytics: This module provides real-time insights to managers to analyze data flowing in and out related to accounts, workforce strategies, consolidated reporting, etc. by leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), and Augmented Analytics.
• Payroll Management: All the payroll processes in an organization can be operated using Workday Payroll. Its calculation engine provides a seamless functionality in managing data related to payroll and finances instantly from anywhere. Although this software is available in Canada and US countries Workday provided the flexibility to integrate with other third-party providers locally for other countries.
• Workday Learning & Development: Workday Learning is built from scratch based on the best practices from learning and development. This feature allows HR to manage the learning and training needed for the employees of the organization and keep them engaged by training and shared learning experiences that can be personalized according to the interests of the employee.
• Financial Management: This feature helps in taking control and managing all the financial-related functionalities of the organization. It is a one-stop solution that streamlines all the expenses related to projects, transactions, planning, processing, procurement, auditing, reporting, etc. that helps achieve financial insights and draw up the best decisions.

Although Workday HCM has broad service offerings it works in conjunction with the existing on-premise/cloud platforms of the organization. The software implementation is a tedious project and Workday HCM implementation is no different.

Points to consider for a successful Workday HCM Implementation:

• Practical approach – Although Workday HCM implementation is rapid and easy many unanticipated challenges emerge along the process. A practical approach that includes well-researched implementation strategies, industry-specific expertise, strategic planning, and budgeting helps in avoiding potential risks involved thereby contributing to effective implementation.
• Training – With Workday HCM implementation, employees are most affected in understanding the configuration, set-up, maintenance, and utilization. To quicken user adoption, Workday offers the flexibility of classroom training and virtual training with materials to make it easy and cancel any kind of resistance from the workforce. Organizations should devote some time to provide training to the workforce to impart knowledge on using it better.
• Integrations – From simple to complex integration scenarios, Workday provides Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB), Workday Web Services, Workday Studio, and custom integration solutions (3rd party service providers). To complete the implementation project successfully, choosing the right integration tool is crucial. A clear understanding of API concepts of REST and SOAP and implementation experience comes handy for continual support and maintenance.
• Choosing the right implementation partner – Workday updates roll out frequently that intimidate the implementation process. Partnering with end – to – end implementation partner with in-depth knowledge of the software is essential. Your partner should have an understanding of the business requirements and working knowledge of change management methodologies to deal with complex scenarios.
• Detailed documentation of each step of the process – Since HCM implementation involves various steps and complex reports, it’s important to document every step of the process for future reference and also update the documentation as system changes happen.

Conclusion:

Based on the growth by day in recent years, its user-friendly characteristics attracted organizations to lean toward Workday HCM. Despite the challenges accompanied in implementing Workday HCM, careful attention to pain points and choosing a right implementation partner along with the right business team with SMEs, project managers, super users, and key business users will make a huge difference in terms of quality, cost and time associated with the project.

Denken Solutions Inc. has strong functional and technical expertise in Workday with deep HR best practices knowledge. Our skilled professionals with deep domain expertise provide end to end project implementation support. We have a proven track record of carrying out multiple implementations for our clients. Our mission is to implement flexible and adaptable IT solutions that will solve our customer’s current and future challenges with little or no maintenance.