How to stay current on new Workday releases

Today's blog post came from the mailbox, a question from S:  How do you remain up to date with new Workday functionality?


Some key background facts:

• WD does version updates twice per year
• WD pre-announces upcoming release dates in advance, so you can make your plans.  The next version upgrade is known and the one after is tentatively given.  So in the case of the upcoming WD 25, the dates are known.

 

So how do you get up to speed on the next version?  

Primarily, the Workday Community is your source for information!

Using the example of the next release (WD 25) for example

• June 2015 (as of the writing of this post)
• August 2015 - WD 25 is released in Sandbox tenants
• September 2015 - WD 25 is released to Production tenants

Prior to Sandbox release (accessible now)

 
1. Workday produced webinars & videos - there are a variety of recorded webinars from quick previews of specific functionality to a 45 minute overview of HCM updates, for example.
 
2. Workday Brainstorms targeted for release - this is a webpage where you can filter on various features such as 'mobile' or 'calculated fields' to see the customer requests that are targeted for the upcoming release.  Just because something is targeted however, does not mean that it will actually make it to production!

After Sandbox release (accessible in August)

3. Preview tenants - WD releases preview sandbox tenants in advance, so that you can try out new functionality. For example, WD25 will be in preview in early August.  In the past customers have noticed when something is not working or breaks current functionality, so this is the chance for Workday to fix it before production.

4. 'What's new' report - Once your sandbox tenant is actually upgraded there is a report you can run from inside your tenant, unsurprisingly secured under the What's New in Workday domain.

After Production release (accessible in September)

5.  Documentation updates - Once the new release is available, there is a variety of smaller documents that become available, one of them is 'What's new in Documentation' list.  It's a list in Excel that contains the new/changed documentation item, and critically it includes a link to the documentation add/change, saving you the hassle of having to search to find the updates.

Always available

6. Retired Functionality Reference - This is an Excel doc that WD provides that provides details about the retirement of features and functions, from both a future and past perspective.  I find this one quite helpful as it provides the reason something is being discontinued and its replacement, as well as the impact, e.g. you'll need to update business process X or your training materials that reference the feature.  Items on this list range from simple fields or reports to larger items like the retirement of the Headcount Staffing model (Sept 2016).  It's usually updated after the Production release of each version.

The frequency of Workday's upgrades

Our move to Workday is an overall strategic direction to move applications to the cloud.  One of the major points that was highlighted in the presentations of many of our business leaders was the frequency of updates of Workday; I recall the graphic used to represent the current ERP providers was a herd of dinosaurs.  ;-)

When we started this project, WD was on version 17 and they're now on 21 with 22 just around the corner.  Thankfully WD is doing twice per year updates rather than three times a year, as the testing and re-writing of training documentation, etc. can be quite an effort.  I had written about the overall Tenant Management Process a while back.

I was reading some of the discussion on Workday Community (Workday's portal for customers, it is a helpful source of information and to connect with other customers).  The current upgrade version timing is listed, along with some tentative dates.  A lot of discussion centers around the Winter/Summer timing, as opposed to being Spring/Autumn.  So Winter is Jan/Feb Summer is Jul/Aug, if the tentative timing is any guide.  I realize that no date is perfect for everyone, but a few key points here:

• A lot of companies are still closing out the calendar year in January, doing performance reviews, etc.  Resourcing can be a challenge.

• For those of us in Europe, Jul/Aug are key holiday months for most of the continent.  While it can be quiet as most employees take vacation or facilities are completely closed, it can also be scarce in HR departments too.

• WD 22 is scheduled for Easter weekend.  Back when I worked in the US, I recall system launches during holidays, to take advantage of employees not needing or using the systems.  Since I moved to Europe however, I've discovered the joy of the four day Easter holiday weekend.  Most countries over here are completely off and trying to get people to work on those days would be a struggle.  This point takes me back to a regular point:  WD still does not bring a global mindset to the table.  (But they're getting there.  I noticed some new non-US functionality--such as French government reports-- is included in WD 21 and WD 22, so pleased as punch to see that.)

• On the other side of the coin, if you want to use functionality in your comp process let's say, you cannot want for the summer upgrade, it really needs to get there early in the year.

• I'm continuing to see WD Tenant Manager jobs advertised, it seems that companies are recognizing the efforts that are needed in this space.