Massive Scope

The project was to perform data analysis and migration of Human Capital Management (HCM) and Payroll data from PeopleSoft, learning data from Taleo, and Benefits data from a custom benefits administration system into Workday for a state government with 34,000 active employees and 120 agencies.

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“Thank you for putting in all this work [to extract data from Taleo]. In the end, you’ll be saving the state and the project a ton of money and headache,”​ Director of Workday Operations for the State Government

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Important Goals

The state embarked on a transformation initiative to consolidate their processes and data into a single instance of Workday and to eliminate their dependence outdated technology.  This project launched amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  These circumstances accelerated a variety of work-life changes and underscored the importance of project goals.  The goal of the Workday implementation was to modernize the client’s HCM system and keep individuals connected while shifting to a hybrid work environment. Workday HCM created a user-friendly hub of employee resources and workforce data that will allow the client to strengthen themselves as an employer.  Looking ahead, employees will also enjoy an enhanced career experience with the new capabilities available to them.    

The Risks

The client had several concerns regarding the migration of their data and understood the risk.  Premier worked with the state government and Workday teams to address these concerns, ensuring a successful and on-time Workday implementation.    

Every data migration and implementation project has inherent risk factors.  This client was most exposed to the following risks:

  • Limited knowledge on data dependencies across different legacy sources
  • Lack of experience with Workday target system requirements
  • Employee staffing and overall resource constraints
  • Reviewing transformed data in a timely manner prior to Workday loading
  • Mapping PeopleSoft payroll codes to Workday reference IDs

Mitigating Risks

Premier mitigated the client’s high-risk areas by employing the following practices:

  • Created detailed reports to help the client better understand their legacy data
  • Worked alongside the client to develop a strategy to address legacy data issues
  • Implemented programmatic data cleansing processes such as address standardization, reformatting of employee names to have proper casing, and reformatting of position IDs to be unique
  • Configured data sets shared with the client to draw a connection between an employee’s data across multiple legacy sources

Premier executed the following actions to combat the risks associated with the client’s lack of knowledge of the Workday target system:

  • Created validation reports tailored to Workday’s requirements for each individual data piece, allowing the client to address invalid data or missing Workday configuration prior to loading the data.
  • Developed conversion error reports which allowed the client to identify legacy system issues, such as invalid, missing, or duplicate data. This enabled the client to address these issues early, a benefit as there is little ability to back data out of Workday once loaded.
  • Built specific workbooks designated as client-facing validation files that were tailored for clear presentation and easy understanding of the data

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“It has been great working with you all.  This was definitely the best government implementation I have worked on,”​ Senior Associate for the System Integrator

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Premier provided the following resources to help with staffing constraints:

  • Took ownership of the data conversion process to allow client resources to focus on pre-load and post-load validation
  • Led mapping specification sessions with the System Integrator and client to bridge the gap between the legacy and target data
  • Facilitated discussions to identify resources and document Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) parties
  • Met with the client team to guide the pre-load validation process

To mitigate the risk of client data review deadlines Premier:

  • Thoroughly laid out build schedules and review expectations
  • Identified client resources for each specific conversion item, including back up resources where needed
  • Met with client resource individuals to aid them in their data review

Also, to address the delays caused by mapping legacy payroll codes to Workday reference IDs, Premier:

  • Coordinated the SI and the client team to determine pay code conversion logic
  • Generated detailed reports highlighting any present payroll codes that did not have configuration in the Workday tenant
  • Updated the build schedule to include additional time for new pay code mapping to be completed prior to each data load

Overview of Key Activities

  • The team used the Applaud software in a deep analysis of the client data, using integrated reporting tools to identify project risks.
  • Transformation and migration processes were developed for all required data from multiple legacy sources.
  • Throughout each test cycle, data quality issues and load errors were identified and proactively corrected to alleviate stress leading up to the go-live window.
  • The team was able to adjust to updated timelines and changes to the project scope.
  • Data defect logs and build cycle trackers were maintained throughout the project to provide clear visibility on requirements and deadlines.
  • Built a payroll reconciliation tool to aide in the validation of the payroll results in the Workday tenant.
  • Developed a system to run payroll reports to proactively configure new earning and deduction codes ahead of each build window.  

Successful Workday Go-Live

Premier played a major role in this successful Workday implementation. Achieving a 100% load success on critical-path files paved the way for a smooth transition into the client beginning HR business processes in Workday.  In addition, the payroll reconciliation that provided line by line comparison and analysis of every single paycheck led to a successful payroll data conversion, which allowed for the client to confidently begin payroll processing in Workday immediately.

The Applaud data migration services allowed for a diligent data review process in the initial test cycles of the project, which provided key insight that was later pivotal to the on-time delivery of the Workday tenant.  Detailed reporting and documentation maintained the integrity of the data as it was transformed and combined across multiple legacy sources.

Success Metrics

34k active employees converted​

27k terminated employees converted​

4.5k retired employees converted​

Data extracts and conversion all completed on schedule to support cutover and catch-up transaction efforts

100% load success on critical-path files

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