Bucolo Consulting Group
SERVICES

Your voice at the table, from SI selection through go-live and beyond.

Your system integrator brings the plan, the status reports, the RAID log, and the test scripts. My job is to make sure they're honest, complete, and acted on — and to protect your budget, timeline, and people from the day you sign with Workday to the day your team runs it on its own. I represent the sponsor — the CFO, CHRO, or COO writing the check — not the SI earning the fee.I take on a limited number of programs at a time, so the person you hire is the person who shows up.

Where most engagements start

01

SI Selection & SOW Review

You've signed with Workday. The next decision — which partner builds it, and on what terms — sets your cost, risk, and leverage for the entire program. This fixed-scope engagement ends with a partner you chose on evidence and a SOW that protects you.

What's included
  • ◆Evaluation criteria and shortlist built around your scope, complexity, and internal capacity
  • ◆Bids normalized so you compare like for like — scope, team seniority, assumptions, and what's excluded (data conversion, integrations, post-production support)
  • ◆Timeline realism tested, so the shortest proposal doesn't win just for being the shortest
  • ◆Structured scoring of SI proposals and orals — approach, staffing, references, and realism
  • ◆Pitch team = delivery team: the senior consultants you meet in orals are named in the SOW, with continuity and replacement terms
  • ◆For Workday Launch: a configured-scope inventory written into the SOW, so "fixed scope" means something you can verify
  • ◆Line-by-line SOW review: scope, assumptions, deliverables, exclusions, and change-order exposure
  • ◆Staffing commitments: delivery-team mix and onshore/offshore balance
  • ◆Testing responsibilities spelled out: who designs scenarios, who supplies test data, who executes, who triages defects, and how fast the SI must fix them
  • ◆Acceptance criteria for each phase, written into the SOW before work starts
  • ◆Payment milestones tied to accepted work, not elapsed time
  • ◆An honest read on your own readiness: internal capacity, decision-makers, data, and change readiness
  • ◆A client-side governance model ready for Plan: steering cadence, decision rights, and escalation
  • ◆A negotiation brief for your sponsor and procurement team
Right fit if…

You've signed with Workday — or are about to — and you're choosing an implementation partner, or you have a draft SOW on the table and want an independent read before you sign.

02

Client-Side Leadership Through Deployment

Once the partner is in, I sit on your side of the table through Plan, Architect & Configure, Test, and Deploy — holding the SI to the SOW, the plan, and the evidence.

What's included
  • ◆Sponsor-facing governance, decision rights, and steering committee cadence
  • ◆An independent status read alongside the SI's — what's actually green, and what isn't
  • ◆Review of SI plans and deliverables against the SOW; gaps escalated, not absorbed
  • ◆Contracted scope verified as actually configured in the tenant — especially on fixed-scope Workday Launch deployments
  • ◆Change-order challenge and scope control
  • ◆Client-side ownership of risks, decisions, and dependencies
  • ◆Test evidence, go/no-go gates, cutover, and payroll-parallel readiness
  • ◆Hands-on coverage only where the SI isn't delivering what was contracted

Two levels of coverage

  • Advisory — Your independent voice at the moments that matter: sponsor briefings, steering committee preparation and attendance, an independent status read before each steering committee, and phase-gate reviews.
  • Core — Everything in Advisory, plus weekly oversight of the SI: plan and deliverable review against the SOW, change-order challenge, client-side risk and decision ownership, and a weekly test health read during Test.
Right fit if…

You're launching Workday and want a senior voice representing you in every room the integrator is in — not another consultant on the integrator's payroll.

03

TRACE Program Health Check

An independent, evidence-based read on a Workday program that's already underway — before small problems become a rescue. Fixed scope, a few weeks, and a clear answer on where your program actually stands.

What's included
  • ◆A health check across all five pillars of the TRACE Method™, from the sponsor's side of the table
  • ◆Your SI's status, plan, RAID log, and deliverables checked against the SOW and actual progress
  • ◆Scope verification: what was contracted versus what is actually configured in the tenant — including every in-scope item on a Workday Launch deployment
  • ◆Test approach review: are you testing your real exceptions — union and overtime rules, retro pay, mid-period changes — or only clean transactions?
  • ◆A red/amber/green verdict for each pillar, with the evidence behind it
  • ◆Prioritized recommendations with owners — what to fix now, next, and later
  • ◆An executive readout to your sponsor and steering committee
Right fit if…

You're in Architect & Configure or Test, the SI's status says green, and something still doesn't feel right — or you want independent confirmation before the next phase gate.

04

Test & Go-Live Assurance

Most Workday SOWs make testing the client's job — and leave the client to figure out how. Your team ends up writing scripts, finding test data, and triaging defects on top of their day jobs, and the gaps surface on the first payroll. This fixed-scope engagement covers Test through Deploy. I don't run your test cycles or manage your testers. I make sure your team is set up to test the right things, that the SI holds up its end, and that the go/no-go decision is made on evidence, not on the calendar.

What's included

Test

  • ◆Testing responsibilities clarified between your team and the SI, against what the SOW actually says
  • ◆Test strategy and plan review: scope, cycles, environments, data, and entry and exit criteria
  • ◆A scenario framework built around your real exceptions — complex pay rules, overtime, retro, terminations, benefits, and integrations — not just clean transactions
  • ◆Tester readiness: who tests what, how much time it takes, and what they need before the cycle starts
  • ◆Defect triage rules and fix-turnaround expectations agreed with the SI
  • ◆A weekly test health read, and an evidence-based exit recommendation at each test gate

Deploy

  • ◆Go/no-go criteria agreed with your sponsor and the SI before the gate, not at it
  • ◆Payroll parallel results reviewed, variances explained to the penny or accepted in writing, and sign-off evidence confirmed
  • ◆Contracted scope confirmed as configured and tested before go-live, not deferred quietly to "phase two"
  • ◆Cutover plan, rehearsal, and data conversion validation pressure-tested
  • ◆A written go/no-go recommendation to your sponsor and steering committee
  • ◆Post-production support and SI exit criteria defined before go-live
Right fit if…

You're heading into Test with a SOW that says "customer-led testing," a team that has never tested an ERP, and a go-live date that isn't moving — or your go-live is approaching and you want an independent, evidence-based recommendation before you commit.

05

Program Rescue / Turnaround

Brought into a live program to reset scope, timeline, and confidence — and get to a go-live your people will actually use.

What's included
  • ◆Rapid health read from the sponsor's point of view: scope, schedule, budget, staffing, and risk
  • ◆SOW and change-order review to establish what was promised versus what's being delivered
  • ◆A recovery plan the executive team can defend, negotiated with the SI
  • ◆Direct executive communication and expectation reset with the partner
  • ◆Test-cycle recovery, cutover readiness, and post-production stabilization
  • ◆A clean handoff to your internal team
Right fit if…

Your Workday program is off track — budget slipping, scope in dispute, the executive team losing confidence — and you need someone with the credibility to reset it from your side of the table.

06

M&A Workday Advisory

A focused, fixed-scope engagement for acquirers on Workday. I help you make the early Workday decisions in a deal well — I don't run the integration.

What's included
  • ◆A Workday-focused due diligence read on the target's HR, payroll, and systems landscape
  • ◆A tenant strategy recommendation: absorb, keep separate for now, or migrate later — and what each option costs in time and risk
  • ◆A Day-1 HR and payroll readiness checklist, so employees are paid correctly and accounted for on Day 1
  • ◆A sequencing recommendation for the integration work that follows, ready to scope with your SI
Right fit if…

You've signed — or are about to sign — a deal and need an independent view on how the target's people and payroll land in your Workday tenant. If you need client-side oversight of the integration itself, that runs as Client-Side Leadership.

How engagements work

01

Discovery call

A 30-minute conversation about your Workday contract, timeline, partner status, and where the pressure is.

02

Written read

A concise, written view of the situation, risks, and recommended engagement shape.

03

Defined scope

A fixed-scope or retainer proposal with clear deliverables and governance. No open-ended hourly billing.

04

Delivery & handoff

Steady weekly cadence through go-live and post-production support, then a clean handoff to your internal team.

START WITH A DISCOVERY CALL