Guardrails Status and Documents
For a quick summary of the Guardrails completed so far, see the Overview of Workday Guardrails.
| Guardrails | Description | Status & next steps |
|---|---|---|
| Workday Integrations Guardrails | The Workday Integrations Guardrails guide decision-making about integration solutions, including how integrations are chosen and the recommended platforms on which to build them. | Status: Version 1 published, to be revised as needed |
| Workday Reporting Guardrails | The Workday Reporting Guardrails guide decision-making about information delivery solutions (such as Workday and the UW’s data warehouses) and the design of data products (such as reports) related to the University of Washington’s Workday implementation. | Status: Version 1 published, to be revised as needed |
The Workday Security Guardrails guide decision-making about security architecture, configuration, and processes related to Workday data, reporting, and integrations. | Status: Version 1 published, to be revised as needed | |
| Workday Reference, Core, and Metadata Guardrails | The Workday Reference, Core, and Metadata Guardrails guide management of key Workday data on behalf of the UW and its availability for use in other systems. | Status: Version 1 published, to be revised as needed |
| Workday Service Management Guardrails | The Workday Service Management Guardrails guide the enterprise approach to managing services, such as providing support for the UW community as we operate Workday on a common platform. | Status: Version 1 published, to be revised as needed |
Why Guardrails?
Guardrails are a type of reference architecture that help implementers maximize the architectural value of the solutions they design, based on the long-term goals and needs of the UW.
Who are Guardrails for?
Guardrails guide developers as well as end-users. They inform both groups of the best practices that we follow. They help decision makers streamline the decision making process. They also help make sure key stakeholders are involved in the decision making processes.
Where do Guardrails Come From?
Most Guardrails consist of best practices identified over time by people working at the UW -- in their own teams or as part of a project.
In some cases, the EA team or the EA Board will identify a need for a Guardrails Document, but it will still be developed collaboratively.
Templates and supporting materials are provided by the EA team, such as the Guardrails Template.
History of Workday Guardrails
- Starting in 2014 during the HRP Transformation program, Guardrails were developed to provide agile and efficient technical decision-making.
- Following go-live in 2016, management of HR/P Guardrails transferred to the Integrated Service Center (ISC).
- Starting in early 2019, the Finance Transformation program (UWFT) began adapting the HR/P Guardrails for UWFT.
- In 2019, given the decision to adopt the same Workday platform for UWFT, program leadership initiated the Workday Guardrails.
Recent Workday Guardrails Efforts
- Starting in December 2019, a small team comprised of members of UWFT program, ISC operations, and UW-IT Enterprise Architecture engaged in a quick effort to develop the first Workday Guardrail as a test case, Workday Security Guardrails.
- Sponsors reviewed the product of that effort in late January 2020, approved the approach, and requested that the Enterprise Architecture team pursue guardrails for other high priority guardrails, namely Reporting, Integration, and Data Management.
- Security Guardrails also required further input and review.
Timeline and activities to publish v1 draft guardrails
Ongoing guardrails communication, maintenance, and application
Guardrails are living documents.
Since the technologies, opportunities and restraints are always changing; Guardrails must always adapt. Part of the responsibilities of the EA team is to watch for when Guardrails need updating. The working Team and Reviewers as well as consumers might all highlight needed updates or changes. When these changes arise, EA will bring together the appropriate people to discuss and validate the change. EA will then publish the new version if there is agreement on updating the Guardrail and it will help communicate the change.
Following the initial v1 drafting work, the Workday Guardrails will be used to inform decisions about how to effectively resource workstreams and implement solutions in the UWFT program, as well as how to align efforts in the ISC.
The Enterprise Architecture (EA) team will work with the UWFT program and other partner teams to foster alignment between the guardrails and the on-the-ground implementations. The EA team will also work to coordinate changes that need to be driven back into the guardrails from project findings.
Other Workday Guardrails Candidates
The EA team will review the following candidates to identify other helpful Workday Guardrails.
- System Retirement and Data Archiving
- Records Management
- User Experience
- Data Conversion
- Service Delivery