Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions
Lean and Clean: Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions 2 towerswatson.com Many factors can add time and money unnecessarily if not thought through carefully. These include the number of years of data selected, the number of data elements and the cleanliness of the data you choose to convert. It also depends on the number of transactions in your legacy system as well as your conversion teams technical abilities. Points to evaluate as you make these decisions should include the following: What, specifcally, do we need to achieve with our Workday implementation? For what reasons do we access historical data, how often, and what data segments and level of trend information do we utilize? What data do we have? What is the source, and what is the location? How actively are we currently using the data? Which data need to be reportable, and which can be archived? Can we store or continue storing it in a data warehouse? Should we retain access to our legacy HRMS read- only or database structure? What impact will our choice to convert certain data have on the effort, cost and timeline of our project implementation? Your companys specifc requirements for effciency, effectiveness, alignment and results in addition to the data requirements involved, will help you determine which options are a good ft for your organization. One of the most complex and critical planning aspects for organizations switching from a traditional HR management system (HRMS) to a software-as- a-service application such as Workday is making the right choices about conversion and storage of historical HR data. Companies often struggle with decisions about how much and what type of data to convert and store either internally in Workday, externally in a data warehouse, by retaining reporting access to the old system, or through a combination of these or other options. These choices require strategic thinking, as they involve a number of trade-offs that can greatly impact project effort, cost and risk. The best way to set about making the right decisions for your organization is to come to an understanding of the data conversion process, as well as your companys specifc reporting needs and requirements. This can be more diffcult than it sounds. What Does the Data Conversion Process Involve? Your project team will extract data from your current system, place it in a standardized format (iLoad, MS Excel), ensure the data is clean, load it into Workday (while determining any missing elements) and perform quality control functions. What causes the most anxiety for new Workday customers is determining which historical data to keep and which to let go. Pinpointing the extent of reportable data required what types and from how far back is tricky. Too little, and you will not be able to generate the reports and workforce analysis you need; too much, and there will be a dramatic impact on the cost, effort and length of your implementation project. The best way to set about making the right decisions for your organi- zation is to come to an understanding of the data conversion process, as well as your companys specic reporting needs and requirements. Lean and Clean: Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions 3 towerswatson.com What Are the Limitations of Workdays Transactional History? Contingent worker staffng history, worker moves and other reorganization events, as well as organizational role assignments, cannot be loaded into Workday. However, what can be loaded includes: Employee staffng history (hires, terms, promotions, transfers, demotions, edits and positions) Employee compensation history Employee performance review history Employee time off and leave Personal data changes Contract/contingent worker data (start and end dates) While any amount of data conversion can be done for an implementation, doing more can add signifcantly more time and cost. Converting more data also requires the right resources (e.g., IT, HR SMEs, HRIS) as well as repeated planning and testing. How to Contain Costs and Avoid Risk Generally, cost is added to an implementation project when companies dont have clean and accurate data in the legacy system. In that case, data mapping and transformation cannot occur until a good deal of time and effort is spent cleaning up the data. It is critical to take the time up front to design a well-thought- out strategy for the historical data from your legacy system. In fact, calculated felds and custom report development can help solve this issue with much less effort than full data conversions. Another consideration is whether your organization really needs to create or insert incorrect data to complete historical transactions, which can jeopardize the credibility of other pristine data that was converted (e.g., supervisory hierarchy data). To put it bluntly, converting historical transactions can easily double the cost of your data conversion effort, as well as lengthen the timeline of your implementation. What Options Do Other Companies Exercise? Depending on its footprint and requirements, an organization may choose a single option for access to previous system history or a combination of the following: Use Workdays provided containers: Compensation From Previous System and Job History From Previous System. Do not bring any previous system history into Workday. Retain query access to history in previous HRMS. Load terminated records into a separate organization within Workday. Load previous system history into a data warehouse. Load previous system history information directly into Workdays transaction framework. For example, your company may exclusively use Workdays provided containers for compensation and job histories from the previous system. Or you may choose to use those containers in concert with a data warehouse or with retained access to your previous HR system. Most organizations choose between one and three years of history to convert into the Workday core system. The best practice is to convert the minimum number of years required to meet your companys reporting needs while, at the same time, minimizing project-related risks. Containing the number of data elements and transactions that need to be converted reduces project complexity, time and cost while meeting your reporting needs. Workdays Previous System History area will be key to maximizing data conversion while minimizing added effort that could result in a negative return on your investment. While any amount of data conversion can be done for an implementation, doing more can add signicantly more time and cost. About Towers Watson Towers Watson is a leading global professional services company that helps organizations improve performance through effective people, risk and fnancial management. With 14,000 associates around the world, we offer solutions in the areas of employee benefts, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. Copyright 2012 Towers Watson. All rights reserved. TW-NA-2012-24667 towerswatson.com Less Can Defnitely Be More We recommend that you convert only as much historical data as can be cleanly exported from your legacy system. This requires defning a structured set of data exports based on your reporting needs and available felds (data elements). Once these exports are loaded into Workdays Previous System History area, the great majority of your reports will be based on these data elements. Also, Workdays Previous System History can be joined with your prior system for reporting via Excel transformations using the Workday Studio tool set. This approach avoids extra expense in your implementation since the majority of project time is used for extracting, formatting and testing your data within Workday itself. Let Your Vision Guide the Implementation Technology alone cannot provide all the innovation you need to align HR with business goals and lift the bottom line. Therefore, it is especially important that during planning or chartering, you clearly articulate your vision and goals for the implementation as well as your companys specifc requirements and actual needs for historical data, both now and in the future. Then be guided by that vision, avoiding changes in course or scope that can compromise success. It is your up-front strategic planning that enables Workday to increase effciency and optimize HR effectiveness for your organization. Limiting data conversion to the lean, the clean and the necessary can save time, effort and cost while avoiding risk and maximizing results. It is your up-front strategic planning that enables Workday to increase ef ciency and optimize HR efectiveness for your organization.
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