The Goal
As Workday Rising attendance grew over the years, reaching 18,000 in-person attendees, Workday’s event technology team realized there were no longer enough hours in the day to complete all that they needed to do for a successful event. The team identified three time-consuming tasks that could benefit the most from new processes: managing outdated spreadsheets, adding new data from Slack and Google Forms to RainFocus, and manually updating records. Workday turned to RainFocus to automate these tasks, with a related goal of pushing data ownership back to their stakeholders. The three tasks were served by a combination of two scalable, efficient solutions.
Solution No. 1: Live Tables
Implementing RainFocus’ dynamic Live Tables saved the Workday team significant time. For example, instead of sorting through thousands of sales email nominations for discounted or complimentary passes, the team used a single RainFocus form and Live Table that allowed sales reps to see each nomination’s live status (New, Approved, or Declined). For Workday Rising, the team processed over 1,200 requests and approved more than 350 — all without requiring a single spreadsheet or email thread.
Likewise, the event technology team used Live Tables to give their on-site team the ability to edit badge attributes in real time. After the initial setup, the process required no manual imports. As a result, Workday no longer needed on-site tech support for this work, freeing the team to focus on other event duties.
Solution No. 2: Group Packages
Workday employees account for approximately 10% of Workday Rising attendees. Managing their registration requires tracking costs and distributing passes to various departments.
To make the process more efficient, the team traded spreadsheets with multiple tabs for RainFocus’ group packages. Department leads were given a set number of passes and access to a self-service portal to easily distribute passes to their teams. This approach yielded multiple benefits: The event technology team spent less time communicating with employees, while department leads gained immediate visibility into which employees had registered.
“Because all of our attendees’ information is in RainFocus, our stakeholders got a consolidated view of how all of their passes were being used across multiple events.” — Joyce Tang, Event Technology Manager, Workday
Group packages also proved useful for managing customer entitlements. Instead of needing to generate more than 1,400 individual registration codes, the team used RainFocus automation to apply group discounts to customers based on their region and preferred format. As customers registered and entered their information, the platform automatically applied the correct group package to their account for distribution within the team.
Outcomes
By automating nominations, badge changes, and attendee pass allocation through RainFocus, Workday’s event technology team saw numerous benefits, including significant reductions in email volume. In addition, stakeholders who benefited from the new processes appreciated the increased autonomy and transparency. By leveraging technology to create self-service portals and live data environments, the event team reclaimed additional strategic hours. They can now focus on scaling their event experience rather than keeping up with data entry.
“The best part was that our stakeholders loved the changes we made because they got to be hands-on.” — Joyce Tang, Event Technology Manager, Workday
