State of Oklahoma nears launch of largest digital transformation project in state history

The State of Oklahoma is launching Workday@OK, a cloud-based human capital management system, to its over 32,000-employee workforce on Aug. 15. It’s the result of a two-year modernization project to replace outdated technologies and unify state human resources for the first time.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services, home of the state’s central HR team, has worked with 118 other state agencies, boards and commissions since the project began in fall 2020 to make sure the new HCM system meets the needs of all state employees.

“The implementation of Workday@OK has become the largest digital transformation project in state history, affecting every state employee,” said Liz Brandon, OMES director of Workday Operations. “It has resulted in an unprecedented collaboration among all state agencies, state HR staff and state leaders to harmonize and streamline the way we serve our employees.”

Previously, many state agencies maintained their own HCM processes that varied from agency to agency. Updating personal information like marriage status and beneficiaries required manual assistance from HR staff and often involved inefficient paper processes. Additionally, state workers had to visit separate platforms with separate logins for common administrative tasks like time tracking, performance management and learning, none of which were mobile responsive.

Workday@OK will harmonize HCM functions for all agencies, empower employees to manage their own information and merge administrative functions within a single mobile-friendly system.

“Never before have we been able to conduct recruitment, benefits, performance and talent management, learning, payroll and other human resources related activities from one consolidated platform,” said Jamie Bush, interim Oklahoma chief HR officer. “With Workday@OK, employees will gain greater access to their own employee information and self-service functionality than they have ever had before, delivered with far superior convenience, including a mobile application.”

Workday@OK will offer many improvements to the state employee experience. However, Bush said it will also provide state leadership deeper visibility into workforce data. In line with the annual state employee engagement survey, the new system is slated to be a crucial resource for identifying trends and developing informed strategies for employee engagement, retention and career development.

Because Workday@OK is based in the cloud, it will receive regular updates and gradually evolve as the state identifies new needs and capabilities.

“Workday@OK is a system that will continue to grow and mature, rather than slowly become obsolete,” Brandon said. “The opportunities for modernization, innovation and collaboration will only grow as we move into a new era of state HR.”

For more information about Workday@OK, visit the project website. If you have any questions, please email brightpath@omes.ok.gov.