Workday data quality and migration

The Challenge

The nature of software implementation is transformation. For institutions, governments, and enterprises that rely heavily on mainframe systems this transformation begins by confronting their own legacy data landscape, attempting to understand the technology that shaped it, and recognizing that enterprise software is only as good as the data that its runs on. Bridging the vast gap between mainframes and the Cloud requires a complex and comprehensive data conversion and migration effort. Issues handling data will result in project delays, cost overruns, and resource burnout. If the migration from mainframe to the Cloud is incomplete or inaccurate, end users will lose confidence and fail to adopt the new system. Definian’s mission is to remove data migration risk and our team has identified the following mainframe-specific technical considerations that must be made:

• Mainframe data must be converted from its native EBCDIC form to readable ASCII while simultaneously maintaining other complexities like packed-decimal formatting, binary fields, repeated segments, and Julian dates. Simply reading the data becomes its own conversion project, before any transformation work can begin.
• COBOL programming is inherently slow due to its verbosity, lack of structure, and poor modularity. As such, it is ill-equipped to handle the frequent specification changes and necessary short turnaround time during an implementation.
• Poor data quality abounds on mainframe systems because historically, they have not included the built-in validations and edits common on modern systems. This results in missing, inconsistent, and invalid data.
• The difficulties of COBOL programming together with poor data quality result in a mysterious and problematic data landscape – one that is difficult to understand in any comprehensive way. Consequently, programmers are forced to rely on incorrect assumptions, instead of facts, when developing conversion code.

Before the new system can go-live, data in the legacy systems must be consolidated, cleansed, converted, and transformed. Without the proper tools and approach, IT staff is tasked with clunky COBOL or RPG programming, file manipulations, and spreadsheet workarounds to prepare data for the Cloud. Consequently, less time is committed to training on the new system and other value-add activities like data quality initiatives, report building, and integrations.

Definian In Action: One of the world’s largest retailers wanted to implement a modern solution for Fixed Asset accounting. However, lack of understanding into their legacy mainframe solution was a major hurdle. Outside of COBOL copybooks, virtually no documentation existed and no-one was familiar with technical workings of the system beyond running the monthly reports. Definian leveraged the Applaud® data migration platform to reverse engineer critical functionality, reveal how depreciation and appreciation rules were being applied, and develop a transformation program for 1 million assets

The Tools

Definian’s approach is powered by our exclusive data migration software, Applaud. Applaud accelerates every step of the data conversion process using one team and one tool for data extraction, profiling, analysis, cleansing, transformation, and reconciliation. Leveraging our software and decades worth of experience solving the world’s toughest data challenges, we circumvent the key problems specific to mainframe data migrations.

• Built-in conversion tools give our consultants the ability to read EBCDIC data without having to write a single line of code. Immediate access to data saves times and money, allowing research and conversion development to ramp up sooner in the project.
• Applaud’s data repository quickly accommodates mainframe data sources making it possible to analyze mainframe files in relation to other sources in the data landscape, including ones that the mainframe system has never interfaced with. This makes formerly unsolvable problems – like duplicated master data across disparate systems – finally solvable.
• Comprehensive data profiling and analysis tools provide visibility into the mysteries buried in mainframe systems, leading to more focused requirements gathering efforts later in the project.

These tools have been optimized for the complex challenges of data migration. Naïve approaches rely on hand-coded extracts from individual mainframe files, conversion programs that are siloed based on source system or functional area, and COBOL programmers who are struggling to support data migration on top of their primary duties and training for the new system. To contrast, Definian uses Applaud to eliminate error prone and laborious hand-coding, provide a data repository with a holistic view of the data, and free up resources across the project.

DEFINIAN IN ACTION
‍A 22.5 billion dollar industrial conglomerate needed to shut down a mainframe system that cost $200,000 a month to maintain. The last remaining mainframe resource was desperate to retire, but after weeks of attempts, issues converting binary and packed fields left him and his entire team at an impasse. Definian took the lead and directly extracted, converted,and loaded the data into the target warehouse in half the expected time. This saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars and allowed our counterpart to triumphantly retire.

The Results

Implementation is not just about getting to the Cloud. It’s about getting there and building a better enterprise in the process. Definian’s involvement allows the rest of the project team to focus on the future of their organization rather than be slowed down by data concerns and difficulties dealing with aging IT infrastructure and applications. By having an approach that immediately addresses the technical challenges inherent to mainframes, Definian can quickly graduate to impactful, value-adding activities as part of data conversion.

Every implementation is unique, but in each case quality data makes the difference between failure and resounding success. Definian’s ability to directly extract and profile EBCDIC data without the need for additional resources or mainframe programming accelerates all downstream efforts and provides a 360 degree view of the data landscape. Direct benefits include merging duplicate vendors and enabling better payment terms and volume discounts to be negotiated, identifying inaccurate payroll deductions and missing benefits so that employees can be served more fairly, and automating address cleansing to eliminate wasted revenue on undeliverable mail. Definian’s proven approach and the Applaud platform deliver a predictable, repeatable, and highly automated process that ensures the data migration is delivered on-time, on-budget, and with the highest quality data.

Project Summary

The project scope was to perform the data analysis and migration of all HCM data (HR and Payroll) from a Ceridian system and financial data from an Oracle EBS R12 system into Workday for a $2.2B airport/transportation management firm based in Arlington, VA.

The client implemented Workday to consolidate their HCM and Financial business operations which were operating in separate systems; Ceridian and Oracle EBS R12, respectively. A key limitations was that legacy Ceridian system offered little transparency, versatility, and reporting abilities to support business needs.

The client had a number of concerns regarding their data migration. Definian worked with the organization to address these concerns, ensuring a successful and on-time Workday implementation.

Project Risks

Every ERP implementation has critical risk factors. The areas this organization was most exposed to risk were:

• Lack of knowledge of the legacy Ceridian system and the quality of the data therein.
• Lack of experience of target Workday system requirements.
• Payroll reconciliation between the Ceridian and Workday system

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Mitigating Risks

Definian mitigated the client’s lack of knowledge around the legacy Ceridian system. To do this, Definian:

• Created meaningful reports to help the client better understand their legacy data and identify legacy data issues.
• Worked with the client to develop a data quality strategy to address legacy data issues, either by data cleanup or data translation rules applied during conversion.
• Implemented programmatic data cleansing, such as employee and dependent address standardization, to ensure incomplete or bad data was corrected prior to Workday go-live.

Definian also needed to navigate the client’s lack of experience with the target Workday system. To do this, Definian:

• 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.
• Produced data load files in the exact format that Workday required, with embedded XML encoding, as well as any special field formatting rules required.

Finally, Definian addressed the client’s concern regarding payroll reconciliation between Ceridian and Workday. To do this, Definian:

• Produced reporting tools which allowed the client to fully validate converted historical payroll data, with payroll metrics such as Gross Wages, Net Pay, etc., tied-out to the penny.
• Built a complete gross-to-net payroll reconciliation tool that allowed the client to reconcile every line from every paycheck for every employee. This report exceeded the standard Workday version because it was customized to meet their exact needs, displaying Ceridian’s payroll data alongside Workday’s.
• Provided the client with complete visibility to potential payroll issues, helping them identify error patterns and correct issues at a systemic as well as employee level before go-live.

Key Activities

• Used Applaud’s extraction capabilities to extract the raw data from the legacy systems into Applaud’s data repository.
• Utilized Applaud’s automated profiling on each relevant column in every one of the legacy systems to assist with the creation of the data conversion requirements.
• Deployed Applaud’s integrated analytics/reporting tools to perform deeper analysis on the legacy data to identify numerous legacy data issues as well as Workday-specific validations, identifying missing or invalid configuration prior to loads.
• Leveraged Applaud’s ability to develop custom payroll reconciliation reports, allowing the client to compare every line of every paycheck, represented to the business in a meaningful way.
• Leveraged Applaud’s flexibility to create import files in any format required by the target system, including XML files with embedded encoding.
• Used Applaud’s data transformation capabilities to quickly build out easily repeatable data migration programs and to quickly react to every specification change.
• Employed experienced data migration consultants to identify, prevent, and resolve problems before they became issues.

The Bottom Line

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The Applaud® Advantage

To help overcome the expected data migration challenges, the organization engaged Definian’s Applaud® data migration Services.

Three key components of Definian’s Applaud solution helped the client navigate their data migration:

Definian’s data migration consultants: Definian’s services group averages more than eight years of experience working with Applaud, exclusively on data migration projects.

Definian’s methodology: Definian’s EPACTL approach to data migration projects is different than traditional ETL approaches and helps ensure the project stays on track. This methodology decreases overall implementation time and reduces the risk of the migration.

Definian’s data migration software, Applaud®: Applaud was built from the ground up to address the challenges that occur on data migration projects, allowing the team to accomplish all data needs using one integrated product.

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The combined aspects of the Applaud solution were leveraged to meet the challenges of this project.

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The Results

Bringing Definian into the project drastically reduced the risk of failure. The end result of using Applaud data migration services was a successful implementation. With 100% of converted records successfully loaded, the business could begin running HR business processes in Workday right away. In addition, with a 100% successful historical payroll data conversion and a payroll reconciliation that compared every line of every paycheck and provided exhaustive variance reports, the client began payroll processing in Workday immediately, confident that their data was accurate.

WASHINGTON, DC:  Definian is proud to announce the successful Workday HCM Go-Live for a $2.2B transportation management firm. Definian’s Data Migration services played a pivotal role in the project by ensuring that data was not only appropriately migrated, but also validated and fully reconciled in advance of Go-Live.

Our client was migrating from a hosted legacy solution. While the client had the functional knowledge, they had no technical understanding of their underlying data. Definian's legacy data assessment allowed the client to quickly understand their legacy data and relate it to their Workday requirements to devise a viable migration solution.  In addition, Definian’s data migration solution identified data errors prior to the execution of the Workday load, allowing the team to proactively address issues well in advance.   Our proactive approach led  to extremely high load percentages early in the project. At Go Live, 100% of expected data was successfully loaded, ensuring the business hit the ground running from Day One.

Additionally, Definian produced custom gross-to-net payroll reconciliations between the legacy and Workday solutions. These detailed reports allowed the client to validate converted historical payroll data on their own terms, with payroll metrics tied-out to the penny at Go Live. Armed with a 100% successful payroll data conversion and a payroll reconciliation that compared every line of every paycheck and provided exhaustive variance reports, the client began processing payroll in Workday immediately, confident that their data was accurate.

With this achievement, Definian looks forward to continuing our mission of removing data from the critical path on our client’s additional Workday deployments.

Data Migration Overview

Whether it is Human Capital Management (HCM), Finance, or Student, the implementation of a Workday system is a major undertaking and data migration is a critical and risky component.

• Data from multiple legacy sources needs to be extracted, consolidated, cleansed, de-duplicated, and transformed before it can be loaded into Workday.
• The data migration process must be repeatable, predictable, and executable within a specific timeframe.
• Migrated data needs to be reconciled against the legacy source data after loading to Workday.
• Issues with data migration will delay the entire implementation or Workday will not function properly.
• If the converted data is not cleansed and standardized, the full functionality and potential Workday has to offer will not be realized.

Data Migration Challenges

Many obstacles are encountered during a Workday implementation, each increases the risk of project overrun and delay. Typical challenges include:

• High levels of data duplication across disparate legacy systems.
• Unsupported and/or misunderstood legacy systems, both in their functionality and underlying technologies.
• Legacy data quality issues – including missing, inconsistent, and invalid data – which must be identified and corrected prior to loading to Workday.
• Legacy data structures and business requirements which differ drastically from Workday’s.
• Frequent specification changes which need to be accounted for within a short timeframe.

The Difinian Difference

Difinian’s Applaud® Data Migration Services help overcome these challenges. Three key components contribute to Definian’s success:

1. People: Our services team focuses exclusively on data migration, honing their expertise over years of experience with Applaud and our solutions. They are client-focused and experts in the field.
2. Software: Our data migration software, Applaud, has been optimized to address the challenges that occur on data migration projects, allowing one team using one integrated product to accomplish all data objectives.
3. Approach: Our RapidTrak methodology helps ensure that the project stays on track. Definian’s approach to data migration differs from traditional approaches, decreasing implementation time and reducing the risk of the migration process.

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Applaud Eliminates Data Migration Risk

Applaud’s features have been designed to save time and improve data quality at every step of an implementation project. Definian’s proven approach to data migration includes the following:

• Experienced data migration consultants identify, prevent and resolve issues before they become problems.
• Extraction capabilities can incorporate raw data from many disparate legacy systems, including mainframe, into Applaud’s data repository. New data sources can be quickly extracted as they are identified.
• Automated profiling on every column in every key legacy table assists with the creation of the data conversion requirements based on facts rather than assumptions.
• Powerful data matching engine that quickly identifies duplicate information across any data area including employee, dependent, customer, and supplier records across the data landscape.
• Integrated analytics/reporting tools allow deeper legacy data analysis to identify potential data anomalies before they become problems.
• Cleansing features identify and monitor data issues, allowing development and support of an overarching data quality strategy.
• Hundreds of out-of-the-box pre-load validations identify issues within the legacy data and its compliance with Workday configuration prior to the upload into Workday.
• Development accelerators facilitate the building of Workday EIB, Advanced Load and Data Gathering Workbooks (DGW).
• Process that ensures the data conversion is predictable, repeatable, and highly automated throughout the implementation, from the Foundation through the Gold tenant.
• Complete gross-to-net payroll reconciliation process that can be used during the payroll parallel tests allow the client to reconcile every line from every paycheck for every employee down to the penny, presented in a meaningful way to payroll managers.
• Stringent compliance with data security needs ensure PII information remains secure.
• Our RapidTrak methodology provides a truly integrated approach that decreases the overall data migration effort and reduces project risk.