Nothing is more valuable for Workday customers than the ability to learn from one another and leverage their shared experiences, so we were so excited to partner with SCI and have them share their personal journey to Workday in two separate sessions.

The first session was led by Vicki Luquette, Change Management Manager at SCI. Vicki led the full-cycle change effort for SCI’s Workday deployment, including their communications strategy, a multi-layered change champion and coaching network, and outcomes assessments. Her presentation focused specifically on outcomes and adoption metrics – in particular, how a large company can work to understand whether their Workday roll-out was a success. Vicki shared how SCI combined early strategic planning with Workday’s reporting capabilities to define, measure, and use adoption metrics related to their desired project outcomes.

We were pleased to have an engaging conversation with plenty of questions and call-outs to specific needs and differences of other customers in the room. Collaborative teamed with Vicki to address these questions that many would consider as they establish and measure user adoption, including:

• How and when to use Workday data vs. external data
• How and when to use Workday’s Report Writer framework vs. translating Workday outputs into more familiar formats
• Strategies for building and sustaining data-based engagement, then carrying that engagement past go-live
• Ways to make adoption reporting sustainable and related decisions around report design, length of use, and ability to replicate for future phases or M&A transitions
• Level of effort and the ROI related to building a strong measurement framework

Our second session was led by Charles Alvarez, Director of HR Talent Management at SCI. Charles held oversight of the multi-faceted training effort for Workday at SCI, including both active training delivery and ongoing, passive support structures like job aids and help tools. Charles’ presentation focused on the former. With employee-driven Time Tracking as a key piece of SCI’s Workday strategy, Charles’ team sought to create a safe environment where end users could get early, hands-on experience with the system, even before it was fully configured and tested. Charles discussed the strategy behind SCI’s choice to establish a separate training tenant during their deployment and explained the process by which we structured, maintained, and utilized a training environment containing “play” data for over 1,200 organizations and 20,000 workers.

We again had a lively discussion on the topic, focusing particularly on how we used early change management activities to pilot the environment, then scaled up our data and access as time went on. By the end of the session, several other Workday customers began thinking through how they might incorporate a similar solution into their own training and tenant management plans.

Overall, Workday Rising provided us with a robust opportunity to connect with SCI and demonstrate to other customers just how powerful Change Management and Training can be when used effectively.  We look forward to future opportunities to partner with these and other customers to apply our techniques and share our strategic findings.

So what are you options for adding market data to your system?

If you do not have market-based internal pay ranges…

If you do not have market-based internal pay ranges, then the best place for your pay ranges would be against the Grade, complemented by storing market salary data via Benchmark Job.

For a new Benchmark Job, use the “Create Benchmark Job” task to define an effective date and a survey date, and choose the applicable job profile(s). Market data points can then be stored against Base Pay and Total Cash facets for up to 19 pre-defined percentile ranges. If you plan to use Total Cash and would like to compare it against a worker’s compensation base, you can define that base via “Maintain Benchmark Job Settings.” This task can also be used to specify default percentiles for each of entry.

In addition to the pay ranges, you can specify your company’s At Market Range by defining a Competitive Market Target and the Target Spread Percentage. This range is what will be used to define whether an employee is “At Market,” “Above Market,” or “Below Market.” If you’d prefer different labels, you can override them using the “Edit Benchmark Job Settings” task.

If you have market-based internal pay ranges…

If you have market-based internal pay ranges, then you can either store the pay range data on the grade or via benchmark jobs, or both! A few considerations:

• What are the eligibility rules for each pay range? A grade or grade profile can be tied directly to a job profile for ease of maintenance, or can have a compensation eligibility rule defining alternative eligibility. A Benchmark Job, on the other hand, must be tied to a job profile, and can then be more granularly defined via Market Profiles.
• How many segments need to be stored? Grade Pay Ranges can include three to five undefined segments (names will default to “Segment 1 Top,” “Segment 2 Top,” etc., but can be overridden via Maintain Custom Labels). Benchmark Jobs include more, allowing up to 14 segments; however, these must be based on one of 14 pre-determined percentiles.
• What Pay Facets will data be stored against? Grade Pay Ranges can be defined by highly configurable compensation bases directly tied to compensation elements. Benchmark Jobs can only be reported against Market Base Pay Composite and/or Market Total Cash Composite.
• What information needs to be seen during Compensation processes? With both methods, users can create and enable reports as worklets for viewing during a compensation process. Grades, however, have the added benefit of contextually displaying dynamic pay range information right within the compensation screen.
• How should this information be used to enforce business rules? With both methods, validation rules can be created on the business process to ensure proper routing or correct entry. Additionally, grades have soft warnings that will kick off if the request is outside of the base pay or primary compensation basis range, as configured on the “Edit Compensation Package Analytics” task.
• What are the reporting needs? There are a number of delivered reports for viewing both grade pay ranges and benchmark job data. Users can also build custom reports to meet additional requirements. Grades come with a plethora of fields for reporting and analyzing, while Benchmark Job fields are generally more limited.

So why not use both and reap the full benefits of reporting?  This isn’t a bad option if you don’t mind having to maintain data in two places. Luckily, both Grade and Benchmark Jobs can be updated in bulk using an EIB, making the job much quicker!

No matter which way you go, leveraging Workday’s market compensation functionality will add a new facet to your compensation analyses so you can confidently answer the question: “Are we paying our workers competitively?”

Without any further ado, here are Collaborative’s top five highlights from Workday Rising 2014.

5. Workday “Celebrity” Sightings

What’s more thrilling than running into Dave or Aneel at Workday Rising? Snapping that selfie! We’ve seen several snaps of Dave and Aneel, including this one from Mary Ann Sapitan, who’s worked for four different Workday customers (are you sensing a theme?), and who’s convinced that former Price is Right Host Bob Barker is Dave Duffield’s doppelganger.

In addition to Dave and Aneel, we also spotted several other notable faces like Floyd Walterhouse of McKee Foods. Floyd is a Workday Rising institution, having been to each one since the very beginning, and he’s a leader in the Workday Community with nearly 3,000 reputation points. Hey Floyd!

4. Access to Workday Thought Leaders

This year more than ever, Workday Rising attendees had the chance to speak with Workday thought leaders like Leighanne Levansaler, Dan Beck, Betsy Bland, and Joe Korngeibel. These folks have their finger on the pulse of Workday. They know the product backward and forward, are visionary leaders, and are able to offer valuable insight (as well as listen) to Workday customers. The fact that these Workday leaders made themselves so available to their customers is a testament to Workday’s customer-focused culture.

3. Workday’s Big Announcement

Workday never fails to impress with their “big reveal” at Workday Rising, and this year was no exception. During the keynote address, Workday announced its latest innovation in big data analysis: Workday Insight Applications. Per Workday’s recent press release, this suite of apps for Human Resources and Finance offers predictive analytics which will “equip customers to make smarter financial and workforce decisions.” For example, Workday Insight Applications could help users address specific scenarios such as retaining top performing employees or addressing expense overages before they occur. Sounds great, right? The best part is these new apps are packaged in an “intuitive, mobile environment that is seamlessly unified with the entire Workday system.” Sign us up!

2. Collaborative & Our Customers

We are so grateful to our incredible customers who staffed our booth with us, delivered a Rising customer session, shot a video testimonial, or sat down to chat with potential Collaborative customers at Rising. We’ve gotten great feedback on our session with our customer SCI (check the Workday Community for session recordings if you missed them!), and we’re so excited to reveal our latest video testimonial, so stay tuned for that (meanwhile check out our videos with Facebook, Brown University, and Morningstar)! We’re so appreciative of those customers who met with our prospective customers. There’s nothing more valuable to someone considering workday than hearing it straight and unfiltered from customers who have taken the journey to Workday themselves (Don’t miss our upcoming webinar with customer Motorola Solutions). Our prospective customers were just as appreciative of these meetings and we got great feedback! A special thanks goes out to all of our customers who helped us at Rising: Motorola Solutions, SCI, USC, Burlington Stores, CHC Helicopter, Facebook, Encore Capital, Masonic Villages, ComScore, Pioneer Energy, and NCI Information Systems. You all rock!

1. Collaborative Customer Appreciation Party

This might be the most exciting part of Workday Rising for us. Our 200+ successful customers are what keeps us going and we love celebrating with them at Rising! Each year we strive to create an even better event than the last, and this year was no exception. More than 400 guests joined us on the terrace at the W Hotel for incredible food and signature cocktails (who tried our spicy Collaborita!?). Our DJ kept the party energy flowing and everyone enjoyed hamming it up at the photo booth. We loved getting to let loose with our customers after a full day of sessions.

Bonus: Collabie Bonding!

There’s nothing like Workday Rising as an excuse to bring dozens of Collabies together. We believe our tight-knit, collaborative, and fun culture offers a unique advantage to our customers. Collabies are Workday experts who give back to each other, to our customers, and to the entire Workday ecosystem. They serve as Workday Product leads, Workday Delivery Assurance consultants, and they’re climbing the ranks in Workday Community Reputation Points! Call us a walking cliché, but we truly believe that happy employees lead to happy customers.

Till next year…

THE SESSIONS

Workday Rising offers over 500 hours of educational content! That’s three weeks of knowledge packed into three and a half days! You won’t want to miss our two joint presentations with our customer SCI.

“You Built It. Did They Come? Measuring Success via User Adoption”
Tuesday, November 4th, 3:15-4:00pm | BIS4102

“Get your Head in the Sand”
Thursday, November 6th, 10:00-10:45am | BIS4103

Read more about our presentations in our Get the Scoop from SCI at Workday Rising blog post and be sure to browse the session catalog for other great sessions.

THE EXPO

There’s lots to see and do at the Innovation Exchange Expo. Make sure you stop and visit Collaborative Solutions in booth #117. We’re doing some incredible giveaways this year that we’ll announce at our booth – you won’t want to miss out!

Collaborative’s booth is just steps away from the Workday booth and right down the aisle from the Product Expert Center. Several of our customers will be joining us in our booth, so please stop by and chat!

THE PARTIES

We’re excited to host our annual Workday Customer Appreciation Party at the W Hotel on Tuesday! The RSVPs have been pouring in and this will be our biggest party yet. Didn’t get your invitation? Reach out to risingparty@collaborativesolutions.com.

In addition, Workday will host its annual bash on Wednesday in the Expo hall at Moscone Center. Don’t miss it!

THE CONVERSATION

Don’t miss out on the social media conversation. Follow #WDAYrising and #collabiestakerising and be sure to connect with Collaborative Solutions! Workday Rising even has an app for iPhone and Android!

Connect with Collaborative: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter

THE CITY

San Francisco is such a fun city, so when you’re not in sessions you can get out and explore! Check out our Top 10 Things to Do at Workday Rising blog for ideas.

See you in San Francisco!

We are excited and humbled to announce that as a result of your generous support, Team Collabie exceeded our ambitious $18,500.00 fundraising goal. Combined with our sponsorship, Collaborative Solutions is donating nearly $30,000.00 to Autism Speaks!

This year marked Collaborative Solutions’ sixth year as an Autism Speaks sponsor. On October 5th, our team of more than 30 Collabies and their family members gathered on the National Mall, joining 10,000 other supporters for the march, followed by our Collabie company picnic.

Collaborative Solutions has a history of giving back to the community. With Autism Speaks as our primary philanthropy, Collaborative also participates with several other charities, including Paint George Pink, a nonprofit managed by one of our own consultants, that helps breast cancer patients pay for their treatments.

A huge thank you to all of you who donated to Team Collabie to support Autism Speaks and its incredible mission.

About Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, whose goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. The organization is dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a possible cure for autism. Autism Speaks strives to raise public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society: and works to bring hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder. Autism Speaks is committed to raising the funds necessary to support these goals.

We’re excited for SCI to share their personal journey to Workday, and the tips and best practices they’ve learned through their experience.

“You Built It. Did They Come? Measuring Success via User Adoption”

Tuesday, November 4th, 3:15-4:00pm | BIS4102

“You Built It. Did They Come?” looks at what happens after deployment. You’ve made the investment and implemented Workday, but how do you know that the roll-out has been a success? SCI will share how they combined strategic planning with Workday’s reporting capabilities to define, measure, and use adoption metrics that helped drive and enhance their final project outcomes. We’ll break down how to define success in measurable metrics and indicators, and then how to use those indicators to influence change efforts and maximize your investment.

“Get your Head in the Sand”

Thursday, November 6th, 10:00-10:45am | BIS4103

“Get your Head in the Sand” is all about the sandbox; the training sandbox tenant, that is! You’ll learn how to plan and build the tenant and enable your HRIS or training teams to take on the task, and how to integrate the tenant into an overall training plan. There’s nothing more valuable to new Workday customers than hands-on experience, and the sandbox tenant is one of the best ways to get that practice.

About SCI

SCI is North America’s largest single provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services. Operating from a network of more than 2,000 funeral homes and cemeteries, SCI has more than 25,000 dedicated employees who provide the finest funeral, cremation and cemetery services to hundreds of thousands of families each year.

10. Explore San Francisco

Ride the cable cars, take selfies in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, explore Alcatraz, go seal spotting at Fisherman’s Wharf…the possibilities are endless! Plus, the average temperature in San Francisco in November is 65°. That sure beats the snow storms kicking up for those of you in the midwest and northeast!

9. Eat in San Francisco

For you foodies in the group, San Francisco offers some incredible dining options, from food trucks to fine dining. We scoured Yelp and compiled our list of brand new, hot San Francisco restaurants to try.

• Red Dog Restaurant & Bar
• Dirty Habit
• Bartlett Hall
• Uno Dos Tacos
• Gaspar Brasserie

If you’re a local or a frequent visitor and have a favorite restaurant we should try, be sure to let us know in the comments!

8. Meet and network with fellow Workday users

It’s like a big family reunion! You’ll get to put faces with names for all of those folks you’ve met through Workday Community. It’s impossible not to catch the Workday bug when you’re surrounded by the energy and enthusiasm of the ecosystem!

7. Visit the Product Expert Center

As a Workday user, there’s nothing more helpful than the opportunity to talk to Workday directly. Ask them those burning questions and get their expert advice. Talking with the Workday product managers and developers will give you first-hand insight into how the newest upcoming functionality can integrate seamlessly into your business. Conveniently, our booth is just steps from the Product Expert Center and from Workday’s booth. Coincidence? I think not

6. Attend incredible training and workshops

Workday’s workshops are hugely popular, highly interactive, and include demos, tips and tricks, configuration guides, and more. This year, Workday Rising will offer more than 500 hours of educational content. That’s three weeks of knowledge packed into three and a half days!

5. Visit the Collaborative Booth

We’re here for YOU! We’ll have our best and brightest onsite and ready to answer your questions. Our consultants are some of the most experienced in the ecosystem, expertly trained in all Workday solutions, from HCM, Advanced Comp, and Financials to Payroll, Integrations, Recruiting, and more.

4. Talk to some of Collaborative’s 200 happy customers

Chat with a few of our more than 200 happy customers to hear first-hand about their Workday deployments. They will be onsite with us during Innovation Exchange!

3. Have a celebrity sighting

Was that Dave Duffield that just walked by!?

2. Attend the Workday Customer Appreciation Party

With one of Workday’s core values being “fun,” you can expect a rockin’ party! Everyone from other Workday customers to Workday employees and ecosystem partners will be there, so don’t miss it!

1. Get your party on at the Collaborative Solutions Customer Appreciation Party

We want you to be wowed, so we’re keeping the details of this year’s event under wraps, but you can be assured it will be a spectacular night! We’ll be on the Terrace at the W Hotel, so grab your coworkers and join Collabies, Workday folks, fellow customers, and friends for our party of the year!

At Collaborative Solutions, we are particularly excited about how our large, enterprise customers can leverage Composite Reporting. This new functionality directly meets the needs of our joint customers, and we’re excited to see how the user-enabled power utilizing multiple data sources and calculations will benefit these customers.

Collaborative Solutions is ready to assist our customers with Composite Reporting. Several members of the Collaborative Financials Team were certified last week during Workday’s inaugural offering of the Composite Reporting course.

To learn more about Composite Reporting, read Workday’s recent press release or visit www.workday.com.

675 Workday customers. 2/3rds live on Workday. 97% customer satisfaction.

Workday’s stats are pretty incredible, right? This was just one of many interesting nuggets shared at Workday Altitude. Held in Las Vegas last week, Workday Altitude offered the opportunity for fifty of Collaborative Solutions’ best and brightest consultants to join hundreds of our peers in the Workday ecosystem, learn from and educate one another, and get a sneak peek at what’s coming in future Workday releases. This annual event is unique to Workday; while other HRM providers hold internal and external conferences, Workday may be the only company to gather its partners together in this way.

“This is Gonna Be a Great Week”

You might say that this was the tagline for many of our consultants as they made their way to Las Vegas, checked into their hotels, and joined hundreds of their peers for the opening session. The energy and excitement of Workday Altitude is contagious, and one consultant described it as “a big family reunion,” as attendees got to visit with fellow Collabies from across the globe, as well as friends from other companies in the ecosystem.

Leading the Way

At Collaborative Solutions, we pride ourselves on being forward thinking and innovative thought leaders. With a dozen Collabies chosen by Workday to give presentations, as well as several others who were asked to participate on Workday panels, we were one of the most visible partners at Altitude! Below are the topics that Collaborative Solutions presented. Keep your eye on the blog because many of our presenters are going to share their topics right here in future posts!

Collaborative Solutions Presentations

• Making Your Core Compensation Count: Advanced Reporting Options
• Branding and Buzz: Working Workday into Corporate Culture
• So Now I’m the Test Lead
• Deploying Workday Projects, Grants and Time Tracking: Lessons Learned and Best Practices
• Retro Processing for Payroll, Benefits and Time Tracking
• Calming the Fears of Payroll GL and Links with Finance

Panels

• “Projects, Projects, and Projects”
• “Workday Payments”
• “Mastering Workday Procurement”

What We Learned

In addition to our own presentations, we attended many others led by both peers in the ecosystem and by Workday. While there were a wide range of presentations on topics from “Deep Dive into Recruitment” to “Financials, Analytics and Reporting: Mobile,” several common themes arose, including the importance of communication and Change Management, developing cross-functional knowledge, and a push for customer self-sufficiency. Of course there was also a significant focus on newer functionality such as Recruiting (did you see our recent blog on the topic?) and Big Data.

There were too many great presentations to list them all, but it’s fair to say that the hands-down “winner” of all presentations was given by Workday’s VP Mobile Apps and Innovation Joe Korngiebel. If there were Altitude superlatives for “Most Energetic,” “Most Quotable,” and “Most Hashtag-able,” Joe would win them all! He literally had the crowd on its feet and chanting during his presentation on Workday’s newest mobile features! Korngiebel’s quotables included:

• “Mobile is our future”
• “We were in the cloud before it was called the cloud”
• “It all comes down to passion”
• #IBELIEVE

6th Annual Collabie Awards

During our time in Las Vegas, we took the chance to gather for a celebratory dinner and announce the winners of our 6th annual Collabie Awards! We created these awards to honor and celebrate our highest-achieving Collabies, and they include such categories as the “Miyagi,” the “Rising Star,” and the “Hero” The awards dinner provided a great opportunity for team building and fun!

Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for more great photos from Altitude.

When’s the Next Workday Altitude?

All told, our experience at Workday Altitude was a great one! We learned a lot and it was also a great team-building event for Collaborative Solutions. Is it too early to pack for next year…?