Wednesday 13 September 2017

Workday's new user interface


One of the things that I hear frequently is that users *love* Workday's interface. I can see why, it's easy and intuitive to use and pleasant to view. So I'm quite surprised that they're bringing out a new version of it. Here is a preview, the left is the current version that we know and love and the right is the future version:



My initial reaction is 'ugh!' It's called the 'canvas user interface' rather than the landing page.

Why is Workday making this change?

According to WD it will make for a consistent branding experience between desktop and mobile users. It will also allow for more branding by customers in mobile. On the plus side the blue that you see in the canvas can be customized in color, so if your key company color is red you can change that. Users will be able to set whatever color they want on their mobile devices however.

Also WD stated that the darker text will be easier to read.

When?

Workday is handling the desktop experience separately from the mobile UI. Mobile is already in production. Customers can preview and use the new interface in desktop production but it's an opt-in. Everyone will be forced into using it as of WD 31 in Sept 2018. In the meantime your users are suffering through an inconsistent experience between desktop and mobile.

Customer impacts?

At least customers have a year to start changing any of their documentation, training materials or job aids. This is a major overhaul in the look of the software.

User opinions?

As I informally chat with HR systems people in my WD circle, no one is impressed. In the greater WD community people are seeing it as a step backwards. In particular people are wondering why WD is devoting so much time to making its product mobile friendly when so many users are desktop based. My personal favorite is the people who are comparing it to software of yesteryear like old Windows systems or *shudder* PeopleSoft 8. I actually see the PSoft comparison on the drilldown pages, plus the sample blue is similar to the PSoft blue.

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Auditing Workday configuration - replication dates

I am receiving many emails in the past weeks about auditing Workday.  Workday offers courses specifically tailored for auditing professionals.  In case you are preparing for a WD audit, I'd like to share some of these solutions with you.

From the mailbox:

I am an Auditor and my client uses workday. I audited configurations on Sandbox and client mentioned that Sandbox is replicated from production environment but client was not able to show me how to see replication dates. 

Can you guide me , how to see replication date or configuration for replication (Prod > Sandbox)?

As a former IT auditor, these questions make my day.  Auditors are not dreadful people.  One of the key rules I've found with auditors is that 'there are many routes to the same city.'  Meaning:  as long as you can prove something to me, I don't care what method you use, as long as it is reliable. 

Question:  How do I prove when a Workday Sandbox was copied from Production?


1. Ask the customer to log on to Workday Community and print out the documentation that states mandatory sandbox refreshes once per week (it exists, including the timing).

2. Ask the 'Named Support Contact' (the person who can ask for/defer refreshes) to log on to Workday Community ad to go to the tenant management page.  Print this log.  It will prove that the customer did not put in any 'defer sandbox refresh' requests during your audit test period.  Therefore you can depend on the copy date as detailed in step one.