It can take a year or so to implement Workday, a technological solution that many companies and departments, including HR, are bringing to their workplaces to streamline operations and free up time to focus more on the bottom line. Any time-sucking glitches will cost you while the software you bought just sits.
To experience the full value of your app, you want to avoid hold ups in your Workday adoption. However, there are no perfect systems and humans are, well, human. But never fear, here’s what you need to know about overcoming common workday implementation challenges.
What is Workday?
Let’s start there. Workday is basically a cloud-based software purveyor that focuses on financial management apps, enterprise resource management, and human capital management. With a focus on medium and large organizations, especially those that have multiple locations, Workday provides a one-stop-shop package.
What are Some of its Features?
Just a few of the functions it can handle include time tracking, talent management, payroll management, human resource management, and data analysis.
With HR management, Workday permits organizations to more efficiently, and effectively, manage and organize their labor force. Employees and managers get self-service functionality, and features such as absence and compensation management are particularly helpful.
What are Some Common Workday Implementation Challenges?
While Workday is one of the most formidable solutions available, implementation can hit an occasional rough patch, and on average, takes around eight months. So, exquisite planning is called for to prevent delays.
Here are some common Workday implementation issues:
- The project’s scope is insufficiently defined. This causes confusion and delays implementation.
- The process lacks clear definition and is not prioritized. For implementation, you need to update your processes to support Workday flow, for example.
- Collaboration and communication are lacking. Because implementation involves myriad disparate teams, confusion and delays can ensue.
- Finding the best partners. Workday implementation usually requires help, but you need the right expertise. Also, include consultants from the planning stage, on.
- Not conducting periodic quality checks and tests. Waiting until you’re near the end to do quality checks could hurt you, since you could’ve uncovered issues in a timely manner.
- Ill-kept decision and documentation records. Documentation is a key aspect of implementation because it helps the user through layers of intricacies while they navigate the app.
- Problems with data migration and reporting. Issues that crop up when you send your existing data through the new app can include data point loss, incompatible data and info, data redundancy, and problems uploading data.
- Underestimating your organization’s budget and the time it takes to get the app up and running. Delivering projects as swiftly as possible and as economically as possible can cause problems if you fail to properly allow for the tools necessary for an expansive Workday implementation.
What Can Be Done to Remedy Workday Implementation Challenges?
We’ve provided some answers above, but make sure your company:
- Promotes collaboration and communication.
- Defines processes thoroughly.
- Gets the budget and time right.
- Crafts training programs and on-demand learning.
- Puts together a data migration plan.
- Establishes easily understood documentation and decision records.
- Marks every milestone met, large or not so.
Now that you know how to overcome common Workday implementation challenges, you can commence to installing in HR one of the most dynamic technological solutions out there, in terms of productivity and efficiency. You may need help, though, and if you determine you do, a company such as Mercer can provide it.
