Optimizing your Workday platform

Deploying Workday is transformative for any organization, but if your Workday platform isn’t optimized, your return on investment won’t be either. There are a number of factors that can affect your ability to see maximum ROI, including end-user adoption, your ability to keep up with releases, adopting new technology and features, etc. Addressing all of these factors can be tough for many organizations, whether you’re just getting started or have been live in the cloud for some time.

We’ve put together our key recommendations to help our clients and prospective clients answer the critical question: How do I optimize my Workday platform to get the value-add on my investment?

1. Prioritize mandatory Workday release updates but be sure to make time for the optional features too

Workday’s biannual releases provide both mandatory and optional updates that enhance functionalities, fix software bugs and make general enhancements to the system. While most organizations start with the mandatory updates, it’s important to also consider the optional features or have a plan as to when your organization will start considering these add-ons to achieve maximum optimization. Should your organization not have an AMS partner to perform impact assessments on mandatory changes, consider using Adoption Planning within Workday to look at the functionality that was included in the release and identify what your organization needs, where processes can be improved and what add-on offerings can help to optimize your system even further.

2. Utilize Workday reporting and dashboard functionalities

With AI and analytics dominating today’s HR technology, it’s critical to use the abundance of reporting and dashboard functionalities within Workday to get the best use out of your data. Workday’s further Discovery Board capabilities ramp up intuitive and collaborative reporting around a variety of different data sources within your system, providing an efficient way to analyze data and ask questions from multiple angles. Those with access to Workday Prism Analytics are also able to pull data from non-Workday sources, providing even further insight into business processes and areas of improvement.

3. Take advantage of Workday People Experience

Workday People Experience is a new feature from Workday, which provides even more customizable capabilities to its users, providing a more enhanced experience for employees through an effective, engaging digital experience. Workday People Experience utilizes the power of machine learning and data to create personalized user experiences for employees, providing quick access to the things they frequently need, such as specific applications or resources. Certain plans also allow employees to receive customized messaging that encourages them to take specific action, such as time entry updates, expense report submittals, pay slip reviews, etc. This increases efficiency for users in Workday and helps keep employees engaged within the system itself.

Workday People Experience is made up of three main components Workday Today, Help and Journeys. Our Workday Products & Strategy Leader, Joanne Holbrook, shares more about People Experience in our recent webinar which you can watch here.

4. Eliminate outdated paper processes through Request Framework

As many people remain at home due to the pandemic, paper processes that were once completed easily in an office setting are no longer a convenience. Workday Request Framework makes it possible for tasks that are typically hands-on — such as generating a loan request and its affiliated documentation or documenting/approving company credit card applications — to now be done in a digital, paperless setting. Other clients may utilize it to request specific data or organizational changes that managers request, such as permitting a worker request to move to an alternative location or granting additional security access. Request Frameworks aids self-sufficiency by streamlining once-tedious processes, reducing time and effort spent on tasks that may be of lesser priority to complete.
 
Moving processes like this to a digital means also adds additional security to HR partners by keeping record of data requirements and streamlining as-needed information requests, like worker profiles, HR offer letters and general profile documentation.

5. Workday Talent Marketplace

Included in the Workday 2020 Release 2, Workday Talent marketplace was specifically designed for employees, empowering them to take an active role in their career development. Studies show that many employees are looking for ways to grow and broaden their skills and experiences to support their career pathing in non-linear ways. Adopting the technology not only enhances the end-user experience for your employees, but also encourages them to leverage your HR technology to help them plan and execute on their career goals.
 
Our Workday Transformation & Optimization Consultant, Deb duPlessis, shares more information about Workday Talent Marketplace including a demo of the functionality in our recent webinar which you can watch here.

Workday user adoption and optimization

You may have successfully deployed Workday, but until your end-user adoption rates are dependable, your platform — and your ROI — may not reach optimization. Our tips for optimizing your Workday platform are key to promoting this end-user adoption by applying proactive planning, self-service applications and streamlined processes.

If you are struggling with optimization or don’t know where to get started with your user journey, Alight is here to help take you in the right direction. We offer a variety of tenant assessment and support levels and can recommend best practices for improving user adoption within your system to promote optimization. If you’re ready to see improved ROI on your Workday investment, why not take our Workday Optimization Assessment today to learn what immediate actions you can take to improve your platform?