A modern Workday foundation to support 8,000 city employees

As one of the fastest-growing US cities, Charlotte, North Carolina is constantly adapting how it serves nearly 900,000 residents. With more than 8,000 employees supporting everything from transportation and utilities to public safety and community programs, the city relies on integrated systems to keep operations running smoothly.

To meet that demand, Charlotte launched the largest technology modernization initiative in its history: replacing decades-old, highly customized HR and financial systems with Workday. The goal was ambitious: modernize core systems, reduce complexity, improve data visibility, and build a stronger foundation for future innovation.

However, midway through implementation, the program faced serious challenges. Critical integrations fell behind, organizational readiness varied across departments, and confidence started to slip. With vendor payments and essential city services at stake, Charlotte needed a trusted partner who could restore momentum and operational control to bring the program back on track—without losing sight of the people being impacted.

That’s when the city turned to Slalom.

With deep Workday expertise and a strong understanding of the public sector, our team embedded with Charlotte’s IT, finance, and HR groups—working side by side to move the program forward.

What initially appeared to be approximately 50 ready-to-build interfaces revealed deeper issues: incomplete design documentation, unclear business requirements, unsigned approvals, and overlooked dependencies with external partners, like banks and payment processors.

Instead of jumping straight into the build, we first conducted a deeper assessment of the state of each in-progress integration to be as certain as possible that there wouldn’t be surprises down the line. The team:

• Rebuilt and standardized integration design documentation
• Facilitated working sessions with business, financial, and technical stakeholders to clarify requirements
• Implemented clear approval and governance processes before the build and test phases
• Prioritized mission-critical integrations tied to vendor payments and financial continuity
• Partnered with external vendors and financial institutions to validate data flows and payment processing

By combining rigorous documentation with close collaboration, Slalom designed, built, and tested more than 60 Workday integrations—many of them complex, high-risk interfaces critical to daily city operations.

The result was a streamlined integration workstream that restored leadership confidence and established a reliable foundation for Workday Financials—delivering clearer data, reduced risk, and improved scalability.

Charlotte’s workforce includes office-based teams as well as field employees in utilities, transportation, and public safety—many without regular access to email, laptops, or a city-issued device. A one-size-fits-all approach to training would leave some teams without the vital information they needed. With just a few weeks to prepare employees ahead of the launch, we built a role-based learning strategy designed to adapt as the program evolved and timelines shifted.

Our approach included:

• Developing 11 interactive Workday training courses, supported by quick-reference job aids and short instructional videos
• Tailoring training by role, so employees only received content relevant to their day-to-day responsibilities
• Offering multiple learning formats, including digital, self-guided, and in-person options, to accommodate different work environments

This flexible yet focused approach to what employees truly needed to do their jobs helped the city build confidence heading into go live.

While technical delivery was critical, the greatest risk to success was human. Employees were navigating change fatigue, uncertainty, and concern-often without clear answers about timing, impact, or what came next.

Slalom worked with city leaders to deliver an empathetic, transparent change approach focused on honest engagement and keeping people informed—despite limited time and evolving answers.

Together we:

• Established a “Rock Stars” network—trusted employees embedded within departments who helped cascade information to frontline and field teams
• Hosted listening sessions and leadership touchpoints to surface concerns and reduce uncertainty
• Supported teams with FAQs, rapid-response support, and a war-room model to address issues in real time

By also introducing highly visible, morale-boosting moments—from pop-up events to (yes) puppies and massage chairs—leadership brought care and presence to the process. As the program expanded, the change and communications strategy scaled to include vendors, who received support on the new Workday invoicing and payment processes, which ultimately minimized disruption beyond the teams in Charlotte.