Preparing for the Workday 2025 Release 1

The Workday 2025 Release 1 (R1) introduces exciting new features and enhancements to improve productivity, streamline processes, and offer better user experiences. We know it can be a lot of information to learn at once, that’s why  The Groove  is here to guide as your leading Workday partner. To ensure a smooth transition and leverage the full potential of this release, follow the steps outlined below. 

Monitor Key Deadlines 

A smooth transition through preview, testing, and production starts with understanding the release schedule. Review key dates, add them to your calendar, and plan ahead to keep the process stress-free as you integrate the Workday 2025 R1 updates.  

Bookmark the Workday Release Center in Community—your go-to hub for everything related to the update. This central resource provides the release timeline, essential tools to stay ahead, details on targeted features, their impact and benefits, and guidance on deploying them effectively to maximize your Workday investment.

Understand the New Features

What’s coming? While Workday updates weekly to stay current, major feature releases follow a different schedule. These feature releases typically come out every March and September bringing significant new features. Let’s review what key steps to keep in mind.   

Before Implementing 2025 Release 1: 

• Workday often holds webinars or product walkthroughs focused on the new features, ensuring your company is aware of the full capabilities. These sessions provide valuable tips, best practices, and deployment considerations. The Groove will also be hosting an engaging feature showcase so look out for an invitation to attend that webinar as well. 

• Determine which new features align to your organization’s strategic goals and priorities, while also considering any other backlog of enhancements.  To group enhancements by functional areas, leverage the “What’s New in Workday Report” within your tenant and if your organization uses Adoption Planning, tie these features to your Adoption dashboard.  With numerous enhancements in each release, it is important to review with your team and update your roadmap so you can adopt the best practices and integrate the most relevant improvements.

Plan Your Testing

How you test and what you test will be unique to your organization. A smaller organization may need to do things much differently than a large, highly regulated industry. 

Consider the resources and SME’s that can support the broader testing effort in the limited timeframe available to regression test. Make sure you assign responsibilities to different team members aligned with their roles and processes. Keep in mind, it can be done very effectively with lean teams.  

As many recognize, there is the “power of one” Workday Customer Community, and the broader testing efforts that organizations are going through. However, one question I’ve posed for years is: What critical function—whether a business process, integration, Extend app, or dashboard—that are mission critical and can’t wait for a Workday fix in a weekly patch?  Identifying these priorities helps focus your testing efforts based on your organization’s specific needs. For example, the Hire BP often falls into the can’t-live-without category, whereas something like the Edit License BP may not be as critical for your organization.  

Key Steps: 

• Run and review the critical integrations or custom reports before any transactions are entered to support data validations or output formats.   

• Complete regression testing on the critical and high priority impact areas cross functionality using “day in the life” scenarios to manage a workflow end-to-end.   

• When feasible line up these regression tests with the automatically available features.  Otherwise, ensure that you review the automatically available features from an end-user experience and change impact, along with the underlying configuration that may be impacted.   

• Review the exception audits recommended by Workday.  Note: It is also helpful to review the audits on a routine basis.  Please see the following Workday community post: Concept: Exception Audit Reports  
• Keep track of the change impacts.   

Communicate with Stakeholders

Communication and change management will be essential in this next phase. To ensure a smooth Workday 2025 Release 1 and help your business thrive, it is important to keep everyone on your team informed of what is headed their way.  

Key Steps: 

• Keep department leaders and key users informed about the upcoming changes and schedule.  Certain organizations may need to pre-plan an extended lock-out period for other enhancements or data validation to support the Release.      

• Be prepared to share a high-level overview of how the release will impact day-to-day operations. This way, team members can prepare their schedule in advance and allow time to integrate the new processes, learn them, and try out new application processes.  

Update Training Materials

Before finalizing your testing plan, update and confirm your documentation. Supporting your team and fostering curiosity will enhance their understanding and streamline everyone's professional growth. 

Key Steps: 

• Update your internal documentation and training guides to reflect the changes in Workday 2025 R1. By keeping information current, you’ll ensure a smooth transition, and it is also a period to revalidate current design. Many times, I have seen organizations designate a “release bug” only to uncover that the current design is not aligned to their expectations.  Preparing on your side will create a seamless transition for everyone involved.  

•  If there is a significant change impact, schedule training sessions, office hours, or leverage other communication strategies for HR, finance, IT, and other impacted teams. Address any questions or concerns as they adjust to the new Release.   

• Make most of the certified resources already available to you, ensuring your team benefits from expert-backed learning and training.   

Go-Live Preparation

Now that you have read the steps to prepare for the Workday 2025 R1, it is time to complete your plan.  

Key Steps: 

• If you plan to validate your production tenant and/or configure critical feature sets before releasing it to your organization, lock your production tenant. It is also important to re-run the exception audits during this time. Once validation has occurred, do not forget to unlock the tenant.    

• Prepare and manage your post-go-live support plan to address questions and issues. Supporting your team during this phase is crucial to ensuring a successful transition and continued success. 

• Designate a team to monitor the rollout during the first few weeks, focusing on any new automatically available or deployed features to ensure a smooth transition.

Post-Release Support

After Workday 2025 R1 is rolled out, it is important to continually refine your processes. This includes gathering feedback from your team and staying informed about future updates.

Key Steps: 

• Continue to deliver on your adoption roadmap features. Your enhancement backlog should include all the optional features that weren’t deployed. Now is the time to continue your rolling adoption of new features!   

• Quickly resolve any issues or report any bugs.    

• Assess the impact of the update as timely as possible. Use this feedback to discuss what worked well and what could be improved as you plan for Workday 2025 R2. 

Engage a Certified Workday Partner 

By following these steps, your organization will be well-prepared to maximize the benefits of Workday Release 2025 R1 while minimizing disruption to operations. Effective planning, clear communication, and thorough training are key components for ensuring a smooth and successful transition.  

To further improve your Workday experience, consider engaging a certified Workday partner like The Groove. As experts in Workday deployment, optimization, and system integrations, we offer tailored solutions to help you get the most out of your Workday platform.  

The Groove can help you in a variety of ways: 

• Workday Deployment: From initial planning to configuration and testing, we’ll guide you through the entire deployment process, ensuring that Workday is customized to meet your business requirements.  

• Optimization: After deployment, we will work with you to continuously improve and refine your Workday environment, maximizing efficiency and streamlining processes.  

• Change Management & Training: To ensure smooth adoption, The Groove provides training and support, equipping your team to navigate Workday confidently and aligning your workforce with new system processes.  

• System Integrations: We specialize in integrating Workday with your other systems, ensuring seamless data flow between platforms like payroll, HR, and finance.  

• Ongoing Support: After go-live, The Groove offers ongoing support to resolve any issues, aid with updates, and help you make the most of Workday’s evolving features.  

By partnering with a certified expert like The Groove, you will ensure a seamless transition to Workday 2025 R1 and refine your platform for long-term success. Contact us to learn how we can support your Workday Release.