Workday offers several training options to help customers maximize their return on investment and successfully deploy and utilize their Workday solutions. However, in our experience, many organizations fail to request and negotiate those training solutions at the time of their Workday software purchase and therefore, miss out on savings opportunities.
In other cases, some organizations are presented with multiple training options by Workday but are unable to identify the training solutions they should purchase. Below are the various training options that exist, which are the most popular among Workday customers, and what specifically can be negotiated.
What are Workday’s Training Options?
Workday lists the various types of training offerings and learning delivery options they have in a public datasheet. The table below lists the available options as of October 2021.
Training Options | Description |
| Learn In-Person | This traditional instructor-led in-classroom training prepares students to meet their job requirements. It combines lectures, social learning, product demonstrations, and hands-on activities. |
| Learn Remote | Learn Remote offers instructor-led training delivered online. In-person and remote students are combined into a single class, providing the same real-time collaboration, instructor interaction, and learning benefits for both groups. There is no travel needed, which saves you time and money. |
| Learn Virtual | Our virtual classroom offers the advantages of live instructors without the expense and time associated with travel. Students connect to our training environment and participate remotely, complete hands-on activities, and interact with instructors and other students. |
| Learn Independent | Workday offers customers training flexibility with Learn Independent. Students can learn online from anywhere, anytime, and at their own pace with a combination of videos, interactive activities, job aids, and quizzes. Start times begin when it is most convenient for students, and they will retain access to course material indefinitely as long as their Learning Center account remains active. |
| Learn On-Demand | Students complete short, topic-specific videos and job aids at their own pace with Learn On-Demand. This training supplements instructor-led offerings and provides students with immediate access to specific course content in real time. This content often serves as refresher material on specific topics learned in instructor-led courses. |
| Adoption Kit | The Adoption Kit helps accelerate the development of end-user training and use of self-service features and functionality, ultimately contributing to a successful Workday rollout. It includes a combination of videos and job aids for common employee and manager self-service tasks, as well as graphic assets, facilitation guides, and marketing materials. Training teams can use these materials as-is or customize content to meet unique organizational needs. |
| Workday Touchpoints Kit | The Workday Touchpoints Kit is a collection of diagrams, heat maps, and organizational details that illustrate the connection points across all product areas within the Workday suite. These tools can be used by customers and consultants alike, with the end goal of maximizing the Workday application. |
| Workday Pro | Workday Pro is the highest level of customer accreditation. It is designed for individuals who want to acquire deep expertise in Workday. This program trains Workday Pros to deliver a similar level of value as an external Workday-certified consultant. This accreditation program consists of a number of tracks, each with relevant courses, plus an online test. Accredited Workday Pros receive membership in the private Community group, full access to the Workday Touchpoints Kit, and update training with each new Workday release—all for no additional cost. |
Source: Workday.com; Workday Education and Training Datasheet
The first thing you should do when purchasing software is request the complete and most up-to-date Workday Education Training Catalog for more granular information on the options available at the time of your purchase. This will include a list of the modules and specific lessons available within each of the training options listed above along with other related information such as the covered topics, the audience they are intended for, and the prerequisites for the training.
Who Can Learn with These Trainings?
In general, the target audience of Workday’s training solutions are everyone within your organization from the executives to the system administration. This includes the security staff, managers, and any employees who will be using Workday. Each training will typically be targeted to specific subsets of employees which will be listed in the Education Training Catalog.
Which Workday Trainings Are the Most Popular?
With such a large training course library, it might be difficult to decide which training options are best suited for your organization, so considering what other organizations have purchased can be helpful. In our experience, most organizations purchase the following training options:
- Adoption Kit
- Learn On-Demand
- Cross-Application Technology Library
- HCM Library
- Other SKU-specific Libraries
- Training Credits (Prepaid) to purchase courses from Workday’s Learning Management System (LMS)
The following are the most common training offerings along with their respective metric:
| SKU | Training Offering | Metric |
| TC | Training Credits (prepaid) | Per Bulk of Prepaid Credit |
| LOD | Learn On-Demand | Per 10 Initial Users |
| AK | Adoption Kit | Per Package |
Workday Training Solutions We Recommend Negotiating
Workday will likely provide an order form along with your MSA which lists training offerings, the annual rate of each, your Learning On-Demand (LOD) fees, and a quantity of training credits you will prepay for.
Not all of the training options can be negotiated but we have seen situations where Workday has been willing to provide a price reduction for Adoption Kit and Learn On-Demand based on the respective metric for each training offering (listed in table above).
However, for training credits, Workday usually provides a volume discount structure based on the number of prepaid training credits. This will likely look like the table below which shows tiered pricing for each new threshold of credits:
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| Prepaid Training Credits Acquired | Rate Per Training Credit |
| 0 – 25 | USD $ |
| 26 – 50 | USD $ |
| 51 – 75 | USD $ |
| 76 – 100 | USD $ |
| 101 – 249 | USD $ |
| 250+ | USD $ |
We recommend focusing on negotiating a lower rate per training credit on the entire volume discount structure.
When it comes to training, Workday customers also have the option to purchase courses and training from 3rd party providers or forgo training altogether. While we can’t say which is the best option for you, we do recommend considering the benefits of training your staff on the solutions. Training is an important part of understanding how to use your software and will help you receive the most value.
If you decide to opt for Workday’s own training solutions, take the time to fully review all of the training and learning delivery options to help you select the best ones for your organization. This is an important step in helping ensure that the right people within your organization will be properly trained. Once you’ve made your selection, take the extra step to understand what Workday may be willing to discount and request reduced pricing accordingly. The resulting savings can add up.
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