Nasdaq is a global technology company that is relentlessly re-imagining the markets of today. Not by chasing the possibilities of tomorrow. But by creating them.
Committed to serving millions of investors and thousands of companies worldwide, Nasdaq leaders wanted to customise and automate how they manage their financial operations for smarter and faster results.
“Innovation is in our DNA,” says Jim Judge, Nasdaq’s Financials Manager. “As we grow, we’re always asking how we can improve our digital capabilities in areas such as finance to innovate and drive automation with the best tools available.”
Significant cost savings
Nasdaq leaders believed they found the answer to that question with Workday Extend, which enables users to develop, deploy and manage apps for finance, IT and human resources teams. Part of that decision was based on the successful results Nasdaq leaders had already seen using Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management.
Nasdaq followed Workday best practices to develop its initial Workday Extend apps in the cost centre and account operations to build a master data management (MDM) system. The apps mean finance users can stay within a centralised Workday system that serves as a single source of truth. They can now clearly see tasks without having to look further into the actual requests.
Users can also ask for new master data or make updates with intuitive drop-down menus. Those menus load the correct data, eliminating guesswork for potentially complex interactions. Once the requests are submitted, they undergo an approval process. Any recommended changes do not go into effect until they’re approved.
Create New Request – Requesting a New Organisation Level
Requesting an Organisational move
Move Organisation Level Request – collecting the details for the move organisation request
Requesting a change in properties for a specific Cost Centre
Changing the approver for mass changes
Create New Request – Requesting a New Organisation Level
Requesting an Organisational move
Move Organisation Level Request – collecting the details for the move organisation request
Requesting a change in properties for a specific Cost Centre
Changing the approver for mass changes
Cost Centre App – Designed for finance users to manage cost centre operational data while minimising errors and guesswork. Workday acts as the single source of truth and auditability.
Jim Judge says the ease of deployment and adaptability of Workday Extend allowed Nasdaq to retire a legacy application and realise savings.
Workday Extend enabled us to retire our legacy application, which reduced our infrastructure cost. We can manage our finances more efficiently – all within our unified Workday system.
Senior ERP Director, Financials
An uptick in productivity
A feature within Workday Extend, Workday Orchestrate, has an intuitive drag-and-drop user interface that helps manage complex workflows, automate processes, and interoperate between Workday and third-party systems. This allows employees to seamlessly send data to Nasdaq’s external systems, which serve as a repository of master data management.
Nasdaq’s team has gotten so proficient at using Workday Extend that its technical experts were able to build 7 apps in only 9 months. “That’s a lot of apps in a short time,” Judge says.
Dennis Darilag, ERP Director, Finance at Nasdaq, says Workday Extend has streamlined business functions, leading to higher user satisfaction.
Full audit capabilities
Audits and financial reporting are time-consuming. The new Workday Extend apps enable Nasdaq to centralise and simplify audit evidence collection for the impacted business processes to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requirements. SOX requires publicly traded companies doing business in the US to establish financial reporting standards.
“Our users value the ease in submitting change requests with the Workday Extend Cost Centre app,” Judge says. “And because those changes are fully audited, this helps streamline our compliance with SOX.”
As part of Workday Extend, an approval process provides full audit capabilities of those who requested metadata, including what they requested and when, and who approved it.
Data changes are also audited in real time, making it easier for Nasdaq to maintain governance requirements. The same login and security controls apply to the new apps Nasdaq builds, which keep sensitive data safe and pristine.
Workday Extend is a powerful tool. It enhances the user experience and streamlines business processes that improve productivity.Senior ERP Director, Financials
Bullish on growth and innovation
Nasdaq also plans to keep expanding the number of apps it’s creating with Workday Extend. The next phase includes the creation of additional apps in areas of HCM.
“Our HR team is also evaluating Workday Extend for different needs. We’re looking at disparate applications throughout the company and different microservices to see if they are a good fit for the Workday system,” says Judge. “If we’re using Workday anyway, why not have those processes in there?”
Judge believes there’s untapped potential in moving faster, saving additional revenue and building new capabilities, which lets Nasdaq stay nimble. “We’re bullish on what we can accomplish with Workday Extend.”
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