There is a reason the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle is widely applied to many sectors of society, from the military, to politics, and even to software development. The complexity of a system does not always determine its effectiveness. When it comes to Workday®, focusing on the fundamentals for an understated and understandable HCM (Human Capital Management) solution will set you up for success.
A straightforward setup will help increase adoption of Workday® by both everyday admins and infrequent end-users alike while overly complex business process workflows with intricate condition rules could lead to transactions routing incorrectly, skipping approvals, or getting held up from completion. Moreover, avoiding convoluted customizations allows your company to take advantage of solutions that other customers provide on Workday® Community and ensures that your organization will have no trouble using delivered Workday® reports and dashboards, and custom reporting.
When thinking through your Workday® HCM structure, keep the following in mind:
Organizations, and in particular Supervisory Organizations (also known as the Management Hierarchy) are the foundation of your Workday® tenant
If possible, keep your organizations aligned to other business organization(s)—location, regional, department, costing, etc. Defaulting some or all of these organizations based on a new employee’s manager/supervisory organization simplifies the hiring process. It also means the Management Chain can see trending analytics by business area.
Bear in mind, constrained security groups will be built/granted around the designed organizational structure(s). Keeping them simplified and easy-to-follow ensures a security model that is scalable and sustainable.
Start with the basics when building your security model
User- and role-based security groups are the most common. Elaborate, layered intersection groups can be utilized for one-off needs but are not valid on all business processes and domains, and so should be used sparingly. Whenever possible, using unconstrained or user-based security will ensure the most efficient performance on report generation and business process routing. Furthermore, consolidating similar business requirements into more general groups will keep the maintenance manageable.
Ensure efficiency with clear requirements
You can save time and money during the implementation phase with clear and comprehensible requirements. Avoid customizing every special case and don’t code to the exception rather than the rule.
You can always add complexity later
If there is a pressing business need, or you have to tweak existing use cases, complexity can always be added. However, starting with an over-engineered system makes it much more difficult to uptake enhancements and new functionality, or even regression test during semi-annual releases. It’s also harder to expand into additional modules or even to scale the existing setup for ordinary business growth.
Work with an expert
Partnering with a firm who can help you determine your needs and guide you in establishing a simple HCM structure is crucial to your success. If you’re not quite sure what to look for in a Workday® consulting company, don’t worry—we have a post on that, too!
Want to learn more about a simple HCM structure and how it can benefit your organization? Contact us for a free, no obligation discovery call.