R/AI
Rural AI Corridor
denton county · tx
Workday Skills Certification · 7-week pathway

Workday HCM fluency, funded class makeup, zero tuition floor.

Workday is the HRIS behind most municipal, ISD, and large-employer HR teams in North Texas. This pathway stitches together the best free Workday training on the internet and pairs it with named funding lanes that cover class makeup, instructor time, and credential fees for Denton County operators.

$0
Tuition floor
Free curriculum stack
5
Free providers
Community · CloudFoundation · ERP · ZaranTech · UpTalk
7 wk
Pathway length
Orientation → Capstone
6
Funding lanes
TWC · WIOA · JET · EDC · 381 · NVIDIA
HCM Core

Workday HCM is the system of record behind most municipal, healthcare, and enterprise HR departments in North Texas — fluency is a baseline workforce credential.

Admin Track

Business processes, security groups, and report writing are the skills employers actually post for — and exactly what the free curriculum stack below covers.

Corridor Fit

Pairs with the Google Project Management and Data Analytics certs to produce a deployable People-Ops operator for EDC, ISDs, and Wistron-tier hires.

Free curriculum stack

Five providers · stitched into one operator pathway

None of these alone is a credential. Stitched together they are the most complete free Workday HCM on-ramp available — and MCMS sequences them so operators don't waste hours guessing what to watch next.

FREE
Workday Community Portal — Workday in Action
Video library (customer/partner access)
10–20 hrs
visit provider ↗
Covers

Native Workday video walkthroughs — UI, navigation, common HCM transactions.

MCMS notes

Operators register through a partner/customer sponsor (MCMS will broker access via Denton County and ISD partners).

FREE
CloudFoundation — Workday HCM Intro
Self-paced course
~8 hrs
visit provider ↗
Covers

Core HR, business processes, organizational structures, system navigation, supervisory orgs.

MCMS notes

Solid first stop for total beginners; no Workday tenant required.

FREE
ERP Cloud Training — Workday HCM Foundations
Recorded video modules
~16 hrs
visit provider ↗
Covers

Foundational instruction for beginners and prospective administrators — staffing, compensation, security basics.

MCMS notes

Best fit for the future-admin lane; pairs well with the CloudFoundation intro.

FREE TIER
ZaranTech — Workday Foundation Walkthroughs
Live demos · YouTube · intro classes
6–10 hrs
visit provider ↗
Covers

Foundation-level walkthroughs, role demos, Q&A with practicing consultants.

MCMS notes

Use for live exposure to consultant-style delivery and Q&A.

FREE
UpTalk — Intro Class Videos
YouTube intro classes
4–8 hrs
visit provider ↗
Covers

Hands-on tenant walkthroughs, business process basics, report writer intros.

MCMS notes

Bite-sized supplement — strong for visual learners.

7-week sequenced pathway

Five modules · stackable artifacts · operator portfolio

Each module pulls from the right free source above and ends with a portfolio artifact — not just a watched video. Operators graduate with proof of competence, ready for paid Workday Pro pathways.

MODULE 1
WD-01
Week 1
Workday Orientation & Navigation
What Workday is, who uses it in Denton County, and how to move through a tenant.

Tenant navigation lab

Operator Literacy

Operators can describe Workday roles (employee, manager, HR partner) and complete a basic worker lookup task.

Org structure brief

Municipal Fit

Map a sample ISD or county org into supervisory orgs — the same shape Denton ISD and the county HR teams use.

MODULE 2
WD-02
Week 2
Core HCM Concepts
Worker data, jobs, positions, and the staffing model.

Hire-to-terminate walkthrough

HR Fluency

Operators step through hire, job change, and termination flows in narrated screen recordings.

Position vs. job profile cheat sheet

Employer-Ready

A one-page artifact that proves the operator can explain the staffing model in plain English.

MODULE 3
WD-03
Weeks 3–4
Business Processes & Security
Workflow design, condition rules, and security groups.

BP redesign exercise

Admin Track

Modify a sample hire business process — the #1 task on entry-level Workday admin job postings.

Security group mapping

Risk & Compliance

Map who-can-see-what for a small county department — directly transferable to county HR projects.

MODULE 4
WD-04
Weeks 5–6
Reporting & Analytics
Workday Report Writer, calculated fields, and dashboards.

Custom report build

Data Value

Build a workforce report (headcount by org, turnover, comp ratio) deliverable to an HR director.

Dashboard mockup

Executive Output

Package reports into a dashboard pitch — the artifact that lands EDC and ISD People-Ops interviews.

MODULE 5
WD-05
Week 7
Capstone — Workday Operator Portfolio
Assemble a public portfolio + practice for the Workday Pro and credential exams.

Public portfolio (Notion or GitHub)

Job-Ready

Recorded walkthroughs of every module artifact — proves competence even before the operator sits a paid certification.

Workday Pro / partner pathway map

Career Ladder

Operators leave knowing exactly which paid certification (Workday Pro, partner-sponsored) to target next, with cost and timing.

Funding for class makeup

Six lanes that pay for what free video can't cover

Free curriculum gets operators 70% of the way. These lanes cover the rest — instructor hours, proctored exam fees, cohort infrastructure, and stipends — already moving through Denton County and Austin.

TWC — Skills for Small Business
Up to $2,000 / new hire · $1,800 / incumbent
Covers

Tuition, materials, and required exam fees at a community / technical college (NCTC) for Workday-adjacent coursework and proctored exam prep.

Why it fits MCMS

MCMS routes operators through NCTC as the training provider; TWC reimburses the employer of record for class makeup costs.

Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas — WIOA Adult / Dislocated Worker
ITA-based · typically $4,000–$8,000 per participant
Covers

Individual Training Accounts (ITA) for eligible adults to attend approved provider courses, including HCM / HRIS technical training.

Why it fits MCMS

Workday HCM training delivered through an eligible training provider qualifies; covers tuition gap when free modules are insufficient for credential prep.

TWC — Self-Sufficiency Fund / JET (Jobs & Education for Texans)
Project-based grant to community colleges
Covers

Equipment, instructor stipends, and cohort delivery costs at NCTC for in-demand technical curricula like Workday HRIS administration.

Why it fits MCMS

MCMS partners with NCTC SBDC to submit a cohort proposal — this is the funding lane that pays for live class makeup, not just self-paced video.

Little Elm EDC — Type B Workforce Allocation
Negotiated per cohort
Covers

Stipends for local participants, kiosk-based study space, and instructor hours not covered by state lanes.

Why it fits MCMS

Type B economic development funds can underwrite the local 'makeup class' time around the free self-paced content.

Denton County — Chapter 381 Workforce Agreement
Negotiated, performance-based
Covers

Countywide expansion of cohort delivery, including instructor backfill, proctored exam fees, and reporting infrastructure.

Why it fits MCMS

Anchors the program at county scale — the lane Rina Maloney's office reviews alongside the broader MCMS workforce play.

NVIDIA Inception / Wistron Workforce Pipeline
In-kind + cohort sponsorship
Covers

Co-branded cohort sponsorships when Workday operators are routed into the Wistron / NVIDIA-adjacent People-Ops pipeline.

Why it fits MCMS

Closes the loop: trained Workday operators become hireable People-Ops staff for the Wistron $687M manufacturing build.

Outcomes by stakeholder

Three audiences · one funded Workday operator

Job Seekers

Hireable HRIS skills, zero tuition floor

  • Stackable free curriculum from Workday Community, CloudFoundation, ERP Cloud Training, ZaranTech, and UpTalk.
  • Portfolio artifacts that prove competence to HR directors before any paid certification.
Employers

Funded backfill for class makeup

  • TWC Skills for Small Business + WIOA ITAs cover paid exam prep and credential fees.
  • JET and Chapter 381 dollars cover instructor and cohort costs at NCTC.
EDC & County

Measurable workforce ROI

  • Every cohort produces a public portfolio + a placement metric for the 2026 budget cycle.
  • Plugs directly into Wistron's $687M anchor and the Little Elm Type B workforce play.
Enroll in the Workday track

Seven weeks. Five free providers. Six funding lanes.

The Workday pathway is delivered alongside the NVIDIA DLI, Google Career Certificate, and Learn Claude tracks — producing People-Ops operators ready for ISD, county, and Wistron-tier hires.

OrientationCore HCMBP + SecurityReportingPortfolio Capstone