Payroll Services has developed a new wiki to help its team learn the ins-and-outs of Workday, step by step. Workday, which will go live in Nov. 2018, will be a new system to handle the university’s human resource and payroll needs. Business Analysts Jackie McKay and Sue Jones are the ones to thank for this user-friendly tool called “Hands on Workday” or HOW.
“When the payroll staff were asked to try and get familiar with Workday by getting into the system, what we heard was that it was a bit overwhelming and hard to know where to start,” said Jackie. “So, Sue and I agreed to develop a learning tool to help make it easier.”
The HOW activities are posted in an online, internal tool for payroll staff. Weekly, Jackie and Sue send out a new Workday exercise for the team to complete with explicit, step-by-step instructions. For example, a recent exercise informed the team on how to find and navigate through all configured benefit plans in Workday in six simple steps.
Each exercise ends with a call for feedback. If a team member encounters a problem, it may point to a configuration error that can be addressed now, and is generally used as a learning opportunity for the new functionality. The HOW exercises began in August and feedback has been collected to build a repository of helpful Q&As, which has been another added benefit, commented Sue.
“I’m a big fan of Hands on Workday exercises because they are quick and easy – about 15 minutes,” said Lauren Wrather, accountant II for Payroll Services. “They encourage us to go into the system, start practicing, and become familiar with how things function. I’m learning how Workday will impact my daily work, as well as my co-workers’, and see some real benefits to the new system, like ease of navigation.”
Lauren shared that staff can complete the exercises at their desks and at their own pace, and some managers have been leading their teams through the exercises during their weekly team meetings.
Hands on Workday is just one example of how the Business Process Offices impacted by the new system are preparing their staff to become Workday pros so they can better support campus.
Kudos to Payroll Services for this creative and useful tool! For more information about Hands on Workday, contact Jackie McKay at jmckay@austin.utexas.edu.