Workday Student, the system that will replace the majority of Washington University in St. Louis’ student information systems, including WebSTAC and WUCRSL, is on track to go live over the course of the 2024-25 academic year, with the first two launches set for Sept. 25, 2024, and Feb. 17, 2025. The university will be fully transitioned to Workday Student in fall 2025.
“Our plan is to turn on aspects of the system as we need to use them,” said Erin Culbreth, associate provost and executive director of Student Sunrise, the initiative charged with several student system and process modernization efforts at the university. “With the guidance and support of more than 150 individuals representing our schools and major student-facing units, we will conclude system design this fall, begin testing the system and start to introduce the system to our faculty, staff and students.”
The Sept. 2024 go-live will focus on processes needed to prepare for fall 2025 course registration. The following February go-live date is when students and advisers will enter the system for class registration, to make tuition deposits for the fall and to complete other tasks.
Faculty, student engagement underway
Members of the project’s faculty advisory group met twice this spring to learn more about the transition. They also had the opportunity to see early demos of a few aspects of the new system, including advising notes and registration functionality. Project leaders also held introductory meetings with more than 30 faculty groups across the university. Departments and programs that have not had an introductory meeting with their faculty can request one now through Sept. 30 by emailing sunrise@wustl.edu.
“The transition to Workday Student will have a significant impact on those of us who teach and advise students,” said Amy Eyler, professor of public health and Faculty Senate chair. “From what I know so far, some of these changes will improve the student experience while some will require time to adjust to. As we move through this transition, it will be important for faculty to stay informed and engaged.”
In addition to faculty, three advisory groups representing undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education students on the Danforth and Medical campuses met this spring to learn about the transition and to share their experiences with WashU’s current student information systems.
“As an institution that values interdisciplinary thinking, it is important WashU makes academic exploration an accessible opportunity for its students,” said Omeed Moshirfar, an undergraduate student studying communication design, operations technology and computer science. “Our current registration systems often act as a barrier for those who wish to enroll in a wide range of courses. However, I am optimistic about the university’s integration of Workday and look forward to collaborating with my peers to help prepare students for this necessary and exciting change.”
Readiness activities to kick off
Project steering committee members, in partnership with the Sunrise project team, will host kickoff events this fall for the schools and units they represent. The events will introduce the transition to Workday Student more broadly to faculty and staff and highlight the ways they may be asked to get involved to prepare for the new system, including a yearlong series of “sneak peek” webinars that will be available, covering a range of topics including advising, academic planning, registration and class management, and grading.
“The transition to Workday Student will bring a number of needed improvements, along with changes that will be challenging,” Culbreth added. “The purpose of the kickoff events and sneak peek sessions is to help those most impacted become familiar with what’s changing for them and why, as well as the system’s look and feel, prior to accessing training and other learning resources. We know this transition will be bumpy, so we want to do as much as we can to prepare and support the university.”
Details about the kickoffs and sneak peeks will be shared this fall.
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