A cross-section of WashU colleagues is serving as campus data verifiers with the Student Sunrise project. They are the newest group of campus experts who are helping to make Workday Student a reality. Their work will play an integral part in the project’s vision to create an improved experience for the university’s students, faculty and staff.
The 30-member campus data verifier team includes representatives from all schools and major academic units who have a penchant for spotting data inconsistencies. They are going beyond their daily activities to help the project’s technical team develop quality data and reporting for Workday Student.
“Our campus data verifiers were chosen for their deep knowledge about the data for their schools or functional areas,” said Beverly Wendland, provost and Student Sunrise project executive sponsor. “We are leaning on their expertise to identify and report data issues so that we can make corrections as we go. Their efforts will be critical to producing the data that we all can depend on in Workday Student.”
Team’s role in data conversion
Producing data that will function in Workday Student begins with converting data from our Student Information System (SIS) and other legacy systems. Due to the volume and complexity of data in these systems, data conversion is a huge task that will take the effort of two teams — the Sunrise data conversion team and the campus data verifiers.
After the Sunrise team pulls data from our student systems, they load it into a staging environment that mimics Workday Student. It is in this sandbox that the campus data verifiers will review the converted data for accuracy.
The Sunrise team reviews and validates the data in the staging area first, and then the campus data verifiers step in. They will do a side-by-side comparison of the data in their student systems against the converted data in Workday Student. If they see that their school or unit’s data isn’t right in Workday, they will report their findings to the Sunrise team for remediation. As the final checkpoint in the data transformation process, the campus data verifiers’ quality assurance role is paramount to the project’s success.
Getting started
On January 26, the campus data verifiers gathered on Zoom to meet each other and learn about the project and their new roles. They will attend a preparation session in March to learn how to verify data in advance of their first round of work April 4-22.
In it for the long haul
Data verification is an ongoing process requiring the campus data verifiers to verify at six intervals throughout the project — five times during implementation and again after Workday Student goes live in Academic Year 2024-25. Each time, they will have about three weeks to verify diverse kinds of data, such as student personal information, courses and programs, and to report any issues they uncover. After receiving their feedback, the Sunrise team will correct the data and add new types of data for the next verification window.
“I personally want to thank the campus data verifiers for their commitment of time and talent to our mission,” said Jane Pack, Student Sunrise data conversion lead. “And on behalf of the Student Sunrise team, I want to let them know how much their service means to the success of the project and the future of the university.”