Gap 01
Nobody owns the outcome.
The SI owns delivery. The PMO owns coordination. The sponsor owns the budget. Nobody owns the business case itself. When the outcome slips, every party can point somewhere else and be factually correct.
Service:COMPaaS
Model:Fractional leadership
From:£6K / month
Term:2 to 18 months
Strategic programme accountabilityFixed-fee · Fractional
COMPaaS
Consulting Oversight & Managed Programmes-as-a-Service
Every party accountable. For the same outcome.
What COMPaaS does
COMPaaS (Consulting Oversight & Managed Programmes-as-a-Service) is the accountability function your Workday programme is missing. Not a PMO. Not staff augmentation. Not another advisor. A senior, independent programme lead who makes every party accountable for the commitments in your business case: the SI, the sponsor, the PMO, the business teams, and ourselves.
Fixed fee. Written commitments. Documented decisions. When the programme outcome is at risk, someone in the room has to own that. COMPaaS is that someone.
Real Scenario
Scenario: Your SI says testing is "on track" but recommends a 3-month go-live delay. Your sponsor asks: is this really necessary? Without independent oversight, you have no way to verify. The delay costs £100K–£150K. Was it real, or scope mismanagement? COMPaaS gives you the answer before you make the call.
The difference
COMPaaS vs. traditional Workday consulting.
| Element | Traditional Approach | 360 HCM COMPaaS |
|---|---|---|
| Status reporting | SI self-reports, client accepts at face value | Independent validation of deliverables and progress |
| Scope management | Scope creep discovered late, formalised as change orders | Proactive boundary enforcement, weekly scope reviews |
| Issue escalation | Issues escalate slowly through layers, sponsor learns late | Direct executive communication, real-time escalation |
| Change orders | Reviewed after work has started or been committed | Independent review before approval, often negotiated down |
| Testing oversight | Client trusts SI's 80% complete reports | Verify defect counts, test coverage, actual vs reported |
| Go-live decision | Based on SI recommendation and checklist | Based on objective criteria and independent readiness validation |
| Accountability | Unclear ownership, diffused responsibility | Clear RACI, named decision owners, enforced |
02
The problem: four accountability gaps
The failures look technical. They are structural.
Workday programmes fail in four recurring patterns. Every one of them is a failure of accountability, not a failure of technology. The SI is not the only party at fault. Nor is the sponsor. Nor the PMO. No single party owns the outcome, so the outcome slips.
Gap 02
Commitments drift without record.
Verbal commitments in steering. Assumptions baked into the SOW. Changes agreed in side conversations. None of it is documented in a form that can be enforced later. When the commitment is missed, the argument is about what was agreed.
Gap 03
Governance meets. Nothing binds.
Steering happens. Minutes are taken. The SI carries on at the previous pace because the minutes do not compel action. A governance forum that cannot enforce its own decisions is one the delivery team learns to work around.
Gap 04
Client-side slips go unchallenged.
The SI is easy to make accountable because they have a contract. Client-side delays are harder. Testing participation, data sign-off, business readiness. These drift because nobody on the programme has the standing to tell the sponsor or business leads that their own teams are the bottleneck.
The accountability gap
£100K – £150K
Indicative cost of a single three-month slip on a mid-size Workday programme when no independent party is accountable for the outcome.
Based on programme experience across UK mid-market organisations
- SI extensions accepted without independent challenge
- Change orders approved under time pressure
- Client-side delays absorbed into the timeline
- Business case benefits deferred, board confidence eroded
Accountability installed
£6 to 20K / mo
Fractional programme leadership. Fixed fee. One party whose only job is to hold every other party to the outcome.
- Every commitment documented and tracked to closure
- SI status challenged against evidence, weekly
- Sponsor decisions made in the room, on the record
- Client-side delays named and escalated in real time
What you also get
Our proprietary testing platform.
COMPaaS engagements run on our purpose-built Workday testing platform. Cycle management, deferral register, audit pack, AI-assisted defect capture. Built for the detail Workday testing requires.
Read about the platform →Want to see how exposed your programme is first?Take the Programme Risk Scorecard →
→ Next step
Where is the accountability gap on your programme?
Thirty minutes with a senior practitioner. You describe the programme; we identify which accountability gaps are costing you and what to do about them. You leave with a written summary, whether or not you engage COMPaaS.
Book a Risk Review→