Client Overview

The client is a multinational retail organisation that required a new HR platform to support its continued growth and changing requirements across human resources. Workday was selected as the organisation's HR system. Because the implementation centred primarily on configuration rather than new software development, effective validation depended heavily on employees with detailed knowledge of the underlying business processes. These business users needed structured testing support throughout the implementation.

The Challenge: How Do You Test Workday When Business Users Hold the Critical Knowledge?

Workday testing presented a practical problem. The people best placed to determine whether the configured HR processes worked correctly were the client's own business users. Their understanding of processes such as recruitment, performance reviews and payroll was essential.

Yet those same users did not have experience in formal software testing principles and processes. They also had day-to-day responsibilities alongside the testing programme, making availability a significant challenge.

This meant the engagement could not simply rely on external test analysts to perform the testing. Instead, business users needed to execute the tests while receiving guidance on QA practices, test scenarios, defect handling and the wider testing process.

The Solution: Workday Testing Consulting and Test Management

Inspired Testing provided consulting and test management rather than taking over the physical execution of the tests.

Their role was to help the client's business users test Workday in a structured way, while managing the wider testing process. Support covered:

• Creation of appropriate test scenarios and test cases
• Support for business-user test execution
• Defect triage
• Management of defect resolution with the Workday team
• Test progress reporting
• Defect reporting
• Guidance on testing and QA practices
• Recommendations following completion of the engagement

Smartsheet was used for test management, while close collaboration between the Workday QA manager and the specialist testing team helped coordinate the testing phases.

Phase One: Configuration-Focused Unit Testing

The first testing cycle was described by the project team as "unit testing", although it differed from traditional developer-led unit testing. Its purpose was to validate the basic Workday configuration.

The testing team supported business users with scenario creation, test execution, defect triage and defect resolution management.

The phase achieved an approximately 98% test scenario pass rate.

Although this was the less complex of the two testing phases, it provided an important foundation before the organisation moved into broader end-to-end validation.

Phase Two: End-to-End Workday Testing

End-to-end testing expanded the scope from individual areas of configuration to complete HR business processes.

Testing covered processes including:

• Employing new people
• Performance reviews
• Payroll
• Workday integrations with other systems
• SAP integration
• Other connected systems referenced during the project

Test scenarios were designed to cover both Workday functionality and its interfaces with surrounding systems.

As in the first phase, the testing partner supported test case creation and execution while coordinating defect triage and resolution. A key objective was to ensure that high-priority defects had been tested and closed before rollout.

The end-to-end testing phase was reported as successful.

Overcoming the Business-User Availability Challenge

One of the most significant practical difficulties was securing enough time from business testers. These employees still had their normal roles to perform while also being expected to participate in Workday testing.

To support collaboration, the first week of both the configuration-focused testing phase and the end-to-end testing phase was conducted on site. Bringing participants together helped the teams work more closely and was considered an important contributor to the engagement.

Reporting to Support Go-Live Decisions

Testing was not limited to identifying and resolving defects. Test progress and defect reporting also gave senior management information they could use when considering whether the Workday rollout should go live or be delayed.

This provided decision-makers with visibility into testing progress and the status of defects ahead of rollout, rather than treating testing as a purely technical activity.

Results

Before

• Workday testing depended on business users with detailed process knowledge.
• Those users did not have formal software testing experience.
• Business testers had to balance testing with their existing day-to-day responsibilities.
• End-to-end validation needed to cover HR processes and integrations with systems including payroll and SAP.

After

• The configuration-focused testing phase achieved an approximately 98% test scenario pass rate.
• Both configuration-focused and end-to-end testing were completed successfully.
• High-priority defects were tested and closed ahead of rollout.
• Senior management received test progress and defect reporting to inform go-live decisions.
• The engagement concluded with a disclosure report documenting challenges and recommendations for future Workday enhancements.

Knowledge Gained for Future Workday Testing

The engagement also developed practical knowledge around how Workday modules operate and what needs particular attention during testing.

This included the importance of choosing an appropriate testing approach, creating suitable scenarios and considering whether the organisation is ready from a change management perspective.

At the end of the engagement, Inspired Testing provided a full disclosure report highlighting challenges encountered during the programme and recommendations for future Workday enhancements.

Business Impact

The engagement gave the organisation a structured way to involve knowledgeable business users in Workday testing without expecting them to become testing specialists.

Through test management, defect coordination and reporting, the programme supported successful configuration and end-to-end testing while giving senior management clearer information for rollout decisions.

Perhaps just as importantly, the work highlighted a practical lesson for future Workday programmes: successful testing depends not only on system configuration, but also on suitable test scenarios, business-user participation, close collaboration and readiness for organisational change.

Key Project Facts

• What platform was tested?
  Workday, implemented as the organisation's HR system.
   
• Why were business users required for testing?
  Testing depended heavily on detailed knowledge of the organisation's HR processes, which sat with the business users.
   
• What testing support was provided?
  Consulting and test management, including test scenario creation, execution support, defect triage, defect resolution management and reporting.
   
• What testing phases were completed?
  A configuration-focused unit testing phase followed by end-to-end business process and integration testing.
   
• What systems and processes were included in end-to-end testing?
  HR processes included employing new people, performance reviews and payroll. Integrations included payroll, SAP and other connected systems.
   
• What tools were used?
  Workday was the core technology platform, with Smartsheet used for test management.
   
• What measurable result was recorded?
  The configuration-focused testing phase achieved approximately a 98% test scenario pass rate.
   
• How did testing support the Workday go-live decision?
  Test progress and defect reporting provided senior management with information to help decide whether to proceed with the rollout or delay it.