6 days ago4 min read

Projects, the most versatile Worktag

Most customers are unaware of the power that the Workday® system has in store for them. For example, Projects© functionality is the most underutilized area in Workday from my perspective. It offers a lot of configurability for a host of use cases that can support both HCM and FINs needs. If you are using worktags currently and feel that they should do a bit more:

Look no further than Projects to solve your business requirements.

What is a project?

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the term project refers to ”to any temporary endeavor with a definite beginning and end”.

This means that projects tend to be time-limited, unique and dynamic. While a supervisory organization or a cost center is fairly constant, projects can come and go and be wildly different. Think about the areas in your organization that change frequently. Some changes may become permanent, but most will be temporal. This is where Workday’s Projects functionality can help. Whether you run a project-based organization or have a few endeavors on the side, this functionality is worth exploring.

What can you do with Workday Projects?

A simple worktag (such as business unit, location, campaign) usually comes with a name and a few assignable roles. A project is a full featured worktag that exceeds any organization object.

It includes the following capabilities:

Work Breakdown Structure - Every project has phases and tasks. You can “break down” the overall work into smaller sections and give them different security or settings. Each task can have its own start and end date and be marked as completed.

This means a single project can be a roll-up of multiple smaller efforts.

Reporting Hierarchy - In addition to a standard hierarchy (that supports security inheritance), projects can be rolled up into numerous optional hierarchies.

This means you can set up one hierarchy based on authorization and another for

logical roll-ups independently.

Roles - You can define specific roles on the project and define security policies accordingly. Examples are project manager, billing manager, viewer, reviewer.

This means you have configurable control over who gets to do what on projects.

Resource Assignments - Besides roles, you can have workers assigned to the project (or project tasks) on a granular level with individual start and end dates. Workday offers a number of functions to make the mass assignment easier.

That means you can control in detail who can view projects and use them in

transactions.

Expenses & Time Tracking - Project worktags are exposed to all transactions in the Workday system (such as expense reports, invoices, payroll, ad-hoc transactions, accounting entries, time entry). A lot of times, there are special functions associated in transactions that apply the project configuration.

That means you can tag an expense report line or a time entry with a project and

report on its usage.

Label changes - Your organization may not think of projects as projects. Use the label token to change the name to something else (such as show, event, etc.)

That means users can more easily find what they are looking for.

Optionally, there are more advanced use cases supported:

Budget / Forecast - You can have a resource forecast and a financial budget associated with your project.

That means you can set targets and compare its execution against them.

Project Billing (requires separate SKU) - Time and expenses tracked against billable projects can be priced and turned into customer invoices.

That means you can recoup your billable efforts from your customers.

Capital Projects - Expenses can be reviewed and turned into depreciable assets.

That means you can capitalize your expenditures easily with a full evidence trail.

What use cases should you consider?

Cost & Work tracking

Research and Development
Construction projects
Capital Projects
Corporate Goals, Special projects

Events/Campaigns

Marketing events
Sales Campaigns

Project Management

Acquisitions
Investments
Product Development

Professional Services*

Billable Services

Despite its vast functionality, Workday Projects are easy to set up. Not all features need to be turned on at once. The project hierarchy holds most of the configuration settings, so that multiple use cases can be supported in the same tenant.

Do you own Projects already?

Every Workday customer has access to basic Projects. For resource management and financial tracking, you need to subscribe to the Workday Projects© SKU. Some long-time customers already own that SKU from when they purchased HCM originally. Check with your Customer Success Manager.

Conclusion

By being widely available in the system and having linkages to both workers and financials, Projects bridges the gap between HCM & FINs. The project worktag is the most versatile and powerful worktag in the system. Whether your goal is to simply track what people are working on or whether you want to run your entire services business, Projects gives you the tools to do so.

With the wide adoption of Projects amongst Workday customers, there are plenty of resources already available and experts to speak with. It is easy to get started and make adjustments as you learn.

Thanks for reading!