Alight’s guide to

deploying Workday
Adaptive Planning
Dear Reader,

Welcome to Alight’s Guide to Deploying Workday Adaptive

Planning. You are likely reading this guide because you are
considering Workday Adaptive Planning as a possible solution for
your planning needs. The goal of this guide is to help you get the
best from your investment.

You will have choices to make in terms of product, deployment

approach, design and use of your new solution. This guide provides
information and recommendations on how to get the most out of
each stage of this journey. It is based on the cumulative experience
of the Carlson Management Consulting team. Prior to and since
being acquired by Alight in January 2019, the team has performed
more than 650 deployments and optimisations of Workday
Adaptive Planning (formerly Adaptive Insights) with clients
internationally in a broad range of industries. With the acquisition
of Carlson Management Consulting, Alight has the strongest
Workday Adaptive Planning capability in the Workday ecosystem
and offices across the globe including USA, Europe and the APAC
region, and we’re ready to help you on your journey to success with
Workday Adaptive Planning

We wish you the best with your project and hope that Alight can
contribute to its success.

Sincerely,
Ethan Carlson
 Contents

2 Preparing for deployment

3 Building the foundations for
success
4 Develop a Request for Proposal

5 Deployment options
6 External assistance
8 Internally staffed

9 Deployment methodology
11 Project roles and resourcing
12 Risk management
13 Virtual deployment
14 Training
15 Documentation
16 Integrating with other systems
17 Alignment with Workday ERP
18 Post deployment: ongoing support

19 Six tips for successful planning

solution deployments
21 Four deployment hazards to be
avoided

23 Implementing finance
best practices
24 Aligning budget to strategy
26 Rolling forecasts
28 Managing the important
numbers: KPIs

30 Conclusion

Additional information
31 Contact details
32 About Alight

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 1

 Preparing for deployment

From the outset a clear articulation of the pain Requirements for Business Agility
points of your current system and processes
will inform your analysis of alternative
COLLABORATIVE CONTINUOUS COMPREHENSIVE
solutions, but you should also take into
consideration the opportunity you have to
make a step change in your existing planning
process, facilitated by your new solution.
As we reflect on and look beyond the
traumatic start of this decade, we can see that
Sales Finance HR
the need for agility in business is paramount.
When the global pandemic has been defeated
a hugely competitive and dynamic corporate
landscape will remain. Planning systems and
processes must deliver to the needs of this
landscape to ensure businesses survive and Marketing Operations IT
thrive. In our view they should be:

— Continuous rather than periodic Designed Powerful Fast

for business modeling planning
— Comprehensive, reflecting all the drivers of
value creation in your business

— Taking advantage of advances in data

management such as artificial intelligence

Considering these factors will help you to

select the right technology and ensure long
term success for your chosen platform. There
are some more thoughts on getting the most
out of your new planning system later in
this guide.

2 Alight Solutions
Building the foundations for success

Deploying any new enterprise software — Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
solution requires considerable investment in for driver-based budgeting
time, money, and resources. For most
— Implement rolling forecasts and other
organisations, these are scarce, so from the
finance best practices
outset you will want to ensure you are drawing
down on them as effectively as possible. Being — Enable self-service reporting, dashboards,
organised and thinking through your and balanced scorecards
requirements at the outset will provide a Building executive sponsorship and
foundation for success. Be sure to consider the stewardship of the project at this stage, and
views and needs of the people who will use the then maintaining it through the duration will
solution on a day to day basis as well as those stand you in good stead. Typically, this would
who use the outputs in decision making. involve the CFO, Vice President of Finance, or
Finance Director, depending on the size of
your organisation.
A clear articulation of the pain Sponsor advocacy will be important in
points of your current system and securing funding. Using Workday Adaptive
processes will inform your analysis Planning as an example you will need to
of alternative solutions, but you budget for software subscription fees and the
should also take into consideration cost of your ongoing support model as well as
the opportunity you have to make the cost of deployment. The deployment cost
a step change in your planning is dependent on several variables including
process, facilitated by your new which modules are going to be used, your
solution. Workday Adaptive Planning instance strategy,
the scope of business process redesign, the
number of connectors for integration, and the
While organisations have differing priorities, training approach, as well as the general
here is a short list of project objectives that complexity of your organisation. Having your
we’ve developed with our customers to ensure sponsor be part of the project governance is
they derive maximum benefits from their also likely to bring benefits whereby they can
Workday Adaptive Planning investment: easily monitor progress and help ensure the
project delivers to plan.
— Eliminate the use of error-prone
spreadsheets where possible

— Standardise and optimise finance

practices across the organisation

— Ensure that budgets are aligned with

strategy

— Streamline data flow through application

integration

— Empower budget stakeholders and other

constituents in the process

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 3

 Develop a Request for Proposal

The Request for Proposal (RFP) is a means — The Chart of Accounts and a set of sample
to convey your goals and expectations to reports
prospective vendors, and levels the playing
— A list of source systems that will provide
field for their responses. Managed well, it will
data into the new planning system
generate a good indication as to the varying
(including which ones with which you wish
deployment approaches, costs and
to automate data integration)
differentiating factors that those vendors can
bring to your organisation. It can also help — Budget expectation /constraints, plus
determine how realistic your expectations are whether you are specifying a Time and
and uncover any gaps in your project planning. Materials or Fixed bid approach

— What you are looking for in potential

vendors and how they will be assessed
Spend time really detailing the
project scope so there are no — Instructions on the format of the vendor
surprises later in the process. Being response
as specific as you can will help you — Any compliance requirements
find the right vendor. Create
Spend time really detailing the project scope
thought-provoking open questions
so there are no surprises later in the process.
so that the answers can help you
Being as specific as you can will help you find
properly assess potential vendors.
the right vendor. Create thought-provoking
open questions so that the answers can help
you properly assess potential vendors.
You should include information that helps
ensure you receive serious rather than As you review their responses, look out for
speculative bids and allows vendors to give details of the knowledge skills and experience
you high quality responses on which you can of the people who would be working on the
assess them. The RFP should be project, case studies or references from
comprehensive yet concise. It should include customers who have been through the same
the following: journey as you, awards that the deployment
partner has won, and the long term support
— Project Overview models available. Is this partner in it for the
long haul or does their support stop the
— A brief outline of your business
minute you go live?
— The goals of your project
You should be prepared to sign a
— Scope of the work required to deliver these non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and provide
goals access to your existing models, financial
information, current and future requirements,
— Target delivery timetable
and key staff so that vendors can build enough
— Possible roadblocks that you are aware of, understanding of exactly what your challenges
such as pain points to be addressed or and goals are. This way you can expect bids to
internal resource constraints foreseen be more specific and accurate, and therefore
more comparable.
— Your preferred approach to training

4 Alight Solutions
Deployment options

Workday Adaptive Planning is a user-friendly

system that can be deployed more quickly and
at less cost than legacy corporate
performance management systems. However,
careful planning in identifying the human
capital required to deploy is very important.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 5

 DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS

External assistance

The external route focusses on acquiring — Does the partner use internal staff or
expert knowledge and experience to secure outsource to contractors?
project success. Workday Adaptive Planning
— Do they have customers in your market?
has an ecosystem of highly qualified partners
that specialise in the deployment and — Has the partner integrated with other
optimisation of their software solutions. systems (e.g. Enterprise Resource
Partners are tiered at Platinum, Gold and Planning) that you have?
Silver levels based on their track record and
— Do they have access to project
number of deployments. Some partners are
management resource as well consulting?
regional while others service clients
nationwide and internationally. A benefit of
working with a partner is that they often have Partnering with Alight gives our
highly trained and experienced staff that have clients access to a consulting team
worked on many deployments. They may also of former CFOs and finance leaders
have staff with extensive knowledge of finance as well as unparalleled capabilities
and accounting. Most partners offer the with Workday Adaptive Planning.
flexibility for fixed-price or time and material
projects. Aside from an RFP exercise some
considerations for evaluating Workday
Adaptive Planning partners include the The external route to deployment
following: focuses on acquiring expert
knowledge and experience to
— How long have they been a Workday
secure project success. A benefit of
Adaptive Planning partner?
working with a partner is that they
— How many deployments have they often have highly trained staff that
performed? have worked on many deployments.
— Are they able to help optimize your
platform? If so, how many clients do they
partner with?

— What partner tier level are they?

— Have they won any awards or other

recognition from Workday?

— Are their staff Workday Adaptive Planning

Certified?

— How many staff do they have that are

focused on Workday Adaptive Planning
deployments?

— Do the staff have an extensive background

in corporate finance?

— Do they offer both onsite and virtual

services to match your needs?

6 Alight Solutions
 CONTINUED

External assistance

A list of Workday Adaptive Planning partners

can be found at the following Link. Workday
also maintains a Professional Services group.
More information about their services can be
found here.

At Alight, we hold one of the highest levels of

Workday Adaptive Planning accreditation,
Platinum Premier. Partnering with Alight gives
our clients access to a consulting team of
former CFOs and finance leaders as well as
unparalleled capabilities with Workday
Adaptive Planning. We have completed over
650 Workday Adaptive Planning deployments
and we have 55 Workday Adaptive Planning
certified consultants spread across the USA,
Europe and the APAC region.

With an unwavering belief that an

organisation’s success starts with its people,
Alight is a leading cloud-based provider of
integrated digital human capital and business
solutions. Leveraging proprietary AI and data
analytics, Alight optimises business process as
a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes
for employees and employers across a
comprehensive portfolio of services. At Alight,
we help organisations of all sizes, including
over 70% of the Fortune 100.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 7

 DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS

Internally staffed

Internal deployments use a company’s internal The risk of project failure is therefore
resources to manage and deliver the solution somewhat higher than engaging with a
to users. The main perceived benefits are that partner with certified consultants. Indeed, we
it reduces cost while immediately cultivating have found that companies that deploy
skills and experience in the solution. internally have a higher rate of seeking
external assistance later to re-deploy the
In some cases, this may indeed be the case,
solution.
particularly if any team members have
previous experience with Workday Adaptive Some considerations for evaluating the
Planning. Larger organisations with skilled internally staffed approach include:
teams and resource availability sometimes
take this course. Typically, companies that do — Creating sufficient capability
so will seek application training before • How many team members have recent
beginning a project to create a scalable experience deploying and using
knowledge base. Workday Adaptive Planning?
There are however risks to the approach, • Does your team have adequate
such as: understanding of Workday Adaptive
Planning features to ensure your design
— Sub-optimal design
makes full use of its capabilities?
• Driven by delivery and cost objectives
• Does your team have adequate
design optimisation may be sacrificed
technical knowledge to design the
• A focus on making it work — probably systems integration and data flows?
replicating existing current processes
• Can your team allocate the time outside
• Missing opportunities to improve and of their day-to-day responsibilities to
innovate successfully deploy the solution?

• Broader goals of adoption and • How can you fill any capability gaps?
advocacy can suffer
— Deployment planning
— Any difficulty encountered in build is likely
• Do you have a project management
to stretch limited capability and capacity,
methodology that is well suited to
causing
Workday Adaptive Planning
• delays deployments?

• the need for additional short term • Do you have an aggressive timeline for
resource, adding unforeseen cost completing the deployment?

— Inability to leverage best practices from • Do you have a fallback plan in case the
a certified partner deployment does not progress
smoothly?

• Have you considered engaging a

Workday Adaptive Planning partner to
develop a hybrid deployment approach?

8 Alight Solutions
Deployment methodology

A comprehensive deployment process creates

the conditions for successful projects that can
be scaled across even the largest
organisations. The Alight methodology,
developed through our extensive experience,
is summarised below. While summarised
sequentially Alight would look to optimise the
plan by running some elements side by side in
a set of sprints, for instance taking a particular
model (Revenues or Workforce for example)
completely through the Configure and Test
phases. The precise scheduling of the phases
would be agreed during the Architect phase.

Plan Architect Configure Test Deploy

These phases are supplemented by Workday

Delivery Assurance, a series of Project, Product
and Technical checkpoints that ensure
consistency of deployment and mitigate
project risks. This would form part of the
overall risk management of the project,
see section on Risk Management.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 9

 CONTINUED

Deployment methodology

The phases are broken down below in more detail.

— Assemble team and hold kick-off meetings

— Develop an understanding of the company’s strategic

vision and establish critical success factors for the project
Plan
— Assess business processes, reporting requirements,
technical infrastructure, and resources

— Define optimal business processes/workflows

— Design and integration workshops

— Review all requirements, structure and modules in detail

— Develop and document the processes, information

Architect workflows, reports, user roles, and models

— Define business readiness criteria

— Incorporating finance and systems best practices,

provide a detailed project plan

— Create core system structure

— Build integrated financials with historical and test data

— Develop models, calculations, and assumptions. Create

and populate key supporting schedules. Create reports,
Configure dashboards, and scorecards

— Develop and assign user roles/permissions of the solution

based on the design
— Create integration touch points to ensure automated/
efficient data flows

— Training materials and delivery

— Test cases and UAT

Test
— Issue resolution

— Fine tune solution based on end user feedback

— Roll out solution to end users

— Go-live support
Deploy
— Provide ongoing optimisation support as business and
processes evolve

10 Alight Solutions
DEPLOYMENT METHOD OLOGY

Project roles and resourcing

The specific roles required to deliver your

solution will depend on the scale, complexity
and timelines of your project. Where Alight is
the deployment partner a typical project
structure would have the following roles and
accountabilities:

— Engagement Manager — client relations

— Project Manager — successful and timely
deployment

— System Architect — overall design

— Deployment Consultant(s) — build

resource

— Integration Consultant(s) — build and

manage integrations
Whatever your deployment approach
identifying and recruiting the appropriate
internal resources for your project is critical
to overall success.

For an externally supported deployment the

project team typically includes 2 or 3 FP&A
resources with one being the primary point of
contact. You will also want an IT resource that
can assist with systems integration, although
their involvement should be minimal. The
inclusion of other functional experts, e.g. from
Operations, HR, or Sales, may be required
depending on the scope of your solution.

When working with a deployment partner, your

team will be responsible for providing data as
requested, participating in design discussions,
system reviews, data population of the model,
and testing.

Failure to follow through on these

responsibilities could delay the project
deployment. Typically, total customer required
effort is 5 to 10 hours per week spread across
the entire team.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 11

 DEPLOYMENT METHOD OLOGY

Risk management

Strong governance and process are key to — Identify integrations — develop/refine your
managing the various risks associated with integrations inventory and identify
your deployment. This applies from the opportunities to reduce or simplify
initiation of the project, through vendor/ integrations
partner selection and then execution.
— Define project resources — start project
planning early, identify resource
requirements, fill key roles and plan for
Tackle key decisions early to reduce project team training
risk — make or finish key plan and
program design decisions before — Define your operating model — the
you start the deployment project support model internally and with external
partners
A Workday Adaptive Planning deployment in
You should consider establishing a steering partnership with Alight brings the additional
committee chaired by the executive sponsor to benefits of Workday Delivery Assurance, a
oversee progress and manage risks and issues series of Project, Product and Technical
arising. In any case your project manager checkpoints that ensure consistency of
should maintain processes to identify, assess deployment and leverage common tools
and manage risks and make these available to and expertise to help mitigate project risks.
project / steering group meetings as
appropriate.

Based on Alight’s extensive experience we

would recommend the following actions to
reduce risk:

— Tackle key decisions early — make

foundational design decisions early. Make
or finish key plan and program design
decisions before you start the deployment
project.

— Ensure data readiness — where is your

data stored and how clean is it? Do you
have common standards? What will be
required to clean your data for conversion?

— Review foundation data models, chart of

accounts, business processes and
hierarchies — assess the current state of
these and other key architectural
elements

12 Alight Solutions
DEPLOYMENT METHOD OLOGY

Virtual deployment

Alight’s delivery model has long been a

measured balance of on site and virtual
activity, successfully optimising delivery and
cost for our customers. This experience has
provided a robust platform for the
continuation of business during the
Coronavirus pandemic. Alight has seamlessly
transitioned to a technology enabled fully
virtual deployment approach continuing to
employ engagement best practices such as
maximum meeting durations. Alight has
successfully completed a significant number
of end to end deployments using this model.

While the Alight methodology has been proven

to deliver deployment success, there are other
approaches that may also work well. Should
you take the route of working with a Workday
Adaptive Planning partner, make sure they
have a proven repeatable process that is
validated by reference clients.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 13

 Training

Training is vital to end user adoption of the

Workday Adaptive Planning system or any
other planning solution. You should develop a
training curriculum as well as documentation.
Typically, training will be organised for
administrators as well as end users.
Administrator training is for “super users” who
are tasked with new model development or
modifications to existing models. They are
often the go to people for questions from end
users. Sometimes, companies will opt for a
train the trainer approach where their
administrators will train end users.

If you work with Alight as your deployment Adaptive Live is a great opportunity to meet
partner training will be offered onsite as well users, partners and the Workday Adaptive
as remotely. With remote training you or your Planning team.
partner should record the sessions so they can
be reviewed later or by new staff. As part of a
support agreement, you may be entitled to
periodic training for new releases or modules
that you wish to deploy. You should also
consider attending Adaptive Live, the user
conference that Workday Adaptive Planning
hosts annually. This event features workshops,
training on new functionality, as well as
networking with peer users from other
organisations.

14 Alight Solutions
Documentation

Documentation of the project is important and User document — this document provides an
serves to capture the new processes and steps overview and instructions for end users
necessary to ensure end users are using the working with your configured Workday
system correctly. Documentation should be Adaptive Planning system. In addition to basic
a living resource, not filed away and never information about logging in and navigation, it
reviewed. As updates are made to your provides detailed instructions on how best to
evolving solution, these changes should be work with your system and its features.
recorded in the documentation.
If you are working with a deployment partner,
Documentation is also helpful for new staff
they should maintain up-to-date
to gain an understanding of features and
documentation and make changes as
processes. Documentation typically comprises
necessary for you. Ideally, they should have a
the following:
support portal which enables your team to
Project plan — this detailed document includes access the latest versions of documentation
all the stakeholders, activities, required on demand.
resources, and timelines for your project. The
plan is typically formulated during the
Discovery & Design phase of the project after
thorough scoping has been completed.

Design document — this document outlines

the overall structure (levels, dimensions, and
accounts) and the supporting schedules that
will populate the budget model with data.
Additionally, this document specifies the
reports that will be built and the overall data
flows within the system (including from
external data sources). It is often updated
through the build process to reflect the actual
design of the system as it matures.

Administrator document — this document is

provided to super users who will be able to
make changes within your Workday Adaptive
Planning system. Contents would include, for
example, creating new levels, adding GL
accounts, adding dimensions, creating
formulas, and managing versions.

Import document — this document provides

instructions on how to import various types of
data into your Workday Adaptive Planning
system.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 15

 Integrating with other systems

As part of your project, you will need to identify Whether hosted or on-premise the Connectors
your source systems and the type of data that use the same approach to automated data
you wish to import. A key objective in deploying connection and integration, known as Extract,
Workday Adaptive Planning is automating the Transform and Load.
transfer of data between core and peripheral
Extract: The first step takes data directly from
systems, improving efficiency and security. By
the underlying GL or other enterprise system
integrating Workday Adaptive Planning with
database, or through Application
other systems, your organisation will reduce
Programming Interfaces (APIs).
the amount of time taken manually copying
and pasting data from spreadsheets and other Transform: The next step changes, or
applications into your Workday Adaptive transforms the data extracted (accounts,
Planning system. Furthermore, you will plans, dimensions) to match the customer
eliminate errors while ensuring people are format used in the Workday Adaptive Planning
working with the latest data and can more application.
effectively and rapidly make business
Load: Once data has been transformed it is
management decisions.
packaged into an XML file and uploaded via a
web service, using SFTP (Secure File Transfer
Protocol). Credentials are automatically
Adaptive Planning Connectors are checked at both ends to ensure security. A log
highly configurable and is generated, confirming successful upload,
customisable. With Connectors, and noting any discrepancies (e.g. new or
customers can automate data un-matched accounts).
import, with a fast and simple
approach to synchronising system The data import processes that you deploy
data. Connectors can be run should be included in your Import Document.
on-demand, or as a scheduled
task on a routine basis.

The Workday Adaptive Planning Connectors

are highly configurable and customisable. With
Connectors, customers can automate data
import, with a fast and simple approach to
synchronising system data with their Workday
Adaptive Planning product. Connectors can be
run on-demand, or as a scheduled task on a
routine basis. For integrating with hosted
source systems, the Connector is hosted from
the Workday Adaptive Planning servers. For
on-premise source systems the Connector is
installed in the customer’s environment as a
Windows application on a desktop or virtual
machine and initiated locally.

16 Alight Solutions
Alignment with Workday ERP

Workday Adaptive Planning is part of the For new Workday Adaptive Planning
Workday suite of applications, and Alight has deployments we recommend a full end to
the strongest Workday Adaptive Planning end solution, the components of which may
capability in the Workday ecosystem. This include:
means that if your organisation currently has a
Workday ERP, or is investing in one, the — Financial Management, HCM, Payroll,
benefits of seamless alignment between your and any set of transactions
Workday ERP and your new (or existing) — All Org structures (Levels, Cost Centres,
Workday Adaptive Planning instance can be CoA) and planning dimensions (Customer,
redeemed to best advantage in partnership Product)
with Alight.
— Drillback functionality from Workday
Adaptive Planning through to Workday

At Alight, we have developed a At Alight, we have developed a pre-built

pre-built solution using best solution using best practices for this
practices for Integration with configuration which allows you to source all
Workday which allows you to source metadata and data into Workday Adaptive
all metadata and data into Planning for an end to end solution. The
Workday Adaptive Planning for an pre-built solution provides 25+ prebuilt
end to end integration solution. reports, 30+ staging tables, 100+
transformation codes that are reusable,
25+ loaders and 10+ tasks for scheduling.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 17

 Post deployment: ongoing support

Buying a new software system is in some ways Alight’s Support Solution covers the following:
like purchasing a new car. After you start using
it, you need to maintain it to ensure optimal — Dedicated support access
performance. — Assistance with operational escalations
Following a successful deployment and roll out and troubleshooting
to business users your new planning solution — System optimisations, functional and
becomes more and more business critical. technical configurations
After you start using it, you need to maintain it
to ensure optimal performance. At Alight we — Integration issues if relevant
see business continuity and service availability — Training and documentation
as critical to the performance of the
organisation. Having completed more than — Assistance with reporting
650 projects worldwide using Workday — New feature exploration
Adaptive Planning, we have first-hand
— Knowledge transfer
knowledge of how important these solutions
become. — Annual health check
Product support is generally provided by the — Model development up to the agreed
software vendor, in this case Workday. This hours per annum
covers bug fixes, upgrades, or any other issues
— Provision of ticketing system for call
with the product and is included with your
tracking
software subscription. Workday Adaptive
Planning typically has two update releases — Dedicated Enablement Manager for
each year that include new functionality and escalation of issues
feature enhancements.
— Regular analysis of support time utilised
Application support is generally provided by
the company who deployed the solution with
you and covers the developed solution, models,
reports etc. This is why it’s key to ask the
question at RFP stage, so you know if your
chosen partner can support you after go-live
and if so, what support options they have
available. Not only does this service cover the
solution you have, but there is also scope to
think about what you may need in the future
through understanding potential future
business requirements.

18 Alight Solutions
Six tips for successful planning solution deployments

1. Clearly define your goals. 3. Maintain momentum.

If you don’t know where you want to go, A risk in any project is that the deployment
then how are you going to get there? loses steam as time progresses. People may
While it sounds obvious, it’s very important have to focus on urgent business issues or
to establish a key set of objectives with even just their day-to-day responsibilities.
your deployment. For these reasons, Perhaps someone from the team leaves
it’s a good idea to have at least a high the organisation. Whatever the reason, it’s
level understanding of the features and important to keep team members engaged
capabilities of the Workday Adaptive and moving forward. Establishing a timeline
Planning modules that you will be deploying. for the project and sticking to it helps keep
This will help inform your list of attainable the project moving forward.
objectives. Also, you may wish to consider 4. Ensure proper training and
prioritising certain goals and phasing in communication.
others after the initial deployment. Some Training is already mentioned in this guide.
goals, particular those that involve a It can’t be over-emphasised how important
cultural shift, may take considerably more proper training is to get the full value
time to establish and benefit from the out of your Workday Adaptive Planning
momentum that your initial deployment investment. Workday Adaptive Planning
can give. Don’t forget, make sure goals are is designed with the end user in mind and
measurable. can generally be learned quite quickly.
2. Empower your stakeholders. Super users should plan on a minimum of
In addition to the core deployment team twelve hours of training. It’s generally a
you will want to involve, when and where good practice to include overview training
appropriate, a broader range of stakeholders in the discovery phase of a project to give
who will be using and benefiting from team members an understanding of core
your Workday Adaptive Planning system. functionality. Sufficient end user training
With their contribution to the project, can often be accomplished within a day. It’s
you will also be ensuring greater buy-in quite common for super users to contribute
prior to actual deployment and ongoing to testing, which is another opportunity to
development. As you incorporate their learn the system. Good training will support
feedback, you can also expect to resolve any your overall communication of the changes
unanticipated issues with processes that you are making, building advocacy and user
may arise. The formation of a User Forum adoption.
can be a good way of capturing the views of
your users.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 19

 CONTINUED

Six tips for successful planning solution deployments

5. Think outside the box.

Deploying Workday Adaptive Planning is With creativity you can impact your
an opportunity to redefine performance organisation by applying Adaptive
management within your organisation. Planning capabilities in
Finance isn’t just about managing the non-traditional areas.
numbers, it’s also about leadership
and being a partner to the rest of the
organisation. Part of this is being able to 6. Track the right metrics.
speak the language of stakeholders within Many organisations track too many
your company and assist them on the metrics. This is an issue because it adds
path of improved performance within their time overhead for the finance team
operational areas. A key aspect of this is without delivering the value that makes
tracking the non-financial KPIs which assist it worthwhile. As a rule, if the metric does
other parts of the business in gauging areas not allow you to gauge whether you are
such as customer turnover, product defects, executing on your strategy, then you
employee satisfaction and other workforce should consider eliminating it. Generally we
related metrics. With creativity you can recommend limiting the number of metrics
impact your organisation by applying to no more than 12 at any level of the
Workday Adaptive Planning capabilities in organisation. Consider the illustration below
non-traditional areas. for examples of metrics.

Track the right metrics for success

Focus on 6 – 12 key drivers and metrics. Remember, quality not quantity

Finance Customer
— Sales/Margins — Customer retention rates

— ARR/MRR — Customer satisfaction

— ROI on customer acquisition — Lifetime value of customer

— ROI/ROE

Operational Employee
— Product defects — Employee satisfaction

— Utilisation rates — Absence

— System outages/uptime — Measures of diversity

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Four deployment hazards to be avoided

1. Poor project timing. 2. Insufficient project scoping.

The timing of your project is an important Clear and precise project scoping is critical
consideration. Make sure that your staff to ensuring a project is completed on time
will be able to dedicate adequate time to and within budget. Establish and consider
the project. It should be scheduled to avoid the requirements of all stakeholder before
traditionally busy times such as the year-end agreeing those that will be in scope. Include
financial close as well as holidays and times a level of detail in your project scope and
of the year when people frequently go on RFP that enables a deployment partner
vacation. Do an internal assessment of to estimate the resources required to
the availability of the right people with the accomplish your goals within the established
right technical and leadership skills, and timeframe. This discipline will help avoid
consider how they will be needed across scope creep which can cause delays, cost
the phases of the project. To satisfy the overruns, and acrimony.
technical end, there is training which your
deployment partner should provide and Consider any changes that are planned in
which Administrators should complete prior the near term to other systems that will
to the project kick-off. impact your Workday Adaptive Planning
design, such as a new ERP deployment or
If you are deploying any other systems organisation restructure. This will minimise
that will integrate with Workday Adaptive the time and expense to rework your
Planning, make sure that you have enough Workday Adaptive Planning instance.
time to complete them ahead of your
Workday Adaptive Planning deployment.

Clear and precise project scoping is

critical to ensuring a project is
completed on time and within
budget. Establish and consider the
requirements of all stakeholder
before agreeing those that will be in
scope.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 21

 CONTINUED

Four deployment hazards to be avoided

3. Vague chain of command. 4. Failure to prioritize.

It may seem obvious to have a project For successful timely deployments, less
manager who is the main point of contact is usually more. As part of your project
and accountability, but sometimes this planning document it’s important to identify
leading role is distributed among several what you need now and what can wait until
team members or not identified at all. The later. This also applies to adding end users.
risk here is that project coordination can During the deployment, while a broader
suffer, especially as projects often have group of stakeholders should have input
overlapping activities taking place which on the project, only the members of the
require nimble, focused management. Lack project team should have access to your
of coordination can mean that important Workday Adaptive Planning development
decisions are made in a silo without other instance. Post deployment it may be a
team members being aware. It can also good idea to limit users to your core budget
lead to breakdown in important links with and finance managers initially then add
stakeholders from accounting, finance, other stakeholders later. This will save a
operations, and IT about what is needed and considerable amount of time in training and
what you plan to deliver. The need for clarity free up time for your administrator after
also applies to any deployment partner. your critical go-live requirements are met.
They need to have a peer project manager The broader team can then engage on the
that can sign off on deliverables as they are other project phases (e.g. additional Budget
completed. Reports/Models) and train additional end
users.

During the deployment only the

members of the project team
should have access to your Workday
Adaptive Planning development
instance. Post deployment it may
be a good idea to limit users to your
core budget and finance managers
initially then add other stakeholders
later.

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Implementing finance best practices

Deploying Workday Adaptive Planning is not

only an opportunity to deploy a cutting-edge
corporate performance management solution,
it’s also an opportunity to improve and
streamline processes. When working with
clients, we often focus on the key areas
described below.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 23

 Aligning budget to strategy

One of the key reasons for ineffective translated into the tactics of the business,
budgeting is the disconnect between the the annual budget or financial forecast.
budget and the company’s broader strategy. The problem is that the individuals
While it seems like an issue of common sense, responsible for strategy and vision are not
most organisations’ budgeting process is not always the same people involved in
truly aligned with its strategy and key creating the budget. Even when they are,
participants are unable to clearly articulate the exercises are often not connected.
the connections. Aside from the mechanics and
technology involved in budgeting, there is a Every member of the company needs to
human factor behind this problem – mainly, know how their role and actions help the
most companies do not have a culture of company achieve its goals. The discussion
inclusion. Strategy is often a discussion that of budgeting should be viewed as the
takes place at the executive level but mechanism to allocate resources to
unfortunately the resulting insights and achieve strategic results. The budget is the
decisions made are not permeated through the conclusion of the strategy process. It is
rest of the organisation. validation that the tactics will drive
success and should not be perceived
merely as a compulsory exercise. Executive
Without knowledge of company management needs to drive this
strategy, the stakeholders who connection from the top.
create and manage budgets do not
2. Include a long range plan early in the
know how they can impact it and
budget cycle. Budgets are typically for one
where to most effectively allocate
year, which is an arbitrary range of time.
their spending and investments.
Many business initiatives take longer than
12 months to deliver results and therefore
Without knowledge of company strategy, the the annual budget provides an incomplete
stakeholders who create and manage budgets picture. Make sure your annual plan is
do not know how they can impact it and where simply a subset of the long range (3-5
to most effectively allocate their spending and year) business plan. Inclusion of the long
investments. term plan ensures that the tactical
elements of the budget align with the long
In order to better align budgets with strategy,
term goals of the organisation. An added
here are some steps we recommend:
benefit is that the longer term plan
1. Start every budget cycle with executive- enables individuals to focus on strategy as
level participation and insight into the annual budget is often viewed as the
company strategy. Make sure it is clear mechanism for bonus compensation. An
how your strategy translates to business unfortunate consequence is that it then
tactics and how every employee’s action becomes subject to “sandbagging”.
and role has a direct impact on the success Inclusion of the long term plan, and
of this strategy. While almost every validating that the near term fits within it,
company has executive offsite sessions is key to aligning the budget with company
and develops or modifies a strategic plan, strategy.
often the strategic objectives are not

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 CONTINUED

Aligning budget to strategy

3. Measure and communicate metrics critical

to success. Surprisingly, many companies Validate goals against key metrics
perform a budget exercise but have not and market data. Clearly articulate
identified the performance indicators how your organisation is positioned
which measure the success (or failure) of relative to your market and
their budget and strategy. These KPIs competition and how you are using
include both financial and non-financial your assets and allocating them in a
measures as often times the non-financial manner to succeed.
metrics are the early indicators of success.
These metrics should be well defined,
clearly measurable, and frequently 5. Revisit planning and strategy as necessary.
published. Once you create these metrics, It’s not uncommon for companies to set
if you are intent on building a culture of unrealistic expectations based on previous
inclusion, it is critical that this information performance. Often market conditions
flows unimpeded to key stakeholders. By change leaving past plans unrealistic.
frequently communicating the metrics Make sure you have a mechanism for
that define success employees are better reviewing your plans and adjusting, if
able to determine whether they are on necessary on a quarterly basis. By
target and can make adjustments based periodically reviewing plans and strategy,
on this real time information. companies can course- correct before a
problem becomes a crisis and ensure that
4. Validate goals against key metrics and measuring results against your plan
market data. Are your goals attainable in remains relevant and insightful.
light of the economic and competitive
environment? If your market is flat and All of these elements form the basis for
you are projecting 30% growth, what are creating a culture of inclusion, visibility and
you doing that makes this attainable? empowerment that is essential to aligning
Clearly articulate how your organisation is budgeting with strategy. This is the foundation
positioned relative to your market and to creating business value within the finance
competition and how you are using your function.
assets and allocating them in a manner to
succeed. This type of exercise is typical
within a marketing department but,
similar to strategy, this information does
not always find its way through the
organisation. It is critical not only for this
assessment to occur but also that there is
a mechanism in your process to have it
shared throughout the organisation to
better inform business decisions.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 25

 Rolling forecasts

In today’s dynamic data driven business In order to develop an efficient rolling forecast
environment static planning processes process, you need to identify the key variables
characterised by long cycle times, top down that drive your business and the timing of their
data flow and a focus on purely financial impact on operations. If your highest revenue-
metrics are no longer fit for purpose. “Active” generating product includes a raw material
planning processes by contrast are inclusive whose cost is sensitive to volatile commodity
and continuous so they can keep up with the prices, you will want to include that material
pace of change and all the people in the cost as a driver. You can then create “what if”
organisation who know what is going on. scenarios projecting multiple cost points of
Rolling forecasts are a key element of an that material to envision the future impact on
active planning culture. COGS and margin. While there is a tendency to
go into great detail with drivers, be sure to
A rolling forecast:
focus on the main ones to make the rolling
— Identifies opportunities and risks in a forecast manageable.
dynamic business environment Another component of rolling forecasts is that
— Enables driver-based planning and “what you should frequently import actuals into your
if” scenario analysis model for variance analysis and to ensure you
are on track. This underscores the importance
— Provides the flexibility to redirect of having a budgeting and forecasting system
resources and priorities to better align that integrates with the repository of the
with strategy actuals data (e.g., an ERP system). By
— Facilitates a culture of inclusion and integrating actuals with forecast you will
empowerment identify issues early on which will allow you to
refocus your priorities and resources as
The rolling forecast allows finance
necessary.
professionals to identify opportunities and
risks that contribute to or imperil success. It While it would seem that more frequent
allows you to better monitor the pulse of the forecasts would consume additional time and
company so that more timely decisions can be resources, designed and managed well they
made to ensure the company is moving actually save time in the overall planning
forward according to plan. When a variance is process. A more efficient and automated
found, you can then drill down to determine rolling forecast enables the finance
the underlying cause and make the organisation to focus on more value-added
appropriate adjustments. analysis and decision-making. The ability to
course-correct as necessary allows your
company to be more proactive and flexible in
Active planning processes are aligning operations to strategy.
inclusive and continuous so they
can keep up with the pace of
change and the people in the
organisation who know what is
going on. Rolling forecasts are a
key element of an active planning
culture.

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 CONTINUED

Rolling forecasts

Finally, an important consideration when

implementing rolling forecasts is to engage
more stakeholders in the process. Budget
owners need to participate and provide the
objective data that feeds the forecast. By being
inclusive, you will cultivate a feeling of
empowerment that individual budget owners
can effect positive change. It is vital to then
communicate the updated projections (and
strategy) to the broader organisation so that
everyone is working “singing from the same
hymn sheet”.

The frequency of the forecast is defined

primarily by the dynamism of your particular
market, the drivers of your business, and your
ability to readily incorporate actuals into the
forecast. While all companies are different, if
your company is doing bi-annual or annual
forecasting, you should seriously consider the
benefits of moving to a more frequent rolling
forecast.

Implementing a rolling forecast process

requires careful planning and execution and
should not be approached casually. Consider
phasing it into strategic areas of the business
first and then deploying more broadly as the
value of improved insight and decision-making
is realised.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 27

 Managing the important numbers: KPIs

A question that invariably arises when The discussion about KPIs can get
deploying Workday Adaptive Planning is overwhelming as it can often be varied based
— which metrics should we be tracking? on the industry as a whole or the company in
Planning solutions like Workday Adaptive particular. There are several financial as well
Planning with its Elastic Hypercube as non-financial metrics that can and should
Technology can quickly manage huge amounts be closely managed. For the purposes of this
of diverse data, but in answering the question post, let’s focus on some of the financial KPIs
we steer the discussion to priorities and that can be applied broadly across
strategy. In our experience, KPIs are an manufacturing. Not surprisingly, they involve
excellent means for ensuring that budgets measurements around units. For
align with strategy. Specifically, what are the manufacturers, as an example, here is a
factors necessary for companies to improve shortlist of must-have KPIs:
competitiveness over both the shorter and
1. 1. Cost volume profit analysis: Also
longer term? Where should they be focusing
known as CVP, this analysis goes beyond
their time, effort, and investment? For example,
break-even analysis, which is essential in
a company may wish to prioritise cost
its own right. CVP is particularly valuable
efficiency, safety, compliance, quality, or
for ascertaining short-term goals in
delivery. Or take workforce planning to another
profitability as production is planned or
level by planning for skills management,
projected to scale. It does have limitations
measures of diversity, engagement and
as it assumes there won’t be changes to
productivity, as well as workforce expense.
fixed and variable cost. It also assumes
that all units will be sold, which as we all
know doesn’t always happen. However, it
does provide guidance for aligning
production with profit targets.

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 CONTINUED

Managing the important numbers: KPIs

2. Manufacturing cost per unit (without

material): This KPI is very handy because it
addresses costs that are generally under a
manufacturer’s control. In its most basic
form, it is the cost of direct labour plus
overheads divided by units. As material
costs usually fluctuate, they are not
included in this analysis. This is a great
measure of manufacturing efficiency, as it
allows companies to gauge the effects of
any process improvements they put in
place.

3. WIP inventory/turns: A frequent priority

among manufacturers is inventory
management; more specifically lean
inventory. With improved, integrated
technology in the areas of CRM, ERP, MRP,
and Supply Chain Management, it is
possible to have real-time insight into
demand, production, and inventory. It’s a
goal of many world- class manufacturers
to accelerate the velocity at which
inventory turns, thereby lowering carrying
costs.

In order to make KPIs understandable to those

who need to be in the know, we recommend
making them available in self-service
dashboards. Dashboards present a visual
interpretation of the data and thus are more
easily consumed and acted upon.

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 29

 Conclusion

Deploying Workday Adaptive Planning offers the opportunity to

take financial planning and analysis to a new level. However as
described in this guide, it is not purely a technical solution you are
deploying. It is an enabler for changing the culture of financial
planning, empowering a broader group of stakeholders, and
positioning the finance group as leaders within your organisation.
With careful planning, resourcing, and deployment execution,
Workday Adaptive Planning can be one of the best investments
your company makes. All of us at Alight wish you the best as you
embark upon your Workday Adaptive Planning journey!

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A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M AT I O N

Looking for more information to kick start your project? Feel free to contact
us for sample documentation including the following:

— RFP Templates

— Project plans

— Design documentation

— Admin and end user training documentation

— Dashboard and report samples

Contact details
Learn more about deploying Workday Adaptive Planning in partnership
with Alight by talking to an expert today.

Email us at [email protected] or visit us online at:

alight.com/workday-adaptive-planning-implementation

Alight’s guide to deploying Workday Adaptive Planning 31

About Alight Solutions
With an unwavering belief that a company’s success starts with
its people, Alight Solutions is a leading cloud-based provider of
integrated digital human capital and business solutions.
Leveraging proprietary AI and data analytics, Alight optimises
business process as a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes
for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio
of services. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth
and work while enabling global organisations to achieve a high-
performance culture. Alight’s 15,000 dedicated colleagues serve
more than 30 million employees and family members. Learn how
Alight helps organisations of all sizes, including over 70% of the
Fortune 100 at alight.com.

alight.com

32 Alight Solutions