The MyDay program, the multiyear effort to modernize how Washington University in St. Louis collects, records, manages, analyzes and reports the data needed to operate the institution, reached a key milestone in early 2021.
Testing was completed for Workday, the university’s future system for integrated HR and financial operations, which will replace aging administrative systems HRMS and AIS. Workday will launch in July with enhanced self-service capabilities, more robust reporting and increased transparency of information for both managers and employees, including pay and work-related information. The project team is now gearing up for training and other engagement opportunities to help the university prepare for this momentous change.
Where we are now
Last spring, the program delayed Workday’s launch, initially slated for July 2020, to allow time for the system to be more fully developed and tested to meet the university’s quality standards. Since then, the project team and representatives from across the university have confirmed that the way Workday was configured for WashU meets the requirements gathered during earlier phases of the project, including integrations and reports needed at go-live.
“This is an exciting and important milestone for the project as it represents not just the dedicated months of testing but also two years of work to design a system to meet WashU’s needs,” said Amy Kweskin, vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer and chair of the Workday HR and finance executive leadership team. “This has been a significant lift for the project team, but the work has put us in a good position for the final stretch of this implementation.”
The project team will now shift their efforts to completing the validation and loading of key data such as HR reporting structures and financial structures as well as converting existing data in the legacy HRMS and AIS systems, such as employee information and beginning balances for the fiscal year. The team also will share key dates and activities with academic and administrative unit leaders to prepare their operations ahead of the July 1 go-live date.
What you can do to get ready for Workday
Everyone at the university can begin familiarizing themselves with important information about the transition to Workday with resources available on the Get Ready section of the MyDay website. It contains helpful overviews of key concepts and changes, recorded sessions and demos, and eLearning opportunities.
One of the first sections to check out is the Workday information sessions page. In November, the project kicked off a series of Workday information sessions exploring a range of different HR and finance topics with the university’s management councils as well as other unit leaders and others involved in HR, payroll and financial transactions. The audience for these sessions varies by topic, but all recordings, including past sessions, are accessible to everyone at Washington University through this webpage. More Workday information sessions are planned for this spring on topics such as Workday security and reporting.
Workday training coming this spring
The main objective of the Workday training program is to ensure employees can do their jobs in Workday when the system goes live. Everyone will receive some form of training leading up to and after go-live. Whether through virtual instructor-led sessions, eLearning modules or online tutorials, the training will address how to complete tasks in Workday as well how to build and access reports and find archived data from the legacy systems.
For the instructor-led training, WashU kicked off its Workday training program in February with close to 100 trainers from the across the university. This dedicated group of colleagues are preparing to deliver virtual Workday training beginning in April for approximately 1,800 HR and finance staff in the central offices and the departments, including some faculty who have administrative responsibilities. Having a group of university-based trainers has shown to be a significant factor in successful implementations at peer institutions and will be critical for WashU.
Start getting ready now by becoming familiar with the resources available on the Get Ready section of the website. More information will be shared in coming weeks regarding training materials and go-live support for everyone, including self-help tools and a help desk to assist during this important transition.