Workday 17 Time Tracking: Delivering the Consumer Experience to Global Enterprises

Let's face it; tracking time is not the most beloved task in our work lives. Millions of workers do it because our companies require it and so we can get paid. In my prior life as an industry analyst, I entered my time to bill clients and to cost out our research initiatives. While I understood this was essential for business, I dreaded the onerous task.

Let’s face it; tracking time is not the most beloved task in our work lives. Millions of workers do it because our companies require it and so we can get paid. In my prior life as an industry analyst, I entered my time to bill clients and to cost out our research initiatives. While I understood this was essential for business, I dreaded the onerous task.

In the HR technology marketplace, time and attendance management is not regarded as one of the “sexy” application areas, so it may come as a surprise that there is tremendous enthusiasm in the Workday community for the launch of our new global application, Workday Time Tracking.

Why? Well, this video puts it rather bluntly:

Workday Time Tracking is the fruit of a highly collaborative effort between our development team and six dedicated customer design partners. Together, we started with the end user in mind, and really sweated the details on this user experience—in the browser and on mobile devices. The team started with the perspective that many workers will touch the application weekly or even EVERY work day, sometimes multiple times a day. The experience had to be radically simple and efficient, with the goal of getting people in and out and on to being productive on their jobs. With that in mind, we looked to the consumer Internet for familiar constructs and came up with an intuitive calendar entry screen.

Our Time Tracking design partners met with us bi-weekly for months. They also provided us direct access to their end users for observation and testing. This kind of partnership is invaluable and really shines through in the user experience.

In preparation of the product launch, we asked Sue Laskey-Myers, senior vice president, global HR solutions & service delivery at Thomson Reuters and a design partner, about the reaction to Workday Time Tracking within her company. Susan told us, “There is definitely excitement for the product among the initial teams who are working with it. As an organization, we are focused on providing our customers with simple, comprehensive solutions, allowing them to make better decisions faster. Workday supports this strategy by providing one system with global scalability, with real focus on the customer experience.”

In the end, what we’ve collectively delivered is an enterprise application that feels like a consumer experience, and we’ve done it, once again, by working closely with our customers.

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