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Workday Rising 2026 arrives at a time when higher education institutions and government agencies are balancing growing expectations, limited resources, and increasing pressure to modernize. While the event will showcase the latest developments in AI, analytics, finance, and human resources, the most valuable conversations will focus on how organizations can turn technology investments into meaningful outcomes. 

As organizations continue to navigate transformation, leaders are focused on more than implementing new systems. They are looking for ways to improve experiences, strengthen decision-making, increase efficiency, and prepare their organizations for the future. With those priorities in mind, here are five areas worth watching at Workday Rising 2026. 

1. Practical Applications of Workday AI 

AI will be one of the most talked-about topics at Workday Rising 2026, but the most valuable conversations will focus on practical application rather than possibility alone. 

For higher education and government leaders, the question is not simply what Workday AI can do. It is how AI can help teams work more effectively, strengthen decision-making, reduce administrative burden, and improve service delivery. The most valuable sessions will likely connect AI innovation to measurable outcomes, responsible adoption, governance, and workforce readiness. 

As organizations evaluate AI, leaders should look for examples that show how technology can support people, not replace the strategy, judgment, and institutional knowledge that make transformation successful. 

2. Data, Analytics, and Decision-Making 

AI and automation are only as strong as the data behind them. That makes data strategy one of the most important themes for higher education and government organizations attending Workday Rising 2026. 

Many institutions and agencies have made significant progress in modernizing core systems, but still face challenges with disconnected data, manual reporting, and limited visibility across departments. Workday analytics, enterprise reporting, and connected data strategies will remain important areas of focus as leaders look for ways to turn operational data into actionable insight. 

Across higher education and government, leaders are relying on trusted data to support priorities such as: 

  • Student success and retention 
  • Workforce planning and talent management 
  • Financial performance and budget planning 
  • Constituent and service delivery outcomes 
  • Future AI and analytics initiatives 

Trusted data is increasingly becoming the foundation for organizational agility, operational visibility, and long-term decision-making. 

3. From Workday Implementation to Continuous Improvement 

For many organizations, digital transformation does not end at go-live. The next phase is often where the greatest opportunities emerge through continuous improvement, stronger adoption, more effective governance, and ongoing optimization. 

Workday Rising 2026 will be an opportunity to learn how organizations are extending the value of their Workday investment long after implementation. The most successful organizations are not asking, “Did we go live?” They are asking, “How do we continue to improve, adapt, and create value?” 

4. Learning from Peer Organizations 

One of the most valuable aspects of Workday Rising is the opportunity to learn from organizations that have already navigated similar transformation efforts. 

Peer-led discussions often offer practical insights into organizational change, stakeholder alignment, lessons learned, and the realities of transformation in practice. The best ideas frequently come from organizations willing to share not only what worked, but what they would do differently. 

5. Preparing for the Future of Digital Transformation 

The most successful organizations are building adaptable foundations that allow them to evolve as new opportunities emerge.  

For leaders attending Workday Rising 2026, the opportunity is to connect what they learn at the event to a broader vision for the future. Common priorities include: 

  • Strengthening operational efficiency 
  • Modernizing finance and HR processes 
  • Improving employee and student experiences 
  • Advancing analytics and decision-making capabilities 
  • Building readiness for emerging technologies such as AI 

Organizations that pair innovation with strong governance, clear objectives, and intentional change management are often best positioned for long-term success. 

Key Questions to Ask Before Workday Rising 2026 

Before arriving in Las Vegas, leaders may want to consider the following questions: 

  1. How can AI support our organization’s mission and priorities? 
  1. Where can we improve reporting, analytics, and data-driven decision-making? 
  1. How are peer organizations maximizing the value of Workday? 
  1. What opportunities exist to improve adoption, efficiency, and user experience? 
  1. How should our technology roadmap evolve over the next three to five years? 

Making the Most of Workday Rising 2026 

Workday Rising 2026 will undoubtedly introduce new ideas and technologies. But the organizations that realize the greatest value will be those that use the event as an opportunity to evaluate their long-term strategy, learn from peers, and identify practical steps that move their mission forward. 

Ultimately, success will not be defined by adopting every new innovation. For higher education institutions and government agencies, it will be defined by making thoughtful investments that advance their mission, strengthen decision-making, and deliver lasting value for the people and communities they serve. 

Heading to Workday Rising 2026? Schedule time to connect with the Avaap team and discuss your priorities for the year ahead.

Schedule Time to Connect

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Twice a year, Workday delivers feature releases designed to enhance functionality, improve user experience, and help organizations get more value from their technology investment. While these updates bring exciting opportunities, they also require planning, testing, and coordination to ensure a smooth transition. 

The Workday 2026 R2 release is quickly approaching, with preview tenants refreshing in August and production deployment scheduled for September. Organizations that start planning early can reduce risk, streamline testing efforts, and take advantage of new features with greater confidence. 

Whether you’re responsible for Workday HCM, Financials, Payroll, Reporting, Security, or Integrations, now is the time to assess your readiness for the upcoming release. 

Workday 2026 R2 Release Dates: Key Milestones You Can’t Afford to Miss 

A successful Workday release starts with understanding the timeline. The 2026 R2 release includes several important milestones that should be on every administrator’s radar: 

  • August 7, 2026: Feature release documentation becomes available 
  • August 15, 2026: Preview tenant refresh 
  • August 15 – September 19, 2026: Release preparation and testing window 
  • September 19, 2026: Production release 

These dates provide a valuable opportunity to review upcoming changes, validate critical business processes, and ensure your organization is ready before the production release arrives. 

How to Prepare for the Workday 2026 R2 Release Before Your Preview Tenant Refresh 

The most effective Workday release strategies begin long before the preview tenant is updated. Early preparation gives teams more time to identify potential impacts, assign responsibilities, and build a structured testing plan. 

Consider these questions: 

  • Which areas of Workday are most critical to your organization? 
  • Which teams should participate in testing? 
  • Are there key business processes, reports, or integrations that require special attention? 
  • What communications and change management activities may be necessary? 

Answering these questions upfront can help create a smoother release experience and reduce last-minute surprises. 

What to Review Before Workday 2026 R2 Arrives 

When release documentation becomes available, focus on understanding what matters most to your organization. 

1. Review Potential Impacts Early 

One of the first priorities in any Workday release cycle is understanding which changes matter most to your organization. 

When release information becomes available, take time to understand: 

  • Which features may affect your organization 
  • Whether new functionality requires configuration decisions 
  • Potential impacts to reporting, security, or integrations 
  • Change management and communication needs 

Early visibility allows teams to prioritize testing efforts and allocate resources appropriately. 

2. Make Preview Testing a Priority 

Your preview tenant is the best opportunity to validate critical business processes before production deployment. 

Testing should focus on areas such as: 

  • Core business processes 
  • Security configurations 
  • Reporting and analytics 
  • Integrations 
  • Functional workflows used by key stakeholders 

A structured testing strategy can help identify issues before they affect end users. 

3. Don’t Overlook Existing Configuration Issues 

Many release-related challenges aren’t caused by new features at all. They’re often tied to existing configuration, reporting, or security issues that surface during the release process. 

Before production deployment, organizations should review critical areas of their tenant and address any outstanding exceptions or inconsistencies. 

Common Workday Release Preparation Mistakes That Lead to Last-Minute Issues 

Even experienced Workday teams can run into challenges when release preparation takes a back seat to day-to-day priorities. 

Some of the most common mistakes include: 

  • Treating testing as a last-minute activity instead of an ongoing process 
  • Focusing exclusively on new features instead of overall release readiness 
  • Not involving key stakeholders in the testing process 
  • Underestimating the impact on reports and integrations 
  • Delaying change management and user communication efforts 

Avoiding these pitfalls can significantly reduce stress as release day approaches. 

Workday Release Readiness Starts with the Right Checklist 

Successful release preparation relies on consistency. Rather than approaching each release from scratch, leading organizations use a repeatable process that includes planning, testing, validation, communication, and post-release review. 

Having a comprehensive Workday release checklist helps ensure critical tasks aren’t missed and provides a clear roadmap for administrators, functional teams, and business stakeholders. 

The challenge isn’t knowing that preparation matters. It’s knowing exactly what should happen before preview, during testing, and after production deployment. 

What’s Included in Avaap’s Workday 2026 R2 Release Preparation Guide? 

To help organizations navigate the upcoming release, Avaap has created a comprehensive Workday 2026 R2 Release Preparation Guide. 

Inside, you’ll find: 

  • Key release milestones and planning dates 
  • Production readiness recommendations 
  • Preview testing guidance 
  • Administrator audit checkpoints 
  • Post-release best practices 
  • Actionable checklists to support your release planning process 

Whether this is your first Workday release or your tenth, the guide provides practical recommendations to help your team prepare with confidence. 

Download the Complete Workday 2026 R2 Release Preparation Guide 

The Workday 2026 R2 release is coming quickly. The organizations that achieve the smoothest deployments are often the ones that begin planning early, test thoroughly, and follow a structured readiness process. 

Download Avaap’s Workday 2026 R2 Release Preparation Guide to help your team plan ahead, reduce risk, and approach the September release with confidence.

Download the Guide 

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Student transcripts are one of the most visible academic records an institution produces. They carry institutional brand, academic policy, student history, transfer work, GPA, credits, and degree progress in a format that must be accurate, professional, and trusted. 

But as institutions add programs, campuses, policies, and student populations, maintaining transcript formats can become increasingly complex. Registrar teams need flexibility to meet unique institutional requirements without adding manual effort or creating long-term maintenance challenges. 

For institutions using Workday Student, transcript generation plays an important role in student service, academic record management, and registrar operations. 

Why Transcript Requirements Continue to Evolve in Higher Education 

Transcript requirements vary widely across institutions. Some institutions need transcripts that reflect unique academic structures, while others require specific formatting standards, branding elements, transfer credit presentations, or policy-driven academic record displays. As institutions grow and adapt, transcript formats often need to support new programs, campuses, and student populations. 

As institutions balance student service expectations, administrative efficiency, and evolving academic requirements, transcript flexibility has become an important consideration within broader student records and registrar operations. 

Supporting Institution-Specific Transcript Design in Workday Student 

Official transcripts represent more than academic data. They are institution-facing and student-facing documents that communicate academic achievement and reflect institutional standards. 

Many institutions require transcripts that support:

  • Institution-specific branding 
  • Academic history presentation 
  • GPA and credit information 
  • Transfer coursework details 
  • Program-specific requirements 
  • Policy-driven formatting standards 

One approach institutions may consider is separating transcript data, design, and generation logic rather than tightly coupling transcript formatting to development activities. This allows transcript layouts and formatting to be maintained independently from the underlying student data, providing greater flexibility to support official transcript formats while reducing the need for extensive redevelopment over time. 

Transcript Design Is Not a One-Time Decision 

Transcript formats are not static. As institutions add programs, update academic policies, expand campuses, adjust transfer credit rules, or refine branding standards, official transcript requirements may need to evolve as well. 

For Registrar and student records teams, the challenge is not only creating to evolve as well. 

For Registrar and student records teams, the challenge is not only creating an accurate transcript today. It is maintaining a transcript format that can adapt over time without creating unnecessary manual effort, technical dependency, or redevelopment burden. 

A more flexible transcript generation approach gives institutions a better foundation for long-term transcript governance, helping ensure official academic records remain accurate, professional, and aligned with institutional standards as requirements change. 

What Institutions Need from Modern Transcript Generation in Workday Student 

Transcript generation is about more than producing a document. It is part of a broader process that includes: 

  • Flexibility to support institution-specific transcript designs  
  • Consistent, official-quality PDF output  
  • Clear separation between transcript data and transcript layout  
  • Reduced manual formatting and review  
  • Easier updates as policies, programs, and requirements change  
  • A Workday-aligned approach that preserves Workday as the source of truth 
  • A coordinated approach to transcript generation can help institutions support consistency across transcript output while creating processes that are easier to maintain as requirements evolve. 

Creating Professional, Official Transcript PDFs 

Official transcript PDFs play an important role in how students, alumni, employers, and academic institutions interact with academic records. 

Transcript formats often need to balance accuracy, consistency, readability, institutional branding, and academic record integrity while presenting information clearly and professionally. 

Improving Registrar Efficiency Through Streamlined Transcript Processes 

Registrar teams manage a wide range of responsibilities that directly impact the student experience. Transcript requests, transcript preparation, and transcript oversight represent important components of that work. 

Institutions frequently look for opportunities to reduce time spent on: 

  • Manual transcript formatting 
  • Transcript preparation activities 
  • Document review processes 
  • Administrative transcript management 

Creating more streamlined transcript processes can help registrar teams focus on high-value student service activities while supporting consistent transcript output across the institution. 

Supporting a Better Student and Alumni Experience 

Transcript requests are an important service provided by registrar offices. Students and alumni expect efficient access to academic records and a consistent experience throughout the request process. 

A modern transcript experience should help support: 

  • Clear request processes 
  • Timely document delivery 
  • Consistent communication 
  • Visibility into request status 
  • Reliable access to academic records 

By creating more streamlined transcript workflows, institutions can support efficient service delivery while improving the overall experience for students and alumni. 

How Workday Extend Supports Flexible Transcript Generation 

Workday Extend allows institutions to build targeted solutions that work within the Workday ecosystem while keeping Workday as the system of record. 

For transcript generation, this creates an opportunity to support institution-specific transcript design without relying solely on heavy custom report development. A Workday Extend-based approach can help institutions separate transcript data from transcript layout and generation logic, making it easier to maintain official transcript formats as requirements evolve. 

This approach can support: 

  • Academic data sourced from Workday  
  • Tailored transcript layouts and formatting  
  • Consistent, professional PDF generation  
  • Greater flexibility as institutional policies, programs, and branding needs change  
  • A Workday-aligned framework for registrar and student records teams  

By using Workday Extend, institutions can preserve the integrity of Workday data while gaining additional flexibility to create transcript outputs that reflect their unique academic structure and standards. 

For institutions using Workday Student, the goal is not simply to generate a transcript. The goal is to create an official, professional document that reflects institutional requirements, is easier for Registrar teams to maintain, and supports a consistent experience for students and alumni as needs evolve. 

A Flexible Framework for Transcript Generation in Workday Student 

Avaap’s Transcript Manager was developed to help institutions create professional, institution-specific transcript PDFs using academic data from Workday. 

Built on Workday Extend, the solution separates transcript data, design, and generation logic so institutions can maintain official transcript formats with greater flexibility and less reliance on heavy custom redevelopment. 

For Registrar teams, this means less manual formatting and review. For students and alumni, it supports faster, more consistent service. For institutions, it provides a scalable way to meet unique transcript requirements while staying aligned with Workday. 

Looking for a more flexible approach to transcript design and generation in Workday Student? Connect with Avaap to learn more about Transcript Manager.

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Higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to improve student outcomes while navigating complex data environments. 

Many assume they must complete their Workday implementation before addressing data modernization, analytics, or student retention initiatives. 

Xavier University is proving otherwise. 

By modernizing its data environment in parallel with its Workday rollout, Xavier accelerated its student success strategy and established a scalable foundation for long-term impact. 

The Challenge: Limited Visibility Slowed Proactive Student Support 

Like many institutions, Xavier University was committed to improving retention and graduation outcomes but faced challenges due to fragmented data systems. 

Before this initiative: 

  • Student data lived across multiple systems and reports 
  • Advisors lacked visibility into academic, financial, and engagement indicators 
  • Faculty and staff had to piece together a student’s full experience 
  • Leadership lacked a unified, real-time view of persistence trends 
  • Evaluating outreach effectiveness required manual analysis 

As a result, student success teams relied heavily on manual reporting processes, limiting their ability to act quickly and proactively. 

A Strategic Start: Aligning Around Data-Driven Student Success 

Xavier partnered with Avaap’s Data, Analytics, and AI team to define a shared vision for data-driven student success. 

Over two months, the team established a strong foundation through: 

  • A current-state assessment of data and reporting processes 
  • More than 40 stakeholder interviews across eight departments 
  • Documentation of institutional goals and priorities 
  • Alignment on a long-term analytics strategy 

This work ensured the solution would address immediate needs while supporting future innovation. 

The Approach: Modernizing Data in Parallel with Workday 

Rather than taking a sequential approach, Xavier advanced data modernization alongside its Workday implementation. 

This allowed the university to: 

  • Deliver insights earlier in the transformation process 
  • Avoid delays associated with waiting for a fully mature ERP 
  • Establish a strong data foundation while systems were evolving 

As Xavier CIO Sheri Thomas shared: 

“By modernizing our data in parallel with our Workday implementation, Xavier was able to accelerate our student success strategy. Using Snowflake to unify Workday data with other critical sources enabled our first student persistence analytics capabilities, delivering immediate value and empowering leaders to support students proactively.” 

The Solution: A Unified Platform for Student Retention Analytics 

Working together, Avaap helped Xavier implement a modern data environment designed to support proactive student success. 

Centralized Data Platform 

  • A Student 360 data model brings together data from across the institution 
  • Expanding Workday integrations strengthen the connection between systems and analytics 

Automated Data Processing 

  • Alteryx automates data preparation 
  • Manual reporting processes are significantly reduced 

Interactive Analytics and Dashboards 

  • Tableau dashboards provide intuitive, interactive visualization 
  • Insights are accessible to both advisors and leadership 

Supporting Advisors with Timely, Actionable Insight 

The platform enables student success teams to evaluate patterns across key indicators: 

  • Academic performance 
  • Financial indicators 
  • Student engagement signals 
  • Enrollment and progression patterns 

With frequently updated data, advisors can: 

  • Identify students who may need additional support 
  • Search and filter students by ID, major, cohort, or indicators 
  • Understand enrollment patterns and term-to-term progress 

This reduces time spent gathering information and increases time spent supporting students. 

Enabling Strategic Decision-Making for Leadership 

In addition to supporting advisors, the platform provides leadership with a strategic view of student success. 

Leaders can: 

  • Monitor persistence and enrollment trends across cohorts 
  • Identify patterns across academic, financial, and engagement indicators 
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of student success initiatives 
  • Inform institutional planning and investment decisions 

The Results: Earlier Intervention and Stronger Outcomes 

Xavier now has a modern analytics platform that enables more proactive and informed decision-making. 

Key outcomes include: 

  • Earlier student support through improved visibility into student needs 
  • More effective advisor time with less effort spent on manual reporting 
  • Institution-wide visibility into persistence trends 
  • Reduced manual reporting through automation 
  • A foundation for future innovation across admissions, student success, and planning 

What’s Next: Expanding the Impact of Analytics 

The Undergraduate Student Persistence Analytics platform represents the first step in a broader vision for data-enabled decision-making. 

Future opportunities include: 

  • Evaluating the effectiveness of student support initiatives 
  • Expanding insights for admissions and enrollment teams 
  • Supporting academic departments with program-level analytics 
  • Continuing to integrate new data sources through Workday and Snowflake 

Together, these efforts are helping Xavier create a more connected, proactive student success ecosystem. 

What Higher Ed Leaders Can Learn 

Xavier’s experience reinforces a key takeaway: 

Data modernization and Workday transformation do not need to happen sequentially. With the right approach, they can progress together to deliver faster, more meaningful results. 

Institutions can begin building retention analytics capabilities even without fully mature data environments when they focus on collaboration, practical progress, and scalable architecture. 

Join the Webinar: See the Approach in Action 

Want to learn how to apply this approach at your institution? 

In the upcoming webinar, Scaling Student Success: Advancing Snowflake and Workday in Parallel, you’ll hear directly from: 

  • Sheri Thomas, AVP and Chief Information Officer, Xavier University 
  • Kimberly Moore, VP of Student Affairs and Chief Success Officer, Xavier University 
  • Annaleah Morrow, Ph.D., VP of Customer Success, Avaap 

You’ll walk away with: 

  • Practical steps to advance student retention analytics during an active Workday transformation 
  • Guidance on structuring a collaborative data initiative 
  • Approaches for navigating data quality challenges 
  • Insights into how cloud platforms like Snowflake support scalable data foundations 

Save your spot to explore how Xavier is advancing student success with modern data. 

Register for the Webinar

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As a Workday implementation partner, Avaap consultants spend their time helping organizations modernize systems and guide people through transformation. Just as importantly, our Transformation Solutions Practice, including Organizational Change Management (OCM), is central to how we help clients realize value from those investments.  

Recently, Avaap had the opportunity to turn that expertise inward completing an internal Workday implementation. Led by our own consultants, this initiative allowed us to: 

  • Apply our expertise within Avaap, reflecting on what it truly means to lead change while simultaneously experiencing it ourselves.   
  • Intentionally design the change experience around the needs, perspectives, and day-to-day realities of our employees. 
  • Enable consultants to experience the new system through an end-user lens, deepening their understanding of the transformations we deliver for our clients. 

In this blog, we reflect on our implementation through two distinct lenses:  

  1. The end-user’s perspective: Experiencing the transformation solely as a user 
  1. The lead’s perspective: Driving change on behalf of the organization 

Together, these perspectives reveal lessons learned and insights gained from living the same change we so often help our clients navigate. 

People at the Center of Our Internal Workday Implementation 

One of the greatest strengths of Avaap’s internal Workday implementation was the intentional focus on the employee experience, recognizing our people as the end users of the new system. Throughout the implementation, we prioritized transparency, engagement, and feedback to ensure employees felt informed, supported, and heard.  

This approach came to life in several ways: 

  • A strong change champion network established rhythm and structure through monthly meetings, clear and consistent Change Guides, and trusted peer-to-peer communication. 
  • Employees valued receiving updates from colleagues they trusted, reinforcing engagement and creating a powerful two-way feedback loop.  
  • Visible and active executive sponsorship reinforced alignment, accountability, and commitment to the change. 
  • Departmental meetings were intentionally leveraged to share updates, communicate key actions, and reinforce critical milestones and deadlines.  

During go-live, hyper care made a meaningful and visible difference. Office hours, a dedicated Teams support channel, rapid issue resolution, and transparent public Q&A created real-time trust and confidence. Employees did not just receive answers — they learned from one another’s questions, strengthening system adoption and reinforcing confidence in the organization’s ability to support its people through change. 

Lessons from a Compressed Workday Delivery Timeline 

As change leads for this initiative, we experienced firsthand the realities of delivering against an ambitious timeline—challenges we often partner with our clients to navigate during a Workday transformation. 

Here are a few of the lessons we look forward to applying in future client engagements: 

  • With a limited buffer for OCM activities, training development occurred in parallel with ongoing system configuration, extending preparation efforts, and requiring significant agility from the team.  
  • Delivery coincided with a demanding December client cycle and the holiday season, leaving little flexibility in employee schedules.  
  • To support adoption while honoring client commitments, sessions were recorded, materials were made readily accessible, and knowledge checks were implemented so employees could complete requirements between client engagements.  
  • This flexible, multi-modal approach enabled broad participation while preserving our commitment to client delivery and operational excellence.  

As timelines compressed, change management often absorbed the shock. More importantly, the experience reinforced a critical insight we see repeatedly: while technology change is challenging, role clarity is often the harder—and more impactful—transformation. 

Why the Internal Workday Experience Worked for Our Employees 

From an end‑user perspective, the experience demonstrated how seamless change can feel when an organization intentionally supports its people, even amid the complexities and challenges faced by the project team. 

“As a change management consultant, I understand the strategies that enable adoption, but experiencing a Workday implementation as an employee made the effort required feel far more tangible.” – Avaap Change Management Consultant 

Several factors contributed to this success: 

  • Access to a centralized Learning Library. 
  • An active Teams channel. 
  • Clear FAQs made employees feel their needs were being anticipated rather than reacted to.  
  • A well‑designed matrix of communication channels, including a robust change champion network, ensured information surfaced when and where it was needed. 
  •  On-demand resources and flexible training sessions also allowed employees to engage in learning in meaningful ways, despite the demands of a busy time of year. 

Leading Workday Change from the Inside 

Leading change internally introduced a unique challenge: wearing two hats as both advisor and impacted stakeholder, while also supporting executive leaders as sponsors. Living this transition firsthand reinforced the responsibility that comes with advising on change 

The experience underscored a lesson we share with clients every day: systems go live on a date, but clarity, adoption, and behavior change require sustained focus and intentional investment. 

If you are preparing to kick off a Workday transformation, consider how Avaap can partner with you — bringing both extensive client experience and firsthand internal implementation lessons to help ensure a successful outcome. 

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Workday is a powerful system of record for people, money, and planning. But as organizations mature in their Workday journey, a common question emerges: how do you move beyond operational reporting to enterprise-wide insight without compromising performance, security, or governance? 

For many Workday customers, the answer is Snowflake. 

Snowflake serves as the analytics and AI layer downstream of Workday, allowing Workday data to scale beyond transactional reporting and become enterprise data.

This architecture preserves Workday’s role as the system of record while enabling the depth, history, and flexibility required for enterprise analytics and AI readiness. 

Together, Workday and Snowflake create a modern data foundation, one that supports executive decision-making without placing additional strain on operational systems. 

How Snowflake Extends Workday Analytics Beyond Operational Reporting 

Workday provides a unified operational foundation across HR, Finance, and Planning. Once that foundation is in place, organizations begin looking for broader visibility—insight that spans domains, extends across years of data, and supports strategic planning. 

Snowflake is where that expansion happens. 

By extending Workday data into Snowflake, organizations unlock enterprise-scale analytics while maintaining performance and governance. Workday continues to power day-to-day operations. Snowflake becomes the platform for insight, intelligence, and long-term analysis. 

From Workday System of Record to Enterprise Analytics Platform 

Workday and Snowflake are purpose-built for different, but complementary, roles. Workday excels at operational execution and transactional reporting. Snowflake is designed for analytics at scale, cross-domain insight, and advanced workloads. Together, they enable a clear separation of responsibilities that protect core systems while expanding analytic capability. 

For Workday customers, this approach supports: 

  • Enterprise-wide analytics without impacting Workday performance 
  • Cross-domain insight by combining Workday data with other enterprise sources 
  • A governed foundation for advanced analytics and AI initiatives 

The result is a scalable, future-ready architecture without disruption. 

Enabling Enterprise and Executive Analytics with Workday and Snowflake 

Using Workday and Snowflake together allows organizations to answer strategic questions that operational reporting alone cannot support. 

With Snowflake downstream of Workday, leaders gain access to historical, longitudinal, and cross-functional insights that support planning, performance management, and enterprise decision-making—while Workday remains focused on what it does best. 

Why Workday Organizations Are Adopting Snowflake for AI Readiness 

Workday customers are moving now as several forces converge: 

  • Executives expect insights that cut across people, money, and operations 
  • AI initiatives require scale, openness, and historical depth 
  • Years of Workday data are compounding in strategic value 

Snowflake meets these demands while allowing Workday to remain in the trusted system of record. 

Download the Full Whitepaper 

This blog provides a high-level view of why Snowflake has become the preferred analytics and AI architecture for Workday customers. 

The full whitepaper goes deeper into: 

  • Architecture patterns and governance considerations 
  • Real-world executive use cases 
Download the full whitepaper

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At Avaap, we know that organizational change efforts succeed when people—not just processes or technology—move forward with clarity, confidence, and commitment. Yet in large transformation programs, the gap between the client organization and the system implementor (SI) can easily become a barrier: misaligned expectations, unclear ownership, and competing priorities often slow momentum at the very moment when teams need to move in sync. 

Our team has spent years operating at the intersection of these two worlds. Recently, Avaap was presented with a unique opportunity to partner as organizational change management (OCM) leadership on both the client side and the system implementor side, and that dual perspective ended up being one of our biggest strengths throughout the project. It allowed us to build trust quickly, anticipate friction before it surfaced, and create a unified experience for stakeholders who were navigating the change. 

Why Dual-Perspective Organizational Change Management Leadership is Impactful 

Working across both sides of the partnership gave us a unique advantage. We were able to better understand the realities of the client’s internal culture, decision-making rhythms, and organizational constraints – while simultaneously adhering to the SI’s delivery model, project cadence, and technical dependencies. This combination enabled us to efficiently and effectively translate, align, and accelerate. 

1. A Dedicated Client-Side OCM Lead Creates Early Clarity and Sustained Momentum 

One of the most impactful elements of this partnership model was having a client-side resource with deep OCM expertise embedded from the start. On this project, that role became a critical success factor. 

Here are several ways our dedicated client-side OCM lead made a measurable difference throughout the transformation initiative: 

  • Anticipated challenges before they became blockers. Because the client-side OCM lead effectively functioned as an employee of the institution, they were trusted with candid details about the organizational culture and history, enabling them to identify risks early – whether related to stakeholder readiness, communication gaps, or process impacts.

  • Escalated issues with precision and credibility. Grounded in the organizational context and overarching change strategy, the client-side resource escalated issues appropriately and on time, and their perspective carried significant weight with project leadership due to their strong institutional relationships. This kept the core activities conducted by the OCM workstream moving without unnecessary delays. 

  • Drove productive collaboration across teams. Working sessions were more focused and efficient. The client-side lead could bridge perspectives, clarify expectations, and ensure that decisions were made with the right information and the right people in the room. 

  • Reduced ambiguity and accelerated decision-making. Their presence created alignment across stakeholders, helping teams move forward with confidence rather than revisiting decisions or reinterpreting requirements. 

2. The SI-Side OCM Lead Drives Delivery and Change Adoption 

While the client-side OCM lead helped us understand the intricacies of the internal culture and facilitated early alignment, the OCM role on the SI side was equally essential in ensuring seamless execution and adoption. The SI-side OCM lead functioned as a bridge between technical delivery and the client’s change management needs, translating system requirements into actionable communication and training strategies that resonated with end users. 

  • Ensured alignment between project milestones and change activities. By proactively mapping change activities to each phase of the system implementation, the SI-side OCM lead helped teams anticipate resource needs, manage expectations, and avoid last-minute surprises. 
  • Facilitated cross-functional collaboration. The SI OCM lead fostered collaboration across technical, functional, and client-facing teams, ensuring that messaging, training, and support were consistent and appropriately validated. 
  • Monitored and responded to adoption risks. Using data-driven insights and feedback loops, the SI OCM lead identified areas of resistance, tracked progress, and adjusted engagement strategies to maximize user adoption and minimize disruption. 
  • Provided expertise that streamlined training efforts. Leveraging prior experience, the SI OCM lead was able to accelerate training development—an area that is often challenging in Workday implementations without support from an experienced Workday resource.  
  • Supported continuous improvement. By capturing lessons learned and sharing best practices, the SI OCM lead contributed to ongoing optimization of both project outcomes and organizational readiness for future transformations. 

Together, the client-side and SI-side OCM leads complemented each other’s strengths, resulting in a holistic approach that delivered both technical success and sustainable change adoption through dual‑perspective organizational change management leadership. 

Establishing Trusted Partnerships and Unified Change Management 

Respectful Partnership Strengthens Brand Credibility 

Operating on both the client and SI sides requires a careful balance of advocacy, neutrality, and professionalism. Our approach centered on: 

  • Respecting each organization’s role and expertise. We reinforced shared accountability and mutual respect for each other’s strengths – the client as the expert in their culture and operations, and the SI as the expert in best practices for digital system transformation. 
  • Representing each brand with integrity. Our resource that was embedded with the client acted as an extension of their team—upholding their values, communication style, and expectations, while adhering to Avaap’s policies and procedures. 

This balanced approach enhanced credibility for everyone involved. Stakeholders noticed a unified front, not competing agendas. 

A Unified OCM Strategy That Works Across Both Organizations 

Because we understand the dynamics of both sides, we were able to design and implement an OCM strategy that was: 

  • Practical for the client to execute (aligned with their culture, capacity, and leadership style) 
  • Compatible with the SI’s delivery model (integrated with milestones, testing cycles, and deployment timelines) 

This alignment reduced rework, minimized confusion, and ensured that change activities supported—rather than lagged—the technical implementation. 

The Result: A More Cohesive, Confident, and Change-Ready Organization 

By bringing together the strengths of both the client and the system implementor, dual‑perspective organizational change management leadership helped create an environment where:  

  • Teams collaborated more effectively 
  • Decisions were made faster 
  • Training and readiness efforts stayed on track 
  • Stakeholders felt supported and informed 
  • The organization moved through change with clarity and purpose 

This dual-perspective OCM model doesn’t just support transformation—it elevates it. 

Looking for the right support to ensure your large-scale system transformation is a success?  Explore Avaap’s Organizational Change Management services to learn more about our capabilities.

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