- teamUpHR
Workday® Adoption Services – How & When
Adoption Services, or as originally called “Production Support”, has existed since the beginning of Computer Systems. Between user requirements, vendor upgrades and business requirements that arise after going to production, programmers and analysts were employed full-time for these tasks. So, in this new world of “Adoption Services” in the Cloud where vendor or computer upgrades are handled by others, we ask ourselves if full-time analysts and developers are needed, or if we should consider partnering with a company who would provide those services. No matter what those services will be needed. They don’t go away and there are many considerations in choosing how to use these services.
Most systems newly in production still require ‘tweaks’, but even if they are stable there are quarterly and annual and one-time business changes that require additional help and in-depth knowledge. Benefit Open enrollment may require benefit plan changes, new vendors or a complete revamp of benefits; Workday® upgrades would require system testing which would include processes and integrations and, maybe, new features that should be reviewed and setup; IRS and other payroll changes or new financial rules that need to be applied … Partnering with a company who has the depth of knowledge could be the solution to having full-time analysts and developers with time to handle these projects that are sporadic.
If there are already existing IT and HRIS team members who embrace Workday® technology (both functionally and technically) and they can handle day-to-day work, a constant ‘Adoption Services’ partner may not be required. It is, however, usually recommended when trying to implement new functionality or when there is a long-term project that may tax either the knowledge or the existing resource available time. If there are small IT and HRIS teams, an ‘Adoption Services’ partner will be required to provide support on day-to-day issues, reporting needs, integration and functional changes. The support would be ad-hoc and hours needed would depend on how stable the system is and how much work is needed and if there are resources who can respond in time.
The structure of the support is also something to consider. You may need a certain number of weekly hours. Fixing the hours often earns a lower hourly cost and more reliable access to certain personnel. Or, you may want total flexibility having zero weekly hours and consuming all support on an ad-hoc basis.
The last thing to consider is WHO you will be working with. Some vendors use low-level staff to open support tickets and respond with basic triage questions. Others use highly trained Workday experts and bypass this low-level triage step. In both cases the vendor will say they met their “Response SLA”, but in the case of the seasoned expert, you will be much further along towards completion after even the 1st contact.
The last step is choosing “all on-shore” or an “on-shore/off-shore” vendor. The 1st option has some advantages in terms of tenant access and the overall knowledge kept close to HQ, but the later has a distinct price advantage and can offer increased flexibility for coverage hours. Knowing your overall needs will help make this decision.
Adoption Services by a vendor will probably be needed after implementation. Services can be ad-hoc day-to-day fixes plus special projects (enhancements, new functionality, upgrade preparation and testing, new vendors) or weekly hour allotments that can come with more structured planning. Either way you get the Workday support you need to run a successful Workday program inside your company.
There is an amazing feeling when an emergency ticket comes in. It starts with a bit of panic and quickly moves from extreme focus to exhilaration when the fix is done and in PROD; and all in one day. It is something that I never lived before getting involved with production support and I wouldn’t change it for the world!
