This content is courtesy of Shelley Hose, Shira Griffin, Lynn Guida, and Eugene Manalo — Solution Consultants at UKG.
What’s involved in a migration to UKG Dimensions™? What can you expect from that journey? These are big questions, and I’m sure you know there’s a lot to consider. But before you start to feel overwhelmed, let me assure you that it’s well worth the effort. In fact, the UKG Solution Consultants named at the top of this article have worked with numerous customers who have already migrated. They’ve got the secret sauce, and they’re more than willing to share what they’ve learned through their experiences. Read on for the do’s and don’ts of migrating to UKG Dimensions.
Migration prep do’s and don’ts, according to the experts
DON’T spend time thinking about replicating your current system or processes. Most data will migrate from UKG Workforce Central to UKG Dimensions, but you must think about some configurations differently. UKG Dimensions is an entirely new solution and way of conducting workforce management, so be open to new possibilities instead of duplicating the system or processes you already have in place.
DO put in the effort to determine your business requirements ahead of time and clearly define and document them. This is an important step. Don’t skip it. Review unmet requirements that you want to revisit, but do your due diligence and consider new ones as well.
DON’T bite off more than you can chew. You don’t need to make things more complicated than they are. It’s important to bear in mind other technology initiatives going on throughout your organization. Make sure your migration project aligns with them when necessary.
DO audit your environment to build a complete integration and technology strategy. Integrations, Genies, and reports will be a big part of what you might need to rethink. There are standard integrations for payroll, people, and accruals. You can create many existing reports as Dataviews in UKG Dimensions, but make sure you determine the business requirements of additional integrations. Did I mention that setting business requirements ahead of time is important?
DON’T underestimate testing. Testing is critical — especially because migrating from UKG Workforce Central to UKG Dimensions is not a lift and shift. There are significant differences between the two suites, and testing ensures that processes and configurations are working as expected. Here are some examples of what the key differences might be:
- Business structure: UKG Dimensions has a hierarchal representation of the organization. If you are currently using an organizational map, this concept is familiar to you. If you’re a labor-level customer, this will require additional conversations to make sure UKG is meeting your organizational needs.
- Attestation: In UKG Workforce Central, attestation was an additional licensing expense. Now it’s part of the core UKG Dimensions product!
- Activities: Product experts completely redesigned this feature in UKG Dimensions. It’s an intuitive process that is built into the technology and allows for changes in how employees interact with the system.
- Integrations: UKG Workforce Central relied on Workforce Integration Manager to power integrations. In UKG Dimensions, the Dell Boomi standard integration platform powers integration.
- Reporting: Rather than using SSRS or Crystal, reports in UKG Dimensions are built on a common reporting platform called BIRT.
Please keep in mind that this is not a complete list. For more differences, review the slides in this UKG Kronos Community article and check out this webinar. If you’re a large organization with tens of thousands of employees, you might consider seeking help from our experienced testing resources.
DO ensure that everyone who must be involved in migration efforts can dedicate the required time and effort to the project. Think about typical blackout or out-of-office dates that might impact your project deadlines and plan around them. You do not want to be dependent upon dates that are not convenient or that conflict with key stakeholders’ schedules.
And speaking of planning …
DON’T train end-users and managers too early. Training ahead of time might seem like the best approach, but doing so too early is a risk. Most people are apt to forget what they’ve learned if they can’t practice promptly. While you shouldn’t start training too early, you can focus on crafting and planning your training strategy. That way, you’ll be ready to roll out training to end-users and managers when the time is right.
DO dedicate time to developing a change in management communication strategy for sharing timely updates and information with your employees throughout the deployment. You might even consider starting with a pilot group to see how it goes before deploying to your entire organization. You can learn about UKG communication and training plans that support your people during change initiatives in this guide or leverage this toolkit in UKG Kronos Community to take a more self-service approach.
At this point, you might be thinking, “Okay, great. I get it. But how do I know if my organization is ready to take these steps and initiate migration?” It’s a good question, and UKG has a tool to help you find out. Try the UKG Dimensions Solution Readiness Assessment. We designed it specifically to help you determine your overall readiness.
Learn more
- For questions or to get in touch with a UKG expert about migrations, please log in to UKG Kronos Community and post in the Workforce Central Upgrades/Migrations group.
- Please check out the Moving Forward | Understanding the Options page in UKG Kronos Community for more information about migration.
- If you previously registered for the UKG Works conference, you can view the session “Important Considerations for Migrating to UKG Dimensions” on demand in the Migrating to UKG Dimensions track. Find the link to access UKG Works on demand in the original event communications from <[email protected]?, or find it in the UKG Works group in UKG Kronos Community.