Workday is coming November 15! A Message from Jack Blanchard, Associate Provost for Enterprise Resource Planning
The University is preparing for a historic transformation of our enterprise systems that support HR and finance functions on campus. This means that our current PHR, Kuali Finance, and related systems will be retired and we will move to a modern cloud-based solution with Workday. The Elevate program began planning for this new system in 2019, started implementation in 2020, and now in 2024 we are finally going live on Workday November 15.
How can faculty prepare for Workday? The best preparation is to complete the recommended Workday training before November 15. Courses are online and the Elevate program has been sending emails with recommended courses to all faculty. Faculty can also learn what courses to take by visiting the Elevate website. Simply visit the training page and there is a link to “What training should I take” – this will prompt users for their UID and an email where the user’s specific recommended courses will be sent. By taking the recommended courses now, faculty will be better prepared for the Workday system on November 15. The Elevate website has other resources to complement the online training including FAQs and job aids that provide step-by-step instructions for over 300 tasks in Workday.
As a faculty member with grants, students and teaching, I appreciate that this transition will have a significant impact as we take time to complete our training and then adapt to a new system and new processes. The short-term challenges will pay off with a system that better meets the needs of our students, staff and faculty over the long term. I want to close by acknowledging what President Pines said in his recent video message to the campus: “During this transition we should all practice patience with one another as we learn this new system and new processes . . . we can succeed when we face this challenge together.”