After the first few pay periods, your UKG Pro Workforce Management environment should be moving towards business as usual (BAU). There will always be things to improve, but the focus should gradually shift from keeping the system running to optimising it.
So, how do you know if that shift hasn’t happened yet?
Here’s what I look for when assessing whether a platform is still stuck in go-live mode:
1. You’re still hand-holding users
If employees and managers still need regular help completing everyday tasks, something needs attention.
It might be training. It might be communication, change management or user adoption. It could also be the configuration itself.
Whatever the cause, months after go-live, your team shouldn’t still be operating as though everyone is using the system for the first time.
2. The same support questions keep coming back
“How do I do this?”
“Why can’t I access this?”
“Why has this happened?”
A high volume of repeated support calls tells you there is friction somewhere. Rather than continually answering the same questions, look at what is causing them.
3. Managers are spending hours administering UKG
Managers should be managing people and the business, not spending hours every week clearing unnecessary exceptions.
I’ve seen situations where managers were spending a couple of hours each week dealing with exceptions. If 90% of those can safely be automated, why are we asking managers to clear them manually?
The goal should be simple: get in, do the job and get out.
4. Errors are still reaching payroll
Payroll errors are another major warning sign.
Employees should have visibility into their timecards, balances and information early enough to identify issues before they reach payroll. If errors continually require retrospective fixes, something upstream needs to be addressed.
5. You’re still fixing instead of improving
Once UKG Pro WFM is operating effectively, the conversation should start changing. Instead of constantly asking, “What’s broken?”, you should be asking, “What could we do better?”
That means looking at the data, identifying patterns, reducing administration, improving adoption and finding opportunities to optimise.
Go-live is only the beginning
I often think of go-live as getting around 80% of the way there. The remaining value comes from what you learn once people are actually using the system.
That’s also where AMS should move beyond break-fix support. It should help identify recurring issues, recommend enhancements and continually improve how the platform supports the business.
If you recognise these challenges in your own organisation, you may have gone live technically. But you might not have left go-live mode yet.
Request a complimentary UKG Health Check and find out where your platform could be working harder for you.