Client-side delivery assurance so nothing in your Workday program is untraceable.
TRACE is the standard I hold your Workday program — and your SI — to. Your partner brings the plan, the status reports, and the test evidence. TRACE is how I verify them on your behalf, so leaders know the true status, the right people own the right decisions, and problems surface while they're still cheap to fix. Most programs I assess are missing two of the five.
"TRACE keeps every Workday implementation Traceable — so leaders always know the true status, the right people are in the room, and problems surface while they're still cheap to fix."
T · R · A · C · E
An independent read of status. I check the SI's status reports, RAID log, and dashboards against what's actually happening, so leaders see real health — not a slide.
Clear accountability on both sides of the table. Client decision owners are named and engaged; the SI's senior staff named in the SOW stay on the program.
The SOW, the plan, and reality stay in agreement. Scope changes run through change control before work starts, and the plan is checked against progress — not just updated.
Sponsor briefings that bring issues and options early, in business terms, with a recommendation attached.
Nothing is accepted on assertion. Deliverables, test results, and go-live readiness are accepted against criteria agreed in advance.
TRACE across your Workday deployment
Workday programs follow four phases: Plan, Architect & Configure, Test, and Deploy. Your SI runs them. I make sure each one closes on evidence, on your terms.
Before Plan: Partner Selection
Evaluation criteria, proposal scoring, and SOW review — acceptance criteria, named staff, and milestone payments written in before you sign.
Plan
Project startup on your terms: client-side governance, decision rights, and escalation set; the SI's project plan validated against the SOW; and your internal team staffed and ready for foundation data model sessions and the foundation tenant.
Architect & Configure
Design decisions owned by the client, documented, and signed off in alignment and confirmation sessions. Contracted scope verified as actually configured — not partially built or quietly deferred. Build and unit test progress verified against the plan, data conversion and integration scope held to the SOW, and design changes routed through change control — not absorbed quietly.
Test
End-to-end, regression, and payroll parallel testing tracked against evidence and exit criteria agreed in advance — with your real exceptions tested, not just clean transactions. User readiness reviewed and the cutover plan pressure-tested before anyone commits to a date.
Deploy
Go/no-go gates with criteria set before the gate. Gold tenant, final data conversion, and go-live validated; post-production support stabilized; and SI exit criteria met before a clean handoff to your internal team or support partner.
Across every phase
Governance, project management, knowledge transfer, and production preparedness — held to standard from your side of the table.
Score your program in two minutes.
For each pillar, check the statements that apply to your current program. Your score out of 15 places you in one of three bands. Honest answers only — this is the same diagnostic I walk clients through on discovery calls.
Flying blind. High probability of slip, overrun, or poor adoption.
The TRACE Method™ is grounded in real Workday delivery from every seat — reporting lead, testing lead, engagement manager, and project manager. It turns that experience into a client-side standard: honest status, clear ownership, scope held to the SOW, early escalation, and acceptance on evidence.