Much-discussed software startup Workday came out of the shadows yesterday, detailing plans to release a suite of on-demand enterprise applications that challenge the hegemony of SAP and Oracle.

Founded by former PeopleSoft chief Dave Duffield and numbering several other ex-PeopleSoft executives among staff, Workday promises an approach that makes development simpler and performance quicker. Starting with an already-released human resources module, Workday plans to add a second release and other enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications including financial management, resource management and revenue management from next year.

Workday intends to replace elements of traditional ERP systems with a more flexible alternative where changes can be made quickly to cope with strategic change events such as outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, or moves into new markets.

“The one word that describes business today is ‘change’ and the HR systems of the past couldn’t keep up with it,” said Aneel Bhusri, Workday co-founder.

As with other online business applications such as Salesforce.com, Workday is designed to offer a consumer-like experience with extensive use of web services, built-in reporting on system usage and single sign-on access. The company says that staff will need no training to use the system.

However, one analyst granted an early demonstration of the software said the code retains some rough edges.

“Although Workday touts its tool as the first one designed for the business user, not the power user, the employee role interface was the least developed in the demo,” wrote Christa Degnan Manning of AMR Research in a report.

“Everyday users will be disappointed until more is done to make employee self-service user friendly. Workday promises the employee self-service interface will shortly look more like MySpace than text-based lists.”

On launch, Workday said it would offer integration with ADP’s on-demand payroll service while better links to Microsoft Office and Sharepoint are planned. Accenture will offer consulting.

Although Workday will be competing against giants such as Oracle and SAP, analysts noted that the company has powerful investors that should help it survive a slow start to business.