From PeopleTools to Cape Clear to Workday®

I was introduced to Workday® very early on. Workday version-1 believe it or not. I was with MiPro consulting, one of the first ten Workday partners and customers back in Dec 2006. I'll never forget getting a tour of the Walnut Creek office and meeting both Dave Duffield and his son Mike. Actually, I knew Dave from when I was at PeopleSoft®. Back in 2000 when XML and SOAP were relatively new, PeopleSoft introduced Integration Broker and the ability to send XML SOAP messages. For those of you who remember those early years of PeopleSoft, I was the product manager who added generating SOAP requests to PeopleTools. Here we are over a decade later and XML and SOAP play an important role for Workday integrations. Before I went through one of the first Workday integration courses, I actually went to Cape Clear training, because it was recommended for partners at the time. This was before Workday acquired Cape Clear and turned it into the "Workday Studio" integration tool. I've enjoyed watching Workday grow, and watching the evolution of the technical side of Workday. My passion today goes beyond the nitty gritty of XML and Workday Studio integrations. Early Workday customers were very small and didn't have IT or HRIS departments. It was a lot of fun to work directly with line managers to understand their business needs and concerns, and translate their stories into technical requirements. In addition to working with customers, what I like about Workday is there is practically unlimited learning opportunities. I particularly enjoy turning what I learn into tips and tricks for others so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Look for future blogs from me related to integrations, calculated fields and reporting tips, how to bridge the gap between the functional and technical aspects of Workday, and of course how today is different from the early days!